Have you ever felt like when you look at a photograph, you are back in that special moment? Remembering special times are so important to me, which is one of the reasons I started photographing others, so they can do the same. My name is Tianna Sparks and I am a creator, photographer, and art teacher based in New Hampshire and South Carolina. In May of 2019, I graduated from Plymouth State University with a Bachelors of Science in Art Education and a minor in Art History and Photography. After college, I became the PK-6 Art Teacher at Bethlehem Elementary School in New Hampshire and I now teach high school art in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Being an art teacher has allowed me to not only continue creating art every day but to inspire and educate children as well.
As a visual-spatial learner and thinker, pictures and images are very important to me and have helped me interpret the world around me. Therefore, I feel almost nurtured by art and photography. I would say this is why it has become one of my passions. I continue to learn and grow from what I see and study. As I have grown, so has my passion and development in different forms of art. At the age of six, I received the gift of my first film camera and it completely changed how I felt about everything. It was at that point that my heart belonged to photography.
The mentor I have had the privilege to thank for my beginning success with photography is Alli Gaulin. Ever since I was a child, I have always looked up to Alli and her wonderful work as a photographer. I remember her spending countless hours making sure everything was perfect for each session my family and I booked with her. Not only were we truly impressed with each image we received back from the session, but we were very satisfied with the service she provided us and how she always made it a fun-filled experience.
Under shadowing Alli in my younger teenage years and having taken several photography courses through Plymouth State University and Southern New Hampshire University, I have learned a great deal from my mentors and have expanded more on my knowledge of photography thanks to their encouragement in pushing me to try new things and explore multiple outlets. After saving up for my first DSLR camera in 2012 when I was just fourteen years old, I've had the pleasure of capturing many different families, seniors, couples, adults, and children since then and I could not be more thankful for receiving the opportunity to capture special moments. I also enjoy capturing the beauty that I am surrounded by in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the beautiful beaches in South Carolina.
If there is one thing I have learned about photography so far, it is that beauty is in the details. In our busy lives, we tend to overlook things that are important and valuable. Every once in a while, it is good to slow down and pay attention to the little details that really matter in life.
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." ~ Rumi
“Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph." ~ Matt Hardy
Rumi and Matt Hardy had great points in their famous words. You often don’t or can’t see beauty in the world until someone shows it to you. That's why I truly enjoy photographing valuable moments that my clients will always have to look back on. Ultimately, I am a storyteller. My goal is to create expressive portraits and capture the behind-the-scenes candid moments that truly reveal the personalities and relationships of my clients.
Thank you for reading & I hope to capture your special moments soon.
Yours truly,
Awards/Exhibitions
Winner of the Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce Art Festival poster contest (2014)
Photographer of Plymouth State University’s 2016-2017 Composition Journal cover photo
Photographer of the Cover Photo for the the Franconia Notch Regional Chamber of Commerce 2018 Dinner Meeting Program
Featured in an Art Show at the Lost Dog Salon in the Manupelli Student Gallery at 42 Maple Contemporary Art Center, Bethlehem, NH (2015)
“Altered Books”, Lamson Library, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH 2015
“10,000 Steps: Her Long Walk for Water”, Silver Center, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH 2015
“Print Exhibition”, Collins Gallery, Plymouth State University, 2015
“Finding Place on Paper: Contemporary Poets and Printmakers Explore the White Mountains”, Museum of the White Mountains, Plymouth, NH, 2016
President’s Juried Show, President’s Office/Speare Building, Plymouth State University, 2017
Annual PSU Student Juried Exhibition, Museum of the White Mountains, Plymouth, NH, 2018 & 2019
Plymouth State University Art Department BS Award for Excellence in Art Education (May 2019)
