Today we’d like to introduce you to Mallorie McBride.
Hi Mallorie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I’ve always been intrigued by photographs for as long as I can remember. Back in 2012 before Instagram was a social media app and it was just a place for artists to share their work, I remember being so inspired by what I saw and attempting to dip my toes in the photography water.
It wasn’t until I took a class my sophomore year of high school on the basics of Photoshop and how to use a DSLR in manual mode that I realized just how passionate (and good) I was at it.
I don’t remember who it was, but eventually, a friend asked if they could pay me to photograph them. I vividly remember thinking, “are you sure?”
Fast forward 7 years and countless seniors, families, brands, and events photographed, I found myself at 22 graduating amidst a pandemic with a dream to work in fashion marketing in New York City. Photography had always been a constant in my life, but at the time I hadn’t ever pictured it being my full-time gig.
So, like most people in 2020, I put my plans on hold and stayed back in Kansas City to wait it out. I started working full-time for a local marketing agency and slowly but surely found the desire to work for myself growing every day.
It wasn’t until the fall of 2020 that it hit me – I never saw photography being my career because I wasn’t passionate enough about what I was shooting. That night I grabbed two friends who are in a relationship and took them to my favorite parking garage rooftop and just got creative with them.
I got home that night and felt something click.
Photographing people in love was that missing piece. I knew right then and there that I was going to niche my business down and specialize in couples and wedding photography. Things, quite literally, changed overnight.
I hit the ground running with a rebrand, a new website, threw myself into the wedding vendor community, and asked every person I knew in a relationship if I could shoot them. I would wake up early to email clients and stay up late editing photos outside of my 9-5 in order to catapult my business to where I wanted it to be as quickly as possible.
And it worked – in June of 2021 I officially became a business owner and full-time wedding photographer and I still pinch myself every time I say those words. I’m excited and honored to announce that I’m only 3 weddings away from being fully booked for 2022.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Oh, most definitely not! Some of my biggest roadblocks in the early days revolved around imposter syndrome, struggling to find my style, and battling self-doubt.
Now that I have a good grip on my craft, the struggles I face revolve more so around the business side of being an entrepreneur. Finances and taxes are no fun – and no joke – and attempting to have a good work/life balance is a constant battle. When you work for yourself, you never feel like things are done. I could work 24/7 and still feel like I could be doing something more or better, so it’s been important to me to start setting solid boundaries for myself.
That’s very much still a work in progress.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a documentary photographer who specializes in working with people in love – either with another person or with their craft.
My approach to photography is unique in that the foundation of my images is the relationships I build with my clients. I wouldn’t be able to capture the magic that I do if we weren’t able to connect and become friends and feel comfortable being vulnerable and open to creating together.
I like to tell people that if you’re looking for a photographer whose only job is to capture the yearly holiday card photo, I’m not your girl. But if you’re looking for a photographer who’s going to get to know you and showcase who you are at your core – count me in.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m a huge introvert! As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more so, but I’m great at talking to people and would describe myself as pretty outgoing, so people are surprised when I tell them that I need my alone time to re-charge so I’m ready to focus on my next project.
Contact Info:
- Email: photo@malloriemcbride.com
- Website: www.malloriemcbride.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malloriemcbridephotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/malloriemcbridephotography/
Image Credits:
McBride Photography
