Daily Inspiration: Meet Danielle Hardin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Hardin.

Hi Danielle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Before forming Dani Hardin Photography, I served as a rotor-wing aircraft mechanic in the United States Army. I had just had my 4th child when I decided I couldn’t keep leaving my kids to deploy because their father/my husband also serves in the Army. It just wasn’t fair to them anymore. I started my process of leaving the Army, and like anyone who has been in a stable, dependable career for the last 8 years, I began to wonder what I would do in the world. I quickly started the process of becoming a Certified Nurses Assistant and gained employment at Vanderbilt Medical center in Nashville. I knew I eventually wanted to be a Nurse, and I enrolled in school at Austin Peay University. Well, March 8th, 2022, rolled around, and I was officially out of the Army with an honorable discharge. Life was going great, or so I thought; shortly after getting settled into my new job, my husband’s new command began talks of possible deployment or back-to-back field rotations where he would be gone for an extended time.

I began to panic. Our girls didn’t have child care, and I had no clue how I would work and take care of them as I was working nights at the hospital. I had left the Army to be with my children. There was no way I would send them to family until I found childcare. I had to quit my job with the hospital, and my disability had not yet been processed through the VA, so for the first time since my teenage years, I was without a job and became increasingly depressed. I felt like I had lost my identity outside my children, and even though I love them more than life, I had no idea what to do. Well, I had always been a hobbyist photographer. My husband Josh suggest I start my own business because, at this point, what do I have to lose? So on that day, Dani Hardin Photography was created. I have always had such a passion for photographs due to my parents not taking enough of us growing up. My oldest sister passed away when I was 11, and I have maybe 2 pictures with her, and I was a baby in both. In this incredible journey, I put myself on these last couple of months, I have truly found myself again and learned to love all the ups and downs that life throws us. So now I have created my schedule. I see my children all the time, go to college full time, and run a business.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It was not a smooth process. It doesn’t feel like anything throughout my life has ever come easy. Well, I wasn’t receiving an income at the moment because I had to quit my job. I wasn’t receiving my disability benefits because the processing time is 4-5 months. So I started watching kids for people while going to school full time, taking care of my house, my kids, and my husband, and start a business. I had to build a portfolio because I was essentially starting from scratch. So I started giving sessions for free to get my name out there and get enough content for my portfolio. I had to apply for a business license and learn how to run a business. It was a lot of late nights and early mornings. It still is. In the middle of all that, my husband had emergency eye surgery where he was completely blind for about 2 weeks, completely reliant on me to help him do everything. It’s been a rough road, but it’s been completely worth all the work and hours I put in.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a portrait photographer that specializes in creating artwork for the walls of the people you love most in your life. I am a full-service photographer because I don’t just provide digital files for you to keep on your computer or your phone. I provide beautiful prints for you to hang in your home; My passion is kids and babies. I love newborn and children sessions. Kids are where my heart lies. I’m most proud that I can walk onto a session without ever meeting these people and immediately make them feel at ease and comfortable so we can get some great shots of them and their loved ones. What makes me different is that I am passionate about turning your memories into timeless artwork that will last for generations. I know how it feels to be away from my babies and only has photos to rely on, facetime, or technology. One day these photos are all our children, and loved ones will have of us. Moms so often are behind the camera that they forget their babies need to have pictures of them. I intend to capture those moments for you. I intend to make them so emotionally profound that they will remember the exact second it was taken in time and all the emotions that went along with it. I have been put in so many situations of loss in my life that I can fully grasp how important it is to have these images that take you back to a happier time in your life.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up was rough for me. I had to mature a lot faster than any child ever should. My grandparents raised my middle sister and me to better our lives. They raised me my whole life. I am everything I am today because of them, and I owe them my life for it. My mother was an addict and in and out of jail/prison for most of my life. Her addiction exposed me to many things I wish I had never seen. My father traveled for work, so he wasn’t around much either. But despite all that, my grandparents worked 2-3 jobs a piece to ensure we had the opportunities in life that everyone else did. I was really into sports as a kid. I played everything; you name it, I tried it. My sister Denise was a softball superstar and could have gone far in life had she not gotten mixed up in addiction. My sister Jessica was all over the place because she had been with our mom for a long time and filled her head with so much garbage. When I was 10 years old, I found my sister Jessica hunched over in a chair, hemorrhaging from her eyes, now, and ears. She had a massive heart attack at 19, brought on by a drug overdose. She also had a heart defect that no one ever knew about. A year later, she passed away. After her death, I rebelled hard against my grandparents, but they never gave up on me, and I owe them my life because of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.danihardinphotography.net
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/dani_hardin_photography?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaniHardinPhotography
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/Daniell93888018
• Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/dani-hardin-photography-clarksville?osq=Dani+Hardin

Image Credits
Photo of me (Jamie Hoffman)