We were lucky to catch up with Allison Klein recently and have shared our conversation below.

Allison, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I fell in love with capturing tiny moments when I was a little girl. My mom and dad recorded everything in our childhood with our 90’s camcorder. Some days were big, like Christmas or our first trip to Disneyland, but some days were the in-between, like playing in the yard sprinklers, or reading stories to each other before bed. As an adult, I have realized how much these memories now mean to me and how much I know they mean to other people. They are moments we can never get back, that show the best of us, even if we didn’t realize it in the moment.

To me, photography is a ministry. In the wake of social media, it’s easy to fall victim to imposter syndrome and forget what’s truly beautiful about ourselves. When I capture couples in love, in between silly giggles and carefree moments, or young children running around hysterically laughing, I’m capturing the best pieces of them. As a Christian, I recognize that this is how the Lord sees us every single day of our lives; even in the midst of the ugly, the crazy, and everything in between. The images I return to my clients then become a tangible reminder that we were created perfectly and authentically, and I feel deeply thankful to provide each new friend with a small token of that love.

Allison, 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?

I’m Allison! I’m a wedding photographer and owner of Allison Klein Photography. I started shooting weddings in 2021, but my love for photo began as a kid while watching my grandfather behind his own camera. (I contribute a lot of my success to him and am so thankful for the influence he’s had on my life!) I focus mostly on weddings and couples, but I also LOVE college graduation season. I spend a lot of time at Creighton in the spring, which is extra special since that is also where I graduated from! Ultimately I see photography as an amazing opportunity to take the most important moments from life and create a tangible way to re-live them! I am honestly so so thankful to be able to serve my clients in that way.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

My dad always said if you looked up the word “procrastinator” in the dictionary, you’d find a picture of me. Of course I never agreed with this because never intentionally meant to push things off! I recently realized that my tendency to procrastinate derives from my eagerness for perfection and desire to avoid the uncomfortable. Does anyone else wait for something to be perfect, and then it never ends up getting done ?? I had to force myself to unlearn this idea that everything had to be perfect to start, as well as encourage myself to be uncomfortable in the initial period of launching my business. Without that, I would have never started AKP to begin with!

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

I was very lucky to buy a used camera off a friend in college and borrow a few lenses from my grandpa! This allowed me to practice and perfect my shooting so that I had a product I really believed in. At this time I also worked at a florist taking product images and saved every paycheck to eventually upgrade my gear. Between the florist and taking grad photos of a handful of my friends, I was able to save up for my current Sony mirrorless camera! Since then, I’ve been able to put money back into my business and slowly accumulate different bodies and lenses.

Contact Info:

• Website: allisonkleinphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allisonkleinphotography/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/allisonkleinphotography
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/allisonkleinphoto/

Image Credits
Photo of Allison in studio – Erin Lane Photo + Film