Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Ging.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Katie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
During the early years of my life, I was a ballet dancer. I used to be part of a program where I would attend school for half a day and then go train ballet for 3-6 hours a day. While dancing, I attended programs such as School of American Ballet, National Ballet of Canada and Boston Ballet. When the time came to go to college, I started at Point Park University, one of the best universities in the country for dance and theater. I studied ballet there for a year and a half before realizing I enjoyed photographing ballet dancers more than being a dancer myself. I then transferred to college at Northeastern University where I studied Digital Art with an emphasis in photography. After college, I was the studio manager and photography of a large commercial studio in Pittsburgh called J. Verno Studios. After a year and a half, I made the journey out to LA and started working exclusively for myself. Starting your own business is a hard but fun journey. I reached out to various schools to see if they would be interested in working with me and luckily, I had some success. My ability to capture motion and emotion has been the backbone of my business. Even US Soccer hired me to document kids for their new online magazine because they liked the way I was able to show the emotions of kids while they are in their element. Since then, I have worked with companies such as Royal Academy of Dance, Point Park University, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Long Beach Ballet, and various others. I also love to work with kids and work with various kids stores and companies creating their look books.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Not all has been smooth. The first few months living in LA I applied for job after job after job and no one would even call me back. It was then when I had to move forward and put faith in myself that I could create work that people would want and would want to work with me over a bigger company. It took some time but once the ball got rolling things kept going. It was just a matter of not giving up on myself.
Please tell us about Katie Ging Photography.
My photography specializes in ballet photography and kids fashion. As a former dancer, it makes me understand the timing, poses and criticalness a dancer is on themselves. I am knowing for capturing emotion and motion in my subjects from kids to dance. I am most proud on how I can relate to my clients and make them see how beautiful they really are when sometimes it’s hard to see it in yourself. A lot of parents hire me to work with their teen kids and that’s to help with self-esteem. Dance, specifically ballet is demanding and emotionally exhausting in so many ways I want to make sure the students know their value and talent on the days it’s hard to see it.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start all over again, I probably have just started my own company from the begging as opposed to applying for jobs for other people.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.katieging.com
- Phone: 412.498.4393
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiegingphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katiegingphotography/
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
