Hiring a professional photographer isn’t just about the final images. This is why I focus so much on a “portrait experience”. No image will have a genuine smile or glowing feeling if you aren’t feeling that way during your photo shoot. All of my clients have had the same things to say about me since I started my company, that they have felt comfortable. Which really, at the end of the day, is one of the most important thing to me as a photographer. So, here’s a little bit more about myself so you know exactly who will be photographing your session.
Firstly, of course my name is Kayla. I created the company “Kayla photography“ 10 years ago now. When I first started photography I was about 12 years old and all I wanted to capture was images of animals. My father and I would drive around all weekend in search of anything that moved to photograph. The highlight of our day would be a pack of deer. My mother would shake her head as we got so excited we would giggle, grab our cameras and book it. This childhood not only formed me as the photographer I am, but truly formed me into the person that I am today. I started my first company when I was 16 years old, named “Paws Photography”. Here I shared my love for nature photography as well as local pets. Flash forward to collage, I enrolled in the photography program in Algonquin college fresh out of high school with the pure belief that I would be chasing animals through the bush for the rest of my days. This was only half of the case.
My second year into the program, I got an incredible job opportunity working with Canadian geographic. This was extremely eye opening. It showed me that wildlife photography was not only, not sustainable as an income, but that working for a magazine like this was not what I thought it would be. I spent much more time in a cubicle looking for other photographers submissions than shooting my own. It just wasn’t for me. I am an extremely outgoing and hands on person when I have a camera in my hands. When I don’t, I am much more laid back and meek. I was not willing to give up that feeling, that transformation I obtain when I’m looking through my lens.
Throughout this time self discover time.
I travelled all of Canada twice, for a month at a time. Living out of a small Honda Civic and a tent, heating up beans and raman noodles. This sense of adventure solidified my need to be behind a camera.
College opened my eyes to the world of portraits, the ability to spark something in a subject and capture it. Much like the spark I feel walking through a bog after a wild animal. That ability, is what drives me everyday of my career. Capturing the spark of my subject, this is the moment I search for in every photo shoot.
Right out of college I opened up “Kayla Photography” and opened the doors of my first studio. Young and effortless in my naming choice, if I could go back I would have certainly changed my company name choice. Though it’s pretty set in stone now after being in business for 10+ years.
The rest as they say, is history. I still transform as a photographer every single day. I started off as a digital only photographer, handing my clients a USB of mish mash images in hopes that they will know what Images to choose, let alone how to turn them into quality prints. With hundreds to choose from, most sub par quality. I quickly learned the diservice I was providing my clients by leaving half of my job to them. This lead me to becoming the fine art photographer that I am today.
Handing a client a real, finished, piece of art work. Selecting the best possible images, hand editing them for hours at a time until they are perfect, then hanging the finished piece on the clients walls where they will hang for countless years. That is why I do this.
Knowing that when my subject leaves this world in many years, their children won’t fight over the cars or the jewelry.
The portraits, that spark that we captured that day in my little studio. That sparkle in their parents eyes. That is what they will want over anything else in the world.
A physical, touchable, beautiful reminder of the most important thing; family.
10 years later, I live in a little home in the country with the love of my life; my hubby and our two little dogs Panda & Koda. We love to go camping and find the next best adventure.
During the week I keep a low number of appointments for my studio so that I have the ability to create something special for each client. When I’m not shooting, I am often editing in my home office or out with a camera driving around with my dogs in tow. On the weekends we are often at the race track competitively racing motorcycles. My father is much older now and we don’t get out shooting together as often as we used to, but a few times a years you can here the giggles of the hooligans out chasing anything that moves.