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.

Red Twig Farms | Ohio’s Best Boutique Peonies

August 5, 2017 By // by kate

I met the McCollough crew last year, two days after we arrived in Ohio, why my sister-in-law told me we were going to a peony farm, to pick up fresh cut flowers for the house. Sure, why not, right? At that point, I was down for pretty much anything, especially as it was still very surreal that we were finally there, we had made it. The cleaning, packing, driving, and all of the crazy chaos of moving was done. We were here. It was weird.

I took my camera along, cause hello, I don’t go anywhere without it, and I am so crazy grateful that I did.

We drove just out of the city, out past New Albany to Red Twig Farms, and pulled into the gravel lot. The big ass door (seriously, it’s almost the size of the entire wall) was rolled up, every flat surface was filled with jugs and buckets of peony’s, and the light that pours into that building, so beautiful.

I made sure to ask before shooting, as I find it incredibly rude and presumptuous when photographers assume they’re allowed to shoot inside buisness’ without express permission, and as a part of that, handed my business card to Lindsay. From there? The rest is history.

This year I photographed the VIP event that they had early one misty late spring morning as well as the farm store opening, which if you haven’t been to, you’ve got to make it out next year.

There’s not such thing as too many peonies. Ever.

The peony’s themselves, huge, gorgeous, and those suckers last. Just make sure that you don’t crowd them in thier jars. I learned about that one this year. Having the big fluffy blooms in vases scattered throughout my house all spring was the pop of color and pretty that I needed. Not to mention they made the house smell fantastic.

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Re Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms // Farm Store

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Red Twig Farms

Red Twig Farms // VIP Event

Burn Out is A Bitch

July 12, 2017 By // by kate

So you have friends that work from home, right? I mean, come on, everyone knows at least a few people that either work for themselves from home, or work remotely for whatever company they work for. Thier lives look kinda glamours, even. You scroll through Facebook, seeing that they get to work from home, so that means that they can sleep in, get up whenever, kick back and drink thier coffee, ease into thier work day right? Self care? Nah. Not quite.

They want to take off at four, go sit for happy hour with friends every day? Sure, why not. Some days, yes, that’s true. Which of course is whatyou see in social media, and think, Damn. Must be nice.

Here’s the thing.

It is like that sometimes. Sometimes.

You are seeing parts of our daily lives through our business’, and if you’re anything like some of the people I know, you think that we’re being ridiculous with phone photography, or, if you’re like me, I drag out my DSLR that I use when I shoot weddings. (seriously, that thing is attached to me, or within arms reach at all times, and I LOVE IT.)

We are incredibly good at cultivating and know ins what it is that people want to see. (do people really need to see that I STILL have laundry that’s folded on the couch, and no idea what we’re going to do for dinner tonight, have about 6,000 (yes, you read that right) photos to cull through and edit? NOPE.)

Everyone has that part of thier life, the adult to do list is NEVER ENDING. Let’s celebrate the happy.

That social media, the instagram posts that it feels like we are ALLLLLLWAYS doing, and then sharing it across everything else, or when we post a blog (which is no small amount of time in and of itself) and then try to make sure that we build our shares and traffic the way that we need to, that’s us taking care of the marketing. Which any big company that pays a salary has AN ENTIRE DEPARTMENT FOR.

So yes, we’re constantly on our phones, constantly on social media, and that means that we are working. We are hustling to grow our business. Which is what brings the money in. (Which is what we are all striving for, and believe me, it’s what we NEVER lose sight of, even if it doesn’t look like it in the moment).

We’re going to pause that discussion for a moment, and address this. I promise, it will help (I hope) bring it a little more into focus for those who have not ventured down this crazy road.

Two things for this, first, creating art through my lens is a way of life for me, it’s not something that I can turn off and then flip back on light switch. If it was, I’d have been just fine, happy, and fulfilled working at a 9-5. Not my scene. Not even a little bit. I can’t close it off like that, and I wouldn’t want to if I could.

Secondly, photographs are one of only two ways that you can physically hold a moment of time if your hands, freezing it forever. Who has thier families photo albums from the generation before them? What about before that? What does it feel like to hold them in your hands, to know that someone else cared so much about these moments in time that they preserved them, knowing that they’d be one day in your hands? That’s a big kind of love.

The downside of that, is we feel it ALL.

So here’s what happens with that.

As creative entrepreneurs, we LIVE it. It’s all the time. And it can be exhausting unlike anything else. When we hit the wall, we hit it like a freight train. And when that happens, our energy just drops.

And drops beyond getting to go home, bitch about your day to your significant other, pour a glass of wine, and ass out in front of the tv. We choose this, every single day, and we love it, which is why the lows are so much harder.

Let’s talk about self care.

Self care is something that I struggle with, and I struggle with it daily. The to do list is NEVER ENDING. I think mine has taken on a life of it’s own and kill me.

And when I say struggle with it I mean I stick my heads in behind the curtains in the living room and pretend that if I ignore it long enough that it will simply just go away. Didn’t work when I was three, and it doesn’t work now.

I saw this post on Eponis|Sinope today, and immediately knew that I had to pass it along. It is SO. GOOD. [Want it? Click HERE] I sure as hell needed to see it, and to ask myself ALLLLL of the questions, so I know that there is someone else who does as well.

I walked myself through this list. It helped. And it helped. A LOT.

Do I feel absolutely 100% like myself, ready to better, sure as hell getting closer.

And some days, that has to be enough.

Eponis|Sinope’s Everything Is Awful and I’m Not Ok

Everything Is Awful and I’m Not Okay: questions to ask before giving up

Dig this? Click it go download it from Eponis

Meet Valerie // k.H.a. lifestyle photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

July 10, 2017 By // by kate

One of my favorite things about moving to Ohio has been all of the bad ass amazing women that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, working with, and collaborating with. Enter Model Valerie G.

I met Valerie, who professionally goes by Model Valerie G, a year ago today, at the second Trash the Dress shoot that Sam Antics of Hey Pretty Beauty put on. Trash the dress, by the way, is every bit as fun as it sounds, in this case, it was models, wedding dresses, and LOTS of colored paint in squirt guns, a whole lot of laughter, and a bunch of photographers there to capture it all.

After moving to Ohio last summer, the events feature on Facebook was my social life, and I used those events as a way to not only explore the city, but also to meet people, network for k.H.a. lifestyle photography, and generally get myself out of the apartment that we were living in at the time.

I saw the event page for Sam’s Trash the Dress Shoot Out, signed up before I could talk myself out of it, and sent in the money for my ticket. No way I was going to let myself back out it, no matter how intimidating it was to walk into an event at which almost everyone knew each other. I am SO GLAD that I went.

Meet Model Valerie G

It was at that event that I met Model Valerie G, and I knew immediately that I wanted to work with her again. She is so full of sass, and has such an infectious smile as far as I was concerned it was a foregone conclusion. Thankfully, she felt the same way.

Meet Model Valerie G #columbusohio #khalifestylephotography #ohiophotographer Share on X

Annnnnnnnd, when I asked her if she was down to shoot a milk bath, she was all for it. I was ecstatic.

She and I have plans to shoot together again soon, and I have about a billion more ideas of what we can create together.

Meet Valerie

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

If Not Now, When? Part Deux. // k.H.a. lifestyle photography // Columbus Lifestyle Photographer

June 14, 2017 By // by kate

If not now, when? (part deux)

***This is a continuation of a previous post, and if you haven’t read part one of this post, you probably should, things will make waaaaaay more sense. If you don’t feel like doing that, jump on in, you’ll catch up. ***

Have you thought about it? What expectations are you labouring under? Who are you trying to please, that ultimately, isn’t yourself? STOP DOING IT. Believe me. The minute that you figure out what is going to make you happy, and then dive in head first, it will change your life.

Is it hard? Hell yes. Are they days that I want to build my blanket fort and hide in it and not come out ever again. Definitely.

Is it worth it? More than I can ever express.

I would rather work 200 hours a week for myself than 40 for someone else. The coolest thing about it though, the bad days now, the frustrating, tear your hair out, banging your head against a brick wall bad days are still far better than the bad days when you work for someone else.

If not now, when? // Part Deux #khalifestylephotography #columbusohio #614 Share on X

I have a friend who is currently working in a corporate world, and listening to her talk about her office life, I am so glad that I took on this crazy creative entrepreneur venture. There are days that I miss having co-workers to talk with, being able to walk over to someone else’s desk and bounce ideas off of them when I’m stuck, but what I’ve found is this: I still do have that, it just looks different now.

Throughout the last year, I’ve built a tribe of bad ass people around me who I can bounce ideas off of when I get stuck, whom I can send a frame I’m editing and stuck on and ask which version they like better. Are they physically here with me? Nope. Do I get the same feedback? Yup.

Dress Code? What Dress Code?

One thing that I did not foresee, in any capacity, was the propensity to end up wearing the same thing for a few days at a time. When you don’t have to actually leave the house for work, time tends to take on a whole new meaning. Especially when you can work in your pj’s.

After working in corporate America, my work wardrobe consisted of heels, slacks, sheath dresses, blazers and cardigans. Now? Yoga pants, hoodies, and tank tops, unless I’m meeting with a client of course, but even then, I get to choose. I’m not bound by anything other than what I want to wear that day, which is pretty fantastic.

This is my office, most of the time now.

As things have really started rolling, I’ve found a routine that works, makes me change out of pj’s to work (even though it’s often just into other comfy cotton clothes when I’m just working from home) and at the end of the day, my night time routine lets my body know that it’s time to wind down the day and turn my brain off. Works most of the time.

No Two Days are the Same, and I Wouldn’t Have it Any Other Way

When you work for someone else, you know what your days are going to look like, more or less. When you work for yourself, truly work for yourself, not at all. There isn’t an 8-5 structure, and 40 hours a week is absolutely a thing of the past. And it is soooooo sweet. If I have something come up that needs immediate attention (like dealing with all of the issues that go along with a flooded basement and the resulting remodel) I know that I have the flexibility to deal with it.

What that also means, is that I know that I’ll be up late working to make it up. Am I sad about that? Nope. Not at all.

Work & Travel are Actually Compatible

A big reasons that we opted to relocate to Ohio last year was to be able to be nearer to our nieces and nephews. While I was working in corporate America, I missed far too many family camping trips, birthday parties, and sadly, a couple of Christmas’.

One of my many philosophies on life is that if an employer, or anyone for that matter, asks me to choose between my job and my family, that I will hand in my keys in that moment.

What I didn’t see, was that that was happening. Every trip that I was forced to miss, every family dinner, I was being told that my job was more important. And I don’t stand for that.

Now, I am able to work from where ever I am. Trip to Arizona last week, no problem. Working from Denver and Vail in January, ok. Taking ten days to go to Portland this August, knowing that I’ll be able to work while I’m there, FANTASTIC.

Being able to take a road trip through the south, to write a book that we’ve been tossing around as an idea for years, knowing that I will be working as I travel. EVEN. BETTER.

So tell me, if you were to stop doing what you “should”, and stop trying to make everyone else happy, what would your life look like? Have it firmly in your mind? Great.

Now go do it.

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.

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.

Columbus Wedding Photography

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

There’s not such thing as too many peonies. Ever.

It is like that sometimes. Sometimes.

So here’s what happens with that.

Let’s talk about self care.

Eponis|Sinope’s Everything Is Awful and I’m Not Ok

Meet Model Valerie G

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.

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

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

If not now, when? (part deux)

Dress Code? What Dress Code?

No Two Days are the Same, and I Wouldn’t Have it Any Other Way

Work & Travel are Actually Compatible