We recently connected with Kelsey Butcher and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelsey, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

What was meant to be just an easy A for my “Senior Project” in high school turned into an unexpected, really meaningful career, and from there, I both practiced and invested in teaching myself everything I could get my hands on about photography. From Youtube videos to books to just getting to know every inch of my camera and how it worked, I dug into it all. I never considered it to have long-term career potential, even as I became more proficient in my skills and things became more serious.

Honestly, while I don’t believe I could have sped anything up from the creativity and photographing aspect, I do believe that learning more about business practices, client management, and marketing myself sooner would have helped in terms of being able to build my business in a more holistic way sooner. Having people skills (being able to connect with both clients and fellow industry professionals), knowing my gear, and constantly being open to learn more were skills that really helped me to build a solid client base and foundation early on, even without the formal business knowledge.

There were definite obstacles, like with anything worth working at, from learning my lessons the hard way with difficult clients to making preventable mistakes like not having backup gear at sessions, and even having to teach myself how to build + run marketing campaigns from scratch. Client management, setting boundaries, budgeting, and marketing myself well were all obstacles to being able to make this into a career, but I’ve never really shied away from something just because I didn’t know how to do it, so I was, thankfully, able to overcome those considerable odds.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Kelsey Butcher, and I am an Atlanta + Destination Portrait and Wedding Photographer, specializing in couple portraits, and weddings + elopements (I do offer other portraits besides couples).

I began my photo journey 12 years ago, unexpectedly, as I was just trying to make an “A” on my Senior Project (I did, by the way!). I got that first little camera in my hands and the rest was history! Although my shooting + editing style has evolved throughout the years, I’m consistently known for my romantic, true-t0-color, heartfelt, and journalistic imagery. While I’m based in Atlanta, I have always had a deep love of traveling and I’m so grateful that my camera has taken me to some incredible places (my favorite being Scotland). I honestly can’t wait to see where this career takes me next!

I never want clients to feel like their experience with me was just me micromanaging every movement or frame, but more so, that we were hanging out and documenting their love, their family, or something they’re proud of. I want them to look back and see who they were at every stage, how far they’ve come, and how I see + celebrate them.
More than anything, I love deeply connecting with and investing in each person who steps in front of my lens, and my sincerest desire is to make you feel seen and loved.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Like most of us in the early days of social media, it was specifically for personal purposes like keeping up with loved ones and reposting funny things. In the early days of Instagram, I used it to share my personal life, of course, but as both the landscape of social media and my business evolved, it was wonderful to be able to use my account to build an audience and community within that space.

Follower by follower, post by post, things grew, and I felt increasingly overwhelmed by the pressure to perform on a platform that initially had felt more personal and carefree. To be honest, it’s something I’ll always probably struggle with, but I know I’m not alone in this sentiment.

About 4-5 years ago, when Instagram made their InstaStories a big thing on their app, I realized that I felt much less stressed when I could share without having to create long captions or strategic posts based on the ubiquitous thing called, “The Algorithm”. I felt like I could connect with actual people instead of just seeing faceless “Likes” on my static posts. I began to show up on there to talk to everyone in a more authentic, easy, relatable way, and the other part of that equation was sharing funny or weird things that I loved. My “strategy” (not that it was one, really) was to just meet people where they were on that day, to help bring a smile to their faces, to relate and connect to them, not to sell them anything. At the heart of my business is people, and I’m a woman, friend, mom, wife, and flawed human before I’m a photographer, so I felt like it was more ME, and I think people really resonated with that. I actually have had some people tell me on their consultation calls that they reached out to me or wanted to book with me based on something I’d said or shared on my Stories, which meant a lot to me! I always make a point to let people know that who I am on social media is who I am in real life because I want people to know me and to book me specifically for how I make them feel, both on a human and photographer level.

In a social media world where everyone is trying to stand out and everyone is vying for your attention, be the one person who’s just yourself. Less is more, honestly, and people get excited about what you’re excited about. I no longer stress over the follower count or the likes. I no longer try to post everyday just to post. I share only the things I love most and the people I loved photographing because it is far more exhausting to waste energy on trying to be some other version of me.

If ONE person resonates or relates, that is more impactful than 100K followers.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Honestly, just networking and working with others in my industry, being kind + professional, making my client experience easy-going, and consistently creating quality work for clients have all helped me immensely in building my reputation within my market. I never underestimate the power of word of mouth in any form, so it’s been an important mission of mine to just connect as often as I can with others, whether they’re in my industry or market or not. You never know what rooms your name is being mentioned in, so I always keep that in mind and never take connections for granted!

Contact Info:

• Website: kelseybutcherphoto.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/kelseybutcherphoto
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/kelseybutcherphoto
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-butcher-2139b3124/

Image Credits
Kelsey Butcher Photo, LLC