We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kathleen Dreier. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kathleen below.
Kathleen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
My primary work is documenting events, including non-profits, multi-day corporate, weddings, and community. However, when the pandemic shut everything down in March of 2020, within a span of 3 days, I lost all of my scheduled paid work for the remainder of the year. I’m not one to sit around. I recalled a photography workshop that I attended years ago in which the presenter spoke of the importance of doing personal work in between paid work as a way to stay pliable, creative, inspired, and productive.
After the initial shock of the pandemic’s onset, within 3 weeks I began a series entitled “Covid-19 and Tucson Frontline Workers”. I took the portraits of our local frontline and essential workers, collecting their statements about how the pandemic impacted their line of work. The intention was to amplify their experiences by sharing their portraits and statements to various social media platforms to encourage the public to be mindful of the impact of their reactions to the pandemic impacts these professionals.
Then, after George Floyd’s murder, I was shocked awake to my own ignorance about systemic racism, resulting in the creating of a concurrent series entitled “Tucson Black Voices” which began in early June 2020. Following the same practice that I did with the Covid series, I took portraits of Black community members and posted their uncensored statements.
Personal photography work is an evolutionary process:
In September of 2020, a Black friend courageously confronted me, saying that it was time for me as a White woman and an artist to turn my camera on myself and other White folx, that Black communities have been trying to prove their worth for centuries. Thus began my third series entitled, “What White People Think.”
Fast forward to April of 2021. After attending a portfolio review with industry expects who gave me feedback on my various series, I came to realize that I was essentially doing a singular series with separate names. By May 2021, the 3 series were blended into one; the project is now called Voices of Race.
The mission of Voices of Race is:
“Voices of Race is dedicated to amplifying the perspectives of all people (particularly marginalized communities) and being a call of action for all people (particularly white communities) to be social change agents. Each participant is encouraged to share whatever they like regarding diversity, inclusion, racism, culture, privilege, etc. No one is censored. My intention and wish is that the viewer reflect upon the words of the person in the portrait and is inspired to engage in their own courageous conversations with their friends and family. It is time we each take the time to reflect on our individual and collective histories, heal from the damage done, and create the foundation for equity and compassion for every human being.”
To date, I have taken the portraits and collected the statements of almost 250 people including my own self-portraits.
The work has been part of numerous online and in person exhibits including the University of Arizona Museum of Art, Social Documentary Network as well as being featured in local news programming. Voices of Race is largely a self-funded project although I do have a modest Patreon backing. No one is charged to participate in Voices of Race and no one’s statement is censored I intend to continue this series indefinitely.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
A bit about my journey: I was in my mid-40’s when I began to do photography seriously. At the time, I had a professional career as a social worker, primarily in child and adult protection. For over 3 decades, I navigated the underbelly of our society’s ills including poverty, addiction, abuse/neglect, while navigating dysfunctional familial/community systems. I was also a single mother of a bi-racial son.
Being a social worker didn’t provide a livable income so I always did more than one job to support my small family. I ran a custom fragrance business for 20 years and officially began my photography business in late 2004. For quite a few years, I ran my 2 businesses while working a full time social work job and being a super-dedicated mother. For at least 15 years, I slept on average 4-5 hours a night.
While I took some photography classes and trainings, I am largely self-taught. I gained experience and knowledge by documenting all of my son’s martial arts, cross-country and cycling competitions. His activities afforded me the opportunity to be in a perpetual state of practicing my craft. From photographing my son and his teammates, I quickly began to document full sporting events. Also, I routinely took my camera out to public events all over Tucson documenting for my own pleasure, later sharing my images on social media. Organically, I developed a following which led me to be hired for all sorts of photography assignments.
People who are most drawn to my work prefer images that tell the story of their life or business brand truthfully without high manipulation of the final imagery. My social work background and my personal life experiences inform my documentary photography style. Whether I’m documenting a protest, a private family event, or a multi-day corporate gig, I work with 2 cameras attached to my body at all times and navigate each photography assignment with a relaxed yet hyper-alert orientation. When on a job, I am continuously sensing the full environment and people within it, being at the ready to document essential planned and unplanned moments.
In September of 2018, at the age of 58, I left my social work career to give myself an opportunity to do photography full time. It has been an extraordinary experience full of challenges and opportunities, It’s a decision I don’t regret. As freelance portrait and event photographer, I am blessed to engage with people from all walks of life. Everything interests me: Through my corporate event photography, I learn about all different sorts of industries and meet leaders from our country and around the world. From my non-profit work, I learn about resources that help the local community. From individuals, I am privileged when entrusted to document their most intimate of family moments.
Personally, what I love about photography is that it allows me to fall in love with people over and over again. It reminds me to remain fluid and compassionate as a human being. It also demands of me to be a lifelong learner about our world.I am fascinated by the infinite expressions of humanity, hence my broad client base and business model. My hope is that when people see my work that they see themselves in the people I photograph. At the whole of it, my work really is about building community through photography.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
As I mentioned, my purpose as a photographer has been an evolutionary process. Photography, simultaneously, has given me a means to support myself and it has been a creative outlet. Part of what drives me is my age and another part is that I have inherited by father’s work ethic. Currently 62, I’m more aware than ever before that my biological clock has a definite time limit. I am determined to stay vital, active, engaged, ever-learning and healthy, serving others through my tools which happen to be my camera, my instincts, and my eye. I hope I have a good 2-3 decades left to use photography to assist people in building their business, create lasting family memories, and raising awareness to how we can grow as a community. I cherish connecting people, using imagery for us to learn about each other’s world. I feel that photography can be use to make us more well-rounded, compassionate human beings.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
My actions built my reputation: I do what I say I’m going to do. I deliver a quality product. If I’m not the right person for the job, I refer a prospective client to colleagues whose work and ethics I trust. I listen well to my client’s wishes. I send every prospective client my detailed resume and business/family testimonials. I have built a huge archive of images that are a testament to my skill set, thoroughness and integrity.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kathleendreier.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleendreierphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathleen.dreier
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleendreier/
Image Credits
All images © Kathleen Dreier