We were lucky to catch up with Kate Oakley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kate, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Starting a business is taking a huge risk. Even if you have low overhead, its a big commitment of time and constant hustle. We doubled that risk by having my significant partner as my business partner, and partner on the scene. You really have to develop excellent communication skills, leave personal life problems at home, and celebrate every “win” or good thing that happens.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
In the beginning, I was a forensic student and my friend was a Crime Scene Detective who photographed Crime Scenes. We went out on photography adventures and compared our best photos. I suggested we photograph a family one day, or graduation and he agreed. That year I booked 8 Weddings without a single photo to show them. We did good and as we learned more we became great! My partner retired from the Police Station and now instead of photographing peoples worst moments, him and I photograph peoples greatest moments – Maternity, Newborn, Birthdays, Graduations, Family Photos, Seniors, Prom, Engagements, Weddings, you name it! We celebrate with you! 2 of us can be in 2 places at one time. We see and capture everything!
How’d you meet your business partner?
I was a Forensic Student and I came home one day to grab some cash so I could go shopping. I’m a girl who never shops but that day I was going to treat myself and do it. I came home to find a Crime Scene Van outside my apartment building. On his side, he never processes cars on the street but on this day the PD was filled of stolen vehicles that he decided to do this one on the street (several years on the job, and this was the first car he processed on the street). Tell me Karma does not exist! Tell me there isn’t some devine intervention going on!
As an excited student I ran up to observe a Detective in action. He saw me and thought I stole the car! He asked me questions like “Did you take it for a joy ride? Did you borrow the car to get home?” I replied “Did I STEAL it? No! I’m just a student”. He said I could ask questions and gave me his number. I became the mascot of the Crime Scene Unit for the next few months and we chatted and laughed every day for hours about nothing.
He liked photography and I did too so we decided to go take photos together and the rest just fell into place.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The lesson I learned is “What CAN I do”. For a networking event, I visited an amazing charity and sat in on their presentation. I was sold! They did things right and I was so inspired but I don’t have a lot of money to throw around. At the end, I went the person who invited me and stated I felt like they made a mistake because I could not donate thousands like some of the other attendees. My friend stated “I don’t want your money, but what CAN you do?” I started to come up with ideas – I could take headshots, I could photograph the events so they could advertise, I could be very valuable! I started to apply that to all aspects of my life. One day I ran into my friend and he was sad. He is a self made millionaire and he was sad. He said his 4 year old grandson had come out of a surgery and was in so much pain he was losing the will to live. Again, money would not save him but what COULD I do? I noticed in the photos of the boy, he had spiderman. There was a spiderman blanket, pillow, PJ’s. This was at the height of COVID to make things worse. I got hundreds of prayers but what does that mean to a 4 year old? So I pivoted. I reached out to every Spiderman Impersonator on Social Media. I found several from America, and some in other Countries. They made videos telling the 4 year old to be strong. Spiderman is real to a 4 year old and the whole Spidey family was telling him to be “strong” and he was a “hero”. He found the strength to get better overnight. He used to passout from pain, and now he runs around with his sisters and family pet dog. Him and his parents still have no idea who I am, and how/why I got so many people rallied to help but the boy better and thats all that matters.
The Lesson “What CAN you do?” Find that and do it, no matter how small it is, how insignificant, or how anonymous. You can always do something to help others.
Contact Info:
- Website: willandkatephotography.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/willandkatephotography
- Facebook: facebook.com/willandkatephotography
- Youtube: WillandKatePhotography