Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Garcia.
Hi Kate, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Growing up, I had two incredible parents who saw the value in capturing all the special moments of our lives. My mom was always taking pictures with her film camera and my dad was the king of home videos.
I can vividly remember always having some sort of camera in my hand and making my friends take pictures with me, OR – if no human was around — I would resort to taking photos of whatever I could find around me. So needless to say, photography has always had a special place in my heart. As I entered high school, I purchased my first DSLR camera but still only saw photography as a hobby – I just wanted to get better at it. Things began to organically grow though, and I started to take grad photos, family photos and second shoot for a photographer I knew in San Diego. Once I graduated high school, I was consistently second shooting for weddings and eventually shot my first wedding when I was 17 years old. Despite seeing all this, I still never thought it would be something I would do full-time. I was going to college to study speech therapy and was working full time at a steady job, with benefits, as a manager. Towards the end of 2016, I was beginning to consistently book weddings/engagements through word of mouth & social media. Because of this, I realized I would have to make a decision. Do I take the risk – follow my passion and make photography a full-time gig? Or do I stay where I was (and I was very happy!) with a consistent paycheck and benefits? I have always been pretty entrepreneurial minded. Even when I was a kid, I made jewelry and sold it to my friend’s moms, so my natural urge was to follow my passion and see what would happen!
I dove into photography full-time at the beginning of 2017 and have been blessed to be doing this ever since! It wasn’t easy by any means – especially that first year. I had to learn how to run a business, communicate with clients, manage scheduling that was 12-14 months into the future while also ensuring I was creating quality work for my amazing clients. I knew halfway through my first year that I needed to find someone to mentor me, as well as invest in workshops to better understand how to market myself and run a business. Once I started doing that the latter part of 2017, I started to see growth, have been blessed to watch my business grow tremendously, and on average shoot around 30-35 weddings a year – except this year haha… because of covid, I am currently sitting at about 56 weddings for 2021.
I would not be where I am today without the grace of God and the support of my family & friends though – surrounding yourself with people who will always cheer you on to chase your dreams makes a huge difference!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As I mentioned, my first year of being full-time was the hardest. I didn’t know the strategies necessary to properly market myself, nor did I know who my target audience was. EVERYTHING business-related (minus having some social media knowledge because of having it in high school) was new to me, so I genuinely had to learn it all.
Once I reached out to those who were successfully running their own photography businesses and invested in mentorships and workshops, I feel like everything pretty much fell into place. I hit a roadblock about 2.5 years in, where I felt like I was wanting more. Learning how to dive into a new market and really hone in on WHY I was doing this was extremely important in not only reaching the new market but being successful in it as well.
The only other roadblock that I (as well as everyone else in the event industry) experienced was going through the pandemic last year. We really had to learn how to get creative with staying relevant, navigating postponements and marketing ourselves in new ways to stay afloat. During that time, I dabbled in offering mentorships, selling presets, and offering discounts + promotions for 2021 couples.
Other than that, I’ve truly been blessed with a smooth experience running a business, my clients are amazing and continue to inspire me to be better!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a photographer that specializes in small weddings & elopements, however I have no problem photographing more traditionally sized weddings as well. Weddings/couples is where I thrive and come alive!!
I would say I’m most known for my ability to tastefully unify the authentic, small, in between moments that happen with a refined, editorial and intentional editing style. I believe that my couples not only deserve to see + experience the real moments that happened on their day, but I also believe they deserve to feel fabulous while doing it. I am just as passionate about anticipating those candid moments as I am about making you and your spouse look like you should be on the cover of a magazine!
I am most proud of HOW I stand out in the sea of wedding photographers, and I would say I do that best through two words – intentional service. I had the most hard-working, unconditionally loving father growing up, and the service + sacrifice my dad willfully chose to do for us growing up is the model I use for my business. I am a born-again Christian and believe to my core that I am meant to glorify God in whatever I do. For me, that means following my dad’s example of service (which was ultimately my dad striving to follow Christ’s example of service) and implement that into my business. Everything I do from the moment a couple inquires to the day I send them their final gallery is intentional. It’s with a heart of service that cannot be found in any other photographer because it’s so deeply rooted in who I am as a person. This job offers extreme blessings, but I’m not in it for the money or to be “the best.” I do this because I’m passionate about providing memories for people (just like my parents did for my family) that we can look back on for as long as we live. Photographs increase in value over time, and I believe in providing an experience that respects and matches that value. One day these frozen memories will mean more to someone than I could ever know, and it’s honor to provide that for couples.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Be picky! Find someone you look up to for not only their work but who they are as a person. Don’t get caught up in all the fluffy stuff they can provide you (cute styled shoots, fun getaways, etc.) pick someone that people can vouch for and that actually TALK business and show results. Find someone that can actually teach you business practices + how to implement them. That is what is going to take you to the next level, not a lot of pretty styled shoots (though those are still fun!)
You also cannot be afraid to invest in yourself. You can’t expect people to invest into you if you don’t see the value of investing in yourself. Start saving now.
Reading/asking for reviews is probably going to be the biggest help too – don’t get discouraged if you pick someone and they didn’t give you good, practical, helpful business advice. Just learn from that experience and be willing to try again. But be intentional about the next decision.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.kategarciaweddings.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kategarciaweddings?utm_medium=copy_link
