Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katie Mae Norland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Katie Mae , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I learned how to do photography by trail and error. I was gifted a camera my junior year of high school and had no idea what I was doing with it. I shot in auto the first year I had my camera and mostly photographed nature and buildings. It wasn’t until I had a friend ask me to take her couple photos that I learned that you could fully control the settings on the camera. Once I learned all the settings I felt way more ready to take photos for actual people. It took a lot of time and I wish someone would of told me to go to YouTube to learn a little faster. Learning the settings was the most essential thing for me. Once I got those down it was so much easier to learn everything. My biggest problem was gaining the confidence to ask friends to let me take their photos for practice.

Katie Mae , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Katie Mae and I’m a wedding and elopement photographer. I started my business right after high school and honestly didn’t take it too serious until I was about 21/22 year old. Once I took it more serious I fell in love with being able to capture all of life’s special moments. Something about seeing someones life unfold in photos is just so special to me. I use to only photograph couples and weddings, until one of my friends had a baby. This started my love for photographing all phases of life.

I am most proud of how all my clients feel like friends and that I get to photograph them year after year. I love making my clients feel special and seeing their reactions to their photos. It truly makes me so happy to capture raw and real moments for my clients.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think getting to know each and every client personally helped build my reputation. A lot of my clients come from past clients that recommended me to them. I have seen my clients go from couples, to newly weds, and then parents and I love that they come back for each milestone.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The whole process is rewarding from planning the shoot to seeing the finished gallery. I love being able to hear my clients thoughts and see them share them on social media.    

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Katiemaesphotographs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatieMaesphotographs

Image Credits
Photographer: Katiemaesphotographs