There is more than one answer to this…but first and foremost, I didn’t want to name it Lori Conklin Photography. Why? I don’t know the answer to that. Most photographers and artist DO name their businesses after themselves. And I think that is wonderful. Photography and style does come down to the photographer after all. Our work is a reflection of who we are and the experience we have had along the way.
But I am not one who enjoys attention or the spotlight. Which is one of the reasons I love to be the linen behind the camera
I always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur. I knew it would be a creative endeavor in some shape or form. (I mean, I always wanted to be a photographer… read here how I overcame the disappointment of getting into the photo journalism program of my dreams.) When we lived in the Pacific Northwest I started doing freelance graphic design and that is when I needed to name my business. The idea of my name was never in the picture. Whimsical and meaningful adjectives were always on the forefront. For some reason, I just couldn’t name it after myself.
When I was pregnant with Parker I daydreamed about starting my own business while I was working long hours at a start up. I would sketch logos and I thought “Kennedy Parker Photography” sounded right. After Parker was born and I finally took the plunge… and Kennedy Parker Photography was born. All was well, and people asked me all the time what would happen to my business name if we had another child. at the time we were content with our little family of four, until Parker was about 18 month old and we had the talk. Do we try for another? I still felt that there was this little person out there waiting to complete our family. And sure enough, along came Charlie.
I was committed to building my photography business. But I wanted to build something bigger than myself, with a name that could grow and pivot with our family dynamics and my changing business.