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.

Welcome Home Eliza // Garrison Family Lifestyle // k.H.a. lifestyle photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

May 30, 2017 By // by kate

I met Missy this winter when Heather, Jesi, and I shot her maternity portraits. Missy was a suuuuuper good sport about our creative ideas as well, being willing to wade out in the water at Hoover on the third day of January. In the rain. In a few different dresses. In weather that was hovering just under 40 degrees. Did I mention what a good sport she was?

Once she and her husband Steve welcomed thier new baby girl Eliza to the family, and Avery had settled into his new role of big brother, they invited me into thier home to hang out and capture lifestyle portraits of their newly expanded family for them.

SO. MUCH. FUN.

And Now They Are Four // Garrison Family Lifestyle #Columbusohio #ohiophotographer #khalifestylephotography Share on X

Avery and I played with race cars, he showed me how high he can bounce on his bed (with mom’s approval, of course) and got to eat PB&J for lunch.

Eliza is SUCH an adorable little gal, with the COOLEST hair do.

If Not Now, When? // k.H.a. lifestyle photographer // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

May 11, 2017 By // by kate

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. In that gut check, what is important to me, we get one shot at this whole doing life thing kind of way. It’s been eye opening, hard, amazing, and most importantly I was in a place that I was able to really get IT!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always known, in that deep down secret place within yourself that we all have, that we try to gloss over, and we try to squash because we’re doing what is expected of us, that I wasn’t meant to work for someone else.

I fought it for years, and tried my level best to make it work in the corporate world.

Think about that for a second. What is expected of you? What is it that you think you have to do to be successful? What do your friends expect of you? What family expectations are you laboring under?

Have them in your mind? Heavy aren’t they? Why the hell do we put that kind of pressure on ourselves?

I can hear what you’re thinking :: Kate, I have to pay bills, I have to feed my family. Well no shit. Those responsibilities and obligations aren’t what I’m talking about. EVERYONE feels that pressure, that’s just a part of being an adult.

Dig a little deeper than that. I’m talking about the yard sticks that we’re measuring ourselves against. The voices that say “well, in order for so and so to like me, and be my friend I have to ______”, “My family expects _________ of me”, “what will so and so think of me if _______”, “to be successful in my industry and business I have to do ______”.

Again, I’m not talking about the basics of being a decent person. I’m not talking about the hard work and the behaviours that you have to put in to get to where you want to be.

I’m talking about the bullshit lies that we tell ourselves. I’m talking about the standards that you *think* you need to hit in order for others to view you in a certain light.

I spent damn near a decade trying to live up to what others thought I should do, thought I should be, thought how I should dress, how I should act, how I should talk to customers, and listening to people who in some cases were horrible human beings, tell me why I wasn’t doing it right.

Throughout all of that, I was hitting every bench mark that on paper showed that I was achieving pretty remarkable successes in my career.

I was miserable. And over the last couple years that I did everything in my power to shoehorn myself into that world, it didn’t just take a toll on me creatively. It affected who I was. It made me physically sick. And I couldn’t even see it.

I had co-workers asking me when enough was going to be enough, and I maintained the same thing. “I’ll know when I know.”

That night came one winter, when I watched this woman who had recruited me to work for her, (so you’d think she wanted me to be there right? after all, she approached me about working for and selling for her) added that one final straw.

She tore into a coworker who’d stood up for me. That was it. That was my breaking point.

Six minutes into the next morning, I resigned.

After I’d worked out my two weeks (undoubtably the longest two weeks of my entire life) and left the office for the final time, I crashed. There was no free-ing feeling, there was no relief that I never had to go back again, what I instead felt was simply an exhaustion.

Three months after that night, as I was just starting to feel like I was starting to show glimmers of who I really am, we packed it all in and moved across the country.

The growth that you experience when you dive head first out of your comfort zone is amazing. AMAZING. So-freakin’-hard-can’t-stop-ugly-crying-flirting-with-the-edges-of-pulling-the-covers-over-your-head-and-not-coming-back-out kind hard.

It is 100% worth it.

Everything Happens for a Reason // k.H.a. lifestyle photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

April 25, 2017 By // by kate

One of my biggest beliefs in life is that everything happens exactly when and how it is supposed to. This past week has been absolutely packed full of reminders (some have more of a slap in the face, but hey) of that, in every avenue of my life, and it has been fantastic.

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON

Rather than a super wordy, long, explanation (believe me, that will all come later) I’m going to instead share images from all of the amazing things and moments that I got to work on and capture.

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.

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

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.

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.