We were lucky to catch up with Angie Knutson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Angie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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.

I’m primarily self taught, mostly from trial and error — heavy on the errors. Mistakes are great learning tools, they teach you what NOT to do. I think a lot of business owners can allow mistakes to get in their heads that they’re not good enough, that they don’t deserve their success or that they’re an imposter. I am grateful for my mistakes and the clients that allowed me to make them. We are all human and ultimately my biggest obstacle in my business is myself. Successes and failures are simply part of the process that offer feedback on what to do next. Getting stuck on mistakes gets in the way of learning the lesson that could propel you forward.

Angie, 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’ve been a photographer for 15 years. I took every art class my small high school offered growing up. I’ve always been drawn to photography, going as far back as the ole Myspace days of the early 2000s. After my grandparents passed away, I purchased my first DSLR. I began taking photos of my niece as a baby and I haven’t stopped since. There is nothing else in this world that I can imagine doing. I specialize in baby and family photography, but as I was learning, I took pictures of everything I could. There’s something worth taking a picture of just about anywhere. It doesn’t have to be a perfect location with zero mess or chaos.

I believe in creating timeless, detail oriented portraiture that showcases individual personalities. My goal is to create a time capsule of modern heirlooms for each client, collecting as many details as I can so folks can look back and see new favorites, learn to see the beauty in themselves and their unique family.

I’m proud that my values for sustainability, genuine connection and authenticity fuel my goals as a photographer. I believe in sustainable practices and documenting people as they are. I don’t want people to feel like they need to pretend to be something or someone that they aren’t in front of my camera. I want everyone to feel worth documenting, just as they are. The outfits, the location, the props…don’t matter as much in my eyes. I think there’s a lot of pressure to feel good enough and it is paramount to me that my clients know that they are always good enough, whether they smile or not, whether they know how to pose or not. I think there’s a lot of pressure to utilize all sorts of props and fancy gowns, I love a Disney princess moment as much as the next photographer, but there’s something that will always speak to me about documenting families in their homes, a location they love or at my Owatonna studio, where connection is the priority, always.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2017, I tested positive for rheumatoid arthritis, a degenerative autoimmune disease that impacts my joints and ultimately dictates my life in the present. I grew up learning to work hard and never stop until the job was done. Unfortunately, that came to a crashing halt when I became unable to dress myself, brush/wash my own hair, or get up/down onto the floor by myself. At the onset of my RA, I was focusing on posed newborns. It reached a point where safety came into question and I had to completely overhaul my life and my business. I struggled with people pleasing and saying no, I took on more work than I could handle. I crashed and burned. One thing about being a small business owner is that as long as you don’t give up on yourself, you can always pick up the pieces and start over — as many times as you want. I don’t take for granted the freedom and flexibility that my business offer me.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I don’t want to be “the best” photographer, I want to be the right fit for my client. I want to work with people who understand what I can offer them, trust the process and are willing to let go in the moment. Not every moment will be cheerful smiles, sometimes things get a little wild. Who we attract is just as important as who we repel, and I’m not the right fit for everyone. I built my business on prioritizing guiding my clients through the process, from where to look, how to stand — I don’t leave them guessing or feeling like they need to know what to do. Everyone is nervous in front of a camera…it’s an odd phenomenon, I pick up my camera and folks will run away or tell me that they’re going to break my camera. I validate for everyone that getting photos done is honestly pretty stressful when the day actually comes around. Good photos are accessible to everyone, it’s important for me as a photographer to be vulnerable, honest, and accepting so that I can do the best job for my client. I’m not interested in working with people who “just want one good photo” because there’s so much more along the way worth keeping. I find myself often working with the same clients multiple times a year, their kids remember me, they know which toys they want to grab, they know they can be themselves, and that’s what makes people come back.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.angieknutsonphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angieknutsonphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angieknutsonphotography

Image Credits

Angie Knutson