PT1
I'm Kayla, or Kay. Call me Kay. I grew up in a small-town in Central Pennsylvania where the corn grows tall and the deer run wild. When I was in 6th grade I started to fall in love with photography. Thinking back now, I don’t really remember what triggered it. I started saving for my first camera. I would weed all of our flower beds at home, clean the whole house, scrape gum off of school bus seats, literally anything I could do to make a little extra to save up for my camera. Once my birthday and Christmas came around, I had saved enough money to buy a camera. I ordered one on Amazon and checked the mailbox for a week straight until it got here (only if two-day shipping was a thing back then). I started taking pictures of my older sister. She would drive us to different locations and model for me. I reached out to one of our friends to see if she would model for me. She did and next thing I knew, I had people asking me to do senior portraits! Right about this time, my sister was in high school and I was a freshman. So, I was booking all of her friends! I was still shocked that people were paying me to take pictures of such a major stepping stone in their life.
The following year was my “sophomore” year. I was set to graduate school early so my second year of high school was my sophomore/junior year. I had someone reach out to me about doing their wedding. I was shocked, terrified, excited, and nervous. I had never even pondered doing wedding photography. I did that wedding, but kind of dropped off the photography world and graduated high school. I had always dreamt of being a teacher, so I was busy applying to colleges and figuring out what I was going to do.
I dove into college, majoring in Secondary Mathematics Education, and did a few random photoshoots for family and friends. I was a second shooter for a few fellow photographers at weddings. After my first year of college, my cousin got engaged! She asked me to be her photographer in the Summer of 2020 as she was set to get married that August. I had fallen in love with photography once again.
PT2
Since her wedding last August, I continued to do a few weddings in the fall and in winter. I completed another semester of college, as well. College had made me miserable. The work stressed me out, I never enjoyed it. The only time I enjoyed “teaching” was when I was teaching and helping out with my Church’s youth group. Over Christmas break, I took more pictures of my favorite model: my sister. I began to joke about taking the semester off and pursuing my photography business. It truly was a joke. No one expected me, a dedicated student who graduated high school early and was on track to graduate college early to drop out of college.
As Christmas break was coming to an end, I was slipping back into my depression again. I would wake up in the middle of the night with a panic attack at the thought of classes starting back up. I began to wonder if I was truly meant to be a math teacher. Helping out with youth fulfilled my dream of being a teacher and I could barely help with youth once college started back up. I decided I was going to take the semester off. None of my family members believed me… until I told them I had withdrawn from all of my classes.
Since January of 2021, all of my time has been devoted to my photography business. My mental health has increased more than I thought it needed to. I now see pictures and videos of me in college and see just how miserable I was. My photography has been expanding. I have been booking weddings and couple sessions like I always wanted to. My plan was always to get my teaching degree, try out photography, then if that failed I would go back to teaching. But, with all the COVID craziness, why not flip my whole life plan upside down? Why not chase my dreams? I am such an advocate for dream chasing for other people, so why wasn’t I chasing my OWN dream? Well, I am now. It’s amazing, terrifying, and completely unexplainable. This is truly the biggest leap of faith I have ever taken. Sometimes life is unexplainable and crazy. Sometimes God has other plans. Sometimes those side passions are the true gift that He has given you. And He wants me to use it. So, I am.
MY WHY
Capturing your beautiful moments is my job. Capturing your personalities is my job. Capturing your love story is my job. Capturing your big, scary adult life decisions is my job. I always say to my clients, “I wish you could see what I see.” I wish you could see the way you look at each other. I wish you could see the way he admires you. I wish you could see how much you comfort her. I wish you could see the way he holds you. I wish you could see how she clings to you. I wish you could see how gentle he is with you. I wish you could see how much you make each other laugh.
I love my job. It is to truly show you what I see. I want to be your biggest supporter. If I can even show you a glimpse of your relationship from the outside, I have done my job. I have the honor of taking pictures of so much history. I have taken pictures of overworked mothers, loving fathers, cancer survivors, high school sweethearts, marine wives, and so much more. The best part is, that I only get a snippet of your story. When my clients receive their gallery, I challenge them to think of everything they have gone through to get through that moment. The amazing tears-of-joy moments. The terrifying heart-wrenching moments. And everything in between. I hope when they see their pictures, they see something beautiful and they are reminded of everything that led up to that photoshoot. I want to show you just how strong you are and how much you have grown.
Weddings and elopements are my favorites. Will I cry at some point during your wedding? Oh, certainly. It’s honestly an inevitable thing. Why? Because weddings are so intimate, beautiful, and relatable. There will be at LEAST one thing at your wedding that your guests will relate to. It will probably be something different for each person. Allow me to take pictures of all of these different things throughout your big day. I want to show the depth of the love you have for one another. After all, everyone is there to support you and cheer you on. It’s a day of celebration, so let’s celebrate together.