We were lucky to catch up with Kendall LaCombe recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kendall, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I have officially made my business a full time career as of 3 years ago. The road leading up to it wasn’t exactly easy or a seamless transition from a “regular” job to then being full time self employed. There were a lot of ups and downs and moments of self doubt, but we made it. When I very first started I had maybe 10 clients a year and now I work with over 100 people yearly. I truly believe the only way to make a living as a photographer is to live and breathe your work. People are attracted to passion and those people have the money to hire you, which intern means you can make a living. The first year I went full time self employed as a photographer I spent countless hours taking marketing courses, staying on top of my social media, reaching out to people, and going into bridal shops and coffee shops leaving my business cards anywhere that would take them. I still do those things now! You get what you put in when it comes to being a small business owner. If you are willing to hustle and have no free time your first 2-5 years of business I truly believe you will succeed. Photographers specially require a lot of monetary investments as well. The best investment I have made has been anything related to marketing. Web-design, ads, email marketing. Spend the money to make the money!
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?
I am Kendall LaCombe. I am a Colorado Wedding and Elopement Photographer. I have always known I wanted to be a photographer because growing up my dad was a celebrity wedding photographer and all I ever wanted was to be like my dad, so photography felt like the way to do that for me. I remember seeing all the photos from his weddings and thinking as a little girl that I didn’t want to be the beautiful bride, I wanted tot be the one taking photos of the bride.
I love what I do. I have been doing it full time now for 3 years and it has been the more enriching and life changing career I have ever had. I hav always had a passion for people and wanting to make them feel beautiful and seen. What better career to be in than one that is directly related to making people feel those things?
My speciality is in wedding and elopements because I LOVE love, but the main thing that I specialize is making sure that all types of people and bodies are represented. As someone who has grown up with mental health issues and body image issues, I feel like it is the most important thing to me to make sure that I represent people like me, but also people nothing like me. At Kendall LaCombe Photography you have a home. No matter what. All I have ever wanted was to be the person that people feel safe and comfortable with, as well as being the person who advocates for those who don’t always get the spotlight that they equally deserve.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think the #1 thing that helped me make a name for myself was by being myself. Dropping the facade I had created when I first started my business and just letting me be myself. That is really when I started to see a change in the amount of business I had and the type of business I was attracting. I feel very lucky to be able to say that the thing that has made my business successful is by being authentic to who I am. That’s also my biggest advice to people when they first start out, be who you are and the right people will find you.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I love being able to show people how beautiful they are. So many of my clients have come to me saying that they don’t feel beautiful or they are uncomfortable when taking pictures, but after they see their galleries their entire opinion of themselves changes. That has not only been so healing for me, but I know it is also a healing experience for the people I work with! Letting people see themselves the wya that you see them is a rare occurrence and photography is one of the only ways to do that for people so I am thankful that I get to do that for people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kendalllacombephotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kendalllacombephotography/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/klacombephoto/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendall-lacombe-a20020209?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com