We were lucky to catch up with Kirsten Holliday Doering recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kirsten, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
This question hit me hard, ’cause I struggled so long with the definition of ‘success’. Growing up my sister and I were always encouraged to chase our dreams and I feel so blessed for that. After working in the hospitality industry for a number of years, I decided to jump off and start my own business, which looking back, was the scariest leap I’ve ever taken. I was put in a situation at my day job of taking on more work, for the same pay, and I took it as a sign to finally pursue my dreams. Running a business on your own is hard work, I wont lie. You are now the accountant, the marketer, the advertiser, and then of course the talent. It’s a lot of ‘hustling’ and making sure deadlines are met, clients are kept up with, and the work I’m pushing out is the best it can be. Years ago I watched the movie The Pursuit of Happiness, and one quote really stuck with me: ‘You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People cant do something themselves, they tell you, you cant do it. If you want something, go get it, period.’ Keep pushing. Keep bettering yourself with personal projects, take on the education. ALWAYS be pushing.
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 fell in love with photography at the age of 14 while on summer vacation in Kentucky. My parents let me borrow their Canon PowerShot and the rest was history. I immediately fell in love with capturing the world and freezing moments in time. Every year when my family got together for our annual family reunion, I would document the week together and put it on a slideshow, all of us sitting around a tv taking in the moments from the week. From there, I just dabbled in it from time to time, document moments with friends, using my sister as a model, and taking photos on family vacations. I attended the University of Kentucky, and taking the ‘safe route’, I got my degree in hospitality. I loved how hospitality allowed you to interact with so many different types of people, and I was intrigued that I could possibly travel the world for my career. Still interested in photography, a friend of mine worked for the University’s newspaper as a writer and mentioned they hire photographers for their stories. I walked into the Kentucky Kernel Newspaper my junior year, they gave me a story, and I brought it back after the weekend and they hired me as a staff photographer. I covered everything from the famous Kentucky Men’s basketball team, Greek life events and was the lead photographer for their Semi-Annual Fashion Column. But it was attending the workshop, ‘Picture Kentucky’, where I really fell in love with the craft. For three days, a handful of students from Kentucky University’s across the state gathered in small-town London, KY. We drew names out of a hat the first night, and your job was to find that person: no phone number, no address, just their name and occupation. I searched the town, chatting with locals, and found my subject, the town’s sheriff, and convinced him to let me document his life for the span of three days.
Originally telling me no, and with my persistent nature, I ended up documenting his day to day and gaining a friend in the process. The workshop made a promotional video about me and my relationship with the sheriff, and he still sends me a Facebook message every year on my birthday. That weekend changed everything for me, and I knew I wanted to document people for the rest of my life. Fast forward to 2014, I moved to Austin, and following my degree in hospitality, I got a job working in hotels for the next four years. I dabbled in photography as a social media manager for Hotel Van Zandt, shooting food for the restaurant and SXSW events for the hotel with big-name artists, but still wasn’t fully into shooting like I wanted to be and I felt stuck. My husband and I were planning our wedding in Hawaii, and I had reached out to a bunch of wedding photographers over there. One of the gals I reached out to happened to be moving to Texas and offered to shoot our engagement photos for us. She and I connected at that shoot, and she saw the potential in me in wedding photography. And I’ll admit, weddings were NEVER on my radar. I shadowed her for the next year and a half on the weekends, working my hotel job during the week. I got to a point where all I wanted to do was shoot weddings. It was hard to go to my day job where I didn’t feel connected or appreciated. So with the help and encouragement of my mentor, my husband, and my family, I made the leap. I started my wedding photography business in July of 2019 and I haven’t looked back. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life thus far, and I’m SO glad I made the leap. As a wedding photographer, I’m here to tell the story as it unfolds. I want to make you FEEL something when you look back at my work. With my background in photojournalism, I bring that to a wedding day. A fly on the wall approach, I would say. I’m not into the pose-y type images, rather the day as it’s organically moving. There’s such a rush with wedding photography. There’s so much going on, so many details and vendors involved, and I love the energy that comes with it. I still can’t believe I call this a ‘job.’ The saying is true, ‘do what you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.’ I’m so thankful I can serve people in this way.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Running a business as a creative didn’t just come overnight. I know that is so cliche to say. But it’s true. I was on a path to have a steady job, pretty decent income, and I thought well, I can do this hospitality thing and then photograph on the side for my sanity. I spent YEARS unhappy in a hospitality job, always wanting to be a creative, but being too scared to jump and take the risk. When I finally went full time, I sat for a bit and twiddled my thumbs and went OH SHIT, I have no idea what I’m doing, what have I done quitting my comfortable job?! I started reaching out to small businesses and offering shoots for cheap, just to get my name out there and foot in the door anywhere. I booked my first wedding, and then it just accelerated from there. I think my daily struggle is the ‘imposter syndrome’ and sometimes being like, ‘man I’m not as good as that person’. When this happens, I take a social media break, and go through a past wedding and remind myself that I’m my own artist. People book me for ME.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
My soul is a creative. And it has been my entire life. Being able to create something that I give to a couple, business, individual that they carry with them, is the most rewarding part of all of this. Couples often tell me they can ‘feel’ the vibe of the day, and honestly there are no better compliment that that. Having a couple call me after the photos are received, crying, because it’s better than what they imagined, is why I do this.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kirstenhollidayphoto.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenhollidayphoto/
Image Credits
Kirsten Holliday Photography