Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Tate.
Hi Kelly, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I grew up around photography as my dad was a pretty serious amateur. I remember my whole childhood; he told me to “sit still” as he tried to meticulously compose the perfect photo while I did my best not to cooperate. We’d go to the Minneapolis sculpture gardens, and he loved taking photos with the fall colors, and while I found it unbearable, he did get some recognition from shots that he entered into various contests. As I got older and no longer looked as cute in my OshKosh B’gosh overalls sitting in a field of dandelions, my dad bought me my point-and-shoot camera, but my composition skills were just about what you would expect from a child. One summer, I returned from camp so excited that I had taken 3 rolls of pictures! My dad, however, was a bit unhappy when we got them developed, and he found out they were all photos of horses. Little did he know these experiences were the kinds of things that would help develop my love for the art.
Art Fairs were always the highlight of the summer, and Uptown and Edina were major events for us. While I was still in my previously mentioned horse phase, somewhere around 8 years old, we were in a booth at the Uptown Art Fair. I was a pretty avid bin browser even at that young age, and while my dad was busy, I found a photo of horses and fell in love. I asked my dad if I could get it, and he said “no,” but I continued staring at it, unable to pull myself away. My dad eventually purchased a photo he was looking at, and the artist had been watching me and saw how much I loved the photo, so he gifted it to me along with my dad’s purchase. I was over the moon excited! We got it framed, and I hung it in my bedroom, a constant reminder of the excitement and good times of the summer art fair season with my dad.
It’s obvious from the work that I love to travel, which has always been the case. I didn’t have much opportunity to travel until I was older, and we started taking annual family trips. I found it exciting to explore a new place and see everything that nature had to offer. One particularly memorable trip was when we visited the Frank Lloyd Wright house “Fallingwater” in Pennsylvania, and I took rolls of film of the scenery around the house. After they developed (now that I had finally moved on from horses), my dad told me I had a natural eye for composition, which was a huge deal and very encouraging as confidence has not always been one of my strong suits.
I continued the tradition of visiting art fairs as I grew up, went to college, and got married. One year I felt particularly inspired by the photography I saw at the Uptown Art Fair, and I looked over to my husband and said, “I could do this.” At that time, I didn’t have a good camera, know anything about shooting in manual mode (or that that was even a thing), how to edit a photo or anything about selling at an art fair. My husband, partially to tamp my hubris but mainly because he had seen what I could achieve with a point-and-shoot camera, said, “So do it then.” I immediately regretted my words as my husband convinced me to put in an order for a new DSLR the next day. When it arrived, I had no idea what to do with it, and it intimidated me, so it sat in its box in the corner for the next 4 months, mocking me. One day the camera taunted me too many times, and I finally signed up for a couple of basic classes.
After I started to gain control over my camera, I began venturing out to different MN state parks every weekend to practice with the goal of one day getting into the Uptown Art Fair. I slowly improved my skills, starting with macro photography, then taking smaller landscape shots of a stream, a river, then larger landscapes. During this process, I would often find myself on a plateau where I felt frustrated. It was hard not continuing to see that initial rapid growth, but I kept pushing forward as I didn’t want to stagnate. I tried different techniques, recreated shots from other photographers to aid my learning, and left my comfort zone to avoid feeling overwhelmed with all the information. I was overly critical of myself early on, which was immensely helpful in achieving growth but also incredibly discouraging. This internal criticism continues to be one of the big drivers of my growth and why I push myself even today.
After I got the hang of the basics in the field, my husband and I began to plan trips around photography, taking into account sun angles, tidal schedules, seasonal weather, and lots and lots of research. These trips aimed to build up my portfolio, and at this point, I considered myself to be shooting as a professional even though I wasn’t actively selling anything. After 4 years of portfolio building, I entered my first art fair and 2 years later was admitted into the Uptown Art Fair.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it’s been very unpredictable for sure. For me, my mental health was a big one, in trying to balance the criticism of myself and giving myself credit for things I’ve done well. I’ve noticed over the years that my mental health often comes out in my work. It dictates the kinds of subject matter that I want to shoot and how it eventually gets edited. Even the name is often tied to how I’m doing mentally. I’ve dealt with a lot of anxiety over the last 10 years, and it has come out a lot with art fairs and putting my work out there. I’ve also constantly battled impostor syndrome, feeling that I’m not good enough or that the people who believe in me and support me will realize I’m a “fraud.” At one point, my anxiety was so bad I locked myself into a port-a-potty at an art fair to try and get a break. Being an introvert doing art fairs is a real challenge for me and early on, mixed with the impostor syndrome, it takes a toll.
The trips can also be very challenging, as nature is unpredictable. The shots I want to get rarely happen, and I need to constantly adapt and change to get the best out of the conditions. This means plans can change suddenly or give up something that I love and want to shoot well. Especially with photography centered around golden hour, sleeping schedules are really weird and take a toll. I often take naps in the middle of the day to try to stay sharp. Some days I need to take a day off to recover and even have fun without a camera in my hands.
Being a female has also been a challenge in this industry, especially landscape photography. Almost every show, I have people explain my photos to me. I’m often underestimated, or my husband is the one who’s given credit. What makes it all worth it is when I interact with a young girl that’s into photography and serve as a role model for them to chase their dreams. In the last show I did, a girl of perhaps 8 years looked at the photos in my booth and said, “You must have a lot of patience to get that light.” Immediately I was struck by such an astute observation, especially in somebody so young. I asked her if she was a photographer, and when she said she had a camera but wasn’t a photographer, I told her that it wasn’t about the camera but about how you see the light and that she was, in fact, a photographer.
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 primarily shoot landscape and travel photography, but I like to think that I specialize in and am known for “capturing that moment of amazement and wonder when you first visit a place.” My style is centered around bright, vivid, complementary colors. I try to make sure that everything I release, especially a landscape, has that signature style of mine. After a trip, choosing the images, I’ll edit and eventually release is an especially difficult process. There are many photos that I’m proud of but won’t ever release because they don’t match up with my style or have something technically wrong that wouldn’t hold up to my standards. This big factor helps to give all the photos that pop and the wow factor I’m known for and am proud of; I’m also known for having fun descriptions for my photos that try to help describe and help capture the feeling of each image. Each of my photos also has a specific mood that helps to set me apart, whether it be calming and peaceful or magical and eerie. They all have distinct personalities.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
A mantra that has helped me through this whole experience, be it on a hike across some sketchy trails or surrounded by people at an art fair, is: “Sometimes you have to do it afraid.”
Pricing:
- Matted prints, starting at $50 (limited edition)
- Canvas Gallery Wrapped prints, starting at $165 (limited edition)
- Metal prints, starting at $225 (limited editon)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kellytatephotography.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/kellytatephoto
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/kellytatephoto
Image Credits
Personal Photo credit: Stephanie Saucier
