Blog | Page 3 | Hannah Rose Gray

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2020 Book List

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Lululemon Ambassadors

Brands

Sakara Life // Sedona, AZ

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Front Porch Project- Flagstaff, AZ

Weddings

Ashleigh + Mark // Sedona, AZ

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Rainy days in July- getting eloped, gunshotting be

Rainy days in July- getting eloped, gunshotting beers, and hiking with your best friend. Bryce & Jesse decided just to go for this summer and not wait around for their big wedding day. They did it. They eloped at a location they grew up going to as local flagstaff kids in the monsoon July and loved every minute of it. It doesn’t have to look like you thought- it can be better.

@shiftflg & @sweetoatarizona BAKE SALE this Saturd

@shiftflg & @sweetoatarizona BAKE SALE this Saturday!!! Two of my very favorite businesses in town joining up for an amazing yummmmy Saturday morning. Go to @shiftflg to put in orders!! #foodporn

DIY terracotta pots & vases craft I did Monday (li

2020 taught me: I am the only one in control of m

2020 taught me:

I am the only one in control of my schedule, what I let into my life and what I let out. No one is in control of how busy I am other than ME. It’s my own damn fault I got burnt out this year, and every other year since college exam week. I’ve been notorious for being a yes girl, to everything. I will say yes and figure out how to make it work. I thought I could do it all. But I’m here to say I can’t…and the people in my life shouldn’t have to pay for my lack of accountability in my business and scheduling. Thank you 2020. I made myself WAY too available. Like so available I didn’t set office hours, gave my number out to any client who wanted it, and I stopped checking in with myself.

My freelance business owning artist friends..I KNOWWW you know what I am talking about because I’ve talked to so many of you about this, I am not the only one. But I can’t not shout it from the roof tops- IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. You don’t have to say yes to everything, you don’t have to get to the point of burn out, you don’t have to do it all. You have the choice. You have the choice to trust that the Universe (God, Jesus, Buddha, The moon goddess, whoever!) has your back. That it’s all for you and that the right people will find your work. We are the gate keepers of our happiness and ability to give to others, don’t let ANYONE convince you otherwise or choose for you.

And that is why I say please stop saying yes to too much. Push your prices up or just send them to another trusted artist. Don’t give out your phone number to clients, they can email you. Set a schedule of office hours or you’ll work every hour of the day. Check in with yourself and ask is this what I want? Am I even excited about this project? I say all of this out of love and knowledge from yearssssss (6 to be exact) of doing too much in business- breaking my back and my relationships just to make an extra buck and get ahead. I can tell you it’s not worth it in the end.

So here is to 2021: Doing less but gaining more. Gaining more energy, giving more quality of love to the people around me and the experience for my clients I photograph. #essentialism

Get them fruits & veggies in 🤤

Get them fruits & veggies in 🤤

2020 brought clarity to my life. No more running a

2020 brought clarity to my life. No more running around the world to exotic places or fun parties to distract me from…well myself. I can easily run from from listening to my gut but this year there was no hiding. I know I might be in the minority in saying this but, I rather enjoyed this year, in an interesting kind of way.
Because of the year 2020 I got to:
-Read more
-Sleep more
-Prayed more
-Slow the fuck down
-Run outside in the forest more
-Spend more time with the humans I really love
-Spend more time cooking
-Watch more TV and movies
-Saved sooooo much money by not traveling
-Said NO more and yes to the things I love
-Went to bed at 8:00pm regularly
-Morning walks
-Evening walks
-Longer table dinners with hours of conversation
-Played more
-Cried more
-Listened to what this body needed
-Facetimed WAY too much lol

This year was one my soul needed. Needed to slow down, look up, and look around at the hurting world. I can get so caught up in the fun of life and travel that I don’t slow down enough to see this hurting world around me. I prayed more about humans on this planet more than any other year. I listened and learned about the pain I’m so unaware of sometimes. And I read books that shifted my perspective theologically and politically. I found God in the mundane of life. I wouldn’t want to do 2020 again…but I would NEVER take this year back. All the pain, all the death, all the fear - is swirling with all the beauty, all the hope, all the love. They both get to coexist and we get to believe new life always come out of death.

Last wedding of 2020 was.... I mean how do you thi

Last wedding of 2020 was.... I mean how do you think it went from those photos!? Weddings like this remind me of why I do what I do and I’m so madly in love with my job. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else or anywhere else. Shooting weddings in the wild landscapes of Arizona fills my soul. I’m exactly where I’m suppose to be.

Keriann & Anthony have been together for a veryyyy long time but decided their trip out west was the time to commit fully to legally being married. With Keriann’s two daughters and @lifepassages we witnessed one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve been apart of. Here’s to 2020 ☀️🥂

Sending out my 2020 book list, our bookclub read f

Grateful for this man and all that he brings to my

Grateful for this man and all that he brings to my life (basically every thing opposite of my natural ways). Introverted quiet time, slowing down, logical thinking, and practical efficiency. But more than just being my opposite he is crazily thoughtful, kind hearted, hard working, ocean loving, ridiculously good cook, intelligent, attractive man. He brings laughter to my life and a slowing down I’ve much needed for years. He reminds me love is in the smallest of moments like running errands or playing chess together or watching the sunset or getting lost in conversation for hours. He’s a good one ☺️

Have I told you how much I love the sun?⁣ That w

Todayyyy- we brunch and celebrate this marriage 🎉🎉
Mark & Ashleigh made their commitment vows on their original wedding date in April in a very different way than planned- tiny Sedona elopement in the red rocks on a rainy evening. But today on their second wedding date we end 2020 with a morning outside brunch with sunshine and hearts full of hope.

🎄This Christmas :🎄⁣ I hope you believe new

🎄This Christmas :🎄⁣
I hope you believe new life always comes after death⁣
that we can’t do this life alone, we need each other⁣
and that maybe this year was a year of awaking ⁣
⁣
I hope you get caught up in the wild mystery that is the Divine ⁣
in the mountains, in the ocean, in the forest ⁣
but first and foremost in the people around you ⁣
⁣
I hope you gaze at the night sky on Christmas Eve⁣
and whether you believe in Santa Clause, Jesus Christ, or Elf on the shelf⁣
there is magic in this world waiting for us to not understand⁣
but just believe ⁣
⁣
Merry Christmas my friends⁣

To touch the heart of another ⁣ To know it so in

To touch the heart of another ⁣
To know it so intimately⁣
To not be one⁣
But rather separate entities ⁣
Colliding into the sun ⁣
⁣
To accept ⁣
To hold⁣
To comfort ⁣
To play⁣
To share⁣
To care ⁣
⁣
Love is a force beyond ourselves ⁣
Yet something we choose ⁣
It is friendship and romance ⁣
It is messy, beautiful, raw, and honest⁣
It is a mirror being held to your soul⁣
and I wouldn’t have it any other way

Hannah & Sam - the sweetest kind of love

Hannah & Sam - the sweetest kind of love

Just dreamin about the ocean 🌊 ❤️

Just dreamin about the ocean 🌊 ❤️

I love making @kimberlyoyler model for me every ye

I love making @kimberlyoyler model for me every year for different products when I visit Hawaii. 👌🏽 top notch modeling. @parksproject

HOW is Christmas 9 days away already!? 🎄 Did a

HOW is Christmas 9 days away already!? 🎄 Did a fun little shoot with @sycamorevenue & @sweetoatarizona !! Not this year BUT next year think about this great location not only for weddings but also holiday parties!! We don’t have many open big bright spaces like venue in Flagstaff!!

DAY NINE: I’m grateful for my mother and the fac

DAY NINE:
I’m grateful for my mother and the fact I look like her. This is a poem I wrote after years of seeing my mother look back at me when I stared into the mirror.

I love that I look like my mother ⁣
When I look in the mirror ⁣
I see her staring back ⁣
⁣
Her years of pain and growth ⁣
Undo me because I too know ⁣
It hurts when I don’t let the heart heal ⁣
⁣
I carry her green eyes yet haven’t seen ⁣
My fathers passive stares ⁣
I carry her smile yet not her frown ⁣
When those men took from her ⁣
I carry her blond hair that has both ⁣
Affected our ability to be viewed as one of those blonds⁣
⁣
It’s these things that make her strong⁣
Strong like the ocean tide ⁣
Constant and beautiful despite the storms ⁣
⁣
The lines of my face tell others ⁣
Whose I am ⁣
And where I come from ⁣
⁣
And I love that ⁣
⁣
For far too long I hated looking like her ⁣
I didn’t respect her ⁣
Or See her ⁣
⁣
But now I do⁣
⁣
I see all the hours of heavy carrying she ⁣
Took for us to stay a family ⁣
I see the stretch marks where she embodied me and poured her blood ⁣
I see her endless prayers for my betterment ⁣
⁣
She reminds me that I too will do this⁣
one day ⁣
and never regret a second of it ⁣
⁣
It’s always been for me⁣
Her femininity was the most sacred gift she gave ⁣
And I now see

PC: @amandawcoker

DAY EIGHT: I’m grateful for the sunshine in Ari

DAY EIGHT:
I’m grateful for the sunshine in Arizona!!! I grew up in Ohio where the winter days are cold and the skies are grey. I don’t think I could ever move away from the sun now that I see it literally every single day with bright blue skies.

Go find the sun today-in anyway you can. Let it kiss your face and soak up some vitamin D. It’s good for the body but also the soul.

DAY SEVEN: Grateful for this mountain I live by.

DAY SEVEN:
Grateful for this mountain I live by.
I first heard of Flagstaff in chapter seven in one of my very favorite books called “Through Painted Deserts” by Donald Miller.
One of my best friends read this chapter out loud on the way down to Florida for a kayak spring break trip my sophomore year of college. I remember thinking, I like that way of life. I would like to know those kind of people. Years later I moved here with only the knowledge from that chapter.

I love this town. I love these people. They live differently here. They let nature affect their daily life. They go for their dreams and don’t listen to the lies of over commercialized cities. This mountain and pine trees are medicine. Here is the quote from chapter 7 that gave me the first impression of Flag:

“I feel like these people have come up with different answers to the why questions and they created a little commune that became a city and they share their answers only with each other. Answers about desert ghosts, about the sun being a god, and messages encoded in stars.

They curse cement and consider New York and Chicago a thorn in the side of Mother Natures flesh. They are tan, good natured, and don’t wash their hair.

It makes you believe perhaps for a second that Paul gets it and we don’t.
That if you live in a van and get up for sunrise and cook your own food on a fire and stop caring whether you car breaks down or whether you have fashionable clothes or whether or not if people do or do not like you that you have broken through, that you have shut your ear to the lies that never ever stop whispering in your ear.

And maybe when a person doesn’t buy the lies anymore, when a human stops long enough to realize the stuff people say to get us to part with our money isn’t true, we can finally see the sunrise, smell the wetness in the gulf breeze, stand in awe at a down pour no less magnificent than a 20,000 foot waterfall 10 square miles wide and know this is what I was made to do. This is who I was made to be. That life is being given to me as a gift. That light is a metaphor. That God is doing this to dazzle us.”
#attitudeofgratitude