Today we’d like to introduce you to Christa Reed.
Hi Christa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I think it really started on a trip in the Rocky Mountains with a group of students, my freshman year of high school. We hiked up into the mountains, and I had a little disposable film camera. I took a picture of another student on a little bridge over a creek, looking out over the mountains, and I didn’t expect it to turn out but it did. When the photos were printed, it felt so magical to look back at that moment in time and say, “I was there, I saw this.” It was different than just having the memory in your mind. It was like a time machine taking you back.
There was also something about how small the person in the picture was and how big the rest of the world was. It really changed my perspective on how I view life. We’re so tiny, and life is so fleeting. I really became passionate about photography as an art form after that. I took film development classes in high school, and I did senior pictures for some of my friends. I worked at a portrait studio and film development lab in a mall for a while. Then I did a lot of film photography on the side of other retail merchandising jobs, both nature photos and sometimes, portraits for other people. I finally decided to go back to school and get a degree in visual communications. While I was working on my degree, I was still in retail. In the middle of all this, I had a baby! Retail didn’t work with school and taking care of a baby. The pay was too low and daycare was very expensive. It made more financial and practical sense for me to stay home with my baby and focus on school, so that’s what I did. I recognize that I was lucky to have the support and circumstances that allowed me to step away from work.
While I was in school, I learned from a few professional photographers who gave me assisting jobs, and I eventually graduated. I ended up at a commercial headshot studio where I stayed for four years. On my off days, I was doing portraits for my own clients on the side and assisting other photographers. One day I connected with a wedding photographer who needed an assistant, and that’s how I got into weddings. After I photographed my first one, it just felt like it was so right, exactly what I was meant to do. I decided to quit the studio and take a chance on becoming a full-time photographer. I’d done a lot of photography by that point, but weddings felt so natural for me. They really felt like my purpose.
I think that feeling was partly because when my partner and I got married, we had no one to help us with figuring out what kind of wedding we wanted or what pictures we were supposed to have. To be able to help others with their wedding planning and photography, so they have an amazing experience on their first day of marriage, is a dream come true.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like everyone, I’ve experienced seasons that changed me. I’ve had a lot of struggles throughout life. I was severely bullied at school as a child, and we moved around a lot so it felt like I was always adjusting to new places. I became so sick while I was working at the headshot studio that I ended up in the hospital and almost died. These experiences shape who I am and how I show up for others.
There’s a year in my journey really stands out to me as a very rough year though. I’d just started my business. Money was tight, and everything started to go wrong that year. My husband’s job cut his hours back. I didn’t have a lot of customers yet. I got behind on my student loans, and then our debt started to mount.
One day, we were in the yard and found water trickling out of the ground. A pipe had a tree root go through it, and we needed to have an entire side of our yard excavated to replace it, including having branches taken off the tree to get the excavation equipment to fit! It was crazy expensive, and it was really difficult to find a contractor who would work on a payment plan with us. (Most wanted the money up front.) He was unprofessional and honestly pretty scary because he would always say, “You need to pay up. I know where you live,” not in a nice or joking way. He was serious.
I got into a bad car accident that year too, and ended up with a concussion that caused short-term memory loss and difficulty with my speech, so I couldn’t work for a while. We also had to make the difficult decision to put our cat down, right before the holidays! I don’t even remember how we celebrated the holidays that year but I know the we relied on a local food shelf for groceries while we got back on our feet. It was one thing after another, but honestly, looking back, we made it work. We overcame and moved forward. That’s really all you can do in life: face your challenges and find solutions.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a wedding photographer, and I primarily specialize in helping couples figure out not only the photography, but how to have the wedding they truly want. For a lot of couples, I’m not just showing up and taking pictures. I’m also helping them figure out what they actually want their wedding day to look like. Whether that’s a laid-back wedding day at a venue or in their backyard, an adventure elopement hiking through a forest, or an understated ceremony at the courthouse followed by fun portraits at some of the best spots in the city afterward.
I’m known for creating photos that feel comfortable and giving people an experience that’s fun and relaxing. A lot of people are really afraid they’re too awkward to have good wedding photos, but I promise you’re not. Honestly, what I’m most proud of is when couples tell me they felt completely comfortable being themselves and that they actually enjoyed having their pictures taken.
What sets me apart from others is that I’m really calm and supportive for my couples. I’m there to make sure their needs get met, and I want them to feel seen and supported throughout the whole process. I enjoy working one-on-one with all of them and giving them the attention they need. I also just got my Minnesota officiant certificate, so now I have the ability to guide couples in a vow reading ceremony for their elopement if they want that. It fits really well with the hiking and adventure elopements I do.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I was lucky enough to be able to go on a trip to the Boundary Waters with a youth group, and it really sparked my love for the North Shore and northern Minnesota. I think that’s where my love of wild places really began. We saw bears, wolves, nighttime skies full of stars and meteors. We camped on an island so remote and small, you could see from one end of it to the other. I learned how to fish on that trip, too.
The day we had to leave the BWCA, it was storming badly. We had no choice but to canoe out in the storm because we had to get back on time to meet our bus to get home. It was another one of those moments in life when you feel like you’re in the worst possible situation, but we put on our life jackets and faced the storm head-on.
Now, anytime I’m scared or feeling like I can’t do something, I remember that I survived a canoe trip through the remote wilderness in a lightning storm. If I can do that, I’m capable of all sorts of things.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.christareedphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christareedphotog/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristaReedPhotography/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christa-reed-9907b148
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/christa-reed-photography-belle-plaine
