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
... & 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.
