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

Kaitlin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I did a photo project that I titled “Bodies Are Beautiful.”

I grew up in the height of purity culture. I was taught that “modest is hottest,” and that my body was dangerous. I lived with a lot of shame about my body and what I did or did not want to do with it. I know a lot of people who grew up in the church also were taught this and experience this same shame and trauma.

I decided to do this photo project after a conversation with a couple friends about these values we had been taught and carried with us in our adolescence (and honestly carried over into adulthood as well). The conversation centered around our shared rejection of these values and the revelation of “but bodies are beautiful.” I wanted to give this idea a”visual voice”… if that makes sense.

So this project was my ode to the body, and to the ones who also grew up believing that their body was something to be ashamed of. The body is strong. The body is incredible (we can freaking grow humans inside of us, guys 🤯). The body is beautiful.

Kaitlin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am from California, and started out taking photos of friends for fun. I had some friends who played music, so I began taking photos for them and a few other bands in the area. From this, I ended up moving to Nashville to do band/tour photography, and after a couple years, I was working as a creative director for a record label, and doing a lot of both music and fashion photography. I LOVED doing this kind of work, it was so creative and I loved coming up with concepts for shoots. I also was doing a lot of touring and traveling with the bands and loved that part of it too! During this time I was also shooting weddings and engagements on the side.

I have always loved taking photos of people more than anything else. So that has always been part of the work I have pursued. In 2016 I began dating my now husband, who lived in Columbus, OH. We dated long distance for awhile, and then I ended up moving to Columbus. The music and fashion photography jobs were not as easy to come by in Columbus, so I started focusing more on weddings, engagements, and families. Initially I wasn’t thrilled about this, because it felt a lot less creative than the work I was doing before. But I learned that if I put my own creative style into my wedding photography, people actually liked it! So I have kind of just developed my own style of shooting and editing weddings, engagements, and other portraits. I like to incorporate a lot of movement, and a lot of genuine emotion. I love photographing people’s raw emotions, and not have things feel super staged and posed! It’s a kind of photojournalistic approach to wedding photography.

Now I have been married for 6 years, and my husband and I have 2 kids– a four year old daughter and a 1 year old son. We just moved back to California–the Sacramento area, and I’m so excited to be back! I love being home with my family, so I am currently focusing my business locally in Sacramento and the surrounding areas.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

It was definitely a slow process. I have never had “investors” or what I would call “capital” to start my business. I started with a Canon Rebel and started taking photos of anyone who would let me. I was also working full-time at another job. I saved up and bought another camera and a lens. As my business has grown over the past 12 years, I’ve been able to increase the amount of money I put into my business. I worked other jobs for several years to save money to buy more gear, and eventually got to the point where my business could fund my expenses plus gear/app subscriptions, office supplies, etc– at that point I stopped working other side jobs, and was able to focus exclusively on my business.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I would say the greatest resource, it other creatives in your field. Obviously I knew about other photographers, but at the beginning of my creative journey, I think I just viewed them more as competition, and kind of just avoided them. I didn’t join any online photographer groups, or try to get to know any photographers in my area. I SO WISH that I would have done this early on! This is something that now is such an important resource for me. It is incredibly helpful to talk to other photographers, to learn what has worked for them and what hasn’t, tips and tricks they have, and to just bounce ideas off of!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kaitlinjeanphotography.com
• Instagram: @kaitlinjeanphoto
• Facebook: facebook.com/kaitlinjeanphoto

Image Credits
Kaitlin Jean Photography