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

Kari, appreciate you joining us today. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

For each of my wedding couples, I donate to One Tree Planted, to plant trees in areas in need! In 2020, we had purchased some land in Grand Lake, and one month later, it was burned completely in the Troublesome Fire. Luckily we didn’t have a structure on the land, but many people in the area did. It was truly devastating for so many! Replanting areas like this is very important to the wildlife in the area, so I wanted to help as much as I could. So, for each of my wedding couples, I make a donation to One Tree Planted in their name to help many locations in need of new tree life.

Kari, 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 mom used to do photography and art for fun when I was growing up. I saw how much joy it brought her, so I started doing it. I began covering concerts for bands, and slowly transitioned into portraits and then weddings!

I am a wedding and elopement photographer based in Denver, CO. I travel for a lot of my weddings within this beautiful state, as well as all over the world! I’m truly lucky to do what I do… My goal for my clients is to capture their day in a mostly emotional documentary style. I want them to look at these photos years from now, and completely relive how they felt on their wedding day!

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I used to work in hospital management. I was a Supervisor for multiple outpatient surgery centers. I would work there on weekdays (10-12 hour days sometimes), and then do photo sessions after work for sunset, and shoot weddings on weekends. At some point, it started to be too much, and I was consistently booking weddings on weekends. I began getting inquiries for elopements and other sessions on weekdays, and this was interfering with my day to day work schedule. At this point, I knew I had to make a decision to quit the work at the hospital and go full time with photography. When I started making more on the photography bookings than I did with my salary, I knew it was time! Of course, it’s very scary to make that leap and not have a consistent paycheck. But it’s for something you love, and you will make it work, so that you can do it forever!

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

I think in this industry, a lot of people think you have to specialize in one thing. I used to think this was how you had to run a photography business as well. (Ie. only weddings, only portrait, only commercial). This is completely untrue! While I primarily advertise towards weddings and have a wedding only website, I also have my main website with other photography I do as well! (family, events, commercial, business, headshots, product, travel). This fills in most of my other days with shoots, and shooting different types of things, really helps sharpen skills that help in other shoots, like weddings! It’s also nice to be well rounded, and it keeps you from burnout on one specific category :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://karigehaweddings.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karigeha/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karigehaphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-geha-6b9bb567/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/karigeha
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kari-geha-photography-denver

Image Credits
Photo of me: Erika Overholt Photography