Today we’d like to introduce you to Christa Reed
Hi Christa, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I never imagined myself as a business owner that first time I picked up a camera in high school and started doing film photography as a hobby. Art and photography were my passions, but I envisioned a traditional career path with college, followed by a job where I could utilize my skills. I earned a degree in visual communications and quickly landed a position as a headshot photographer at a corporate portrait studio. I believed a secure career as an employee was what I wanted and needed to succeed in life.
That changed one weekend when I took a side gig assisting a wedding photographer. Wedding photography brought me so much joy and fulfillment, it felt like it was where I was meant to be all along. I began assisting at more weddings in my spare time, realizing I needed to break free from the safety of being an employee and launch my own business, allowing me to photograph weddings full-time.
I started building my portfolio by booking photography gigs during my free time. However, when my husband began a demanding job as a rural postal carrier that would often have him working long hours 6-7 days a week, life changed for us. Balancing my day job, building a business, and being the primary caregiver for our school-aged child became overwhelming. I took a deep breath and a leap of faith, quitting my day job to focus on being a parent and pursuing my passion for my photography business.
Pursuing this dream was one of the riskiest, most rewarding, decisions I’ve ever made. It taught me the importance of prioritizing my goals and embracing going after what I wanted, even if it felt scary at first. For too long, I had chosen the safe route, driven by fear of failure. I discovered that when pursuing your passion, there is no failure, only valuable lessons, creative growth, and the fulfillment of enriching people’s lives with the services you offer.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The path you walk as a business owner isn’t always easy or smooth. Even when pursuing your passion, you’ll encounter both rewarding and challenging periods. I’ve experienced some of the most awesome moments, but also some of the most challenging times while pursuing my career.
I’ve navigated slow business seasons, creative burnout, and physical health issues from overworking. This is a common struggle for freelance or self-employed creatives. Our passion for our art can lead us to neglect our own well-being, forgetting the importance of rest and breaks. Ironically, we often become business owners seeking greater freedom, but without careful time management, our businesses can easily consume all of it.
From each challenge I encounter, I’ve learned lessons that I carry forward, striving to make each year more fulfilling than the last. I’m grateful for life’s way of teaching us through experience, and so thankful that every day I get to wake up and do what I’m passionate about.
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 specialize in wedding and elopement photography. My approach to photography embraces creating pictures that emphasizes a couple’s journey together. When photographing proposals, engagements, and weddings, I’m always thinking about the journey we take through our lives, the relationship path we walk with our partner, and how you can celebrate that relationship to the fullest along the way.
Having this perspective shifts wedding photography from simply taking pictures of a single-day event to crafting a visual representation that’s more about documenting the celebration of a couple’s steps in their life journey. My goal for every couple is to provide this visual record of both art and celebration that they can look back on throughout their lives and find joy in.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
It might be surprising (or not, if I’ve photographed you before), but I started out pursuing a degree in psychology. I envisioned becoming a therapist, possibly specializing in art therapy. It wasn’t the right fit. I’ve found that certain skills such as empathy and creating a safe space for people to feel confident in, translate exceptionally well into photographing people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.christareedphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christareedphotog
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristaReedPhotography/
