How I became a wedding photographer

My journey to becoming a wedding photographer was totally accidental. But I’m a huge believer in fate and when I look back I see all the zig zags that led me to this exact spot! I grew up KNOWING I was going to be a journalist at Glamour magazine in New York City. Manhattan or bust bebe! You literally could not have told me differently. That was the plan. The end.

Narrator: That was not the plan.

I went to college for journalism and in my time there I looked for another way to express my creativity and decided to open an Etsy store. I had always loved vintage shopping and decided to take my hobby of thrifting and make it a business! I knew I wanted to do something different than just taking photos on hangers though. So I recruited my friends and started doing photoshoots wherever I could. The middle of campus, in a friend’s backyard, in a nearby park. This is when I got my first real camera. I told my parents what I was doing and for Christmas that year I got my first digital camera. Oh man, I thought I was the rEaL DeAl. 

OG photography and marketing from my college days!

Fast forward a few years out of college and my Etsy store grew to an online boutique and eventually a brick and mortar store. Yup, you probably didn’t know that about me! My business was called Glittered Vein and I LOVED it. I loved shopping for the clothes for my boutique, making women feel great about themselves, and most of all, I loved the photography I did for my business. My sister-in-law became my number 1 model! We would literally take photos anywhere. In Rapid Creek, a random canyon, coffee shops around town, bathrooms and car garages. Anything to be creative, different, and bring LIFE to the clothes. I wanted to capture what women were truly doing in my clothes, which was having fun, being rad and real. I remember my brother messing around with my camera once and telling my sister in law to smile more and she said “You don’t take my photo like Kinsey! She makes me feel good!” It was like a lightbulb went off in me and I realized that my love for making women feel good in clothes had shown through in how I made them feel in front of the camera. I had found my superpower in making the people who stepped in front of my camera feel like Superwoman. I knew how to guide them so that the photos weren’t stiff and awkward, how to make them laugh and best of all, how to feel like damn supermodels! 

At this point I had been taking photos for quite a few years, had 1 photography class from college under my belt and was exclusively using Photoshop to edit my photos. (Yeah, we’ve upgraded ladies and gents) But I had only ever photographed females.

Randomly one day I thought it would be fun to have my sister in law wear Glittered Vein clothes but instead of just having her in front of the camera, I wanted my brother to be in them. What I now refer to as a couple’s session! We went down to a nearby campground that I have since photographed many sessions at and did a quick 15-minute couples’ session. And guys? I was hooked.

The first couples photoshoot I did with my brother and sister in law!

You can see me carrying my first DSLR camera that we bought on our honeymoon in 2017.

It was a clunky session. Some of the poses I put them in make me LOL to look at now. The fact that I even did POSES makes me LOL! But regardless, I was in love with photographing couples. It wasn’t the journalism that I had gone to school for but it was story telling. I slowly worked my way through photographing all the couples in my family and my closest friends. On my honeymoon my husband bought me my first real DSLR which was a Nikon D3400 and that is the camera I photographed my first wedding on. Which coincidentally was my brother and sister in law’s!

I saved up every spare penny I made to buy myself a couple of lenses for my new camera body. Friends and family spread the word about me photographing and I booked my first few sessions. I photographed a wedding. Then another. Then another. I invested in my education since that 1 class taught by my professor in college wasn’t really matching the level of what I was looking for.

I attended workshops, upgraded my camera and my gear to my current set up (Nikon D750 for any tech wizards wondering), and fell in love with capturing these moments that my clients were living. I have captured surprise engagements, the first time couples kiss as husband and wife, dads crying as they see their baby girls in their wedding dresses, groomsmen cracking open beers to cheers their friend and their new wife, bridesmaids praying over their best friend as she begins her marriage, and grandma and grandpa breaking it DOWN on the dance floor. I’ve been hugged like I was part of the family at the end of a reception by parents and felt like I was part of the wedding party with how welcoming my couples are. I’ve been able to tell so many love stories. That is my superpower. To capture the moments that make you feel alive so you can keep telling that story for years to come.

I fell in love with photography for a completely different reason than why I’ve stayed in love. It started with photos of clothes and has led me to this spot. Where I cry at every wedding I photograph because I love your love THAT much. I get butterflies during your engagement session because my superpower is pulling out that super model living inside of you and showing you how beautiful you are inside and out. I break it down with grandma and grandpa at the reception because well, I love to dance, but also I feel so close with you and your family after the wedding journey. I’ve been with you through this important part of your love story and you’ve given me the opportunity to tell your story through photographs. You guys are the reason I am a wedding photographer. Because it’s cliché, but I love love. And the love telling the stories you have to share.