Early New Zealand Photographers: HANNA, John Robert

Friday, August 8, 2008

HANNA, John Robert

John Robert Hanna
Photographer
134 Queen Street,
Auckland

succeeded by Lafayette Studio about June 1902 - held Hanna's negatives. (1)

Hanna, John Robert, Photographer, Queen Street, Auckland. Telephone 351.

Mr. Hanna was born in Ireland, and arrived in New Zealand thirty-five years ago. He began work in his profession with Mr. R. H. Bartlett, of Auckland, whose business he subsequently managed for some time.

For ten years after leaving Mr. Bartlett he was a member of the firm of Messrs Hemus and Hanna, and managed the business. In 1885 the firm was dissolved by mutual consent, and Mr. Hanna bought the business which was established by the late Mr. Crombie in 1855, and is the oldest in Auckland.

The building is of brick, three stories in height, and has about 2500 square feet of floor space. A handsome vestibule, adorned with choice specimens of photographic art, leads to the reception room on the first floor. The studio, 16 feet by 40 feet, was built from Mr. Hanna's own designs, and is admirably adapted for the purpose. The light is excellent, as the studio is glazed on both sides to within a few inches of the floor, and the appointments are elegant, the background scenery having been specially imported. Mr. Hanna's work is noted for excellence in quality, tone, and finish, and at the American Photographic Artists' Convention, in Washington, he secured a bronze medal in the foreign section. The “Photogram,” of May, 1894, devoted three pages to Mr. Hanna, his studio, and his work, in consequence of a packet of his photograms having been received in London. These were so beautiful that they were shown to the Photographic Club, and to the London and Provincial Photographic Association. The verdict was that no man in Britain was doing better all round portraiture, and Mr. Thomas Fall, the president of the Association, wrote to say that he had never seen such lovely work.

Mr. Hanna employs seven assistants, his portraits go all over the world, and he recently completed for a London gentleman an order for 300. His trade mark is an autograph “Hanna.”

There used to be on view in the vestibule of Mr. Hanna's studio a very fine shield, which contained the portraits of over 160 Aucklanders, deemed worthy of portraiture in connection with the district's jubilee in 1892. It is now in the Free Library, and will repay inspection as a specimen of fine photographic art, and as a collection of colonial and provincial worthies.

Mr. Hanna has been thirty-five years in Auckland, and as a Freemason he is Provincial Grand Secretary for New Zealand under the Irish Constitution.

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District] The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1902, Christchurch

Hanna's Photographic Studio

The extension of Mr J. R. Hanna's photographic business has induced him to make extensive alterations in his Queen-street studio and attachments, so that quite a transformation scene has taken place. Previous to the alterations there were only five rooms with studio. The additions and re-arrangements have increased the number to ten, exclusive of the studio.

Commencing at the entrance, the gate has been placed in a central position, and completely renovated, while the stairway has been renewed, and made wider than formerly. At the top of the stairs there is a small lobby leading into the waitingroom, on the right of which is the office and retouching room. Speaking tubes lead from this apartment to the gallery and printing room.

Beyond the waiting-room is Mr Hanna'a private office, a ladies' dressing-room, gentlemen's dressing-room, fitted with every convenience, and either the dark room or gallery can be entered from the main passage, securing privacy for visitors.

The studio is of admirable design and probably the best lighted in the colonies, and includes the most modern improvements. The objectionable head-rest is almost entirely done away with, and the ventilation of the studio is perfect. There is also a large sliding sash on the south side, which can be thrown right back for the purpose of taking dropshutter pictures of children.

Underneath the studio is a large room for washing and toning the pictures, and on the first and second floors there are rooms for storing negatives, enamelling and printingrooms, the latter having two useful sliding sashes facing the north. There is also a large projecting window, which enables printing to be done in wet weather if necessary, and the mounting and framing of pictures is done in a room sot apart for that purpose. On the whole, the arrangements appear to be as near perfection as possible, and Mr Hanna should reap his reward in due season.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 238, 7 October 1889, Page 4