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

Tara, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Passion
Nobody is making you show up to work everyday. Being passionate about your job makes it easier to put in the work. Before I became a wedding photographer, I had another business selling art. While I love making art as a hobby, I wasn’t passionate about making art to sell so it was hard to stay motivated and get work done.

Honesty
I think it’s important to be honest with your clients but also yourself. You need to be able to assess your business and skills honestly so you know where you can make improvements.

Knowledge
If you want to be seen as an expert in your field you need to be knowledgeable! Not only about your craft but about your industry, networking, marketing, advertising, website design, social media, SEO, bookkeeping and so much more.

Skill
Knowledge doesn’t mean anything if you’re not good at what you do. Maybe some people are born with a little natural talent but I think you can become good at anything with lots of practice!

Support
Having friends, family, and a supportive community makes it much easier to be successful. Sometimes it can be hard to believe in yourself but a little reassurance from other people can make a huge difference. It’s so important to have a positive mindset because if you don’t believe you can do it, who else will?

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well, hello! I’m Tara from Tara Kearsing Photography. I’ve grown up here in the Hudson Valley of New York, where I spent much of my childhood running around the woods. I’ve always found peace and beauty in nature, even the most mundane locations. After having a great digital photography teacher my senior year, I decided to go to college for photography. I became obsessed with photography and started taking pictures of everything, especially while hiking.
At first the only people I photographed were my friends, and eventually I started photographing their special events because I was someone they knew with a camera. That’s exactly how I ended up photographing my first wedding 2 years after graduating college. I remember being sick to my stomach with nerves the entire week leading up to the day. All things considered though, I did a decent job for being completely unprepared to capture a wedding. I was so proud afterwards but also so intimidated, so it’s not something I was interested in pursuing.
Fast-forward 6 years later, after working multiple jobs where the workload kept growing but the pay didn’t, it became obvious I should try to use my best talent to try and make a living. I knew that I could be a good wedding photographer and that seemed like the most obvious, consistent flow of work. And because I love hiking, elopement photography was definitely something I had to offer as well.
I think what sets me apart from a lot of wedding photographers is the amount of effort and care I put into capturing a wedding day, from the planning to image delivery. Growing up poor and also being someone who has personally never hired a professional photographer, I’m so aware of how much my clients are investing in me to deliver some of the most important images they’ll have in their entire lives.
Life is fleeting. Sometimes all you’ll have left of someone are those photos and memories. It’s so important to capture my clients and the important people in their life in a real way.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Before I really dove into becoming a wedding photographer, I was under the assumption that all wedding photographers needed to be loud, outspoken, cheery people. I can be outspoken I guess but it’s not my default and I would have never called myself a loud, cheery person. When I started researching wedding photography, I realized that your ideal client will like you for who you are, not someone you’re pretending to be. It was such a relief when I realized I could be myself (maybe a little bossier version of me) and work with people that wanted to work with someone like me.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal when it comes to creativity is to never lose it. Even though weddings have the potential of becoming monotonous in a way, I hope I never let it feel that way. Every couple is different which means their personalities and preferences are different, which feeds my inspiration for the type of photos that I take with them. And even though I’ve been taking photos for over 17 years, I think there’s always something new to learn and the second you start thinking that you know it all, I think you’re doomed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tarakearsingphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tarakearsingphotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tarakearsingphotography
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tara-kearsing-photography-poughkeepsie

Image Credits

Tara Kearsing Photography