We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kaitlin Saltzman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaitlin, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As I mentioned previously, I’m a television executive. I love this job immensely, I’m extraordinarily lucky to have it, and it keeps me very busy.But during the WGA and SAG strikes of 2023, I found myself with some free time on my hands for the first time since before having children, so I took the opportunity to pursue a couple of side hustles — in an effort to both find hobbies (notoriously hard for a millennial working mom!), and bring in some extra cash. One was a (mostly) Taylor Swift-themed greeting card business, and the other — the one that became a passion — was photography.

To make a long story short, I fell in love with photography, and it’s here to stay. Though my television job is back in full force, I’ve made sure to keep the photography side hustle alive and well in my spare time. I’m so grateful that I took the time during the strikes to create this runway for myself, because now I have something that fulfills me that’s just mine, and something I get to create from beginning to end.

I’ve spent a lot of time in family photography, and I love it (and will continue to do it), but the recent lane that I’ve started to really settle into is headshot photography. I’ve realized that this is something I am particularly well-suited for, given my existing career as a TV executive. It goes hand in hand with an understanding of the industry I already know well. I’m someone that works on the other side of things, in the position to receive and evaluate headshots for potential talent. So, to be able to bring that perspective to the other side of the lens is something special.

If I have one superpower as a headshot photographer, it’s that I want my clients to have fun and genuinely enjoy the process. I’m extremely proud to say that over and over again, I’ve been told my clients have fun and are surprised by how comfortable they feel. Hollywood can be a hard and demoralizing town for actors, and I’ve definitely heard horror stories about how actors are treated here. (And I’m married to an actor, so I really feel like I have the inside scoop here). It means a lot to me to be able to contradict that stereotype and give clients a session that they not only have great results from, but great memories from, as well.

I want to mention that I was so, so lucky to have a friend, the inimitable Adam Hendershott of Adam Hendershott Photography, train me in headshot photography. He’s someone whose work I have admired for many years — I encouraged my husband to shoot with him over ten years ago (which makes me feel a little old!). To have him as a mentor now is both a full-circle experience and one that proves to me that mentorship will always be a huge part of my life, in terms of both giving and receiving that gift.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Photography is not a cheap hobby, but you can start on the small side and build up. I started my photography journey by borrowing a camera from my mom, and then when a camera that I really wanted was being sold, used, by a colleague of a friend, I jumped at the opportunity and purchased it. That camera came with a solid (but flawed) 50mm lens that I ultimately set aside, but it did the job while I needed it to. Eventually, my incredibly generous and supportive parents gifted me a 24-70mm zoom lens, which is now my primary lens for all non-headshot photography. The biggest purchase for me, and the most important one as well, was when I chose to invest in a 70-200mm zoom lens for my headshot photography. This lens, and the money I saved for it, is the one that changed the game for me, because it’s also the one that made me decide I was really committing to something. It was about investing not only financial capital, but emotional capital, as well.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Facebook groups have been a major part of my educational experience, both as a creative and as a businesswoman pursuing a path that’s quite different from my primary path in television. I’m a member of a few Facebook groups for photographers, and the opportunities that these groups create to learn from photographers all over the world, at various phases of their careers, is unmatched. Whether through these groups or my two mentorships, my photography is largely the product of that which my peers and my idols have taught me.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.kaitlinsaltzmanphotography.com
• Instagram: @kaitlinsaltzmanphotography

Image Credits
The primary article photo, of Kaitlin Saltzman, is by Dana Hanley Photography. The four headshots are by Kaitlin Saltzman Photography.