Today we’d like to introduce you to Caitlyn Cloud.
Hi Caitlyn, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started taking photography seriously in 2017 when I bought my first DSLR. I made my friends and family do photo shoots with me for practice. Then I stepped into weddings in March 2018 when I was asked by a friend of a friend if I would do her wedding. Growing up, my grandma owned a bridal store and through her I became enamored with weddings. So it’s always been my dream to work in the wedding industry, I just wasn’t sure in what capacity. When I graduated college, I had plans to eventually open a wedding planning business. But planning my own wedding was eye opening for me. I learned some things about myself, one of those being that planning someone else’s wedding would feel even more stressful for me than planning my own. Letting go of the dream to be a wedding planner made it that much more exciting to lean into photography at that time.
My husband and I moved to Kansas City in 2018 and I decided it was the perfect time to give my all into wedding photography. Kansas City has a great market for weddings and by 2019 I was fully booked and busy. I built my business here by setting up free sessions in all the popular photo spots in town, plus some fun creative locations like the laundromat and Target. Meeting new people for sessions, posting with hashtags, and taking any second photographer gig I could get, these things helped me build quickly. Quicker than I thought it would happen.
It’s been 8 years, almost 9, since I picked up my first DSLR. I knew nothing about how to use it, and my photography education consisted of one class period (as in one hour long class) in college where we learned about photo composition. So I really went into this with hope and delusion and a stubborn belief that I was going to succeed at it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I thought I knew struggle in business until last year when I was confronted with the kind of struggles I couldn’t have prepared for. Endometriosis has been a major struggle, in life but especially in owning my own business. You wear every single hat as a solopreneur, and when your body makes it impossible for you to do all the things your business suffers. I spent most of last year going to various doctor appointments before I was diagnosed with endometriosis via surgery in November.
For anyone familiar with wedding seasons, you know October and November are huge wedding months in this area. I was shooting weddings with a TENS unit and portable heating pad secretly attached to my abdomen. I was relying heavily on my second photographers to cover things when I needed to lay down with my feet up to avoid passing out from pain. A cyst burst on my ovary and I finished editing a wedding in the same day. You learn how to push through, you learn how to outsource, you learn how to say no, you learn that your tenacity is part of what makes you great but also part of what’s hurting you. It took around 6 months to be fully recovered, but since surgery in November last year, my health is drastically better. No more daily TENS unit and heating pad, no more passing out from pain. I’d forgotten what it was like to live pain free, so coming back into myself now I am so excited to rebuild.
I expect my next struggle will be coming back from survival mode. Rebuilding during a recession and learning what my new work/life balance needs to be in order to stay healthy.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a documentary or observational photographer. I think “observational” is a much better descriptor of my style of work, but “documentary” is the more widely known term that people understand.
I specialize in photographing people as they are, making them feel seen and celebrated. I like the term “observational” because in a session with me, we’re going to pick an activity to do and I’m going to observe and document. As much as is possible with a camera present, I create a space where my clients can feel safe to be themselves, and I observe what that brings out. I want people who work with me to see and understand that they are worthy of having their lives documented exactly as they are now. That there is always magic, even if you feel like your life is boring and you don’t have any activity to do, you are magic, and I hope to show you how I see your magic.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I think holding myself to a definition of success that is in anyway externally motivated is a recipe for inflammation. So I’ve started defining success by whether I tried to do what I told myself I would do that day. If I tried, I’m successful.
Pricing:
- Elopements start at $800
- Weddings range $1800-$4300
- Sessions (family, senior, couple, maternity, newborn) $450
Contact Info:
- Website: https://caitlyncloud.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caitlyncloudphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaitlynCloudPhotography
