Today we’d like to introduce you to McKenna Rain.
McKenna, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
From a young age, I knew I wanted to be working in a creative field. I love making content and when I was a kid, I would take pictures and write about everything. I had a little purple film camera that I would take with me on trips. I loved capturing moments that I would never have remembered otherwise. My creative outlets grew, and suddenly, I had several things I loved to do including photography, videography, writing, and dabbling with graphic design. I learned more about photography and fell in love with planning shoots and concepts, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized I could pursue photography professionally.
I graduated from Washington State University in 2017 and a few days later, my boyfriend Eli, my cat Luna, and I packed up all our things into a U-Haul trailer and moved to Los Angeles. To say, it was a change, an understatement. It was extremely hard at first. Both Eli and I started working as production assistants and man, it was an experience. I honestly didn’t know people worked 12 hour days as a minimum in the industry and there was a lot of things I had absolutely no idea about. But like most ventures, you learn on your feet, and soon enough, I felt I had a good ground underneath me. I, then, took another path that led me away from PA work. I was offered a job at a post-production trailer house as an executive assistant, and I took it.
I feel like now, after doing a ton of industry interviews and talking to other people, there is a huge issue with companies trying to bring in young people at lower rates with the promise that they will grow with the company. I’ve heard so many stories now that it’s actually laughable that I believed this company. I won’t bash into them too much but I will say that the position was not as advertised. I ended up taking on a lot of roles that I had no business filling, and when I approached them about a raise or at least a conversation about what my duties should be, I was met with a brick wall. I learned a lot from that company, but I decided the lessons weren’t worth the stress, sexism, and at one point harassment I faced. So, after seven months, I quit. I remember the moments after I emailed HR telling them I would not be coming back and thinking, “oh crap, what did I just do,” before having all of my fears quelled when minutes later, I received a call about a PA job on Top Chef Jr. I took it immediately and the ball kept rolling. For the next few months, I bounced around from production to production until I landed an amazing office PA gig with an Amazon show. It has been by far one of the best learning experiences I have had, and the people I worked with were amazing.
However, all shows come to an end, and in September, I found myself having no idea what I wanted to do next. I felt a little lost and unmotivated. I realized that I hadn’t had the opportunity to express myself creatively in months and that all of my old passions had been put on hold because of the work I was doing. When my boyfriend asked me what I missed doing the most the first thought that entered my head was photography. It was so obvious, but for some reason, I was embarrassed about it. Nowadays, it feels like everyone is a ‘photographer’ and admitting that it was something I missed and wanted to do more of seemed like a cliché. I decided to say screw it though and went for it.
I started with landscapes, and then headshots, and then I moved to work with models. I threw myself into the world of photography again, and it felt right. I took some time off work to start focusing in on myself and my craft and somehow it became so much more than I ever dreamed. I decided to make it legit, and so McKenna Rain Photography was born. It’s not easy running a business in addition to trying to keep a foot in the door of the film industry. I still take day-play PA jobs and would take a full-time position on a longer show if it was offered. It just means I have to work harder but at this point, it’s worth it. I want to be my own boss, and having photography has allowed me to do that. It’s still a very young venture, I am still building my client base, and trying to boost my social media platforms. It’s challenging. But it’s a challenge I love and am excited about.
I’m not sure how my current style evolved into what it is now but I love it. Living in LA has injected so much life and color into my work and it brings me so much joy to capture things in a different light. I do a variety of work from brand campaigns, content for bloggers and influencers, and the typical stuff such as engagement shoots and weddings. I love that I can still try new things and have recently begun to experiment with videography. I think being well-rounded and current with the trends is important, but you have to make sure you don’t lose your personal style.
I feel truly blessed that this has taken off over the past few months. In January, I was fully booked which was amazing! Though it won’t be like that every month, I still have so many other things that I am passionate about that also pay the bills.
I still have about a million things I want to do and I think that’s a sign that I am on the right track.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It hasn’t been an easy road and it still has its bumps and potholes. Being a woman in the industry as well as really any career path is hard work. At my executive assistant job, there was an incident of sexual harassment, I went as far as talking to a lawyer about it but decided it wasn’t a path I wanted to pursue. You have to have thick skin at times and unfortunately for me, it’s not easy. You will face so many challenges along the way that men don’t and it sucks! However, I believe we’re slowly getting onto the path of equality or at least we all just have to keep kicking butt and making sure that path stays clear.
For fellow girl-bosses out there, I want to tell you that as long as you are 100% committed to your passion you can make it happen. It might take a long time, but if you’re really passionate about it, it won’t matter as much because it’s about the journey to finding your happiness and becoming your own boss. It’s going to take sacrifice, I’ve canceled plans to make sure I get all of my work done on time, I’ve stayed up late to make sure I feel satisfied with how much I did that day. I literally work seven days a week for my business because right now it’s in the early growth stages. If I half-hearted it, I would not be in a good position right now or even be writing this. Dreams take work and I think that’s one thing a lot of people don’t realize is that you have to work hard to make it in any career.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with McKenna Rain Photography – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Though the name of my company is McKenna Rain Photography, I can do a lot more than just photography. I am building my videography portfolio as well and working on making complete packages that can help you with all your creative needs. My style is all about color which I know a lot of photographers aren’t super into right now. The current trends, though beautiful, didn’t really call to me. I wanted to be different and also have fun with it. I usually edited more moody before one day I went to Zuma Beach, took some fun landscape and building photos and did some experimenting in Lightroom. I made a preset called Malibu Blue and so began the vibrant color editing that is my style now.
I work with a lot of bloggers, models, actresses and influencers on helping create content for their personal brands and I absolutely love it. I think one thing people don’t realize is that I can edit to any style but my personal photography page is just what I like for myself. Most of my influencers have their own presets, so I will work with them on making sure their content matches their personal style.
As far as specialization right now, I offer a lot of options because I love to do so many different things! Right now I have weddings booked, engagement sessions, modeling content, brand campaigns, and creative content packages. I love having variety in my work because it keeps it fun!
I think what makes me stand out is that I don’t know that many photographers with the same style as mine as well as the same amount of breadth. I know a lot of photographers have a niche and that’s awesome for them, but for me, right now, I love that challenge of new projects and I don’t like to be pushed into a specific box.
At the end of the day, I love what I do and I love that I have been able to work with so many amazing clients in so many different walks of life.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve benefited from using?
Workwise:
-Lightroom both on my phone and on my computer is my main editing software. I occasionally use Photoshop for photos depending on the project.
-I use the app ColorStory for planning out my feed which saves me so much stress and time.
-Mango Street Lab on YouTube for some creative inspiration
-YouTube, in general, has been a huge help. I’ve learned so much about analytics and how to run businesses through it.
-Passgallery for delivering galleries. It’s my favorite one so far for sure!
-Google Calendar & Google Docs for literally everything. I use google docs to send scheduling breakdowns and concept ideas and it’s been super helpful to send noneditable links to clients.
-Pinterest for mood boards has been a huge time saver.
Contact Info:
- Website: McKennaRain.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mckennarainphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McKennaRainPhotography/
Image Credit:
Photographer – ME, Models in order of upload- Pallavi Dhelia, Tyler Delong, Brit Landa, Karla Avila, Yanet Cortez Barba, Melissa Dunham Tenney
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