Kim’s Photography Journey

Tell us about yourself.

My current title is a wife, mother and elopement photographer. I’ve been married for five and a half years. That's crazy! My husband’s name is Caleb. I have a crazy son named Augie who is seven months old. He's a weirdo ;) His personality is silly. I love watching him laugh and seeing him grow up.

What is important to you?

What's important to me? Making memories with the people that I love, whether that’s elopement photography, the outdoors…

How do you like making memories?

Making memories in the outdoors is where we thrive! We thrive in the summer because that's when it's the warmest and easiest to be outside. Adventures are more easily accessible. We like to spend a lot of our time in the woods, especially on lakes. We love to kayak. We love to go on lots of hikes and walks.

We live to do that, not only just with our little family, but with our friends. We’ve noticed that we're also our best selves when we're outside in nature. That's where the best conversations happen. I feel like that’s where the best connections are made.

How long have you been taking photos? Tell us about your journey.

It's been about five years, but professionally it's been about four. I was working at Zion Ponderosa Ranch in the backyard of Zion National Park. I started working there every summer since I was 15. That's where my love for the outdoors and adventure started to grow.

One summer one of my coworkers was selling his really cheap canon camera. I don’t remember what type. It was nothing fancy at all. Just a beginner camera, along with some kit lenses and a camera backpack. I bought it all for $400 and remember as soon as I got it, I sat down on a chair outside of my little room. It was sunset. I don't know why I remember that, but I remember it.

It was a pretty calm night. The weather was perfect, and all the chaos was gone. I remember just looking at my camera and being so fascinated by the term Bokeh.  B. O. K. E. H, I think, which is pretty much where one subject is in focus compared to the background, which is blurry. I remember being sooo fascinated by that!

I don't know why I bought the camera? I just think I was bored. So I bought it, and remember playing with it by taking pictures of random things. Then when I went back home when summer was over, I started taking pictures of people.

Well, first I was taking pictures of nature, outdoors and landscapes just for fun. I didn’t have a goal or anything. But soon I started taking pictures of people and then people started paying money for me to take pictures. I have to be honest. That's kind of why I got into photography.

I didn't start taking pictures because I just loved it. I think I got into photography when I started taking landscapes of the outdoors and adventures. Then I realized that you can make a job out of it. That’s when I really decided to make it a thing.

When people started paying me that’s when I began taking pictures of literally everything that people would pay me for. Babies. I think I took pictures of a funeral once. Some random old man's piano concert in Oregon. Couples and family pictures. 

Slowly over time, I figured out what I liked and what I didn’t like taking pictures of. I was also working at Subway as well. Once I started to make more money doing photography than at Subway, then that’s when I decided to do the cutoff.

I was also in school at the same time. I hardly have time for photography during school and Subway, so I quit and practiced photography during my free time. When I finally graduated. That’s when I thought “okay I can really, really start actually doing this full time.”

I know a lot of people think it's really scary to go into photography full-time without a security net, but I was so excited and ready for a long time because I was in school, and I felt like school was holding me back. When I finally could, it was exciting for me.

It probably helped that my husband was working a little bit while he was in school as well. We were getting fafsa. I think if we didn't have that, maybe I'd be a little bit more nervous to do it, but I was so excited and confident because people were already paying me.

Time is the thing. Time is so valuable. And once I could get more of that, I could start doing it more. Long answer short. I've been doing it for four to five years.

What did you study and graduate in? What did you learn?

I graduated in art with an emphasis in photography. I made that my major because I didn't know what else to do, so eventually, I thought “I don't know. I'll just try it.”

I was always told that you just go to college after high school, so I did a semester of generals. I didn't know what I was doing. I hated it. So I took off a year to work. Afterwards, I went back and made photography my major. I hadn't even started taking pictures yet. That's the weird part.

Looking back, I feel like if I were going more into gallery and fine artwork it would have been more beneficial, or if I wanted to work in a dark room.  Don’t get me wrong. That was my favorite class. I loved working with film and being hands-on. But that was only one class, and it was near the end.

My college career felt like most of my time was spent working on generals. It seemed like seventy-five percent of my schooling involved generals and beginning art history classes. It’s fun to have that knowledge, but, again, it was not beneficial for what I wanted to do.

If I could know what I know now and tell my younger self I would a hundred percent not go to college and would put that money that I would spend on college and put it towards a mentor, courses and workshops. That’s so much more valuable to me. But that’s only if I knew what I wanted to do.

I can't really have any regrets in that way when I look back. I did learn some things from college, but I wish I knew the way I wanted to go because I definitely learned way more from my fellow elopement photographers and mentors. I even hired a mentor for a ton of money that wasn't a photographer. She's an entrepreneur.

Do you have a favorite moment where you knew you wanted to be an elopement photographer?

Honestly, the first thing that comes to my mind… there's a moment after a really good shoot with a couple that I vibe with. It's outdoors. It's always after the shoot right after they leave. I'm there by myself. I think, “wow, that was so awesome. We vibed so well together. They love each other so much. Their relationship is awesome.”  I'm confident that I captured their relationship in a perfect way for them. I’m surrounded by nature, whether that's in the woods (I really vibe with the woods) or it could be a desert sunset or something.

There's always that moment after a shoot where I sit there and reflect. I’m like “ahh this is like the best life in the world!” I don’t know how to explain it, but this is that very specific moment. When I’m done the couple gets in their car and I say bye. It's draining, but I also think, “oh, that was so good!”

One more question. How do you prepare for a shoot?

Well, I could answer this question a lot of different ways. The day before I try to make sure all my camera batteries are charged and ready to go. I make sure I have enough SD cards. Lots of backups. I make sure I have my backup lenses, backup cameras, and I make sure that everything is packed: hard drives, laptop and whatever else I need. Water, snacks. All the little things that you may need to play in the outdoors, like music. I always make sure to have my offline playlist downloaded and my offline maps as well. Many times we don't have service where we are. That’s the short answer.

But the first thing I thought of when you asked me how I prepare… it really starts when the couple reaches out to me because the more I get to know them ahead of time before I meet them, the more comfortable they feel around me. 

Usually, the first time I meet them is when they're getting married and I'm hanging out with them all day. A hundred percent of the time when I meet them for the first time it doesn't feel like I'm meeting them for the first time.

It’s so fun, and it's so chill. I think it's because of the preparation that we've done ahead of time. I want to know what's important to them on the day that they get eloped. I want to know what things are important to take pictures of, like something that their grandma gave them or knowing that this is their favorite song. So then I'm prepared and have it downloaded so I can play it for them during their shoot. Anyways, things like that.

Is there anything else you want the audience to know about you?

If you thrive and connect to the outdoors, then we will be a very good match.

The most important thing to me is if experiences and memories are important to you rather than just doing it for the photo, then we are a good match. If you want to just do it for the photo, then maybe not so much.

And what makes you different than other elopement photographers?

I will get those shots where you want to smile for the photo and you know the shot that are for your grandma's fridge, but it's more important to me to capture those memories that you may actually not even realize, like the raindrops on your flowers or something. So you can remember, “oh, yeah, it was super rainy for a second randomly!”

Things like that. Or taking pictures of the mud on your dress. Hopefully, you don't mind your dress getting dirty by the way ;)

Lastly, do you have a team?

It used to just be me and my family supporting me, but now I have recently decided to team up with Amanda Dixon. She is an elopement planner, and basically a social media guru and blog writer.  She does all the things that I don't want to do so I can focus just on what I want to focus on.

She makes it so that you can find my business, so that my business reaches the people who understand the value I’m trying to offer. Her title as elopement planner means when you book with me I will focus on taking your pictures, and Amanda plans out your day, tailored to you so that all they have to do is experience it and make memories!