We were lucky to catch up with Kim Karu recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, appreciate you joining us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Most people think that wedding photographers make 100% profit if they already have a camera, but there is so much unseen work that goes into running a successful wedding photography business.

The biggest challenge is market saturation. Social media and the ubiquity of photography has encouraged many people to enter this field as a side hustle who would never have considered it before. While healthy competition encourages everyone to step up their game, it also means that you need to stand out and be conscious of your product, its packaging, customer service, and make clear why you are distinct and offer a special, unique service.

Another challenge is attracting clients. While I have a decade of experience, my business is still relatively new in a highly saturated industry. All wedding photographers have to spend extensively on marketing, and back end business expenses which aren’t evident to those not in the field.

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?

Kim Karu Photography is a wedding and elopement photography business located and serving the Pacific Northwest. I began my business a year ago, although I have been photographing people, wedding and events for more than a decade. My photography journey began in 2008, when I won an award for an image of a fall tree I took with my old canon point and shoot camera, which inspired me to consciously study photography.

I have photographed almost every kind of portrait or event, however, photographing weddings has always been my favorite! I love that weddings include every type of photography, including portraits, documentary, landscape, and detail photography. Weddings are once in a lifetime occasions that bring people together to celebrate love…and I love that! Each wedding gives me an opportunity to find art in love and capture each couple and the way they express their love.

Elopements have become more popular lately and it’s a genre that excites me. Capturing elopements in the wild parts of the Northwest is definitely my favorite event to shoot. Washington, Oregon, and Idaho have the most epic landscapes, making them the perfect backdrop for a love story

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Documenting someone’s wedding is a role that can make or break someone’s special day and a wedding photographer’s work is not limited to the special day itself. I always initially meet with my clients virtually to build trust and get to understand what they want from me and what I can offer them. I also offer an engagement session prior to the wedding in my photography package, so that clients can get to know me better; it serves almost as a dry run that makes the wedding shoot work more smoothly. I always spend a lot of time working one on one with my couples before, during, and after their wedding. We text and email frequently to plan their wedding photography and I try to be as available as possible.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I started my business while working full time and slowly purchased my camera gear and attend workshops. I began booking events and weddings through word of mouth, building a portfolio. In the past year and a half, I’ve decided to really focus on it. I’ve built up a quality website, aggressively advertised, and shot and booked more than 10 weddings per year. I’ve found a very enjoyable niche and am delighted to find I get clients from the many avenues people can find my services—social media, wedding websites, and word of mouth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kimkaruphotography.com
• Instagram: kimkaruphotography
• Facebook: kimkaruphotography