Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katy Tartakoff. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Katy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I absolutely love being a photo artist. It brings me tremendous joy while taking me all over the world. I began my photography career making portraits of children and families, generations, birth to death…. It has been an honor making portraits of people nationally and internationally – I get to meet some of the most amazing human beings on the planet. Over the past many years, I have added in more Fine Art Photography, including Milky Way, Moonrises and sets, Landscapes, Wildlife and Birds.
Throughout my career it’s always been important to incorporate what I call Social Reform Photography (a way to affect change and provide opportunities for people and organizations they wouldn’t otherwise have.)
When building my business, I taught elementary, daycare and pre-school. I babysat, cleaned houses, delivered newspapers in the middle of the night, worked for a courier service, worked in photo labs…. In otherwords, I did whatever I needed to either keep cash flow going and/or to increase my skill sets.
There have been several times over the years when I’ve considered getting a “real” job. Many years ago, business was very slow and I was having difficulty paying my bills. It was tough. I have a friend who’s been working with me for 29 years. I would give her her paychecks and had to ask her if she could please wait to cash them until I had money in the bank. I got further and further behind. I started using credit cards to pay bills and the interest rates were so high, it made it almost impossible to catch up. I sold my home of 20 years to keep my business open. I loved my home and my neighbors and had hoped to live there until I died.
I thought about getting a part or full time job and still keep my portrait business going. When I thought it fully through, I knew that as hard as I work, by the time I would get through with whatever job I had, I’d be tired and wouldn’t have a great deal of time or energy left to do the marketing I needed to do, to schedule sittings, to do the sittings, retouch and print photos, etc. I also thought about what kind of job I could get that would actually have flexibility and made enough money that would make a difference. Ultimately, I realized that if I took the time and energy I would put into another job, I could do the work it would take to keep growing my business. Each time I’ve considered getting a “real” job, I remembered and renewed my knowing that I LOVE what I do, I am meant to do what I do, I can’t imagine not doing what I do!
A friend recently asked me, “what do you do when you’re not working?” I answered, ” I go out and make photos.” The truth is, I can’t help myself. Making photos brings me joy. Making photos keeps me grounded, provides a feeling of peace and a sense of purpose. Whether I’m in my studio making photos, out in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere…… making photos is exactly what I’m meant to be doing. The gift of vision I’ve had from birth, is a way to touch other people’s lives, to educate people, to record people’s life stories, to show people how beautiful they are, to invite people into the innate beauty all around us, to give back, to document hard things, to show the agony and the ecstasy of life.
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?
On my tenth birthday, my Grandparents gifted me a Kodak Instamatic camera, a few rolls of black and white film and flash bulbs. One of my first photos, which I still have, was of my Grandparents standing in front of their home. That was the beginning of my love for photography and what would become my life work. While in college, I began making portraits for friends as well as of children I babysat for and taught while doing student teaching. That was the beginning of my portrait business!
As the years moved forward, I photographed the people around me and found myself incorporating photography into working with children in schools to assist them in telling their stories. Later, without connecting the dots, using photos, art and writing to assist children in telling their stories morphed into creating an Internationally recognized non profit, The Children’s Legacy that I had for 15 years working with children and their families with life-challenging illnesses. I photographed the children and their families, taught them how to use photography to document healing into wellness or death, created workbook journals for them to use, workshops for children and siblings, parents, and families. During those years, Rebecca Lee and I brought educational outreach programs to schools, hospitals and Universities. We also co-published books using my photos and Rebecca Lee’s writing pertaining to children living with life challenging illnesses. One of our books, An Alphabet About Kids with Cancer was written by Rita Berglund.
From there I worked on and published a book of women and men with Breast Cancer with the help of Julie Whitney, Chris Casey and Jeanine Balsamo.
While continuing to grow my Portrait Business, I always kept living into ways of using my photography to document people in challenging life circumstances.
Prior to Covid I was honored with the opportunity to work with The Women’s Regional Network and The International Global Leadership Institute documenting summits and making portraits of women leaders and activists from around the world. I can’t begin to express the depth of feelings I have meeting these women and hearing their stories! I now refer to them as my Sisters.
In the past 7 years after taking a workshop with Rachel Brockey and Ryan Smith, I began seriously making and selling portraits of the world around me including landscapes, night sky photography, birds, wildlife, little things here and there that many don’t stop to take notice of.
Lin Clark changed the course of my career when she invited me to join what was at the time called Stapleton Open Studios. I also became part of Central Park Artists, led by Kathy Skarvan, and built a new community/family. My Fine Art Photos began selling regularly and still do.
People often ask what I like doing best – portraits or fine art photography. The answer is both! There are numerous challenges in both, yet ultimately it comes down to relationships, lighting, exposures and looking closely at what’s in front of us.
Technology doesn’t come easily to me. Each new environment and subject needs to be approached thoughtfully, and in the end, one needs to know how to make use of the tools we have. I continue taking workshops to learn new skills and get better at my life work. A big shout out to Ryan Smith of ICONS and my growing photo family. My success is the success of all those who have supported me in more ways than I can count, including family, friends and yes, even those I had never met. My heart is filled with gratitude.
I take heartfelt pride in building a portrait business of almost 50 years. I’m photographing 3rd and 4th generations of children I photographed as babies. Recently I photographed a family I babysat for and photographed when I was 19 years old in college. I had not seen them in 48 years.
Some of the families I am photographing now I have been photographing since college. Photographer Katy Tartakoff aka Katy Tartakoff Photography, is based on building relationships with people, putting them at ease, showing them they are worthy and deserving of feeling good about themselves and seeing their own beauty. I approach my photography with my heart and soul and feel it’s important to stay in a place of loving kindness.
Portraits become invaluable documentation of our history. I don’t take it lightly when people choose to work with me. I see it as an honor and a privilege.
I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world. No matter how many challenges I may have or how hard it can be at times running my own business, I get to do what I love every single day! To all who have invested in my photography, I am eternally grateful.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I’m guessing everyone knows the saying: She’s a starving artist. Somehow, given that I grew up needing to earn my own money for anything I wanted, pay for anywhere I wanted to go, or anything I needed, I did learn I was capable of earning money.
There were many messages spoken and unspoken about making a good living.
Did I really want to be a starving artist?
Much of my career I’ve just barely made it by. I was okay with that as I was doing what I loved. It wasn’t easy living day by day, month by month, but again, I thought that’s what artists did.
Sometimes I did very well and other times not so much. I had an underlying belief I wasn’t worthy or deserving of being financially successful.
In all honesty, now in my mid late sixties, I am alas embracing the knowing that we all deserve to be successful emotionally, spiritually and financially.
I highly encourage new artists to value yourselves, present yourselves and your work professionally. If you’re not sure how to do that, please seek out a mentor. I see so many people underselling themselves and their work.
You are worthy and deserving of doing the art that is calling your name and making a good living.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Along with loving what I do, where I get to go, and getting to continue learning and growing, I get to give back. Many many people along my path have helped me out during challenging times. From providing me a home to stay in, food to eat, money to help pay my bills, hiring me to do a job…. no matter how down and out I was, there was always someone to pick me up and help me stand up and keep moving forward.
I am devoted to giving back in whatever small or large ways whenever I can.
As a photo artist, I got to document some essential workers at the beginning of Covid and tell their stories. I am gifting photo sessions and prints to folks who lost all their photos in the Marshall fire. I can do a business photo for someone starting out who doesn’t have money for a nice portrait. I can make photos of a family whose loved one has cancer and all their resources are going to treatments and bills. I can donate a piece of my fine art photography to a school auction or fundraiser to assist them in meeting their goals. I get to teach people the things I’ve learned that might make their journey a little easier. There are numerous ways of giving back that fill me up and hopefully help the recipients of my gifts.
And, not wanting to be egotistical, I love when people come in for portraits and start out saying: I hate having my photo made and never like how I look. Then, as we look at their photos on the computer, they say: I love that! You made me look so beautiful! I reply the truth which is: you ARE beautiful!
The MOST rewarding part of my work is as I said earlier, people coming back in for photos throughout their lifetime! It’s such a treat getting to document children grow up, find their way in the world and then bring their families in.
Contact Info:
- Website: katytartakoff.com
- Facebook: Katy Tartakoff
Image Credits
Katy Tartakoff