We were lucky to catch up with Kate Hunter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kate , thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Very much to my surprise, yes – I am able to earn a full-time living from my creative work, but it definitely wasn’t always that way. Photography started as something personal for me, something I never really imagined would become my career.

If we’re going all the way back to the beginning, my sister Emily is the one who introduced me to photography. She bought a Canon DSLR in high school and being the younger sister, I was typically the model / guinea pig for our creative endeavors – sometimes this looked like painting my eyebrows blue or wearing an old prom dress we found on the sale racks at Goodwill. 

When I went off to college, I bought my own camera and started photographing everything: concerts, friends, weekend adventures – most of it for free or very little pay. My junior year, I took a film photography class that completely shifted things for me. There was something about film that made me crave taking photos. I spent countless Saturday mornings on Broadway with my Minolta X700, just me and the early morning employees heading to the honky tonks. Those Saturday adventures and the evenings I spent in the darkroom felt so sacred to me.

Throughout college and after graduation, I had seasons of working full-time jobs that had nothing to do with photography – waitress, barista, office admin – but I was always shooting on the side. In 2021, I photographed my first wedding and it unlocked a new level of excitement in me. It was a million stories unfolding at once, and I remember my cheeks hurting from smiling for ten hours straight.

But here’s the real turning point: I was working a corporate job, spending every weekend and weeknight editing, emailing clients, making instagram posts, etc…and I was so incredibly stressed. One night I was complaining to my husband, Will, about being overwhelmed, and he simply said, “Why don’t you take the leap and see how it goes?” And I realized – he was right. If I failed, I failed. But I wouldn’t know until I tried, so I took the leap. I quit my job and went all in on my business.

The biggest challenges at first weren’t really logistical – they were mostly internal. I had so much fear and anxiety around the fact that Nashville is full of creatives, and what do I have to bring to the table? Especially in the wedding industry, Nashville has an overwhelming amount of incredibly talented photographers. It took me a while to feel like I was good enough to be a full time photographer, and quite honestly, I still have days where I doubt myself and my abilities – but I will say that’s why creative community is important (and community in general). Community challenges us, calls us deeper, picks us up when we’re down and celebrates our victories.

What would I tell someone starting out? Shoot part-time for as long as you can, and shoot often. Don’t be afraid to work for free initially – some of my favorite opportunities came because someone saw work I’d done for free. I’d also say, don’t try to copy what you see online. Your creative voice is why people will hire you, so don’t just recreate what you see. Believe in yourself, find a creative community, approach it with humility and grace for yourself, and have fun! If you don’t want to do this for a career, you don’t have to. But if you do want to, you absolutely can.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Kate, a Detroit-born, current Nashville-resident wedding photographer who’s obsessed with collecting cameras. My current count is somewhere around 30, with more than half being film cameras. I’m 28 years old, married to my best friend in the whole world, and we have a 2 year old Corgi named Tex. We live just outside Nashville in a small town where the hardware store doubles as a restaurant, coffee shop, and local music venue – and I absolutely love it here.

I primarily photograph weddings, with the occasional newborn, family, and couple sessions for referrals, but I’m very intentional about protecting my time and energy for my wedding clients. I also shoot with both digital and film, and I’ll go a bit more into that later, but let me back up a few years…

When I first picked up a camera, somewhere back in my late high school, early college days, I didn’t dream of it one day being my career. I liked photographing people and quite honestly, I had a terrible memory so I found a lot of comfort in looking back on my photos – they often reminded me what a particular moment looked like, sounded like, felt like…

Around my sophomore year of college at Belmont University, in 2016, I bought my first “pro camera” – and if I’m not mistaken it was a Nikon – I quickly made the switch to a Fuji XT20 (sorry Nikon) and completely fell in love. I started taking headshots for my friends, documenting my travels, and photographing fellow Belmont students who were on their own creative endeavors of releasing their first EP. Some of this was paid work, but most of it I did for free, simply to get my name out there.

Side note: something I’m proud of is that the beginning of my photography journey was heavily on film. My first photo class in college was on shooting, developing and printing 35mm film, and I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to experience this (shout Christine Rogers for being an incredible teacher.)

After graduating in 2019 with a degree in Theology and Photography (ask me about that another day), I moved to India for what was supposed to be a year-long communications internship with a nonprofit. I had dreams of becoming a humanitarian photographer, but COVID had other plans and sent me home after only six months of being abroad. There I was, quarantining in my parents’ basement, when I realized that my dream might be more complicated than I thought – but it also crystallized something important: I’ve always been completely obsessed with stories. Ever since I can remember, I’ve believed that our stories are what make us who we are, and since no two people are alike, the stories waiting to be told are truly infinite.

This realization led me straight to weddings in 2021. Here was the perfect storm: a way to meet fascinating new people constantly, to hear their stories unfold, and to document a day that becomes woven into family history for generations. Mind blown that a job like this exists. I remember driving home from my first wedding with my cheeks actually aching from smiling the whole day. 

I think what sets me apart is rooted in that film foundation and my relentless pursuit of authentic storytelling. I’m not interested in manufacturing moments for the sake of a pretty photo – I’m after the truth of a person and a moment. My favorite images are the ones where people forget I’m even there, where real emotion surfaces naturally.

I genuinely love people and this weird, beautiful human experience we’re all sharing together, and I’m proud that I’ve built this career by staying true to my voice and vision, rather than trying to replicate what I see others doing. When someone hires me, they’re getting authenticity – real moments, genuine emotions, and images that will remind them not just what their day looked like, but how it felt.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Honestly? Meta ads completely changed my game, which is the last thing I ever thought I’d say. Ads always felt impersonal and clunky to me – too noisy, too salesy. But I also didn’t want to spend my days making TikToks pointing to text bubbles above my head, so I started looking around to see what other options were out there.

Ironically, I got an ad for this wedding photographer named Peyton who teaches other photographers how to use ads to get more inquiries. Since he’s also a wedding photographer, he actually gets it. He walks you through tweaking your website, your copy, your brand voice – then shows you how to set up Meta ads on Instagram and Facebook. After just a few weeks of running ads, inquiries started coming in. The more I learned and refined my approach, the better quality leads I got. I’ve booked 15+ dream weddings in recent months from ads alone – couples I never would have reached just posting random content.

What really helped was boosting posts that truly captured my brand voice. Put some money behind content that feels authentically you, and suddenly your ideal clients are seeing it and following to learn more. I should mention – I barely have 3,000 followers, so I’m definitely not going viral. But I’m getting attention from my dream clients, and honestly, I don’t need 100,000 followers. I just need to find my few perfect couples.

My advice? Start by getting crystal clear on your voice and what makes you unique – write down those key words and pillars that define your brand. Then just be yourself (online, on your website, etc…). Love vintage cameras? Share that. Obsessed with your morning routine? Post it. People hire personalities, not just photographers. The goal isn’t to mimic what’s trending – it’s to attract people who genuinely connect with who you are. Most importantly, don’t get stuck scrolling in the void when you could be creating.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron has been a game-changer for me. My mom actually introduced me to it back in high school, but I still turn to it whenever I’m hitting a creative wall or feeling stuck. I think this books speaks to more than just those in a creative career – so I would recommend it to anyone. 


Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke is one I return to almost every year. I actually use to read it every single time I was on an airplane, but then I started to travel for work often and I needed a little more variety in my life. It’s a collection of letters between a poet and young student, and although it’s short, it’s always leaves me feeling inspired.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is another one I looove – she writes about creativity in a way that feels completely freeing. It’s perfect when I’m experiencing creative block because it removes so much of the pressure I put on myself. Her perspective on creativity being collaborative really resonates with me.

Lastly, I’m constantly flipping through photo books for inspiration. One I always revisit before weddings is The Perfect Imperfect by John Dolan – it’s a collection of his wedding photography over the years. His approach to capturing authentic, effortless moments reminds me exactly why I love this work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://katehunter.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_katehunter/