Happy Monday everyone! This week we are featuring one of our Shoppe Members, Petra Hall. We hope you enjoy this interesting interview with her and a sampling of some of her beautiful work!
To see more of Petra’s work please visit:
www.petrahall.se
How long have you been doing photography?
As a hobby since I was 8 years old when my dad got me my first camera, a Minolta Rangefinder (as a business since 2005). So that makes it 2 years. Oh wait… *cough* 40 years.
Where is your business located?
I’m next door neighbor with Santa Claus. Which means I’m in Northern Sweden, in a small town called Piteå, by the east coast. We have a great beach, that’s called “The Northern Riviera”. We actually do have summer here!
What type of photography do you do?
Mainly weddings, but also some portraits and even some interior photography. Nature and abstract for my personal satisfaction. But my real passion is weddings.
What was the thing that attracted you to photography the most?
I think it was to capture the world in the way I saw it, and not always how it was in reality. But with weddings, it’s the magic of bringing out the “inner soul” in people. I had no idea I had a talent to photograph people!
What kind of cameras do you shoot with?
Lets see. They are black, and digital. Well, they do have some writing on them in white as well. Canon it says. Two Canon 5D Mk II, one Canon 50D and an IR converted 40D.
What is your favorite lens to shoot with and why?
I always wish I could be cool and say my 135/2L, but even if I love the lens, in reality I shoot with my 70-200/2.8L IS the most. I love the 135 for portraits and how it looks, but I often use the 70-200 for both portraits and during the ceremony. I like the reach and I like the bokeh it has in 200 mm.
What is your favorite part of running your business?
When I hear back from a client after a wedding or a portait session and they say “Wow, you really did capture how I felt that day. No one has ever done that before!” I can read those praises several times a day and then all the boring stuff becomes much more fun to do.
What do you feel is the biggest challenge of running your business?
Never knowing if I will be able to do this next year too. The economy is still rocky here, and people see photography as a luxury item (which is it in a way), and they rather have a friend with a camera shooting their wedding or portraits, and know they’ll settle with less, even if they like the wow factor they know they’ll get with me, just to save money. It’s sad, but it’s hard to argue about it, as I totally understand their situation, and I live in this rough economy too.
What do you think your clients like most about your work?
That I can get them relax enough to look great in the photo’s, and that I capture parts of their day that they aren’t really aware of, but love seeing afterwards. And I often get compliments that my images are clean and crisp, even if I don’t really think so myself.
How has The Shoppe helped your business?
To be completely honest, not much yet. 
But I’m working on some stuff and I draw extremely much inspiration from the stuff in the Shoppe. I like to mix and match with everything there, so I take a bit here and a bit there, and make it to something somewhat my own. It’s mostly for album and card designs, and being a scrapbook fan, it’s so fun to pick and choose from all the cool stuff.
What is your favorite section or item in The Shoppe?
Oh it has to be the awesome album designs…. no wait, the cool papers and textures…. wait… just saw that new holiday stuff… hmm… well this is such a cool site so I have to say I LOVE IT ALL! Ah, there. Why didn’t I just say that in the first place?!! 
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Thanks for sharing, Petra! Here are some of her beautiful images to inspire us today…
