We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelly O’Keefe a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’ve always wanted to be a photographer, but during college I found another passion. One that I could be a photographer in as well; a skydiver. It started off with me learning how to pack parachutes and after 6 years it turned into me be being able to take you, teach you and video or photograph your entire skydiving experience. So in a nut shell, my whole life has been about taking risks, because as most people put it, “Why would you ever jump out of a perfectly good airplane?”

However, after taking all these shots in the dark to accomplish those goals, skydiving just wasn’t fulfilling all of my ever evolving goals in life. I wanted to share more from my perspective in life through my lens and see the world. I wanted to not only capture people’s skydiving experience but to also photograph people on their happiest days; their engagements, weddings, pregnancies, and more.
So, I decided to take another risk and open my own photography business in Florida. This was something I wanted to do since grade school and it finally felt like the right time.
However building your own photography business doesn’t come without it’s own risks and potential downfalls, especially when you’re eager to be changing your career in a matter of weeks. It can be daunting, but after few suggestions from friends and family, I quickly got into touch with an accountant and started the process of building an LLC. I worked with banks, other photographers, small businesses and more to eventually build my brand and find my niché.

I had tried to do freelance photography in other places I’ve lived; Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada, and California, but Florida was where I really found my confidence and success. I started small by photographing vacationing families, local mother to be’s, and even a super model, I just so happened to get into contact with. This all prepared me for a busy summer of weddings and elopements. In 2022 I’ve traveled to Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and California and it has all be the best adventure.
When I decided I wanted to become a full time photographer, one of the reasons was because I wanted to travel and experience more and I can definitely now say the risk of it all has paid off!

Kelly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hey y’all! My Name is Kelly O’Keefe! I am an Adventure, Lifestyle, and Wedding Photographer based in South Florida and always traveling home to Nevada!
My motivation is you. Whether it is your wedding day, anniversary or adventure, I’m here to help make it the most memorable experience. Consider me your third wheel and we’ll have the best of times and make memories, and photos that you’ll cherish forever.

X o K O

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

“How do I find more clients?” “Facebook ads aren’t helping to get clients why do I keep doing them!?”
“Why won’t anyone hire me?”

These were ALL questions I was constantly asking myself in the beginning of my photography business. I thought Facebook would be a great way to run some ads so people would see my page and possibly want to book for their next life chapter. However that just wasn’t the case. I would spend over 100 on ads and a thousand or more people would see it, but no new clients. Ahhh! It became frustrating because I was spending money but not seeing any return. This went on for a few months until I alas found the Thumbtack. This is an app and website where you can look up and hire an array of local service providers. From landscaping, to massage therapists, to even photographers like myself, Thumbtack is a great place to find an independent contractor for your next project!
While on the app, as a service provider I do have to pay for leads, it is so much more rewarding than other methods I have tried. So if you’re looking for someone or have a business of your own, I suggest you get on thumbtack!

How did you build your audience on social media?

So let’s start with the fact, I have a following of 1,967. Now that you know that, you may be thinking “wow that’s a good amount,” or maybe you’re thinking “that’s nothing!”
But this wasn’t the way it always was. When IG came out, as most teenaged girls would, I set out to insta-famous! I very quickly realized this was going to be very difficult and I gave up that idea after 10k followings. Then I created my first photography account in college and that idea of having a huge following came back into my mind. I followed thousands of people just in the hopes that they’d return the favor. I also even once paid like 20 dollars on one of those “buy followers” sites. While my following may have inclined my posts still didn’t get the likes I thought it would. I started to see the ridiculousness in it again. I deleted that account and started fresh in 2019.
As I grew up and matured, I realized how much more important it is to have a true following and to connect personally with the people that actually support and encourage you and your business page. I think we all probably spend way too much time on social media trying to impress or show off what we have and I wanted to build something organically. Those thousand of followers I once bought were all robot accounts and not the actual people I wanted to reach. So my advice to people trying to grow nowadays is to share reels and post what makes you happy, because at the end of the day social media should be what you want to make it and for me that’s real life connections. Even if they started with an online ‘like.’
XoKO
@kof.films

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kellyokeefe.photography
• Instagram: @kof.films
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kellyokeefe.photography21
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCFOTtJmANdjaFgaG1RF6CAg

Image Credits
Joshua Fitzgibbon & Julia Pineda