We were lucky to catch up with Kynia Douglas recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kynia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

By the grace of God, I’ve learned about photography and the related business through trial and error, online research, courses through institutions such as UNT College of the Visual Arts & Design and Cornell, and more than all of that, through the countless hours my friends and family allowed me to spend using them as models.

When I first started shooting, I just shot. Whatever (and wherever) I thought looked good at the time was going to end up in the gallery. As time went on (approx. years 1-3), I started to get more serious and wanted to know how to make great images on purpose… every time if possible (it’s not possible btw, especially if you’re as critical as I am), and how to direct people for the most captivating portraits. I wanted to know everything there was to know about photography, so I dedicated my spare time to doing tutorials for a time and then enrolled in a Coursera UNT course to learn about the technical aspects of shooting.

From there it was an online training program I bought from Joel Grimes to learn about all (and I do mean all) of the functions of the DSLR I was shooting on at the time Canon Rebel T6 . That took me a long way in my initial development but then I decided I wanted to be done with my corporate job.

My CFO (husband) had done the numbers to see what it would take to replace my corporate income and the portrait work I was doing along with our 360 PhotoBooth rentals were not going to cut it. So I knew it was time to dive in head first into a more profitable specialty, an industry that I previously stated I would stay away from… WEDDINGS (queue the dramatic horror music). Since I had never done it before, this meant either find some poor unsuspecting bride, buy her dinner and convince her to be my first, or find someone to teach me what it takes to make the most unforgettable and cherished wedding portraits. I chose the latter and decided to go work for a large-scale wedding photography/videography production company to learn how the big boys do it. It is one of the best decisions I feel I could have made and had I done it earlier I believe I would be further along in my Photography career. I also took advantage of a scholarship program offered through a partnership between Cornell and Bank of America as a student of the Bank of America Cornell Women’s Entrepreneurship’s Institute. Choosing the right eduction is critical to the progress of any professional.

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?

After 16+ years of working in the corporate finance world, I started a new chapter as an Independent Photographer and owner of StillArt Photography by KD. I had spent 8 years at Bank of America, 6+ years at Western Alliance Bank, and 1 year at Texas Capital Bank starting from entry level call center jobs working my way up to a VP. I had various management positions and worked with C- Suite executives to open sites, build teams and run divisions of multi-billion dollar companies. It did not feed my soul and there were times that my work put stress on me that I could literally feel in my body. Undoubtably, the benefits and pay were great, but even while on vacations I would be stressed about going back to work and what was happening while I was away. I had no peace when it came to the impact of work on my life.

I started doing photography for fun, as a hobby and then it turned into a side-hustle in 2017. The initial spark really started before that with one photo that I took of a friend that really spoke to me, but I also noticed that I would take some solid photos on vacations and would pour over them for weeks and weeks after the vacation reliving the moments shared with friends and loved ones. I noticed others would really enjoy them as well. I don’t know if they flipped through them as often as I did but we would share thoughts and moments over those pictures in the weeks to follow those vacations. I knew that I enjoyed the ability to transport to another place and time through photography. Then people actually started asking me to take their photos.

I decided to I turned my passion (turned side hustle since 2017) into my primary focus and brought all my years of corporate experience to the service that I offer my photography and videography clients.

Before I left my corporate job I focused primarily on headshot, branding, and corporate event photography. It’s only more recently that I dipped my toe into wedding photography and it seems that I really enjoy it. I had been apprehensive because of the weight that all wedding days inherently carry. It is the time that must be captured with grace and excellence every single time. I think that’s why it was so critical to me that I work for a larger production house before branching out on my own. My corporate experience paired with my professional training make me a bride’s dream because my service levels are next to none. I know how to work ahead to make sure I’m in the right place at the right time to make the most unforgettable portraits for any wedding. That’s what makes me different from a lot of my competition.

The large production houses are a type of cookie cutter service of their own that undeniably provides consistent if not predictable results, but there is still space for independent photographers like me to come in and partner with a bride to document perhaps the most momentous occasion that she and her family will want to remember for generations to come. There’s a major connection there that you don’t get when you meet your photographer the day of your wedding and I’ll go out on a limb and say it shows in the photos. I like to work with brides so that I know we have a shared vision of all the key moments to be captured.

Outside of our photography service, we also have a high-end 360 PhotoBooth that we take around to various private and corporate events. It’s always a real crowd pleaser and can really take an. event to the next level. We typically include event photo coverage with most packages. This is not typical of most 360 Booth vendors.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

The initial funding for my business came out of our savings and from investments made by family members. We worked corporate jobs and lived below our means. When I identified photography as the dream that I wanted to chase, my husband and I prayed about it, put our heads together and invested in the business. My first camera, first PhotoBooth, ipad, desktop, etc. All of it came from investments into the business we decided to make.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

My first paid gig in 2017 when a friend had me shoot her husband-to-be’s birthday party at a museum. My camera was borrowed, the display did not work and I had no idea what any of the dials and buttons did on that camera. The only other session I had done had been on my cell-phone and the photos were honestly bad and the edits were worse.

At first, photography was something I was doing just as a hobby, but once people started asking me to do sessions and events, I had to take it seriously because I was taking money from them and I wanted the service I provided to be worthy of that compensation. That required me to invest in the right eduction and equipment which I did over several years. It may seem like the long way around, but it allowed me to do it debt free. So when I did finally decide to make the leap from corporate, I already had the name, tax ID, business account, website, socials, equipment, and a really good jump on the eduction.

On the other side of the business, I bought a 360 PhotoBooth in 2021 and the key to making my booth stand out from others is the 46 inch display that plays the videos back after the person records and allows them to instantly download their video clip. On our first major gig, I could not get the software (operated by tablet) to connect to the display, so we had to mount and dismount the tablet every single time someone used the booth which inevitably broke the mount in the same event. It was a tough lesson and truly embarrassing moment because we could not execute as I had anticipated. The key word being “I” there… It would have been a bonus, but I make a habit of underpromising and overdelivering, so the client had no expectation of the display and we were able to proceed without it. The crowd loved their videos and the event was a success and we later found out that the connection had to do with a network issue. Believe it or not, the same thing happened 2 years later with the same client and same venue even after we had done testing ahead of the event date- This was another tough lesson, but it has taught me to prepare differently and to have multiple contingency plans (we only use our own network now).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stillartphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stillart_photography/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kynia-douglas-ba8580101#:~:text=Kynia%20Douglas%20%2D%20Independent%20Photographer%20%2D%20StillArt%20Photography%20by%20KD%20%7C%20LinkedIn
• Other: https://dfw360boothrental.com/ https://kynia-douglas.kavyar.site/

Image Credits
Photographer: Kynia Douglas – StillArt Photography by KD- All Rights Reserved.