We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayla McCarthy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kayla, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I wanted to pursue photography in college and that is where my learning began. I spent time in text books, dark rooms, and studios learning how to manage lighting and engage my subject and viewer in a myriad of different ways. But after school, I knew I wanted to find a mentor and shadow someone within my industry for some hands-on, real life learning. Being able to combine the two was huge for me and seeing what was applicable in a real world setting and the skills I could use helped motivate me to learn even more and try new things.

For me, I think learning lighting techniques and how to properly compose a photo were the two most essential things to pursuing my art in a meaningful way. After all, photography is nothing without proper lighting and the ability to translate what we’re seeing as artists to the viewer.

Life was pretty hard for me at the time and photography was a large financial burden. The cost of film, paper, equipment, software, etc. was all really hard to reconcile as a 17 year old kid living on my own. Had I had more access to resources and more financial stability, I think learning would’ve come easier and quite honestly, faster.

Kayla, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a heart on your sleeve, tears on your cheeks, stomach aching from laughter kind of artist and human. Love is absolutely everything to me. Not the big, showy stuff, but the small intimate moments that make up our lives. The way someone’s nose wrinkles when they smile, the softness of a hand in yours, the language we make out of looks and glances, all the motions of ordinary love.

Photography is a way to preserve those moments and the feelings we hold so close. That is what I love most about it and why it has always been my art form of choice. There is nothing like capturing a memory on film with the ability to look back and remember, each photo telling a story of its own.

Our lives are filled to the brim with big, magnificent moments. Ones that feel like dreams we revisit every time we take a moment to reflect. But what most people lose as the years go by are the small, significant moments. I think for me, that’s what is so beautiful about photography. it helps us capture life in a reflective way and allows us to see and return to those tiny moments. It allows us to step back and understand life in a different perspective.

I kind of fell into wedding and lifestyle photography in the best way. I knew I wanted a challenge, I knew I wanted to be able to not have to repeat the same things each time I shot. I was working another job one day, retail, and was helping someone shop. She was talking about her love for photography and I had explained to her that I had just finished up photography school. She told me she was a wedding photographer and offered me an internship. I thought I was going to go into concert or fashion photography but the first wedding I photographed, I was hooked.

I fell in love with the relationships we could make and the stories we could tell. And I have to say I fell in love with the love. Watching people and being able to capture one of the happiest days of their lives felt like a daydream and I took in every second if it.

As I felt more confident, I began to take weddings of my own and my business continued to grow and grow into what it is now! I offer lifestyle sessions as well, because as I mentioned, I want to spend time showing people that their lives really are magic.

That’s who I want to work with most, the dreamers, the romantics, the people who are authentic and adventurous and want their photos to be art that shows their lives.

I think what I am most proud of is creating an experience for my clients where they feel like a friend. I want to be there to share all the stages of their lives and provide them with authentic documentation of the beautiful lives they’ve created.

I want them to know their memories are just as safe and cherished with me, as they are with them.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I thin the most rewarding thing about being an artist is the ability we have to create something beautiful and meaningful to not only ourselves, but to others. Sharing our lens of the world with each shutter close, brush stroke, whatever it is, we are giving a piece of ourselves out into the Universe. We’re sharing our hearts, our intentions, our love and others are consuming that and they are moved to so many different feelings due to the work we do.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This is a hard one! But being vulnerable is something I ask of my clients, so I am happy to mirror that as well. I think one of the hardest struggles when I started off is that I was living in poverty. And that meant I couldn’t charge my worth or have much creative freedom because I needed whatever clients came my way. I had to create a lot of work for them versus work that we created together in order to maintain a living. In fact, there was a point where I had to think about selling my camera and equipment and being done with photography all together. I decided to up my prices a bit, change my social media marketing and really work toward creating with my client instead of simply for them. I would say it was a combination of both luck, the advice of my mentor at the time (shoutout Celestina Knight) and incredibly hard work that landed me in the position to be able to pivot and grow a business from nothing to where it is now nearly 10 years later.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylamccarthy.photography/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KaylaMcCarthyPhotography

Image Credits
Kayla McCarthy Photography