Meet Katie Petersen | Wedding Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Petersen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I think one of the biggest factors that lead to my success was spending time learning from other professionals already in the industry before jumping into photographing weddings myself. I’ve found that a lot of wedding photographers typically got in the industry after a family member or friends asked them to photograph their wedding and that many of them did not know what they were doing their first couple weddings. I decided that I wanted to know more about the flow of a wedding day and how to best take photos throughout the day by working with a local wedding photographer in the area. I truly believe this immensely helped grow my business at a faster rate. She was able to teach me all the mistakes that she had made when she first started her business and while of course I have made my own mistakes I felt like I saved so much time and money from her advice. At the time of starting to photograph my own weddings I had already been and second shot over 30 weddings so I knew so much about how the day should flow, how to help my brides create a timeline, how to efficiently do family photos, and how to capture photos in less than ideal lighting. I am so thankful for being able to experience being a wedding photographer without the pressure of completely messing up someone’s wedding day and think that putting in that time to learn and get better before photographing by myself has helped my business grow so much faster!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
While wedding photography in of itself is a specialty there are even more specialties within that. My specialty is in destination weddings. This is something that I never imagined I would get into when I first started my business, but it brings me so much joy and fulfillment! As a destination photographer I travel constantly to photograph weddings all over the world. I have had the opportunity to travel to Utah, New York, Arizona and all up and down California for weddings. I am excited that I will soon be shooting in Iceland, Italy, and Costa Rica! I think one of the main struggles I faced while growing my business was imposter syndrome. Especially when it came to destination weddings I found it hard to believe that someone would value my work enough to have me travel to their wedding to photograph it. I think a lot of photographers are faced with this challenge nowadays due to social media. I found though that forming relationships with other photographers was one of the absolute best thing I ever did for my business. I not only made amazing friends, but have had so many job opportunities arise from connecting with other photographers!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
As I am from Northern California there are several things on the absolutely must do list. To start, I am from a town very close to Yosemite so I spent a great deal of time there growing up and even worked as a hiking guide in the park in high school. So of course visiting the park is a must! I always love hiking Half Dome or even just wondering around the valley enjoying the sights. Next a day in San Francisco is always fun, from Ghiradelli square to The Presidio to Chinatown, San Francisco is so full of wonderful and things to do and delicious food! One of my favorite things to do in San Francisco is visit the Lands End labyrinth. It is a short walk from the Legion of Honor has a stunning view of the golden gate bridge.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have progressed rapidly as a wedding photographer thanks to my first employer and mentor. My first official photography job was as a second shooter for Natacha Jolene Photography. She taught me the ins and outs of how to get excellent shots of the couple and their guests throughout their important day, from the first look to the party at the reception. There is a learning curve on how to get the best photos and you do not want to mess up on such an important day for your clients! I am so thankful that Natacha helped give me a great start to my business and was so open to answering any questions I had and so willing to teach me to be the best wedding photographer I could be! Natacha had been a photographer for 5 years before I joined her team and shared with me many of the mistakes she made starting out. While of course I made my own mistakes starting out I learn a lot from her sharing with me her journey of starting her own business. With her advice and help I quickly figured out how to successfully run my own business.

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Website: www.katieclarephotos.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katieclarephotography/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-c-petersen/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katieclarephotos

Image Credits
Katie Clare Photography