20 Oct “When You no longer have a person, a photo is all you have”, Katya’s Journey into photography
A Little Piece of My Story
I was in a very dark place once. People ask me to share my story about how I got into photography, most likely thinking that my response would be what 99.9% of other photographers would say, which is, “Oh, I have had love for Photography since I was a child and I was taking pictures since then.” This is not one of those stories.
Before I was fired from my soul sucking job of a bookkeeper that lacked creative and financial aspect, myself and my husband found out that we were accidentally pregnant. We didn’t plan for the baby. This was our first pregnancy and we were not ready to have kids at that stage. However, after entertaining the idea of having this opportunity to start a family, we have grown to become very excited with anticipation of meeting our first baby. We have decorated the bedroom and had a baby shower and had all the beautiful presents and we’re simply waiting for the baby to arrive.
At 36 weeks I didn’t feel good and I started having cramps and I didn’t think that this could possibly be my contractions. I slept through it and overnight I got a fever and I literally drove myself to the hospital the next morning while having contractions. At the hospital they put me in the ultrasound room and told me that my baby’s heart was not beating. They also told me that I had to give birth on that day. My husband was called in from work. We went home, packed our few things including our portable point-and-shoot camera at that time and headed to the hospital to be induced to give birth to a stillborn baby.
When the baby was born we took some pictures with our point and shoot camera and hospital took pictures and printed them on a printer paper that had lines and strikes going through it. And those printer paper quality photographs, faded, blurred with stikes going through is the most precious thing I own, because those were the only things that we have left from the baby. When you don’t have a baby – photos is all we have. I have learned to discover this firsthand at that time. I have realized that photos are everything. Even our memory fades, but photos will remind us of our memories.
This entire event symbolizes the death period of my life. The memory of this serves me as a symbol that I have been dead and I needed to wake up. That was the lowest point of my life. I could simply not fall any lower. And from the ashes I learned how to grow. 2012 was supposed to be the end of the world. Well, the irony is, it was the end of my world as I knew it.
I wanted to be pregnant again and was actively trying again. I was hired for a second job, inspired by just one thought of being able to save up enough money over summer, so I could buy my first DSLR camera to take photos of my new baby one he arrives.
Soon after that I got pregnant with my second son Alexi, bought my first camera and fulfilled such a deeper dream of having his newborn photos done with props, blankets, buckets and backgrounds like a professional newborn photographer would. I started documenting every day of his life. It has also opened up to a possibility of photographing other families as well. I put an ad on Craigslist and that has started my photographer career back in 2013.
Very soon I have discovered that I don’t really have a passion for photographing families or weddings, but I truly have passion for photographing creative concepts and women wearing beautiful dresses and make up. I was dreaming of finally having a studio but that was a realm of impossible back then.
However Universe has a funny way of doing things. Consideting I live in North Carolina, I came across a space for rent in Norfolk, VA – an hour and fifteen minutes away from me. The studio had everything I ever wanted exposed brick, industrial architecture and I felt it in my heart so deeply that I must rent a studio in that building. There was no logic to it. I had no clients in that area and I had no idea how I was going to pay my rent. But I felt it so strongly in my heart that I made probably the scariest decision of my life and signed a lease. After that I had to figure out and work backwards, because I had no choice. I hired coaches, I got myself into even more credit card debt to pay them. But I was on the path of figuring out my very first glamour photography studio that has grown into what it is now a boudoir photography studio.
The chain of events that has led me to this, has got me thinking. I started to think about the photos I was in, and how my son would be able to look back and remember me if I wasn’t around anymore. Would I want him to remember me being ashamed of my body and hiding from the camera? Nope. Would I want him to not have any photos of me at all? Absolutely not!
Now I have trained me and my team that boudoir photography is a celebration of your body and who you truly are. We take pride in being able to help show women how to celebrate their bodies, their battles and their victories they’ve been through. Let us show you your sparkle. Let us help remind you how to love and be proud of yourself.
Our group on Facebook is a place for women to talk about boudoir photography, it’s a safe place for women to lift each other up and encourage one another.
If you are a client or thinking about doing a session this is a place to be. We also run contest a special sales in our group from time to time and you don’t want to miss that!
Ready to experience how transformational a boudoir session can be for you?
go over how experience works, what is included into your session, answer your questions and see if we are meant for each other!
Our group on Facebook is a place for women to talk about boudoir photography, it’s a safe place for women to lift each other up and encourage one another.
If you are a client or thinking about doing a session this is a place to be. We also run contest a special sales in our group from time to time and you don’t want to miss that!