Hannah Betts
Hannah's fondness for vintage glamour sparkles from this photo shoot with first-time model Jenna Rusnak. “I love capturing my subjects young or old, and setting them in a time or place that doesn't exist in the present,” she says.Flea market treasures. Preschool punk rock. Femmes fatales. Digital savvy and faded film. Welcome to the collision of worlds that is Hannah and her camera.
This Rochester photographer got her start her senior year in high school when she received her first equipment from her dad. A short time later, she was studying commercial photography at FIT and capturing images on the streets of New York.
“I learned a lot living and studying in New York City,” Hannah says. “But mostly I learned that I wanted to photograph people in a more honest light.”
Which could explain why she briefly considered photojournalism. And why she has a remarkable eye for the human spirit in her fine art photography.
Hannah's stories have a clear modernity to them, but her fondness for romance and nostalgia shines through.
Among her inspirations? Vintage toys. Polaroids. Classic movies.
“I have a fascination with all things old,” she says. “Especially the simplicity of the times before me. I think in a lot of ways my work is an attempt to recreate a lot of those simpler times of the mid-20th century.”
Hannah, who is also an art director at a Rochester photography studio, often collaborates with her husband, St. Monci (né Michael Moncibaiz).
HannahThis past spring, they joined forces for a show titled “Stories by Streetlight” that combined Hannah's offbeat photography of kids in archetypal outfits and St. Monci's drawings. The show appeared at A Different Path Gallery in Brockport last May.
The pair have another show planned for September.
"Violet," from the series "Stories by Streetlight."Her command of digital photography is as current as any pro, but Hannah still turns to film for an artistic spark.
“I love film,” she says. “I've adapted a bunch of old film cameras and use them daily to capture my ideas. I love the anticipation of not knowing what you've captured until you've developed it in your kitchen.”
A sense of wonder is a beautiful thing.
See more: www.hannahbetts.com
Say hi: hannahbetts@gmail.com
BELOW: “Fly Away Mae” from the series “Stories by Streetlight.”
BELOW: To mark the recent engagment of her friends Kaitlin Gray and Bryce Doty, Hannah captured the couple with the added charm of vintage View-Masters. Hannah says she doesn't typically shoot weddings because they don't offer her enough room for creativity. But Kaitlin and Bryce are a different story. “It's rare that I find couples who say I can do whatever I want and they completely trust me. So when I do, I jump at the chance,” she says.
LEFT: Hannah's interpretation of the Bride of Frankenstein, a piece featured for a Halloween show at the 1975 Gallery at Rochester's Surface Salon in October 2011.