We recently connected with Kayla Fitzgerald and have shared our conversation below.

Kayla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Taking a RISK

I love taking risks. The adrenaline I get by taking that leap of faith is one of the most exhilarating feelings I have ever experienced. All of the most memorable things that have ever happened to me are because I decided to just go for it. I’ve persevered on my fearless pursuit of happiness not because I am mad, but because I have so much faith in my God and in myself. One of my biggest fears is staying stuck. I never want to become so comfortable in my life and my art that I become stagnant. I’ve taken many risks in my life, but the biggest one was two years ago. That risk led me to where I am now: a full time photographer.

I am originally from Massachusetts, and during covid the state basically shut down for what felt like two years; however I was fortunate enough to keep my job and be able to work from home during this time. Working from home sounds like a dream until you feel like you can’t escape the space you’re spending all of your time in. The stress of my job combined with the mystery of covid put a strain on my relationship with my partner of 3 years. During this time it felt like my world was coming to an end, and I was losing my mind as well as the love of my life. After coming to terms with the fact that we would no longer work, I knew I needed something to make me feel alive again. Although the job was paying good, and I had a home I loved, I knew I needed to make a huge change if I ever wanted to truly be happy again. One day I got on the phone with my friend in Florida, and I was telling her what I was going through, and she told me her roommate just moved out and I should move in. At first it sounded like a silly invitation, half joking but with an underlying tone of hope. I don’t think she expected me to jump at the suggestion, but I needed to get far away, and what better way to do that than move 1,200 miles away from your hometown. In a week’s time I quit my job, got rid of most of my stuff, including all of my furniture and packed up everything I could fit into my honda coupe, and made the journey with my older brother to Florida.
As far as risks go this may have been my craziest one to this day, yet it will always be the most rewarding choice I ever made. I couldn’t find a job for a month or two so I decided to explore the city and learn my way around. I quickly became obsessed with the architecture here and would run around the city taking photos of all the beautiful buildings. It became a way for me to escape the constant fear and regret that was flowing through my head those first few months. During this time I worked on building my relationship with God. Everyone around me was concerned, and I know they feared I may fail, so I needed someone on my side, and that was God. After a few weeks at my new job I had mentioned to my manager that I wanted to become a photographer but would never be able to afford a camera. A few minutes later she came out of the office and handed me the exact camera I had been looking into buying. By the grace of God I was given a camera. A few weeks later, WTRCooler Studios in downtown Tampa put out an ad that they were hiring interns for their photo/video intern program. Once again God blessed me and allowed me a position in this internship. I wanted it more than anything and I wanted the owners Marissa, Von, and Roberto to know that I was here to stay. Almost two years later and I am their first employee as intern coordinator at the studio.

I’ve always been a risk taker my entire life, but I never fully believed in myself and the risks I was taking until I found a relationship with God. This past week I decided to take the risk to quit my job and take on photography full time, and that same day I received an email to be a part of this. I may not always know what is next, I never know if my ideas will work out, but at least I can say I tried.

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?

My name is Kayla Fitzgerald and I am a photographer based out of Tampa Florida. “Photographer” is such a broad term for what I do as a creative, and taking photos is actually a very small portion of my work as an artist and a business owner. As a photographer I am also a creative director, stylist, content creator, social media manager, accountant, assistant, and a friend. In the industry of art we often don’t see all the work that happens in the background. As a creative or a small business owner you are all of the jobs, you are wearing all of the hats, you are the captain of the ship and no one is coming to save you. It’s a daunting thing that we all struggle with daily, but I get through it because I am surrounded by so many amazing people who are going through the same struggles. I moved to Tampa three years ago and was blown away by the sense of community they have here. It almost feels impossible to fail in this city because the creative community is always finding ways to connect with one another. Events are being thrown by artists for artists in order to create a space for everyone to network with one another. Most of these events are how I’ve been able to build my presence on social media as well as find potential clients. I think a lot of them saw more in me than I saw in myself and it made me want to work even harder so I did not disappoint them. I wouldn’t be where I am in my photography journey if it wasn’t for Tampa. This city saved me.

At the beginning of 2023 a list of things I wanted to accomplish in my photography career. The first three things on that list in this order were, 1. Get paid to travel to another state for photos 2. Photograph an established brand 3. Attend a live concert or show as a photographer. I can proudly say I accomplished all of those goals, and some more than once. It can be difficult to not be hard on yourself, and your work, when you see others around you gracefully succeeding when you feel like you’re failing horribly, but everyone has to fail at times. I’ve made some really big mistakes, like pretty much missing the first kiss when a bride hired me for her wedding video, to silly mistakes like not charging my camera battery. I have accepted that I will continue to make mistakes until the end of time and that will only make me better at my craft, but I will also be ferociously proud of myself for all the little things as well.

Along with the many jobs I have as a photographer I also offer a wide range of services. I have a passion for creative directing from styling, poses, models, set design, I am fascinated with constructing a beautiful scene. I’ve recently begun offering this as a service as well as lighting setup. The easiest way for me to learn is visually, so any time I can offer a hand to one of my fellow creators to capture behind the scenes footage, I am ecstatic. We often forget that we need to sell ourselves and our image to our clients as well as the products we offer, so getting this behind the scenes footage is a good way to showcase the way in which you work to the client. We do so much as creatives, why not capitalize on it.

Not many people are comfortable with a camera in their face and I quickly caught on to this when I first started. I knew I needed my clients to feel comfortable with me and comfortable with themselves in order to get the best photos possible. This is why weeks before a shoot I go over every little detail with them to get their approval. From outfits to music for our photoshoot playlist, they know everything to expect before walking in. Many of my clients have become friends of mine, because for me to truly capture them and their beauty I feel like I need to know them on a deeper level. Before, and throughout the shoot I am talking to them and learning about them. There is nothing more beautiful to me than a photograph of someone as they talk about all the things they love. My clients know I truly care about them and I want them to see these photos and know I put my everything into it.

I am not sure what this year will bring me, but I know that I will continue to work harder than ever to reach my goals. I hope to work with more fashion and beauty brands this year, both in my photography and creative direction. Recently I’ve worked with a lot of couples and I love being a part of, and capturing their love. I hope to be able to do more of that this year as well. Most importantly I will continue to build, and work on my relationship with God, because none of this would be possible without him.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Up until just a few years ago I was worried we were going to lose the art form of photography. Why would you pay for professional photos or a roll of film when you’re walking around with a mini camera in your pack pocket every day. The decline of printed images went hand in hand with the uproar of social media platforms such as Instagram. As someone who grew up always going through the old family photos, this killed me. There is a huge chunk of my childhood that is missing photos because we decided to trade in film for digital, and we traded in prints for hard drives. I started to fear that there would be no trace of me or my family’s history once we were long gone and our iphones were lost in the abyss of this digital age. So I began carrying a disposable camera everywhere I went. Using film requires you to be patient, but to also care less at the same time. You have one chance to capture the image and there is no going back to look at it until it’s developed. As an artist it’s both terrifying and exhilarating because you really do not know what to expect and once you get those scans back it’s like Christmas, being surprised with this photo of this moment that you experienced in the past. The most rewarding thing as an artist is that I am contributing to history. Decades from now when me and my friends and family are long gone, these photos I took will live on forever. Each day less and less physical art is created, so there will be less and less for the future historians to study of our generations, so I feel in a way I am responsible for keeping history alive and for sharing not just my story, but yours as well.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Someone recently asked me “what would you do, if you knew you could not fail at it”. It didn’t take me very long to answer because I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I’ve experienced people and places and opportunities I’ve never imagined could happen to me, so I started to dream a lot bigger this year. My ultimate goal isn’t to be famous or well known or rich or have a huge instagram following; It’s the opposite actually. I desire to be so good in my craft that I can produce a few amazing photos a year and then go into hiding in a small house in the woods. I want to be so good that I don’t need social media to keep my business growing. Some of the most famous photographers of all time are shooting for Vogue and don’t have a social media presence. Even if I knew I would fail at it I would love to drive cross country with my camera, stopping along the way in small towns and hearing the local peoples stories and capturing their communities and families with my camera. Along the way I’d find a nice little town for myself to settle down and build a family. My ultimate goal is my peace and happiness and the longer I do this I think the more that shows in my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://photosbykaylafitzgerald.myportfolio.com/work
• Instagram: @kaylaa.fitzgeraldd

Image Credits
1st photo (headshot) – Marci Martinez Last photo ( BTS of me with art is chaos behind) – Brandon Tetrault