The Scoop

Grab some coffee, and get comfortable… because this will be a long post! I’ve never shared my full story with you before, so here it is from the start. 

Which came first: the camera or the horses? Like many of you, the horses came first. Let’s start a generation back. Growing up, my mom was a horse girl but never had the opportunity to ride. So as soon as my older sister was old enough, my mother enrolled her in horseback riding lessons. I tagged along to each lesson, too young to ride myself. The academy’s policy was 5 years and older, but my persistent begging wore down the instructor to start my lessons at 3 years old. I rode a nearly all-white POA mare named Ashley and I never looked back. My sister lost interest in horses after a few years, but my love for them only grew. 

After several years of lessons in the dressage academy, my mom found a local barn that leased out miniature horses. When I was in second grade I was able to show a mini horse named “Frankie” in driving and in-hand events while also riding my instructor’s big horse. The following year, I leased a POA named “Raz” (you can read all about her here) and by the fourth grade, my parents purchased Raz for me so that I could start showing in the local 4-H club. 

I’ve chronicled all of my riding adventures in The Horse That Built Me series already but to summarize I went from 4-H to showing Hunter-Jumpers in middle school, to showing all-around paint horses in high school. Eventually, I left the Pacific Northwest when I moved to Texas and rode on scholarship for Texas Christian University’s Women’s Equestrian Team from 2009-2012. 

As soon as I got to the Lone Star State, I fell in love. I knew I wanted to be in Texas for the rest of my life. I studied finance in college with a strong interest in the asset management industry. I had internships at private wealth management and private equity firms. My senior year of college I purchased a DSLR camera for Christmas— a Christmas present to myself. I had no intention of being a photographer. I just liked nice pictures and spent all year borrowing my roommate’s fancy camera. I figured I should have my own. 

As soon as I got that camera I went to my parent’s front pasture and started taking pictures of the horses in the front pasture. Horses were the only subject I was drawn to. I had no interest in weddings, newborns, or many of the “traditional” subjects photographers take pictures of. For me, it was horses from day 0. 

That same winter break at home I decided to graduate from the pasture ornaments in my yard to my friend with her horses. That instantly lit a fire within me: I had an insatiable desire to capture the relationship between a girl and her heart horse. 

You see, I had to sell my heart horse Tahoe when I went off to college. I had pictures with him, yes, but mostly show proofs that didn’t show our true relationship. We accomplished a lot in the arena, but our real story was outside of the show pen. Call it a lightbulb moment, but I felt like there was a hole in the (then) current equine photography market for someone who documented this relationship. At the time in 2012, I was planning my own wedding and was constantly on wedding blogs like Style Me Pretty. The photography aesthetic I fell in love with was a beautiful pastel, light, airy and romantic film look. I came up with a “business plan” to offer these romantic, filmy images to the equestrian market. 

In 2012, I spent most of the year practicing my craft. I purchased a film camera (a Contax 645 like all of my film idols) and had PhotoVision scan all of my film work. By 2013, I registered and started my business. Jake and I also moved across the country from Oregon to Texas shortly after our wedding. 

2013 was a year of building. After moving to downtown Dallas, I was working my dream job in finance while trying to shoot on weekends. I had a few small wins that really served as the foundation of my business. I had two clients specifically that were my “ideal” client, so I took that as the market proof I needed to support the theory of my business plan. Now I just needed some momentum. Financially, the business took a loss this year as I tried to invest a lot in professional gear and advertising. 

In 2014, I hit my groove as a side business and I started traveling for photo shoots. A referral from a photography friend also helped me land my first paid cover. My clients were publishing my work in industry magazines. This year I was primarily shooting on my film cameras still, while I was trying to dial in my digital workflow to match the aesthetic. The business broke even this year after big reinvestments and a growing marketing budget. 

In 2015, the momentum started to grow. I was hired for my first big cover. I started photographing big players in the industry. I was being asked a lot of questions from other photographers, which was the push I needed to start this KMP Learn blog for frequently asked questions. I also began to formally mentor other photographers through both Skype calls and in-person. I started incorporating more digital into my workflow and really became a “hybrid” photographer using both film and digital cameras at each session. This was the first year my business generated a meaningful profit. 

In 2016, I hit a real tipping point where I essentially had 2 full-time jobs. I was working 60+ hours at the finance firm, and flying weekends to shoot at different destinations. I was editing at night and spreading myself a little too thin. My physical health was declining, with stress acting as a trigger for my autoimmune disease. It was a great year financially, and the business was soaring, but the workload was unsustainable and [after a lot of therapy sessions] I began working on my plan to transition the photography business to full-time. 

I took the photography business full-time in early 2017. Right after I put in notice at the finance firm, I found out I was pregnant with Sadie. Knowing that I now had no paid maternity leave, I overbooked my spring to be able to take 5-months of maternity leave at the end of the year. By now, I was primarily a digital photographer and rarely reached for my film camera. It was an incredible year for my first year of full time and even with a break at the end of the year I was able to replace the income from my finance job. 

Without a doubt, 2018 was my most challenging year. Being a new mom with a growing business maxed me out. I was constantly pushed to my limit and that forced me to put up some serious boundaries both professionally and personally. I started to care for my mental health with a new, heightened priority. I brought Sadie on almost all of my travel, along with my assistant and a grandma to babysit (which hurt my bottom line tremendously but was a high priority for me personally). 

By 2019, things felt more stable and comfortable. I was leaving Sadie behind with Jake when I traveled and I took my assistant along with me. This was the year I started to film and publish the first KMP Learn courses. It was a huge undertaking on top of a full portrait schedule, but by the end of the year, I had most of the content live on this site! 

2020 started strong, but you know the story. It came to a screeching halt in mid-March until the end of April. In March, Jake and I sat down and went through my finances. We made sure that even in the worst case (returning every retainer I had taken) that my business would be ok. It felt good to know that my business emergency account could handle it all. I hit the ground running in May when the Texas Governor opened small businesses back up and I started traveling all over again. I think I went on 50 flights that year, but I did a lot of it quietly because of the social anxiety I had. Travel and the virus… they were all such polarizing subjects that I didn’t want scrutiny over. Even with 6 weeks (that were historically my highest grossing months) completely shut down, 2020 ended as my highest grossing year up to that point. 

Thankfully, 2021 was a great year. I had brought on some new commercial accounts, expanded into more social media collaborations, and the portrait business continued to grow. Personally, it was a year we added a few horses to our herd and spent a whole lot more time at the barn as a family. I felt like I made a lot of personal growth by being able to turn work “off” at the barn and spend more intentional time with my family.

If you’ve made it this far — wow! There are big and exciting things in store for both Kirstie Marie Photography and Learn with Kirstie Marie in 2022 and beyond! More than anything, I love hearing from you! The reason this blog was created was to answer your specific questions, so please feel free to send over an email or DM on social media!