Who am i?
My passion for photography began at a young age with photographing sunsets on family holidays. The changing shades of the sun's light captivated me - for the beauty of those warm colours, & how different they made the world look.
Once you start seeing that beauty, you see it in more & more places. It may be the glint of morning dew; the stunning contrast of rays of sunlight bursting through storm clouds, or that glorious golden haze around the time of a summer's sunset. It's everywhere.
In my early twenties, I started to feel a wanderlust developing deep within me. At 25, I quit my job, & set off to experience what the wider world had to offer. I trekked around Nepal, explored SE Asia, & then road-tripped around Australia. I then settled in New Zealand, where I stayed for a few years enjoying quintessential New Zealand pastimes like sky-diving at Lake Taupo & the Nevis bungy jump.
It was during my travels (with inspiration everywhere) that I was able to greatly expand on my photography skills. Then, whilst living in New Zealand, I decided to develop that passion into a career. I quit my job, undertook a diploma in professional photography & started Parkershots Limited (New Zealand).
That was nearly 14 years ago now. Then in 2009, I moved back to the UK & set up Parkershots Limited (the UK version). Since then, I've photographed around 300 weddings, all manner of people & pets for portraits, and a wide variety of people, products, & buildings for businesses.
They say that there are two types of people in the world: those who believe everything is a miracle, & those that believe nothing is. I am most definitely the first type.
I've always seen the beauty in things & that appreciation has only grown through the years.
Who is Parkershots?
The elephant in the room - why the name 'Parkershots'?
The brief was to design a logo incorporating the company name... & an elephant. Not exactly the normal symbol you associate with a photography business, & the initial designs looked more appropriate for a wildlife conservation company. So, I asked for the elephant to be more abstract. He managed to create an elephant's head design using the 'P' & 'S' from 'Parker' 'Shots' (yes, the letters are back to front & the elephant is not anatomically correct, but hey, that's art).
The final touch came about from my love for Far Eastern calligraphy & I asked him to make the design appear as brush strokes.
I'm not sure many people have noticed the elephant aspect before, but I must admit, even after all these years, I do still love the design.
You've probably noticed that 99% of photographers out there go by, 'their name' + 'photography' at the end. Well, when I first set up my business (way back in 2008) there already was a “Nick Parker Photography” out there. Consequently, I needed to go by something different, & “Parkershots” was the best option I came up with. I thought it was easy to say, was basically an abbreviated version of Nick Parker Photography, and hoped it would be memorable for people.
My Original Logo
Over the years, I've swapped between liking it & disliking it a few times, but I've always stuck with it.
... & What is the Symbol?
In 2015, I decided to upgrade my website from the very basic Dreamweaver site that I'd created, to a more modern website made by far more talented people. I then decided that to go with my shiny new website, I needed a shiny new company logo so contacted a few graphic designers.
