Print Yo’ Photos

July 29, 2020 By // by kate

Collaborating with my clients to create heirloom artwork that they and their families will be able to pass down through generations is LIFE. Seriously. Life.

IB Art kicked off not only my study of the interplay of emotion and art through documentary photography, but the actual creation and expression of my own body of work. From there, a degree in psychology.

Print Yo’ Photos

I’ve documented my life, and by proxy, the lives of those around me since I was 16 years old, and studied emotions since I was 18.

(For those of you keeping score, that means I’ve had a camera in hand for more than half of my life.)

Enter Lifestyle Documentary

Sessions are built around celebrating and documenting who you are.

Want to do it up Black Tie? GREAT. Want to kick it and cuddle on the couch in sweats with steaming hot mugs and piles of books? FANTASTIC. Digital Nomad? YUP.

We can do that, too.

The saying that “You’ll never know the true value of a photograph until it’s gone.”, you can’t know how true that is, until you do.

Show up in photos. Take up that space. Then print them, hang them on your walls, set them on the shelves in your office.

Document your moments, because this life is not a dress rehearsal.

Second Shooting | Jorgensen Farms

July 20, 2018 By // by kate

A photographer friend of mine, Jason, who owns and runs Jason Joseph Photography, called and asked if I wanted to second shoot a wedding with him, and my answer was a pretty immediate, duh. As our conversation progressed and we chatted through the details, I found out that the venue for the day was to be Jorgensen Farms. Hell yes. Jorgensen Farms has been on my photography bucket list for a while, and I was stoked.

Second Shooting | Jorgensen Farms

Second shooting weddings has fast become one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon (or day, depending on the wedding, and the photographer that is the primary) I get to show up, capture the day, hand over the files as outlined in the contract that k.H.a. has with the primary studio, and head home to flip through the files that I captured, edit those that I have a big draw towards, and then switch back over to working on the other projects I have on my desk.

Jorgensen Farms as a Wedding Venue

The calm, peaceful, WONDERFUL energy that the owners have cultivated hits you as soon as you set foot out of the car in the gravel parking area. You can feel the love and care and attention to detail that has gone into cultivating the Historic Barn (and property as a whole) into a venue and event space. It’s fantastic. The light out there, phenomenal.

The wedding that Jason and I photographed together took place in the back fields, the reception in the Historic Barn. The bride and bridesmaids got ready and dressed in the yellow house, to the right of the Arena, the fellas in the grey house (Jason covered those details, while I spend time with the ladies)

The Historic Barn venue is divided into four unique areas: The Potting Shed and Patio welcomes guests onto a cozy brick patio made from reclaimed materials; The Arena provides rustic charm for your wedding or event; the versatile Main Barn post and beam structure offers a unique area for appetizers, indoor dancing, seating and more; and the Flower Field stretches across half an acre with expansive flower beds that bloom throughout the seasons, and holds space for maximum seating. – Jorgensen-Farms.com/events

Ya’ll. This place seriously rocks, and made photographing the day a dream.

Want to work with me? Hello@khalifestylephotography.com

#khalifestylephotography #kathrynheitkamp #jorgensenfarms #ohioweddings #jasonjosephphotography #weddingday #portraits

Dudes & Details | Working with Heather

June 2, 2018 By // by kate

Dudes & Details | Working with Heather

I met Heather Marlin seven or so days after moving to Ohio two years ago when we both attended a workshop on boudoir photography lead by Erica Coffman at UA Creative. We clicked. (hah. I made an unintentional funny.) She owns and runs Big Fish Stories Photography and Design, and she is one of the best and coolest women I know.

When she called and asked if I wanted to second for her at a wedding, capturing the moments and memories by way of wrangling groomsmen and documenting the details. I was all in. Anytime she calls to ask if I want to get my camera out with her, I’m down. (I get to wrangle babies at her newborn sessions (read = I snuggle the wee ones so that Heather do her thang, and the new mom and dad get a couple of hours to close their eyes or watch tv in her studio sitting room) it rocks)

Anytime she calls to ask if I want to get my camera out with her, I’m down.

Upon arriving a the hotel, Heather headed off with the ladies, to document the getting ready portion of the day with the bride and bridesmaids, and headed off to find the room the groom and groomsmen were hanging out in prior to the ceremony.

These dudes were so much fun to hang out with. They’ve all been friends since most of them could remember, and the love and deeeeeeep rooted affection they’ve all got for each other, it was palpable that day.

Heather, I’ll come shoot for you anytime.

Interested in working with me? Hello@khalifestylephotography.com

Christina + Jeff // A Dayton Wedding

November 10, 2017 By // by kate

Jeff has damn near 100 first cousins. Yup. You read that right. ONE HUNDRED FIRST COUSINS. (technically, I think it’s 97, but you get the gist) One of those cousins, his wife, and their three kiddos moved to Columbus the same time that we did last year, down to a matter of days difference. Since then, Matt and I have talked about getting together to shoot, and as we’ve been tossing around date ideas, nothing had ever stuck.

So when he called me a couple weeks ago, on I think a Monday, and asked if I wanted to go shoot a wedding with him the following Thursday, which I happened to have open, I was down. I grabbed the closest pen, scribbled it into my planner (seriously, I’d be so lost without that book), and didn’t asked any more questions. Matt told me he’d pick me up at two, and that worked for me.

Day of, he picked me up, and as we drove I was asking Matt the various questions I’d ask anyone I was second shooting for, Are they planning on doing a first look? What about a shot list? Do you know what family portraits are important?

To which he responded with one of the two following answers :: “Dunno”, or, “Not Sure”. Finally, I went with, “So tell me what you know about the wedding. The answer? The address, and the start time.

Awesome.

We got to the park in which the wedding took place, and it blew my mind with how gorgeous it was, the only question I had for Matt at that point was “how open to portraits are they?”

Thankfully, they were down.

We got to play with the light and come up with some awesome portraits.

Haley + Dane | k.H.a. lifestyle photography | Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

September 25, 2017 By // by kate

I met Haley last year, in the fall, while I was bouncing back and forth between Columbus and Portland and as we chatted, the fact that I’m a photographer came up. Then the fact that she and her fiance, Dane, were in the planning stages of thier wedding, and that they were still looking for a photographer.

We swapped info, and planned to connect later in the fall.

Once life started to settle down, we made that connection and Haley I started talking more about what they were looking for wedding photography wise and we were off.

The love between Haley and Dane is so calm, and so peaceful, and I was so lucky to get to photograph the day that they became husband and wife.

Thier wedding was held at a private residence in Canal Winchester, in gorgeous garden, one in which the beds looked as though they’d always been there. The koi in the pond danced below the surface of the pond, playing with Haley and Danes children, who watched with HUGE smiles as the I-do’s were said.

Haley’s couture gown was designed around her vision for the day, and the heart shaped back of the gown, SO FREAKING COOL!

Damien Tobi, a designer here in Columbus, tapped into his genius, and built the perfect gown. Haley glowed, in a way spread to every person that was there to celebrate with them. She and Dane, thier love is calm, and peaceful, and seeing them say I do, it was magical.

Second Shooting | Amber + Elle Photography // k.H.a. lifestyle photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

August 6, 2017 By // by kate

I met Mariah Ellenwood last summer, shortly after arriving in Ohio at a headshot swap. She and I have shot together more than once since then, and every time is so much fun.

This June, I drove out to Coshocton (which is about an hour and a half East of Columbus, and it is a BEAUTIFUL drive out there and back) to second shoot a wedding with her, walked into the room in the church where everyone was getting ready, and stopped dead in my tracks. That days bride, she was a dread ringer for my girl Erin, back in Portland. DEAD RINGER.

The entire day was filled with love, laughter, and GORGEOUS light.

The kicker? She recognized me too. Surreal doesn’t even begin to cover it. The entire day was filled with love, laughter, and GORGEOUS light.

Also, the only wedding I’ve ever shot at which the parents of the bride went out and bought everyone Arby’s for lunch, and at which we were running so far ahead of schedule that we ended up having a 45 minute Arby’s picnic at the park in between photos. Pretty kick ass, and will be hard to beat.

Until Erin get’s married, of course.

Love is Love is Love is Love // k.H.a. lifestyle photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

June 20, 2017 By // by kate

This weekend was Pride, though unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure that that is something y’all are already aware of. And if you’re not, well, we need to have an entirely different conversation.

As I was scrolling through Facebook this morning, another blogger that I have crazy huge respect for made a statement that rang so true for me that I have to share it. “Human rights are not optional”. Megan, the kick ass babe behind EatPlayCbus, nailed with those five words.

Human rights are not optional.

The right to marry whomever you love (granted all parties of the legal age of consent and whatnot) isn’t something that should ever be up for debate.

Being there for the fun times, the really shitty times, the times that make you feel like you’re banging your head against a wall, (if you’be ever been married you know exactly what I’m talking about), the times of contentment, and the times that every couple dreads the most and hopes that they are years away from, being allowed into the ICU to make end of life decisions, to the seasons of life that are so full of joy that you feel like you could explode happiness everywhere, its all a part of being married.

The right to marry whomever you love (granted all parties of the legal age of consent and whatnot) isn’t something that should ever be up for debate.

And if two people want to tie that knot, rock on.

I am such a big believer that love is Love is Love that I forget that other people don’t see it that way. I will never tell someone what to believe, that’s up to each and every individual, but I will say this;

I will NEVER tolerate hateful words, towards anyone. It’s no different that bullying on the playground, in my opinion, and that’s something I didn’t tolerate then, and I most certainly will not tolerate it now. (Consider this fair warning to anyone who feels the need to post hateful speech anywhere on any of my various pages and social media channels, it will not be tolerated.)

Love is love is love. #columbusohio #khalifestylephotography #lgbtq Share on X

The same sex weddings that I’ve been blessed to be a part of and to photograph have been the most joyous and celebratory weddings that I’ve shot.

Earlier this year another photographer invited me to come and shoot with her at a styled shoot she had spent months working on, and I was thrilled to be asked. Once I’d expressed my excitement at joining her for a few hours, she rather tentatively brought up that it was a styled wedding shoot with two brides, and something in her voice and the way she led up to it made me look up from what I was doing, so that by the time she got to the twin brides part I was looking at her.

I will NEVER tolerate hateful words, towards anyone. It’s no different that bullying on the playground, in my opinion, and that’s something I didn’t tolerate then, and I most certainly will not tolerate it now

She was clearly waiting for my reaction with baited breath, unsure of what my response may be, and clearly was guarding herself for the worst. My response?

Fuck yes I’m in.

It breaks my heart that she’s clearly received some not so fantastic responses from others, and she herself is in fact heterosexual.

I second shot a wedding earlier this spring that was two of the coolest women I’ve had the chance to meet. As one of the brides brothers was giving his speech he talked about how brace these women were, and that he viewed them as heros for being willing to stand up and and proclaim their love for each other knowing that they would, and already had, faced such challenges.

It took me a minute to figure out what challenges he was talking about. The first thought that ran through my head was oh no, one of them is sick? It struck me in that moment, that to me, theirs was a wedding. Not a same sex wedding, not a lesbian wedding, just a wedding.

So today, I’m celebrating the kick ass couples that I’ve photographed who simply happen to have the same chromosomes.

Love is Love is Love.

Human rights are not optional

Randall+Sugar | Wedding Day

Steph Parker Styled Shoot

Emily + Krista

Folk + Wayfarer Second Shooting

Second Shooting with Folk + Wayfarer | k.H.a. lifestyle photography | Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

June 8, 2017 By // by kate

I met Tessa Woolworth, the dynamo owner of Folk + Wayfarer Photography one year ago (almost exactly) when I attended a bridal photography workshop that she hosted in Columbus, and immediately knew that I wanted to work with her in a real setting. By real, I mean not a workshop, rather an actual wedding.

She and I stayed in touch after the work shop while our lives went on, and I mentioned in passing that if she ever had need for a second shooter that I’d love to be considered, and went back to the general crazy of life. Tessa reached out to me early this spring to ask if I would second shoot for her, for a wedding up in Canton. YES. Absolutely.

Then I did the happy dance around my office.

Second shooting, for those not familiar with the photography world, is when a photographer has been hired to photograph a wedding, or an event, or a (fill in the blank), and the client has either requested, or the primary photographer has chosen to bring in a second camera to assist in documenting the day. While large studios and larger companies have a roster of shooters that they can assign, us smaller shops that don’t have that same roster at our disposal, (which is often 100% by choice), so we hire other photographers who’s work we love, who’s business practices we respect, and who we just generally enjoy to come and work with us for the day.

For me, seconding shooting is an absolute ball. I love it. Don’t get me wrong, I love being the primary as well, the two rolls are very different, and awesome for very different reasons.

When you shoot wth someone else the opportunity to learn and grow is HUGE.

While seconding for someone else, there is this amazing opportunity to watch what they do, how they do it, and why they do it the way that they do.

I FREAKING LOVE IT.

Tessa picked me up that morning, quick stop and Starbucks, then we were on the road.

I have never met a couple more organized when it came to timeline and organization, and oh man, it made shooting a dream. They scheduled in plenty of time for photography and had scouted out gorgeous locations for photos. Plus, they were so crazy in love with each other that it made shooting a dream.