Photographing COMFEST | Summer in Ohio

September 26, 2018 By // by kate

Three days after fully arriving in Ohio two years ago, we went to Bakersfield for dinner with my mom, to celebrate our arrival in Ohio. While at dinner, a MASSIVE rainstorm blew through, turning High Street into a lake. Shortly after the deluge started, people began streaming by the window we were seated at. I turned to mom and Jeff both and said, “Where ever they’re coming from, I want to go there. These are my people”.

From our server, I found out that they were leaving Comfest (say what?) due to the rain. The next year, Comfest fell on the weekend that Alicia and I left for the Southern Summer Road Trip, and as such, we were able to make it to Goodale for about two hours, enough time to check it out, and figure out that yup, I love this, and definitely want to come back next year when I can spend more time.

This year, I got to photograph the festival, for the festival.

Photographing COMFEST

The ever wonderful Megan Rivers of Eat Play Cbus tagged me in a Facebook status (more of a call to action from the organizers of Comfest, but, for all intents and purposes, same same) earlier this year, as they were looking to fill out their photography team.

I sent in the application immediately.

k.H.a. Lifestyle Photography was chosen to be one of the festival photographers this year, and I loved every second of it. Being able to capture the event (with a press pass, hell yes legitimacy) was a dream. My style, when it comes to photographing events of any kind is to do so from a photojournalistic stand point. Getting to photograph Comfest in that manner, and experience Comfest from behind my camera was perfect. I was able to soak it all in, document it, and kick around Goodale park in the early summer sunshine for a day.

I can’t wait for next year.

#khalifestylephotography #cookeatexplore #theladyh

Want to work with me? Contact@khalifestylephotography.com

Columbus SOUP | Photographing the Green Spoon Army

August 13, 2018 By // by kate

The first SOUP event that I photographed was last fall, the end of October to be exact. That Sunday, and that SOUP, wrapped up a weekend of photography that included Highball Halloween (shout out to Shiree, and all her badassery), Making Strides Against Breast Cancer for the ACS, a wedding (in Cincinnati), and doing the food for another photographer’s photo shoot.

It was driving home from doing the food that Liz and I connected via phone, both of us juggling about four more balls in the air than we should have, and somewhere in there, above and beyond our crazy juggling acts, we clicked.

I photographed my first SOUP that night, and a new collaboration was born.

#khalifestylephotography #kathrynheitkamp #columbusohio #greenspoonarmy #asseenincolumbus

Columbus SOUP | Photographing the Green Spoon Army

So, those balancing and juggling acts that I mentioned, clearly I need to pull a couple of those bad boys back in, as it’s now August and I’m (finally) getting to blogging the SOUP events that I’ve since photographed.

#adultingSpring

Getting Sloshed for SOUP

Aside from each seasonal SOUP, this year, for Liz’s birthday, everyone headed to Landgrant Brewing to get sloshed for SOUP.

Yup. You read that right.

Sloshed for SOUP. The community came together to hang out, have fantastic OH! Burgers, drink really good beer and do a small part to raise the level of the SOUP grant.

Changing How Columbus Thinks About Philanthropy

We live in a city that embraces good ideas, and Columbus SOUP provides a platform to share those ideas at the ground level and make connections that matter. Through quarterly community events, local organizations gain needed funding by presenting their ideas for creating positive change in our city. Attendees at our events pay a $7 minimum donation for dinner and a vote. Cash donations are combined to create a micro-grant, and everyone at the event votes for which of the projects wins the grant.
Call it a kickstarter, call it crowdfunding, call it a giving circle—we call it Columbus SOUP.
Columbussoup.org

Event Photography

Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world.
– Bruno Barbey

.what to expect.

Event coverage is FUN. I love being able to capture the details and tell the story of an event, from the fine details of the tables and decor, the Emcee, the presenters, and the signage. I love all of it.

.planning.

I’m a firm believer that in order to capture and tell the story of an event, the relationship between yourselves and your photographer is hugely important. During any event, there are countless moving pieces, and about a million balls in the air at any given moment.

Shot lists, timelines, and often Commercial Usage Licenses, are involved. It’s been my experience that everything is a whole more enjoyable for all involved to meet prior to signing contracts.

As such, I like to sit down with my clients, both long time and prospective, over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine at the end of the workday as an initial consultation for all events.

Once we’ve both decided that we’re a good fit, contracts are drawn up & signed by all parties, invoices sent, and we’re off.

.product delivery.

Here’s where deliverables can start to get a bit more involved.

Depending on the coverage options and package that is built, a digital gallery may be available as well, if we’re going down a commercial path.

Once your event has been captured, it will take me no longer than three weeks to develop & finalize your gallery. Once it’s complete, we’ll have a reveal session at which you will select the images for the products you wish to order.

Orders are delivered no more than 30 days from the date the order is finalized. (i.e., the money clears)

Questions? Let’s sit down for a cup of coffee!

The Second Annual Live Pod Cast Event | The Wine & Shine Podcast

May 31, 2018 By // by kate

THE SECOND ANNUAL LIVE POD CAST EVENT | THE WINE & SHINE PODCAST AT LIT+LIFE YOGA

I met Liz and Nina, the duo behind the Wine & Shine Podcast, last year, when we teamed up to create a lifestyle branding photography for the podcast, and I subsequently became the Wine & Shine’s photographer.

These two women y’all, they’re seriously kick ass. They’re passionate about what they do, passionate about supporting and lifting up other women (something that is SERIOUSLY lacking in todays world), and all around passionate about life.

Last year they hosted their first ever live podcast event, at Allie and Adam Lehman’s Wonder Jam, with guests Katie Dalebout, Taylor Riggs, and Simi Biotic (legit, the energy that these babes bring together is phenomenal). This year, the Second Annual Wine & Shine Live Podcast was held at Lit+Life Yoga, and featured Ashley Rector, the founder of Harness Magazine, and the powerhouse health coach that is Julie Wojno.

The light, and energy, and good jujus that filled the Lit+Life that night, real kick ass, and real fun to photograph.

Short and Stout, Columbus’ favorite mobile bar, kept the wine flowing in the cool evening air, and the light that night? It was perfect.

Want to work with me? Hello@khalifestylephotography.com

#wineandshinepodcast #juliewojno #ashleyrector #harnessmagazine #litlifeyoga #shortandstoutbar #columbusohio #womensupportingwomen #blogandbizbabes #khalifestylephotography

Arthritis Foundation Gala ‘18, a Black Tie Affair

March 12, 2018 By // by kate

Arthritis Foundation Gala ’18 // The Crystal Ball

Last fall, I met Liz Martin, of the Arthritis Foundation through a mutual acquaintance who was at Slow Foods Shake the Hand That Feeds You dinner. We connected on a Sunday morning as I was driving to that mornings shoot, Columbus SOUP’s fall event was that evening, and the photographer that they’d had lined up had to back out at the last-minute due to a family emergency, Liz and I were put in touch, and the rest is history. She reached out again this winter, when it came time to hire a photographer for Arthritis Foundation’s annual fundraising gala, The Crystal Ball.

Arthritis Foundation Mission Statement

For those of you not familiar with what the Arthritis Foundation does, their mission statement is this,

The Arthritis Foundation is the Champion of Yes. Leading the fight for the arthritis community, the Arthritis Foundation helps conquer everyday battles through life-changing information and resources, access to optimal care, advancements in science and community connections. Our goal is to chart a winning course, guiding families in developing personalized plans for living a full life – and making each day another stride towards a cure. We also publish Arthritis Today, the award-winning magazine that reaches 4.2 million readers. – Arthritis.org

Photographing a black tie fundraising gala? Yes please.

The gala was held this year at Villa Milano, in Westerville, and was so. much. fun. When I’m photographing an event, the frozen, staid portrait isn’t something that you’re going to get. The standard step and repeat? No thanks. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to have fun. And oh man did we.

Everyone that opted to have their photo taken ended up laughing and having snuggling thier date, or making funny faces at the camera, or really any combination of both.

A bunch of money was raised to help work towards a cure for arthritis, and we all got to rock out to Mojo Flow while we did it.

To be guided to the gallery, please click either the above image, or, simply click [HERE] to be taken to the gallery log in.

Arthritis Foundation Gala ’18

Arthritis Foundation Gala ’18

Slow Food Columbus’ Annual Shake the Hand that Feeds You Dinner

October 12, 2017 By // by kate

The Slow Food movement, started by Carlo Petrini, is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. The way that I was introduced to Slow Food is that it encompasses something far more encompassing than that. It’s about taking the time to slow down and enjoy a meal with friends, away from the busy and hectic of our daily lives.

Tuesday I sat down with two friends at a place I’d not been to yet, (make sure to follow along with the food side of my life over at Cook.Eat.Explore) to hear more about all that, but the point was made, by Chef Thom Stevenson, that it’s not possible to sit down and share a meal, with someone you don’t respect and like. Sure, you can sit down and shovel something that resembles food in your face, but that’s not slow food.

Slow food is sitting down and connecting with people you enjoy while sharing a meal. It’s about connecting with each other. At least that’s how we were raised with it.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it ::

Slow Food began in Italy with the founding of its forerunner organisation, Arcigola, in 1986 to resist the opening of a McDonald’s near the Spanish Steps in Rome.^[3] In 1989, the founding manifesto of the international Slow Food movement was signed in Paris, France by delegates from 15 countries.^[4]

At its heart is the aim to promote local foods and traditional gastronomy and food production. Conversely this means an opposition to fast food, industrial food production and globalisation.^[5]

The Slow Food organisation has expanded to include over 100,000 members with branches in over 150 countries.^[6] Over 1,300 local convivia chapters exist. 360 convivia in Italy—to which the name condotta (singular) / condotte (plural) applies—are composed of 35,000 members, along with 450 other regional chapters around the world. The organisational structure is decentralised: each convivium has a leader who is responsible for promoting local artisans, local farmers, and local flavors through regional events such as Taste Workshops, wine tastings, and farmers’ markets.

Offices have been opened in Switzerland (1995), Germany (1998), New York City (2000), France (2003), Japan (2005), the United Kingdom, and Chile. Global headquarters are located in Bra, near Turin, Italy. Numerous publications are put out by the organisation, in several languages around the world. Recent efforts at publicity include the world’s largest food and wine fair, the Salone del Gusto in Turin, a biennial cheese fair in Bra called Cheese, the Genoan fish festival called SlowFish, and Turin‘s Terra Madre (“Mother Earth”) world meeting of food communities.

This is how we grew up, this is what was instilled in us (thanks Mom) from forever, so when I found out that Slow Food Columbus wanted me to photograph the 10th annual Shake the Hand That Feeds You Dinner, I was THROUGH THE ROOF. Hell yes. I was so in.

Being at that dinner, and around all amazing and inspiring chefs that were there to combine thier talents to feed everyone, the farmers whose farms produced what those chefs were using, and a great group of people who were there because this is what they support… phenomenal. Not only did I get to be there, I got to photograph it. I got to check something off of my photography bucket list.

Food Photography from the Mind of a Chef

We should be dealing in culinary orgasms.

– Bradley Cooper as Adam Jones

Cook.Eat.Explore

I’m a trained Chef and Professional Photographer, or according to LinkedIn, A Content Creator Drawing on Years of Photography, Corporate Sales, and Throwing of Dinner Parties.

November 2016 saw the collision of my two professional worlds, I took a massive leap and started Cook.Eat.Explore, which is the food and travel side of my photographic life.

What this means to you, is this: my wide and varied career path that has brought me to this point, corporate sales (fashion retail, then diamonds & banking, respectively), a really great track record of making mistakes, some far more entertaining than others, and here we are.

Drawing from 30 plus years of travel, professional kitchens, and lavish dinner parties, using WHATEVER is handy to take a snapshot or photograph (be forewarned, if we’re out together, your phone’s camera will be considered fair game when mine’s battery dies), growing up cooking, learning from family, friends, and anyone else willing to answer my thousands of questions, with a couple of absolutely epic, now and forever a part of family lore failures along the way… (ask me sometime about the five-alarm chili, or the very first time I decided I could bake without a recipe…it was bad. Quinten Tarantino bloodshed bad)

I’ve long talked friends into throwing lavish dinner parties with me for our parents and friends, drafting them as my sous chef’s, starting when I was in high school, feeding friends and throwing together big pasta dinners with a more the merrier approach to life.

One of my earliest memories is a friend of my Dad’s telling him that when I grew up if we were throwing a dinner party and someone asked to bring a last minute guest, my response would almost certainly be “Who the hell are they? F&*% it, it doesn’t matter, of course, they can come!”

Remarkably accurate prediction of the future and perhaps where my love of profane words started.

Fast forward into college, I spent a lot of years working in hospitality in one form or another, I’ve bartended, waited tables, been a hostess, had a brief stint as a cocktail waitress in a rather seedy establishment that shall forever remain nameless, ran the kitchen of a wine bar & bistro, worked the line in a now-defunct small Italian restaurant (in which I also bartended), worked the line in another rather famous Portland restaurant who had the bad habit of bouncing paychecks, created the menu for, and did all the legwork for weekend breakfasts, at a (again) now defunct, tiny bistro in a tony Portland suburb.

Throughout all of this I’ve collected cookbooks, and have spent COUNTLESS hours pouring over them, trying to learn everything I can about why they’re laid out the way they are, which recipes are easy to read and follow, which have appealing photography (again, and the why behind it), and cultivated an innate love of entertaining (thanks Mom & Dad).

Growing up, my Mom made certain that we traveled extensively as a family, and as such, my brother and I were very blessed to have passports full of stamps from a very young age, and have had many an adventure exploring. While last in Germany we ended up raising a glass (or four) at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, the night that Mexico played (and beat) Germany, in Germany. Both my mom and I speak Spanish, and ended up celebrating with the Mexico fans, singing Cielito Lindo at the top of our lungs, quite possibly also from the top of the table, though that part is hazy…

Throughout it all, a small handful of things have remained constant. My love(s) of cooking, people, traveling, and photography.

Which brings us back to now. I’ve rolled them all up into one and jumped.

I’ll learn to fly on the way down.

My husband, God love him, asks me often if there are any strangers to me, and the answer is the invariable “nope, just friend’s I haven’t met yet”. Aside from being my partner in life, he’s decided to join me on this foodie journey, and while he’s not planning on being a super active or vocal participant in Cook.Eat.Explore, you can definitely expect to see his contributions on our blog from time to time.

Join us, on this crazy wonderful journey through new cities, small towns, big name cookbooks, tiny hole in the wall restaurants, with a big handful of my own recipes tossed into the mix as well, after all, the happiest I am is surrounded by friends in my kitchen, cooking, laughing, and sharing a bottle (or twelve) of wine. Wear cozy clothes, and be prepared to crash in one of our guest rooms.

Want to learn more about Cook.Eat.Explore?

Night of Chocolate 2017 | Cancer Support Community of Central Ohio

October 11, 2017 By // by kate

I can’t believe that it’s already been a year since I first photographed the Night of Chocolate, the fundraising gala for Cancer Support Communities of Central Ohio. I really can’t believe that we’ve lived in Ohio for 18 months. Time seems to be going by faster and faster each year. Capturing this years Night of Chocolate was a happy anniversary of sorts for me, and I was thrilled to be ableI to capture and document it again this year.

Volunteerism is a value that we grew up with (thank you Momma, for instilling this in both Alex and I from a young age) and being able to donate my time and talents to this great organization is so much fun.

Their mission is this ::

As the largest professionally led nonprofit network of cancer support worldwide, the Cancer Support Community (CSC), including its Gilda’s Club affiliates, is dedicated to ensuring that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community. CSC achieves its mission through three areas: direct service delivery, research, and advocacy. The organization includes an international network of Affiliates that offer the highest quality social and emotional support for people impacted by cancer, as well as a community of support available online and over the phone. The Research and Training Institute conducts cutting-edge psychosocial, behavioral, and survivorship research. CSC furthers its focus on patient advocacy through its Cancer Policy Institute, informing public policy in Washington, D.C. and across the nation.

– Cancersupportcommunities.com

I love it. I couldn’t believe in what they do more.

This 2017 Inspiration Award winner is Cheryl Eddie, who I was fortunate enough to be able to spend an afternoon with Cheryl, capturing her portraits. She is a phenomenal woman, and so beautiful, both inside and out. Watching her walk on stage to accept her award was really fun. I’m also pretty sure that I’m the only one who let out a huge whoop of excitement.

If you weren’t in attendance last year, or this one, get it on yo’ calendar for next year, and make sure you come by.

Huge thank you to Amberly, the PHENOMENAL force of nature behind Merriment.Imaging, and Dominique of DMP photography for bringing thier talents with me to capture the evening.