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

Kassandra , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

One of the first clients I’ve ever gotten, and quite frankly how I get many of my clients, was just by sparking a conversation with some kind strangers. It was the 4th of July and I was very excited to photograph the fireworks here in Fort Collins. They do the fireworks over the City Park and it’s always really beautiful with this particular lake in the park and I wanted to capture the reflections of the show in the water. I ended up laying a blanket out on the bank and waited for the sun to go down and the magic to happen. The park was really crowded and over time there were people cluttered in every space you could find. I noticed a man with his younger son were moving through the crowd struggling to find a place to sit so I invited them onto my blanket to watch the fireworks.
They were very intrigued with what I was doing and I would show them the back of my camera every time I had a capture worth sharing.
The dad asked what other types of photography I like to do and his eyes lit up when I said portraits. He explained how he had a daughter that would soon be a senior in High School and asked if I do Senior Portraits. And I most certainly do!
My first shoot, that wasn’t family, or friends was finally on the books! I was ridiculously excited!
The shoot happened in Autumn, as that was his daughter’s favorite season and it was incredible. She played the flute and I’m always elated to merge my two passions: Photography and Music! I got some gorgeous images of her playing flute amongst the sunflowers!
The pictures turned out phenomenal and the client was exceptionally pleased with the results. It was a wonderful feeling that they chose to hire me over this interaction as they never even looked at my portfolio!
Then to be as pleased as they were was really something that gave me momentum. That’s also when I learned that my favorite part about any session is watching my clients face light up as they look through the gallery of their images.

Kassandra , 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 always had a huge passion to create. When it comes to my conceptual photography I like to describe my photographs as riddles for the mind. I want one to have to think when they looked at my images. I really want it to provoke feeling, to change your emotions. In portraiture, specifically I really just want to wreck one’s preconceived self deprecating image and produce an image of someone that shows them how truly beautiful, unique, and incredible they really are. I like to capture the raw, unfiltered, essence of what makes ‘you’, YOU. There’s a staggering amount of people that just don’t like seeing themselves in a photograph and I like to take that as a challenge and produce an image of someone where they go, “Woh! I didn’t know I could like THAT!”

I provide an array of photographic services to my clients. From portraiture like weddings, senior portraits, and couples photography to more home decor products like large canvas Landscapes, wall hangings, and magnets. I love taking on interesting and different types of shoots as well, I never back down from a challenge! From an Elopement through Estas Park to gender reveal parties and small private events I’m always down for a new and unique experience.

Something I am most proud of is my unique style. People are always telling me that they went with my business because of how unique my work is and how they haven’t come across anything quite like it. That’s always something makes my heart feel so full! I’m always striving for the next angle, or to convey a different feeling, I will lay completely submerged in the mud if I think it’ll make for a gorgeous interesting shot, there’s no shame there.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

The best advice I can give for managing a team and maintaining high morale really just boils down to: Take care of your people and they will take care of you! Get to know your team on a deeper level, take them out to lunch or take everyone on a team building activity that’s fun like bowling or an escape room. Your team is your work family and their success is your success. People also just want to be heard and it’s important to understand the working and communication style of those you work with so you can better meet their needs and they’ll be happier and more capable of meeting yours.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

My business definitely has multiple revenue streams and I think that’s a key point in owning a photography business. Rarely will you make all the money you need to survive on off of 1 singular type of photography. I do an array of different things from stock photography, prints, and products to selling handmade crafts like dreamcatchers and epoxy pendants. There’s so many different avenues that one can take with their craft and there’s no problem with exploring the different types of services you can provide within the scope of your industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: bohemianwarriorco.com
• Instagram: @bohemian_warrior_Photography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bohowarriorphoto

Image Credits
Kassandra Vredenburg