We were lucky to catch up with Kayla Rice recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kayla, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
I graduated from Syracuse University in 2013 with a B.S. in Photojournalism and I’ve been lucky to have held jobs in the field in various forms since then. I started off working as a photographer and multimedia editor for a small newspaper in Southern Vermont (The Brattleboro Reformer) from 2013-2015. I always thought that I would stay in the news and journalism world, but that changed when I was looking for work in New York City and applied for a job in sports. I applied thinking it would be a fun change and never really expected to land the job. I ended up working as the Assistant Team Photographer for the New York Mets from 2015-2021. I loved the job and had some incredible experiences throughout those years. I found that my background in photojournalism really helped me to document the team’s historical moments and daily events and to bring a different perspective than other trained sports photographers may have had. My years working these desk jobs helped me to feel confident and comfortable in the professional industry and also gave me the flexibility to try my hand at freelance work on the side without fully leaping into that world without experience. I regularly photographed events, portraits, and weddings on the side throughout my years holding full times jobs.
Towards the end of 2021, my fiancé and I moved to Boston and I decided to take a leap and quit my full time job to pursue running my own business. There wasn’t much room for growth with The Mets and I didn’t see myself working in baseball for the remainder of my career. I also desperately wanted to be my own boss, make my own hours, work from home, and be able to decide what jobs I took and when. I also wanted to focus on wedding photography which I had grown to love over the years. 2022 was my first year full year running Kayla Rice Photography. Year one has been a building year. I have had to learn a ton about marketing and business and invest in myself in a lot of ways, including working with an SEO marketing strategist, hiring an accountant, investing in gear and software, and learning how best to utilize social media and the web to make my brand as visible as possible. I have also spent the year networking with other local wedding professionals, often by second shooting weddings. There is so much more to learn and next year I will continue to establish myself in New England. My greatest regret is not taking any marketing or business classes in college. It was never something that was advised to me since I didn’t see myself as a future business owner at that point in my life. As scary as it is to have taken this leap and to not have a safe, secure job with benefits, I do not regret it at all. I am loving the challenges and the struggle as much as the freedoms that working for myself have allowed me.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I grew up in southern Vermont, and became interested in photography as a teenager when a friend asked me to take a class with her after school at a local youth photography program (In-Sight Photography). I quickly fell in love with it and realized that my passion was greatest with documentary style photography and photojournalism. I applied to schools with good photojournalism programs all over the North East and ended up at Syracuse University where I received a B.S. in Photojournalism in 2013.
Since late 2021, I have been running Boston-based documentary wedding and portrait business, Kayla Rice Photography. I started my business with the goal of creating an experience for those who might be looking for something more authentic and unposed. I value creating honest, candid images that reflect the truth, emotion, & importance of your relationships and love. I love telling stories and capturing raw emotion through my images. Over the last year, I have won several Wedding Photojournalism awards for my wedding photography work along with many awards for my engagement portraiture through WPJA
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Working as a documentary wedding and portrait photographer allows me to flex my strength in narrative, journalistic photography by telling the story of your wedding day or your family’s love as a journalist would, from the margins, without becoming a character in that story. My goal is to create authentic, candid images that reflect the truth, emotion, & importance of your relationships and love.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of doing what I do is knowing that I’m documenting some of the most important moments, people, and milestones in a person’s life, and that hopefully these images will be loved and passed on for generations. This is why it’s so important to me that my work feels authentic and isn’t posed and over-produced. My hope is that many years down the road, my clients’ images will bring them right back to the moment and the emotion of that moment. Whether that’s re-experiencing the elation they were feeling when walking down the aisle after their ceremony or remembering what their grandmother’s laugh sounded like through a still image.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kaylaricephotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylaricephoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KaylaRicePhotography/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-rice-053b1249/
Image Credits
Headshot Credit: A Voce Behind the Lens Photography