We had the good fortune of connecting with Kalysta Kuebler and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Kalysta, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have grown up in a family of entrepreneurs. My entire life has always been revolved around integrating your passions into your career. The college path was never on my mind as far as getting a degree in something that did not interest me nor would I need it in my future. I took the step to start my own business post graduating high school and the success being so substantial at such an early stage of my business has changed the chemistry of my brain. Hard work is not something that I am afraid of, but rather something I strive for every day to complete a task, if not multiple tasks, in feeling accomplished. I knew that working for myself was something that I always wanted. Setting my own hours, taking the days off that I needed, and putting in the work that I needed to do in order to keep my business running. It was, and still is, up to me to create the measure of my success.
Photography has always been one of my passions and romance is right along with that. Being able to start a business, capturing the love between two people has been unmatched. It’s like a real live romance novel being put into photograph form. Each couple has their own story and with every photo, my goal is to display that. For the business side, it takes trial and error. Especially entering into this new societal standard of how to run a business, I work on making myself adaptable when it comes to marketing my business to potential clients. I am ready for all ups and downs that come along with a startup company and will continue to grow my passion as well as my fire for success.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The way I display my art is something that I’ve never let hold me back. Something deeply rooted in my soul is to be as original as I can. It’s definitely an unpopular opinion, but I feel like if I were to purchase a preset from another photographer, and work with it on my photo, it wouldn’t feel as authentic to me as if I were to completely do it from scratch. It took a lot of work to learn how to use Photoshop and Lightroom Classic, but in the end, I have created an edit that truly shows my work in the way I want it to.
I got to where I am today, professionally, by not letting fear of rejection get in the way. It’s hard to be vulnerable and embrace the social media marketing platform we have today. Once you get past that though, you could open yourself to umpteen amounts of opportunity. The fear of rejection and not being accepted is valid, but should not stop you from going for it. When overcoming the challenge of putting your face out there to make videos and talking on camera, it’s not really that bad. Instead, it only helps.
I have learned that fear can be the barrier to success. Everybody’s trying to get somewhere, so why let something so insignificant stop you from going where you want to be. It’s a really simple concept to say, but a hard one to live out. Every little step and decision leads you to where you are. You make thousands of decisions a day so why let fear hold you back! If it’s not you, it’s gonna be somebody else that gets there. That is an engraved life lesson in my brain.
I want people to know that I have so much joy for life being able to capture what true love is, and with my joy being rooted in Jesus, I feel the strength to push through the hard business days to continue to grow my passion for what I truly love to do. I want that to be shown through every photograph I take in somebody’s love story; for them to look back upon and cherish as their new journey begins.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
A good time in my area for someone looking for a relaxing chill vacay would include: grabbing food at In-N-Out Burger, getting a delicious drink at Dutch Bros, and sitting down somewhere with a pretty view to watch a gorgeous Arizona sunset unfold. Fun fact: I actually used to work at In-N-Out for over two years and just recently put in my resignation to go full-time in my photography business.
I’m a girl who likes to be in the hot sun, so laying out, sunbathing with a cold drink in hand sounds like a perfect weeklong trip to me.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The most common answer is something I can very well relate to. I thank God for all the people that have been and are in my life. My biggest support has come through my parents as well as my boyfriend. Through every moment of growing my business, I have been able to reflect ideas off of them, and receive assistance for the minuscule and vast decisions. Six years ago I began taking photos for fun and created an Instagram account to display my work. That handle was and has remained “Thru Kals Lens” giving all my naming inspiration credit to my wonderful mother.
Website: thrukalslens.com
Instagram: thru.kals.lens
Other: Tik tok: thru.kals.lens