OWL'S IRIS: The origin of the name

I get asked quite a lot what the name of my business means and where it comes from, so I'd love to share the origin on the name Owl's Iris Photography.

In 2016 when I was trying to brainstorm my name, I had pages full of ideas. I didn't want to use my name as "Hauzinger" is hard to spell, I don't say it like it's spelled, and I wanted a name that sounded more refined and creative.

Part 1: OWL'S

Of the names I wrote down that weren't already taken, I started to gravitate towards something with the word "owl". I am a nature and wildlife lover, and owls have always held a mysterious wisdom to me. Not only that, but they are extremely patient, have keen eyesight, and carefully calculate their moves, especially when hunting. These characteristic of owl's are everything I strive to be as a photographer; careful, calculated, patient, and ready to capture the moment even before it happens.

Part 2: IRIS

When I was first learning about the basic anatomy of my manual camera in college, you learn about the aperture and shutter as the main controllers of light (and of course, ISO of film but we aren't talking about that). The aperture controls the amount of light coming into the camera the same way that your eye's pupil does depending on how bright or dark it is outside, and I just LOVED that. Where there is more light present, your pupil (which appears to be located in your iris) shrinks smaller, and the same is true for a camera's aperture. If it's brighter outside, you are most likely going to need a smaller opening for light to travel through with a larger aperture (don't worry, you don't need to figure this one out). When you're in low light, your pupil gets larger to let more light in. Same for the aperture of a camera.

When you put the two together, you get "Owl's Iris", which to me falls so beautifully off the tongue and it fun to say.

That's pretty much it, and the rest is history!