We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Krista Locklin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Krista , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I think that as a photographer who is usually photographing some of the most important parts of people’s lives, it is my job to make each and every one of my clients feel comfortable and confident in front of the camera. I think that if I can leave the legacy of camaraderie and just an overall great feeling with my clients after their photo sessions, I would feel like I have done my job, and that is the legacy I hope to leave.

Krista , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Krista and I first got into photography officially when I took a photography class at my college during undergrad. I had always liked taking photos, whether it was on a small point and shoot camera or my phone, but up until my class in undergrad I really had never shot in manual on a DSLR camera. After learning the basics, I kept trying to learn as much as I could about photography and practiced whenever I could. Once I realized that travel photography will most likely not pay my bills, I decided I needed to start trying to work on my portrait photography.

The first photoshoot I did for someone was for graduation in 2017. This is when I started getting a lot of experience. I was also graduating at the same time, so I was taking photos for my friends and peers. I still do a bunch of graduation photos each year, but I also do family photos, headshots, events, engagement and elopement photos and more!

One thing that sets me apart from other photographers is my ability to remove distracting background objects from my clients’ photos in Photoshop. I can sometimes be a bit of a perfectionist with the background of my photos, but I believe that it makes a huge difference in how clean and polished my final photo galleries look when delivered. In college I took a graphic design class that helped me learn the different photo manipulation tools that exist. Now, I use photoshop daily when editing.

What I am most proud of is that I was able to develop and stick with an editing style that I like since the beginning of my photography career. Although my editing may vary slightly over the years, I use the same core editing tools that I gravitated towards when I first started out. I am a fan of true, vibrant colors and this has shown through since I started developing an editing style and identity in 2017.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Well, a lot of the time when a pivot is needed in business, it is when you need to improve something that may not be working for you as efficiently as it can be. This happened to me two years in a row, it took me two years to understand just how much I needed to change my business model.

I am about to start my 7th year doing graduation photos, and years 5 and 6 I completely burnt myself out. I thought that I could just keep taking photoshoots and fitting them in, without factoring in breaks, sleep, and other normal life surprises that happen like illness, funerals, etc. I was barely sleeping, staying up all night editing, and shooting for hours a day. Not to mention, I was underpaying myself in the process. This is something that I have struggled with since I started photography. I always underpriced my services. I was scared to increase my prices. I felt like it was going to turn people away even if I had worked so hard to get where I am with photography. After the 2022 graduation season, I knew something had to change. My passion was turning into actual work and dread instead of creativity and great energy.

This is when I decided that I needed to price myself correctly. It turns out, no one even questioned my price increase and I still have the same amount of demand. This pivot was necessary to keep growing as a photographer, and I hope this can help any other photographer or business owner who may be in a similar situation. This is a decision that I know will greatly benefit my work life balance and allow me to keep my passion for photography alive.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My side hustle did turn into my main/full time business and career. In the earlier question I mentioned how I got started with taking a photography class, and then taking graduation photos for my friends. These were both key milestones to not only launching my photography business but also being where I am today.

Once I graduated, I decided to pursue my MBA at Nova Southeastern University, the same University I obtained my undergraduate degree at. At NSU I was hired into two photography positions, one in the student activities department and another in the marketing department. This is where I gained a lot of experience and exposure with future graduates at NSU. I worked on my social media marketing for my business and networking with students while doing photos at campus events. I also really tried to grow Instagram. Eventually I got to a place where I was getting photo inquiries daily on Instagram. To this day, 99% of my photo inquiries come from Instagram. It is truly amazing what social media can do!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kristaleephotos.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristaleephotos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristaleephotos1/