Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirsten Holliday Doering
Hi Kirsten, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I fell in love with photography at the age of 14 while on summer vacation in Kentucky. My parents let me borrow their Canon PowerShot and the rest was history. I immediately fell in love with capturing the world and freezing moments in time. Every year when my family got together for our annual family reunion, I would document the week together and put it on a slideshow, all of us sitting around a tv taking in the moments from the week. From there, I just dabbled in it from time to time, document moments with friends, using my sister as a model, and taking photos on family vacations. I attended the University of Kentucky, and taking the ‘safe route’, I got my degree in hospitality. I loved how hospitality allowed you to interact with so many different types of people, and I was intrigued that I could possibly travel the world for my career. Still interested in photography, a friend of mine worked for the University’s newspaper as a writer and mentioned they hire photographers for their stories. I walked into the Kentucky Kernel Newspaper my junior year, they gave me a story, and I brought it back after the weekend and they hired me as a staff photographer. I covered everything from the famous Kentucky Men’s basketball team, Greek life events and was the lead photographer for their Semi-Annual Fashion Column. But it was attending the workshop, ‘Picture Kentucky’, where I really fell in love with the craft. For three days, a handful of students from Kentucky University’s across the state gathered in small-town London, KY. We drew names out of a hat the first night, and your job was to find that person: no phone number, no address, just their name and occupation. I searched the town, chatting with locals, and found my subject, the town’s sheriff, and convinced him to let me document his life for the span of three days.
Originally telling me no, and with my persistent nature, I ended up documenting his day to day and gaining a friend in the process. The workshop made a promotional video about me and my relationship with the sheriff, and he still sends me a Facebook message every year on my birthday. That weekend changed everything for me, and I knew I wanted to document people for the rest of my life. Fast forward to 2014, I moved to Austin, and following my degree in hospitality, I got a job working in hotels for the next four years. I dabbled in photography as a social media manager for Hotel Van Zandt, shooting food for the restaurant and SXSW events for the hotel with big-name artists, but still wasn’t fully into shooting like I wanted to be and I felt stuck. My husband and I were planning our wedding in Hawaii, and I had reached out to a bunch of wedding photographers over there. One of the gals I reached out to happened to be moving to Texas and offered to shoot our engagement photos for us. She and I connected at that shoot, and she saw the potential in me in wedding photography. And I’ll admit, weddings were NEVER on my radar. I shadowed her for the next year and a half on the weekends, working my hotel job during the week. I got to a point where all I wanted to do was shoot weddings. It was hard to go to my day job where I didn’t feel connected or appreciated. So with the help and encouragement of my mentor, my husband, and my family, I made the leap. I started my wedding photography business in July of 2019 and I haven’t looked back. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life thus far, and I’m SO glad I made the leap. As a wedding photographer, I’m here to tell the story as it unfolds. I want to make you FEEL something when you look back at my work. With my background in photojournalism, I bring that to a wedding day. A fly on the wall approach, I would say. I’m not into the pose-y type images, rather the day as it’s organically moving. There’s such a rush with wedding photography. There’s so much going on, so many details and vendors involved, and I love the energy that comes with it. I still can’t believe I call this a ‘job.’ The saying is true, ‘do what you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.’ I’m so thankful I can serve people in this way.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s funny, my quote in college to my friends was, “If you have no struggle, you have no story, and I want the story.” I struggled for so many years with knowing what I wanted to do but not believing in myself. So many people told me to jump that I could do it, but it was something I had to be ready for. Unfortunately, it took me about six years to finally feel confident where I was with my work to pursue it as a career.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in intimate weddings + boudoir, but I also shoot live music, travel and food on the side. I’m known for my photojournalistic style, seeing the beauty in the in-between and every day. For my boudoir work, I’m known for the use of light and moody imagery. To date, I’m most proud of my features in Anti-Bride. It’s an online blog that features unique and real weddings, and I love that they are passionate about couples who make their own trends. Because at the end of the day, that’s what I’m passionate about too. DO YOU! I think my photojournalistic approach is what sets me apart as well as my go-with-the-flow attitude. I’m super laid back, and when you allow me to create and see things as they unfold, that’s when you get those true cherished moments.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Reach out! PLEASE PLEASE reach out. I don’t bite and I LOVE collaboration. I have a great florist friend here in the industry, and I’m so glad she reached out to me because we’ve created, and continue to create, the coolest work. As far as support goes, if a couple hires me for their wedding day, allowing me to create is the BEST way to get the images I’m known for, that photojournalistic look.
Pricing:
- Weddings start at $2,000
Contact Info:
- Email: kirstenhollidayphoto@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.kirstenhollidayphoto.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenhollidayphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kirstenhollidayphoto/
Image Credits
Kirsten Holliday Photography
