We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Megan Kelly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Megan below.

Hi Megan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about one of the craziest things you’ve experienced in your journey so far.

Right when we were all in the thick of covid-19, I had a bride and groom who had been planning to elope. They had their license to marry, the dress, the location, the date, we had planned it all out. But when covid came they couldn’t find an officiant who was willing to go out and marry them. They came to get pictures at this amazing location anyway, up in the mountains, gorgeous red rocks all around us, she looked STUNNING, but she just looked so bummed out. My assistant made a joke about marrying them herself, and they both got wide-eyed and asked if she really would be able to! This place we were photographing normally has no service, but on one single bar of service, my assistant was able to get certified and get everything she needed to marry them! We found a beautiful spot, had to find some tourist hikers to be the witnesses, and began to marry them right then and there. It had been cloudy all day, and I am not even kidding when I say the clouds parted a small hole, and the sun came beaming through and lit everything around them up right at sunset, it was magical. Even the strangers who were witnessing started to cry haha. It was a session I will never forget!

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

I started out like most people in photography start out, I picked up a camera and started having fun with it. I studied graphic design in college, and photography was a part of that major, and I just fell in love with it. I was NOT good when I first started. I definitely would look for flaws and try to get better at them. I ate up everything I could and the passion I had for it really pushed me to just keep going. After I graduated I was a stay-at-home mother and was able to pick up some photo sessions on the side which was fun, but still be able to stay home with my young kids. I got better and better and practiced more and more and started to really get good at it. Pretty soon I was making as much as a full time job and it just kept snowballing into more and more. I couldn’t have gotten here today without my amazing husband who always encouraged me, supported me, and equally helps around with the home and the kids and makes it possible for me to have this job. He is the most amazing person ever.

My specialty (and favorite) thing to photograph is weddings and elopements. Anything out in nature and I am so down. I love that it takes me to so many beautiful and different places. I feel like I am collecting them all haha. But I also love photographing families, seniors, and couples as well.

The skill I am most known for is my editing skills. People in college would just stop at my computer and watch me edit, saying I was so fast and good. I never really understood it but I never minded when people watched. I tried showing my editing on TikTok, and it blew up from 0 followers to 400,000k+ in the first year! I showed editing out ex boyfriends, taking out people in the background, editing in parents who have passed into important moments like weddings or graduations, etc. People loved it and business really took off after I got my name and my skills out there. TikTok, who knew!

I love being able to have clients come work with me and not have to worry about people in the background, double chins, lipstick on their teeth, etc and they can just be themselves and have fun and know I will take care of all those little distractions. We can go anywhere we want, even if there are people in the background (and a lot of the beautiful places we go have tons of tourists or hikers in them) and I can just edit them all out in a few seconds. I also give the images back to them (all fully edited) within a week for regular sessions and two weeks for weddings, which people love. No one wants to wait forever for their wedding images.

The hardest part about my job, specifially with editing, is not being able to help everyone. Each time I would post a viral TikTok I would get hundreds of messages from strangers asking me to edit something for them. Some were just smaller things like editing people out or removing a double chin, but some where important and meaningful, like editing an entire extended family together in one pictures because they all lived so far apart, or adding in a grandmother that passed into a wedding picture, or cleaning up an image of a stillborn baby so they have something nice to frame. It was too much for me to handle. It was taking up extra hours, I had to hire someone just to go through my messages for me, and it was stressing me and my time out so much that I had to no longer offer edits for anyone other than my clients. That has been really hard. Even with all the messages I get I try really hard to answer them all, and not being able to help everyone has been really hard, even though it is what is best for me and my family. I also haven’t been able to find someone I felt comfortable sending people to that could edit their images instead. I love being able to use my skills to help others if I can, and it’s hard when I don’t have the time.

I am so proud of everything I have been able to do so far in my career. I’m only 28 years old but have created a business that makes six figures a year, and it’s a job that I LOVE doing. It makes me so happy. I love sharing my skills with others to give them amazing photos, I love working with people on their big day and spending happy moments with people. I love that it’s allowed me to work with my favorite magazines, businesses, and productions like National Geographic. And I am especially honored and humbled when dozens of people a year fly to me just for a photo session. I hope to always remain humble and fun and share my knowledge with others. I owe it all to my Heavenly Father and my husband.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media, specifically TikTok, has been a game changer in my business. I was so surprised. When covid came and everyone was locked down, it was during my slow season so I decided to try something new.

I wanted it to be successful, which means I couldn’t be like everyone else. So I looked at what everyone else was doing, and it seemed like most photographers or creatives were just posting “hey look at my photos aren’t they so cool” and that was it. So I thought about what made people intrigued by me or my work and I remembered when I was in college and people would just stare at my screen while editing. So I made a TikTok about my editing, and it hit 1 million views quickly! I was SHOCKED, I am just a little Idaho girl, such a normal, if not weird, person haha. I did it again and again and people loved it and started coming from all over the country to shoot with me. I think they loved that I could take care of all those distractions or things they might be self conscious about in their photos. I definitely think trying to be different and showing behind the scenes stuff really set me apart, and it worked. It still feels crazy that all this has happened to me.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I have always loved being in nature. Hiking, swimming, sight-seeing. It gives me such a high and I love it. One of the most rewarding things about my career has been all the amazing places I have been able to see. The world is so beautiful and I will never get enough of it. I get weird and excited every time I shoot (even if I’ve been there before) because it’s so beautiful and I love being able to get those images for people. I have a really hard time visiting somewhere gorgeous and NOT having someone to photograph haha. It almost feels like a waste if I don’t make it permanent in a photo somehow haha. Some favorites these past few years have been Hawaii, Malibu, Moab area, Oregon, the Great Lakes, and tons of national parks. My job makes me so happy and allows me (and sometimes my family too) to see such beautiful and relaxing places.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thelightseeker.photography
• Instagram: @the.lightseeker
• Other: TikTok: @the.lightseeker