We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Rad a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
So, I’ve been a photographer for over 8 years now but…. about 6 of those 8 years were like.. bitter on blast!!! The peaks were mega high but the lows were…stupid low, it was sorta like I was in this abusive relationship with my passion. I’d threaten to quit when I was broken over the bile that no doubt exists in every industry but couldn’t bear to part with the honey it was to my soul.
About 2 years ago, I was just.. done. The sweet wasn’t enough for me anymore and I was like, desert dry.. and amongst that, I also for years questioned how photography could be ministry. I got saved at 19 and while I was busy learning how to be a follower of Christ, a wife, a mother and a photographer… I could easily see how being a Christian, wife and mom is Kingdom work but I couldn’t reconcile how photography could be? We don’t take pictures to heaven.. so, I started to question if what I was doing was really meaningful.
So, 6 years in, beaten down, I place my business wholeheartedly in the hands of God, I’ll quit or keep going if He says so. Well, He said so and I’m insanely blessed to still be doing this and over the last 2 years He taught me exactly what kind of mission work photography is. It’s a ministry of showing how much God cares for and loves His children this side of heaven.
Honestly, time is super painful…and it’s my belief that we weren’t made for time like it is now, we weren’t made for Death. Down to the very dust and bone He formed us from, we were never created to experience life the way we live it now. I see photography as Gods way of comforting our hearts while we spend our lives on earth.
He knows this life if painful. He knows that watching our newborn grow, hurts. That we can feel their smallness in our arms when we hug the adult they’ve become. He knows that we’ve never cherished anything more than a photo of someone we love so much, that’s died. He knows that we weep in anguish and that grief never goes away until we enter the gates of Heaven.
So, I’m on mission as a photographer to go out and take photos of the moments that make up this incredible life…that’s filled with far more heart ache than anticipated. To capture His GREATEST creation at work in servanthood, wildly in love and in it’s smallest forms, backdropped by the beauty of His design.. and along the way in partnering with God in the ministry of caring for HIS kids hearts, maybe get the opportunity to spread His light and love so that His spirit might get the chance to radically save a soul!
Katie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Katie Starr, I’m 32 years old, saved by grace over and over, every day! Married to the best dude in the whole dang world! And mom to three of my raddest pals!
I was always the picture taker in high school. My embarrassing and slightly incriminating facebook albums from 2009 can attest to that! It’s funny though, I never saw photography as the job for me, really until I became a mom for the first time. I was always obsessed with remembering the moment but I guess something about that teeny tiny little human made me realize time was far more precious than I’d ever understood it. So, I got pretty passionate about hitting pause on all the time people never wanna forget.
I offer lifestyle portraits for the raddest people and the things they are most proud of. Their work, their love, their life.
The problem is time. haha. While I can’t stop it indefinitely, I sure can in a photograph. The people I work with will always be able to visit the time we stopped together. When they celebrate their retirement and look back at the history of their brand. When they hit their 50th wedding anniversary and she forgot how he looked at her during their first dance. When a daughter graduates and her dad misses when she could fit in his arms. When a son gets married and his mom remembers the first time she felt him kick inside her tummy. When it’s Christmas and all you have left is a photo of them.
I think what separates me from other photographers is that I’m spirit lead. I believe God created us all with gifts that He asks us to use to bring glory to Him. Photography is art to me so, I play around a lot to make the photos artistic but honestly, photography can be a super vulnerable thing for a lot of people – I make people comfy, I probably could’ve been a pretty rad therapist but this is what He made me for…
I’m proud as heck that I let go and let God in my business. I would’ve quit by now for sure and I honestly believe photos are NECESSARY for everyone. I want everyone to know that the time they have here on this planet is precious but more than that, THEY ARE PRECIOUS. Their ideas, their work, their love, their lives… it all matters so much to the world and they matter to God and it’s all worth capturing.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me it’s seeing people see themselves. It’s pretty common for people and in my experience, mostly women to fear seeing themselves in photos. Our society has some strict standards when it comes to being pretty and most women feel they fall short of beauty. There isn’t anything quite as rewarding as seeing someone love the way they look in the photos I took.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Photography, well… really I think in the creative industry altogether there is a TON of comparison. I mean it’s kinda rampant in our world about EVERYTHING right now but specifically in today’s age, everyone’s a photographer. I’ve seen my share of budding photographers fall as quick as they sprout in this industry and I think what chokes’em out is comparison. It was one of my biggest struggles for the first 6 years in my business. I’d be so proud of something I shot and share it and it wouldn’t get a ton of attention and then you scroll down and see someone else doing it SO MUCH BETTER THAN YOU.
Entrepreneurship is lonely, you got no one to bounce off of and when your mom is your number one fan, it’s hard to feel like what you’re doing is awesome cuz she HAS to say it’s awesome.
But this was something I had to unlearn. Entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be lonely, I’m not competing with anyone and there is 100% space in this industry for me. God really taught me over the last 2 years that, there could be another girl shooting in the same area as me, with the same camera, the same lens, use the same presets, heck she could even have the same name as me but… I will still have clients that will choose me over her because I’m me and she’s her.
My work may be incredible but at the end of the day it’s me that people choose to work with.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
kaite rad photography