We recently connected with Kimberly Kulak and have shared our conversation below.

Kimberly, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Ohhhh. This answer could change from day-to-day! Running your own business is truly a roller coaster ride. I’d be lying if I said I was happy every day and loving every aspect of what I do; the truth is, some days are tough. Like crying-into-your-pillow, not-sleeping-for-days, fasting, draining-your-bank-account kind of tough. On those days, I absolutely contemplate what it would be like to go back to working for someone else and not enduring some of those stressors. Having a consistent paycheck, benefits, no real business liabilities. One of the most difficult things to work through as a business owner is work/family life balance. When you work your typical 9-5, you go to work, you clock in and then you clock out and you go home. When the business is yours with no vacation pay or sick pay, sometimes its tough to figure out a good balance in order to keep perspective and make sure time is allocated where it matters most. So at the end of the day, I look at it like this: my kids have someone to drive them to and from school everyday, my baby girl has her Momma with her most days so that she can build core memories with me. I try to rarely miss games, or matches, or concerts, or parent/teacher meetings, or back-to-school nights etc. I am able to cook home-cooked meals many nights a week. I’m able to do some volunteering at the schools and help with sport team meetings. I’m able to be there for science projects and other enrichment projects with the kids. I’m in no way bashing traditional working parents, but this works for our family and allows our children to feel cared for. This doesn’t go without blood, sweat, and tears when it comes to work though. Working from home on the weekdays with all of that going on is tough too. My 1 year old doesn’t exactly understand that I have an important Zoom meeting coming up in an hour and I need her to go down for her nap. My tween accepts it, but he’s not always happy when I can’t be there for his Saturday soccer game because I’m shooting a wedding. My first grader doesn’t always understand when I’m rushing home from pickups because I need to finish editing a gallery. I have to really hustle when I’m working and I there are nights when I’m not sleeping in order to get caught up and not miss out on time with the kids. My partner works a traditional job and usually has to pick up the slack on weekends while I’m out shooting. We don’t always get a lot of time to spend together, especially at this phase of life when we have little kids. This requires some intentional planning and taking time off for date nights and family trips as well. Its tough. When I talk to young entrepreneurs who are starting out, I always advise them to ask themselves what is most important; to prioritize what really means a lot to them and then experiment with what works. There’s no right or wrong answer, there’s no one-size-fits-all mold. I started this business while married with one child, I navigated through it as a single-mom divorcee, I continued through it in a new relationship with more kids and more moving parts. Every day I’m trying to figure out the balance, and some days, I do still wonder what a regular job would be like. Most days, I’m reminded that I’m exactly where I need to be right now and wouldn’t change it!

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

I got my first DSLR (camera) when I was pregnant with my oldest son. This was meant for me to be able to take photos of him when he was born. I would post photos on social media and eventually friends and family just started asking if I could do family photos for them. I remember charging like $50 for a session because I didn’t know what to charge and wasn’t planning on it turning into a business. The next year rolled around and I had made some connections with other photographers. A friend/colleague asked me if I wanted to shoot a wedding with him, and of course I said “no!” LOL. I never wanted to shoot weddings. He convinced me to come third shoot it with him with no risk since he’d have a second shooter there as well. So I agreed and it was fun. He had another wedding 6 months later that he asked me to second shoot for. I agreed again. Shortly after that, an old family friend asked me to second shoot another wedding with her about 3 months after that because she saw on social media that I had been shooting weddings. I agreed to that and decided, that this was the direction that my business has taken me! I just celebrated 10 years shooting wedding and 11 years shooting family portraits early September of 2023. I experimented with different photography styles and with different disciplines and have ultimately decided to focus on weddings and portraits. Today, I have a strong team of photographer and videographers and we work full time (and then some) all year round!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I was lost in the beginning of this journey. I talked about meeting other photographers along my path, and I want to impress upon the importance of these meetings. The most important aspect of my business, and arguably any business, is the people. Clients, colleagues, networks. The resources that came with meeting so many talented people early on is what I attribute a lot of my success to. Without their guidance, I would have struggled to figure out each step of the way. Networking with other wedding vendors is what has helped grow my business and my team. My friendors are SO valuable to me! Some have become great, great lifelong friends. Where would any of us be without our clients? There are so many wondering people out there and celebrating their big day or family moments and growths with them have been pretty heartwarming. I’ve shared tears, and fears, their best day and even struggles with my clients and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Well, the main goal is to make sure any and every client is happy with what they receive from me. At the end of the day, the only things left are your memories and your photos and videos. I really want to make sure that the clients’ vision is met and that they have a way to look back and remember all of the beautiful moments during their wedding day. For portraits, I love watching and seeing the kids grow up over the years as families return and try to freeze time in the photos that I capture for them. With phone cameras ready in everyone’s pockets these days, it’s really easy to get caught up in taking photos and posting to social media. So what we do as professional photographers and videographers is we allow everyone is be in the moment while still having everything that they want captured. The beauty of it is reliving these moments when everything is delivered. I’m a sentimentalist, so if I could, I would hire a fly-on-the-way to capture all of my and my family’s big moments for me to relive later. Hopefully, with my “job” I can help others with this mission.

Contact Info:

• Website: kimberlykulakphotography.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/kimberlykulakphotography
• Facebook: facebook.com/kimberlykulakphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-kulak-89159a19
• Twitter: @KimKulakPhoto

Image Credits
Photo of me: By Votographie