Oct 02 2015

Erin Parker, of Erin Parker Photography, moved to San Pancho, just North of Sayulita, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, last summer. “My husband and I decided we were tired of the rat race. We recently had a baby and didn’t want the expenses of keeping up with the Joneses. My parents, brother, and sister-in-law, owner of Playa Bliss Weddings, were already living in San Pancho, and proved it was possible to make a living here. So, we knew we could do what we wanted here and have family support,” shared Erin.

Erin first caught the photography bug while taking a photography class when she was just a sophomore in high school. “It was the first thing I did that I absolutely loved and knew that I was good at,” she proclaimed. She nurtured her talent by taking photos for the school newspaper and becoming a teaching assistant for her school’s photography class. In college, she shifted her focus from general photography to photojournalism. She went on to earn her master’s degree in photojournalism from Ohio University.

After several years working as a photojournalist, the newspaper Erin was working for shut down. For the next few years, she became wanderlust and moved around a lot. “I lived outside of Monterrey and rock climbed, I was a personal assistant for an actress in Hawaii, I worked for the cruise lines in Alaska, and I also worked for an African safari company designing high end safaris. I tried on many hats, and then I realized that based on the success my family had here, in Mexico, that I could return to my original passion of photography, and at the same time, reunite with family,” confided Erin.

Here in Sayulita, and the surrounding areas, Erin shoots a lot of weddings and does documentary work, describing her photography style as “slice of life.” “The photos I take are more ‘the moments in between,’ not your standard, posed shots. I capture the moment where the big sister tickles the little brother or when the family is laughing right after Dad sneezed. My photos capture the uniqueness and personality of the people,” she adds.

Erin particularly enjoys wedding photography and works closely with a number of Sayulita wedding planners, including Vida Bonita, Sunset Soiree, Playa Bliss Weddings, and Dream Weddings. “Everybody has an iconic idea of what his or her wedding is going to be like. Weddings are full of moments, like the first kiss and the first dance, and to find the essence of the couple that is specific to them, and capture it, that is what I love about wedding photography,” stated Erin.