Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristin Brown. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kristin, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

This is a hard one because I do feel like the timing of starting my business was right. I started my business in the fall of 2023, if I could go back I do wish I would’ve started in the summer of 2023. I started training with my mentor in March of that same year and I just wanted to be really ready before I started offering my services to paying clients. I did so many practice photo sessions to make sure I had my lighting and process just how I wanted, but I do feel I could’ve started my business sooner and offering sessions to clients sooner. During this whole process of starting my business I was pregnant with my 4th baby and took some time off in the spring of 2024 when he was born. It would’ve been nice to have been able to start sooner before I took off for maternity leave, but in the end it’s all worked out!

Kristin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Kristin Brown and I am a mom to 4 young children and also a professional contemporary dancer. I started taking photos of my kids when they were little just for fun. When my first son was born I realized how fast he was growing and changing and really wanted to have good quality photos of him to remember him how he was at that time. I bought an online photography course and a used DSLR camera and went to work studying and practicing. It was fun for me and I’m so glad I did it! There just something special about photographs and I love how looking at a photo can just transport you back to a moment in time! Fast forward to 9 years later and I got an idea to turn my hobby of taking photos of my kids for fun into a business. I reached out to a photographer I had taken my kids to get photos of when they were little and she had a photography studio setup in her home. It felt like the perfect thing for me at this point in my life as a mom to then 3 kids. So I started training with her and doing lots of practice sessions to be able to offer great photos to clients. And in the midst of starting my business I had my 4th baby!

I am a portrait photographer that focuses on capturing real and candid images of children. I love working with children and families to capture these special moments. Kids are only small for so long and bottling up those personalities on camera for parents to enjoy and be able to remember is such an honor. I have a photo studio out of my home in Temecula, CA and I love being able to offer these services in a relaxed and easy environment. My sessions are short to match short attention spans and also, because it doesn’t take long to get great photos of kids. Kids are so real and authentic! I’m also passionate about capturing photos of moms with their kids. Moms don’t get in photos near enough as they should so I really believe they need photos of themselves with their children too.

I am an associate photographer for Candid Kids which was started in Utah. I trained with the owner, Alexis Arias to be able to offer these timeless and candid photos to families in Southern California. What sets these photos apart is the classic feel to them. There’s no trendy edits or lighting, everything is done in a way to make sure these photos are ones you’ll want displayed in your home for years to come!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In the midst of starting my photography business I became pregnant with my 4th baby. The timing of everything was a little crazy and in looking back I honestly don’t know how I did it. Setting up photo sessions while pregnant and getting down on the floor to take photos and being energetic and engaging for the kids was really hard! Also taking time off to enjoy my 4th and last baby was a hard decision while in the midst of my first year in business. But I don’t regret having that time with my son. As I started to get back into photography after my maternity leave he became my editing buddy. He’d sit with me and sleep on me while I would edit my sessions. He was the type of baby that wanted to be held constantly and wanted to contact nap all the time. It was tricky to figure out how to work and also attend to his needs. I would nurse him while sitting at my computer and would just make it work! Being able to run my business and be a full time mom has been challenging! It has felt like a juggling act at times! But I’m proud of myself and for being able to do a lot of hard things this last year.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I remember when I first started my Instagram and I had a couple followers who were basically my friends and family and they were the only ones engaging on my posts. I felt like there was no way I was ever going to gain an audience and no way to market myself as a photographer on social media. Many of the accounts and other photographers on Instagram I followed recommended just posting consistently. So I did that. I shared my work every day (or almost every day!) to gain new followers. I also try to share snippets of my real life and who I am as a person, not just the photos I take. There are so many photographers out there so I feel it was important people get to know me too. I hit 1K followers recently which is a great milestone for me. While I still have plans to grow, I’m proud of myself for sticking with it when the odds felt against me. I would follow local moms groups, I would go to their events, I follow their members and in return they follow me. My goal is to gain followers who will want to book with me, so I want to find local moms with kids in the area. Reels have been important to reach a larger audience! I had never made a reel before I started my business. I’ve learned a lot and I still am! Social media is tricky and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The key is to just keep at it!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/kristin.candidkids
• Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/kristin.candidkids
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/vgLI4-ukSU
• Other: https://book.usesession.com/i/e9rgzMgrZc

Image Credits

Candid Kids with Kristin Photography