Photographer Lara Parent Fully Immerses Herself in Her Work.
If you've been following Capizzo Studio since our launch, you've been seeing the work of Michigan-based artist Lara Parent, our media consultant, event photographer, and Instagram coordinator. She's a creative dynamo who owner Nick Cappelletti calls, "our number one advocate," helping to raise our public profile and increase visitor traffic from the general public and a wider following from committed art enthusiasts. Her professional talents and interests span working with company branding and identity as well as lifestyle and fine art photography.
Parent's refined artistic vision and technical skills complement her superb ability to connect with clients and put them at ease. It's a perfect combination, and it's evident in the spontaneous, in-the-moment quality of her images. She captures the nuances of personality and relationships in her portraits of individuals, families, and couples in love.
With so many photographers working today, the competition for new clients can be intense. Those who hire Parent have been drawn to the image portfolios on her website, creating an expectation of a unique and satisfying photo session. Fulfilling that expectation is what drives her work. As she says, "when people believe in you, believe them."
During a photo session, adaptability is key for Parent. She is getting to know her clients, drawing them into the conversation, and also being humorous to make them feel more relaxed and open. Clients come with the expectation that she will pose them, but Parent describes her approach to that as "posing to unpose." She helps them with initial direction, while also carefully observing the moments that present themselves.
My technique is...if it's somebody who I don't know, I'm always kind of balancing having a conversation with them and then kind of watching them out of the corner of my eye and looking for things that I see that are interesting about the way that they move or their facial features, their bone structure, if it's a couple or family, how they interact with each other.
- Lara Parent.
Portraits
Spontaneity with clients educates Parent, giving insight into their personalities which might lead to new creative directions that others might miss. Her empathetic connection allows sessions to become more collaborative, filling them with warmth and genuine emotion.
Families
Love
When the weather is nice, I might have three shoots in a day. But I have to be able to feel that, and I have to be able to say to myself, "Can you do this, and can you do right by your clients?" Ultimately, as much as you want to create amazing work for your feed, the work you're creating is for your clients, and you're giving them moments and memories you hope they will treasure for a really long time.
- Lara Parent
Brands
With her photography business solidly established, Parent recently expanded her work to take on social media management. Finding the right balance of time for her clients has become even more critical, and she has had to turn down projects when she felt that she could not give all of them the time they deserved. That self-awareness is Parent's own form of artistic quality control.
Botanicals and Wildflowers
Recently, Parent has been working on two personal fine art series: Botanicals and Wildflowers, which are minimalist and reminiscent of 19th-century scientific illustrations. The Botanicals series shows plants bathed in brilliant light, displaying bursts of lush color against a white background. The plants come into sharp definition in various places, but they also appear abstracted in the interplay of light and shadow. An intended fall-off in the depth of field also contributes to this abstraction. The Wilflowers series also displays the gorgeous color of flowers against a pale blue sky. Prints of both series are available on Parent's website.
For more about Parent, check out this podcast interview with her from Episode 14 from COLOR ME IN.
