We recently connected with Katie Mollison and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I’m a professional dancer and photographer based in NYC. As a dancer, I wanted to provide a space and experience for other artists to be able to explore themselves in new and authentic ways. Collaboration and communication are essential to my sessions; these allow you to explore a space without set rules or expectations, but I can still provide specific insight as a fellow dancer in this industry.

The camera sees things that the human eye does not; my mission is to help my client find even more uniqueness through me and the camera. It’s not all about flexibility and legs when it comes to photography. I want to help find movement and positions that are comfortably and authentically to each and every artist in this industry,

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

Ever since I was young I noticed that every photoshoot I ever did as a dancer was always run by a male photographer with little to no dance background. I’ve never been an over flexible dancer with jaw dropping technique so half the time when I walked out of my shoot or received my finished gallery I would end up in tears and contemplate quitting because the photos never represented me as the dancer I felt I brought into class or auditions.

I went to school for film and never really thought twice about photography until a friend of mine a few years back asked me to try and take some dance photos of her. I was hesitant but with some convincing and free coffee I tried my best. Post shoot and looking back at the shots I felt something new deep down in my heart. A dancer taking photos of dancers just hit different, I was able to give notes, help create pose ideas or work out why what I saw in front of me was not what was seen on the camera. (Something I noticed quickly is the camera doesn’t care about your technique).

That night I created KAMeraShoots, for the first year I was really just learning to use my camera for photography but after the second year word got around that there was a photographer who is a dancer currently in the business and so KAMeraShoots continued to blossom and grow.

Another thing I noticed fast was that photoshoots in New York City are anywhere between $800 – $2000 and are not easily accessible to any artist pursuing musical theatre or dance. So our mission was always to be a business created by an artist for the artists so while I strive for the best quality of work for my clients I am not here to take all their rent money.

My goal at the end of the day for KAMeraShoots is to help every artist feel their absolute best no matter what gifts or magic they have.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Running a business is never easy. Running a business in New York City, one of the most expensive places I personally know is even harder.

I am an Australian born and raised who moved to America 6 years ago. I received my Green card towards the end of 2019. I think one of the biggest things people don’t tell you about the Green card is that you are on a five year probation where you agree you will not be a financial burden. This means things like you are unable to file for unemployment. Now in 2019 I was in a fairly stable hospitality job as well as performing. However 2020 paused everything and took away all our income,

I remember the moment of fear and heartbreak entering my body and getting an email from my lawyer who helped with my visa reminding me to not file for unemployment as I risk deportation. How am I supposed to survive? I called my family and we decided I would not go back to Australia and they would help me with my rent as long as I pay them back eventually so I always had a roof over my head but anything else was up to me. For a solid 3 months I was living off black beans and cheap ground meat. I was also unable to afford dance class.

I eventually put all my time into KameraShoots and started doing FaceTime photoshoots daily for as low as 20 bucks. These edits took me 6 hours, I’ll let you do the math. I hustled so hard because I needed to survive. I eventually got to in person photoshoots still being ridiculously low priced because I needed the customers and I would take what I could get. Eventually we lost momentum because every photographer does Central Park dance shoots and there’s just nothing special.

I remember getting sick in November of 2020 and searching for ways to just make ends meet. I took a risk and spent all my money on a backdrop and lights. In January I launched a new photography experience called Euphoric and for the last 2 years I have shot an incredible human being in Euphoric every week three times a week.

Not everyone knows just how much KAMeraShoots literally saved my life, but I am so grateful for this unexpected business journey, and although we are still small and still need to work another job along photography to fully support ourselves, I know there’s so much more magic KAMeraShoots is going to create and spread over time and I’m just so grateful to be a part of it.

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

The most rewarding aspect of doing what I do, is taking photography for the theatre and dance community back.

I always say it’s so strange that photographers in this industry are typically male and have never experienced dance, or musical theatre on a personal level. These photographers, no matter how talented they are, are not qualified to give corrections or notes to people when they have never trained in this art. These people also have never peaked into the minds of a dancer or musical theatre artist, we are the strongest, toughest thick skinned beings I’ve ever come across facing rejection sometimes daily, but only someone who has experienced this all firsthand understands how self-destructive we can be if the wrong word is said to us.

I’ve had photographers innocently ask me if I could get my leg higher, or be disappointed when my answer to “do you have any tricks?” is no and despite them meaning no harm I absolutely went home and cried about it deeming myself not good enough.

It’s not just about knowing technique; it’s about knowing the daily struggles all of us go through. My goal at the end of every shoot I do is just to make sure my client feels, loved, respected, seen and genuinely good about the shots we have taken, because just because your leg doesn’t go higher or you don’t have any tricks doesn’t mean you’re not a valid and talented artist, and it doesn’t mean you can’t get good photos you’re proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kamerashoots.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kamerashoots.nyc/

Image Credits
Danelle Morgan Gilbert Bolden III Kayla Laufer JJ Niemann Laura Kauffman Brooklyn Bronson Arisa Odaka Parsons Dance