If you don't get the reference it's from "How I Met Your Mother" (How's that for a throw back?)
Thank you for stopping by the blog and for the curiosity that made ya click ;)
I'm Kate- or Katie depending on who you are talking to! Photography was a passion that I found early in life, through my local 4-H Club in Saint Charles, Missouri- Hey Point Prairie! I was 13 years old when I picked up my first camera and entered my first competition. By the time I was in high school I knew it was something I wanted to go to college for (something that was still an option before digital cameras were really starting to gain some momentum). After graduation from Orchard Farm High School in 2005, I attended the University of Central Missouri. After graduating from UCM in 2009 I went back to Saint Charles, built a studio on my family farm and for the next 9 years learned some really hard lessons about life and business. Thankfully, I had the support of my parents to help get me through it, some of the best friends that I could have prayed for, and customers that stuck with me through it all.
I had no idea though, that God was about to throw me a huge curve ball. I thought that I was in it for the long haul in Saint Charles. I had the studio, the family I needed around but I wasn't fulfilled. I wanted companionship, and so the dreaded, du du du duuuuumm- Online Dating. Lo and behold on good ole FarmersOnly.com I was matched with this cutie from Kansas City. After a few dates meeting in the middle at Columbia my whole life plan was pretty much blown to smithereens. Justin had 2 kiddos Abby, 6, and Micah, 4, and moving away from KC was not an option. There was a lot of driving that first year and then a move to Pleasant Hill for Justin, then a move from St. Charles to Pleasant Hill for me, and our engagement we had no idea how much would be in store for us.
After a year here, I knew I needed a change of employment. After a short stent as a substitute teacher, I landed a customer service position at H&H Color Lab. It was such a blessing. It came at a time where we needed it the most, the Christian values it is based in, still being in the industry of photography, it fitting in with my minor from college, it was definitely the answer to a desperate prayer. I was with the company for 5 years in total. In that short amount of time I had more growth personally, professionally, mentally, and emotionally than I ever thought was possible. In that time we moved 3 times, got married and had Emma in the middle of the pandemic. You know- not a whole lot going on.
Being a momma to a newborn and having to go back to work, her being so sick off and on the first year and missing out on milestones that we couldn't get back, photography started pulling at me harder and harder. So instead of changing jobs, I decided to give photography another run taking all of the lessons in life, business and family and go all in. Justin and I decided that it was time for me to stay home and really dedicate the time I needed to the business to get it off the ground. And we haven't looked back. It's been almost a year and honestly it's been the best move we could have made. The drive and freedom of being home with the kids as needed, working off location, photographing on a regular basis and being there for most of the things I want/need to be at, there's nothing like it.
So for everything that has happened in the last year, 5 years, 8 years, 15 years, it's FAITH that has seen me through it all. Without FAITH and God's GRACE I wouldn't be where I am without it. God has brought me through all of it and His grace has humbled me in ways that I never expected but that I am forever grateful for.
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