Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Kizzia.
Hi Kimberly, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was a little girl, I was frequently given cameras or film as a gift on birthdays and holidays. I was always fascinated with photography and took pictures of anything I could get in front of my camera. By high school, I had found my passion for portraits and explored through taking self-portraits and photographs of my friends. At 16 I started working for a retail portrait studio that was focused on families and I realized that I had a skill for it. From there I spent the next 16 years focusing on photographing families, children, and newborns, finally creating KDK Portraits at the beginning of 2020. It wasn’t until the pandemic that I discovered my love of boudoir as well. There is something so wonderful about helping women see their true beauty. KDK Boudoir has been an exciting new project for me this year, and I can’t wait to see how it flourishes.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road; I’ve had many challenges over the years. Once I moved on from the retail portrait studio, I struggled to find clients and learned how difficult it can be starting and running your own business at a young age. I took a hiatus from my photography business when I was pregnant with my youngest and over the next 6 years only photographed my family and my friends’ families. I decided to return to professional photography in January of 2020, which was immediately complicated by a house fire in February, and the beginning of the pandemic in March. Rebuilding a business with those major life events has been the biggest challenge for me so far.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in portrait photography, whether that be families, boudoir, modeling, or even my personal project which depicts the struggles of living with mental illness. There is something about freezing someone in time that appeals to me, and conveying emotions through imagery brings me great joy. With most of my photography, I’m known for my bright images, whereas with my mental health project I tend to stick to much darker and moodier photographs. Freedom of expression is a huge part of why I love photography. While I’m proud of all of my work, I am most passionate about the work I do advocating for mental health. It is so rewarding seeing my conversations with the subjects translate into deeply emotional images. My passion for people, mind, and body, sets me apart from others. I see the whole person in front of me and try to capture them in the best possible way.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Knowing that I’ve served my clients to the best of my ability. It’s really important to me that they feel heard during every step of the process; my clients’ satisfaction with everything from the beginning of the session until their products are delivered matters a lot to me. The trust they place in me to capture their precious memories is not something I take lightly. With my boudoir clients especially, they trust me to make them feel empowered and beautiful in their own skin and I feel honored to have that opportunity.
Pricing:
- Sessions start at $250.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: kdkportraits.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/kdkboudoir and instagram.com/kdkportraits
- Facebook: facebook.com/kdkboudoir and facebook.com/kdkportraits
- Twitter: twitter.com/kimberlykizzia
- Other: kdkphotography.com and kdkportraits.com
Image Credits
Kimberly Kizzia
