Hey there, I’m Hannah, aka “The Astrological Photographer”. My business name often gets a double take, and then questions like “what does an astrological photographer do?”. In order to answer that question, I will tell you a bit of my story so that you can understand the context and journey that it took to come up with this name.
Ever since I was very young, feeling seen was something that I longed for. It takes a particular type of person to truly hold space to witness someone else’s experience, and not many people have experienced that let alone know how to do it for others. For some reason, perhaps because I am an enneagram 4, this longing and lack of people being able to truly witness my experience was very emphasized for me. I focused on it a lot. I searched for it constantly.
Understandably, when I first discovered the Myers Briggs typing indicator system, I was hooked. Finally someone or something was at least attempting to give words to my internal experience, even if it was just an online quiz. I felt seen in the way that I had been longing for, and that sent me on a quest for more of the same.
Eventually that quest led me to astrology. Having grown up in a context where Astrology was not taken seriously and in many cases even looked down on, it was not the first place I looked. The more I learned about Astrology, the more it piqued my interest. Once I finally got into the depth of it and realized just how nuanced and expansive and complex astrology is I couldn’t ignore it any longer. It was more comprehensive than any other personality typing system. It was full of symbolic richness in ways that no other framework I had encountered was. It dazzled me, and even more importantly, I remembered the information easily.
During this period of searching, I was simultaneously developing my skills as a photographer. I mainly focused on family portraits, babies, graduations, headshots etc…and while I enjoyed it, there always seemed to be something missing. I had all the skills and tools to take that business as far as I wanted, and yet something always held me back. Now I believe that I knew that family photography wasn’t my calling. I knew that I was supposed to be doing something else, and I just hadn’t quite figured it out.
One day while I was sitting on the skytrain in Vancouver, I was reflecting on how easy it was for me to take in and remember all the information I read about personality and astrology. Things don’t always come that easily to me, with my chart ruler (Saturn) in detriment, and my Sun in the 6th house, effort and struggle are the norm for me when I try to do most things. I found myself wishing that this thing that came so easily to me could become my career. And then an idea popped into my head. I remembered seeing another photographer advertise enneagram based portrait sessions. Why couldn’t I do the same? Or at least something similar?
That moment sparked the 2-3 year journey that led to me finally accepting myself as an astrologer, and changing my brand name from Hannah T. Photography to The Astrological Photographer.
What I do as an Astrological Photographer is use astrology to inform my photography. I use the wisdom and insight that astrology provides to give me an edge in making images that are authentic and resonate deeply with my clients. But I also do a lot more than that. I use personality to create clarity around the visual aspects of people’s brands. I use my well placed Mercury in Gemini to help people find clarity in how they write about their business online. I use photography almost like a form of art therapy to help people imagine who they want to be and then actually create a visual representation of that. I use astrology to help people FEEL seen, and I use photography to help other people see them too.
It’s turned into a lot more than just photography, I also consider myself a life and business coach. And I use my design skills to create visuals for people that resonate. There’s a lot going on but it all comes back to the central desire to help people feel seen the way I wanted to feel seen. To give people clarity so that they can share themselves with the world. I just happen to use Astrology and Photography to do that.
Hannah