Courtney | k.H.a. lifestyle photography | Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

April 11, 2017 By // by kate

THIS IS COURTNEY

I met Courtney through an event at I was at through the Other side of my life, Cook.Eat.Explore .

Pretty much immediately we hit it off, and I knew that I wanted to get her in front of my camera, and wanted to capture the fun and feisty side of her personality.

So I asked her if she’d be willing to pose for me.

She said yes.

I still marvel at the light that fills this house during the day, and easy it is to pop up my backdrop stand, toss a roll of seamless paper onto it, and bam. Studio space.

This is Courtney. #khalifestylephotography #columbusohio #cbusphotographer Share on X

Courtney got here, stand went up, and we got to work. Which includes me taking a few frames to test the light, make sure that my settings are right, and gives her the chance to start to settle in and get used to the camera. Because let me tell you it is not easy, and at first, it is supremely uncomfortable.

Enter wine.

I put a glass of wine in her hands, and really got to work.

One of the biggest beliefs I hold true, especially in my business is that I want to put people at ease, and to show me who they really are, letting me capture their personalities, not the staid portrait that you can buy at outdated anchor stores in the mall.

In order to do so, I create interaction with my clients, putting something in thier hands, something for them to fiddle with, and where appropriate, a glass of wine.

Now, before jumping all over me for encouraging my of age clients to have a glass of wine, I want you to read this article, featuring the awesome Marcos Alberti.

Then we can talk about it. Over a glass of wine.

Spending the afternoon hanging out, getting to know her more, and playing with the light that came streaming in the skylights was so much fun.

I can’t wait to have her back.

Featured on LadyBossBloggers // k.H.a. lifestyle photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

April 10, 2017 By // by kate

Kathryn Heitkamp is a photographer and blogger who finds inherent joy in entertaining, exploring the world, meeting new people and learning their stories. She’s a lover of paper planners, copious amounts of caffeine, red wine, gold fish crackers, good manicures, lattes, big Jackie-O style sunglasses, sparkling water, blue pens, lipstick, and black yoga-esque pants & boots (or sandals in the summer months). She has had a camera in her hands for as long as she can remember, a background in professional kitchens, and has a big workaholic problem. Read our interview with the lovely Kathryn below…

What motivated and inspired you to start your own business?

After a long and incredibly wearing attempt to fit into Corporate America, I left that world to regroup. Then three months later, my husband and I moved across the country to Columbus, Ohio, leaving our family in Portland, Oregon to be closer to our family in Ohio. I dove into establishing my business in a completely new market and haven’t looked back since.

Tell us about your business.

My photography studio has a few different facets:

Under my “k.H.a.lifestyle photography brand” I do weddings, portraits, and events.
Under my “cook.eat.explore brand” I do food photography. Food and photography have both been long time passions of mine and rather than trying to decide between the two (and with the support and final push from my husband) I decided to embrace both!

I work with my clients to capture the truest portraits, working to put them at ease in front of my camera. I find the most joy in hearing my clients say, “That’s me? Oh wow, I’ve hated every portrait of myself before now, and I LOVE that one!”

On the cook.eat.explore side of my business, I interview local chefs, restauranteurs, and the big dogs of the local food scene, bringing to life their passions and art for my readers. My goal is to get people out of the suburbs and chain restaurants and into local farm to table restaurants.

List awards/certifications/accomplishments.

I entered 50 of my favorite photos from 2016 into the Shoot & Share contest, and had three rank! One placed in the top 10% and two in the top 20% of over 300,000 photos entered.

Where is your business based?

I travel the country for my clients and am based out of Columbus, Ohio.

What were the first few steps you took to get your business up and running?

I have had a camera in my hand for as long as I can remember, so once the decision was made to fully kick off my business, I spent the first year focusing on the legal side of things, making sure that all my ducks were in a row. Once contracts and processes were in place, websites up and running, the marketing started. From there, it’s been a rollercoaster of networking, shooting, traveling for clients, editing, and writing.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?

The most effective way of raising awareness for my business has been through two different channels.

First off, I have been getting out and networking with local creatives, through the local Tuesdays Together group of the Rising Tide Society, styled shoots with other photographers and vendors, and passing out what feels like an ocean of business cards.
Secondly, I’ve spent a year learning the ins and outs of Instagram, Facebook, the importance of hashtags, and how incredibly important consistent posting is.

What have been your biggest challenges so far?

My biggest challenge has been moving my relationship-based business to a city where I knew no one, essentially starting over from scratch, which in turn, became a blessing in disguise.

How did you overcome these challenges?

Overcoming these challenges has been challenge in and of itself. Everything in my world changed at once, and largely, I’ve rolled with it. Moving to a new city has afforded me the chance to focus wholly on business and on growing it. By networking with other creatives, I have found a community of people who face and deal with the same challenges on a daily basis, and have built up a tribe of other creatives who can lean on each other for business support, personal support, and who all act as each other’s sounding boards. My husband Jeff has been a major source of support as well, acting as a constant source of support and encouragement.

How do you keep motivated through difficult times?

While in the corporate world, I was given the nickname “Fearless”, which defines me pretty well. I will talk to anyone, about anything, and firmly believe that you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take. My inherent belief in myself and my talent pulls me through the difficult times that come with being creative entrepreneur. I’ve learned, after a long while, to embrace the bad days, and stop beating myself up for having bad days. After all, everyone has them in every industry. At the end of the day, even with the difficulties that come with this life, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I would rather work 200 hour weeks for myself, than 40 hours a week for someone else.

How do you distinguish yourself from your competitors?

I don’t ask the standard interview questions, rather I have two questions I prefer to ask and then I follow the lead of the person I am sitting down with. I am able to relax my clients while they’re in front of my camera, which as someone who actively despises being in front of camera, I understand the importance of feeling comfortable!

By doing so, I have been able to capture images of my clients as they truly are, creating portraits that are loved and shared. My passion for printed art stems from one simple sentence: “You may not ever understand the importance of a printed photograph, until it’s all you have left”. In our digital world, printed art work is making a comeback and I am helping to preserve my clients memories from start to finish.

What is the best advice you have received recently?

The best advice that I have received has been how incredibly important it is to take care of yourself. It is easy to get caught up in the never ending to-do lists that come with owning your own business, and feel as though you can always be doing more. Set business hours. Stick to them. If you continually put off taking care of yourself, it will catch up to you.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. Get enough sleep. Drink enough water. Get out and do something physical. (Photography Yoga, anyone?) Make sure that you set business hours and truly BELIEVE in them.

What is your favorite business tool or resource?

My favorite business tool is my gigantic Plum Paper planner. Without it, I would be LOST. The biggest lie I’ve ever told myself is “oh, I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember.” Not true. I need to write it down – pen to paper.

What social media outlets do you use? List them below.

Instagram @k.h.a.lifestylephotography, @cook.eat.explore
Twitter @kha_photography, @cook.eat.explore
Facebook www.facebook.com/whatkatescooking, www.facebook.com/k.h.a.lifestylephotography
Pinterest Cook.Eat.Explore & k.H.a.lifestylephotography
Website www.cookeatexplore.com, www.khalifestylephotography.com
Email kate@khalifestylephotography.com, kate@cookeatexplore.com
Hashtags #khalifestylephotography #cookeatexplore

What is a good article or book you have read recently?

Reading for fun has always been a passion of mine and I find my way back to the same two books to read for fun, to turn off the business side of my brain and recharge my batteries – “Wuthering Heights” & “Shadow of the Wind”.

What are you currently learning about for your business or looking for help with?

I am always looking for new ways to network and market my business.

What are your goals for the next few months and how are you striving to achieve them?

I am currently booking 2017 weddings and perfecting my blogging work flow.

A Series of Lightbulb Moments // k.H.a. Lifestyle Photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

April 3, 2017 By // by kate

One weekend last summer while my cousin and her husband were visiting us here in Columbus she and I had a discussion about moving away from everyone and everything you know, essentially on a leap of faith.

She knows this better than anyone else I know, as she’s not only done so here in the States (multiple times), she also did so in Ireland. She get’s it.

As we were talking, one thought she had has really stuck with me.

Moving across the country (in her case ocean, country, ocean, country, country) is hard, and there a moments that really suck. However, the things that happen while you are so far out of your comfort zone are AMAZING.”

So. Much. Truth.

One of the many mental ‘light bulbs’ I’ve had since we moved is how important it really is to be true to who you are. Moving out here has been fantastic for me in that sense. I’m done trying to be someone I’m not, and in that, I’ve finally shrugged off the rest of the bank, and that feels amazing. (Light bulb number one.)

I’ve spent more hours than not since leaving Portland working. (not always so much on the getting paid part, but working nonetheless) A major part of that working has been learning, watching every webinar I can to learn from the people in the industry that I have crazy respect for.

I can’t remember who said it, so my apologize to whomever I am not crediting, but thier point was this :: We spend so much time working on the business side of things that we can forget what brought us into this business in the first place. (Light bulb number two :: the creativity of photography is what I love, capturing moments is what I love, and when I stop picking up my camera for myself, I tend to get crabby. Same goes when I spent too much time focused only on the business side of things.)

This year I was able to go to WPPI (you can read more about that here) and while there, completely recharged my creative batteries.

With that, came the realization that my creative kicks in the most at night, be it editing photography, writing for here or for Cook.Eat.Explore, or working on mood boards for styled shoots, I do my best at night, during the day, I can do the business side of things, and do them fairly well, but the creativity is for the night. (Light bulb number three.)

According to my mom it’s always been this way.

I fought this for a very, very long time, and have finally realized that it was time to stop fighting it. This is what works for me.

About a week and a half after that, Christine Tremoulet, one of the speakers I heard at WPPI last month (who is also a woman who I have crazy respect for) posted a blog talking about pretty much the same thing, only far, far more eloquently than I have.

I’m reposting her words below, however, click HERE to read them at her blog, which you need to do. (Shameless plug for her :: check her out, she’s fantastic all the way around.)

The Real Best Time of Day to Post

You’re spending all this time researching when is the best time of day to post online, when do you need to make your Instagram post so it gets the most eyes on it, how many times a week should you blog, all of it.

Have you considered when is the best time of day for YOU to post though?

When should you sit down and work?

When should you focus on writing – which takes a LOT of brain power – and when should you focus on tasks like responding to emails, editing photos, or even having client meetings – which don’t take quite so much?

When are you at your highest energy levels – and what are you doing during that time?

The Magic of the Morning

I have spent the past several months tackling this question for myself, determining how my work fits in with my morning routine, with my life, when should I be getting it done, when do I find myself just procrastiworking?

I like to believe that I’m a night owl, but it isn’t really true. Yes, I often stay up quite late at night, as I’ve always had strange sleep patterns. Nighttime is best for me to do things like redesigning a website – where I don’t need to be creative so much, I’m just rearranging code. (It is creative, but not the same as writing.)

For me, the best time to write, to create, to get my thoughts down? Is actually in the morning.

I’m fresh out of bed. I haven’t had a chance to get allow the needs of others pile on to my to do list. I’m at my creative peak.

So why is it that we often insist on doing anything but writing at that time of day?

Instead, I fill that time with appointments, with errands, with exercise.

Or with reading Facebook and Instagram, if I’m going to be honest.

Yes, the perk of being self-employed is that I can do things when I want to do them, but how much more would I get done if I took advantage of my own rhythms?

My high-energy, most well-rested, creative time of day is early in the morning. If I put off a blog post until 4pm, I’m tired. I’m dragging. My writing is stiff, it just doesn’t flow. I feel like I’m trudging through the mud, and who likes that?

Your Working Patterns

As I work with my coaching clients, I encourage them to pay attention to their own energy levels. When are you most creative? When do the thoughts that you want to share with others come to you? When are you best at articulating them?

Don’t put your blog posts off until later in the day, after you get all the busy work tasks done. Try for a week putting them first thing in the morning. See if it makes writing more enjoyable for you.

The morning is when most of us are in the highest in energy – stop squandering it on the tasks that take the least amount of effort. Or on reading Facebook. I promise, all those things will still be there, but you’ll have finally knocked that blog post off of your to-do list where it has lingered for the past week.

Have you figured out what time of day is best for you for doing tasks like this?

The world needs your voice. Get it out there.

Interested in Reading More?

These are just a few of the books I’ve read on this topic when I realized I needed a better morning routine:

The 5 A.M. Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)
The 4-Hour Workweek

Pin Up + Donuts | k.H.a. Lifestyle Photography | Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

March 28, 2017 By // by kate

Amy’s Donuts is a killlllller donut shop here in Columbus. So when Sam Antics, the creative genius behind Hey Pretty Beauty reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in collaborating on a styled shoot, I was all in. Pin Up + Donuts styled shoot?

Yes. Please.

She and I went back and forth with ideas and photos via text and Facebook messenger, which in my opinion, is fast become just the same as text messaging. Side note :: I’ve seen a bunch of discussion around the professionalism of using FB messenger to communicate with clients.

This is my two cents, and nothing more, but I’m all for it. If that’s how clients want to reach out to me and talk, I’m completely ok with it.

Pin Ups + Donuts | A Styled Shoot #khalifestylephotography #columbusohio #lifestylephotography Share on X

But back to the shoot.

Sam worked her magic on our model, Morgan (who is also one of Sam’s team at Hey Pretty Beauty), and I got my studio set up.

One of my biggest requirements when looking at houses here in Ohio was open space and lots of natural light. Oh man did we get it.

I’m able to set up my studio stuff in the middle of our great room and shoot here. Add a couple of speed lights and I’m good to go, I can shoot here any time of day, and it works.

While not HUGE, it definitely works, and it saves on having to rent a studio. Always a plus.

(I’m still convinced that I’ll get my husband in front of the camera for me at some point, which he vastly disagrees with, but hey, I’m pretty determined, and if the studio is in our house, it takes one more point of contention away).

We did four sets, with four completely different looks, and I love all of them. This is only the second time that Morgan has been in front of the camera in this capacity, and she is a natural, so at ease, and oh boy can she work it.

Shoot & Share Contest 2017 // k.H.a. lifestyle photographer // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

March 20, 2017 By // by kate

So in January when the Shoot&Share contest opened for submissions, I thought about it.

Then I walked away and I thought about it some more.

And the final day that they were accepting submissions, I did it, I did the big scary and hit submit for my favorite 50 photos from the past year. To a contest that is 100% based only on the images, no names, no watermarks, and no branding (aside from the styles that we’ve all spent thousands upon thousands of hours (dollars) on defining and perfecting).

To a contest that is 100% based only on the images, no names, no watermarks, and no branding”

The next few weeks are spent voting. Obsessively. From pretty much any device that we could our hands on, we voted. (I say we because pretty much of all of the TEN THOUSAND photographers that entered more than 300,000 photos) were voting.

And working, and, running households, and voting.

I even got my husband into it, showing him different sets, with him talking about how cool the shots were.

This, from the man whose analytical and mathematical mind never ceases to amaze me, but who’s general response to my work when I show my him screen as I’m editing, or have finalized a photo, is “that’s nice” (invariably the same response be it a wedding portrait of a bride, or, one of a set from a recipe that I’m testing.) He got into these images as well.

It was fantastic.

Top 10% in Shoot&Share 2017. @khalifestylephotography @cookeatexlore Share on X

So then the voting ends. The working and the running a household continues, and in the back of your mind, you know that the results are coming out. So you watch the results come out, and wait.

This year, this first year that I entered, I was THRILLED whenever I got a new favorite. The contest (Thank you Andrew Barlow) sends out a note letting you know that someone else voting liked your images enough to want to save it to look back at later.

There are photographers who were getting 300 likes, and I’m over here, THROUGH THE ROOF excited when I ended the contest with 11.

For those of us who knew that we hadn’t made it to the finals, but knew that we’d made it a hell of a lot farther than we’d ever imagined (I’m lookin’ at you So Smith Photography (and, BTW, WE DID THIS!) had to wait until after everything else had been announced to find out where we’d placed.

And today, we found out.

Out of more than 300,000 photos that were entered across the categories, I had one in the top 10%, and two in the top 30%.

I am so proud of myself, and I’m even more proud that two of those three photos are my shots for Cook.Eat.Explore (the food blog that is the other side of my business)

It’s been a very eventful and interesting past year, and I am so happy to have placed the first time out of the gate.

Stick around, we have fun things coming up this year.

Samantha, The Cheesecake Girl // k.H.a. Lifestyle Photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photograph

March 16, 2017 By // by kate

The other side of my professional life is as a food blogger (pretty much I’ve figured out how to combined my love of cooking, food, and photography into one endeavor, now I just need to figure out how to get it to actually pay me…)

The Cheesecake Girls Headshots #cbusphotographer #lifestylephotography Share on X

Through that venture, I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and talk food with some of the coolest people, and Samantha is one of them. Check out Cook.Eat.Explore to learn more about why she loves what she does, and how she got into it.

As I’m getting the post featuring her, her shop, and her story, I realized I hadn’t captured any portraits of her that I loved enough to use in the post, so, we set up a shoot.

Samantha is The Cheesecake Girl, and her cheesecakes are ammmmmmmmmazing.

We met this past Holiday Season, when I was hanging out helping a friend of mine at her booth, and we were set up next to Samantha, we consumed a fair amount of her snickerdoodle mini cheesecakes that day. (No shame.)

This shot is taken from The Cheesecake Girls Instagram Account. You can see it HERE.

We had a ball, getting her shots done in record time, as like any small business owner, her schedule is crraaaaaaaazy. Especially as she has some BIG things in the works, really, keep an eye on her, this woman is going places.

Sam’s cheesecakes were a part of Jeff & Kim’s proposal as well, I’d called her to ask if I could order a couple from her to incorporate and she said absolutely.

This gal is so driven, so passionate about she does, and while we were shooting absolutely let me capture her personality in these head shots. She’s a ton of fun, and I cannot wait to get her back in front of my camera again.

El Dorado Dry Lake Bed Styled Shoot // WPPI 2017 // k.H.a. Lifestyle Photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

March 4, 2017 By // by kate

WPPI‘s annual conference is (like many) in Las Vegas each year, and is one of the biggest of the industry.

This year, I flew down with Capri, the amazing photographer and creative behind Capri Aristry Photography, and we dove in head first.

Although the conference started on Monday, we got in on Saturday afternoon, because, well, Vegas.

Capri’s brother in law picked us and our outrageous amount of luggage up at McCarran, we hit up Whole Foods and the liquor store for room snacks and cocktails, dumped our stuff in our room at the MGM and off we went.

The next day, after getting breakfast at the Wynn’s buffet, we headed out to the dry lake bed of El Dorado.

Capri set up a loosely styled shoot out for anyone who was in town and wanted to get together to shoot before the crazy of the conference started, talking her brother in law and his wife (and her friends) into modeling for us, during the Super Bowl, no less.

For those of y’all not in the photography world, a shoot out is where a bunch of photographers all photograph the same models. It’s a fun atmosphere, you can bounce ideas off of industry colleagues, network, and above all, get to get creative.

Ophelia, Capri’s sister in law, talked a few of her friends into coming out as well, and tapped on some of her connections for florals.

Enter Mylo.

I got to ride out to El Droado with Mylo and lemme tell ya, this woman is AMAZING.

She’s a killer florist, wonderful woman, and all around kicks ass. If you’re in Vegas and need florals, you HAVE to get in touch with her. She owns Mylofleur Floral Designs, and everything she does is gorgeous. (she also plays piano for Cirque du Soleil.)

One of Mylo’s friends is a fashion designer, and she had the foresight to bring a couple of the Herbio Brown couture gowns with her.

The light in the desert is unlike anything else. I can’t wait to get back and get my camera out again.

I most definitely cannot wait to get Mylo in front of my camera again either.

To my fellow photographers, (and, anyone else who may be heading to Vegas) I’d definitely suggest making a trip next year to the WPPI conference. The photography industry is always changing, it was nice to learn new things and connect with amazing photographers. The site Vegas.com has awesome hotel and flight package deals if your heading that way for any other conferences that might be happening this year.

Jeff + Kim // Surprise Engagement // k.H.a. lifestyle photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

March 3, 2017 By // by kate

Jeff reached out to me early this year to orchestrate the perfect proposal for his now bride-to-be. I was so incredibly honored to be the one to plan and to capture the memory for them.

As the day arrived, the Ohio weather completely cooperated (like for REAL cooperated. It was 65*. In the middle of February. In Ohio) and my team and I descended on Creekside, and we got to work.