Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayleigh Taylor.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story began back when I was eight years old when my mom gifted me a point-and-shoot camera for my birthday. I always had an interest in creating art, whether it was painting or taking pictures, making music, etc. I didn’t know at the time how much photography would become a part of my life, but that’s the point where it really started. For the next 10 years, I would take pictures of just about everything.
Flowers, macro shots of grass soaked in morning dew, my family and my dogs, my friends, pretty much anything if I had my camera on me! When I was 16 years old, I started my business without “technically” starting my business. I wasn’t able to have my own legal entity until I was 18, but I started second shooting for other wedding photographers in my area, and when I was 18 and started a business, that’s when I started photographing weddings solely by myself. Because I was doing photography all throughout high school (mostly doing senior pictures and yearbook) most people knew that I had a business that was about to begin.
So by the time I graduated, I already had a large social media account and I was almost fully booked for the entire year. I did continue to go on to college, I thought that I had a different path in mind in the medical field. I went for two and a half years before I realized that I loved photography more than anything and wanted that to be my sole career. Once I left college, I started pursuing other forms of education like workshops and styled shoots from other photographers, so I could gain experience, a larger portfolio, and learn specific parts of the photography industry from them. I got tax accounting advice from a past client who worked in that field, I bought advertising courses for Facebook, elopement guides so I could learn how to do travel photography full-time, and so on.
It’s amazing the education that you can get outside of regular institutions, and I was able to learn everything I needed from a few simple courses offered by other creatives in my industry. Last year, when the news first broke out of Covid-19 circulating around the globe, I was already three weeks into a cross-country road trip. I took my dog, packed the back of my car, and decided to travel around the states by myself. The uncertainty was spreading very quickly, so after three months of traveling, I decided to come back home and wait it out for a little while but little did I know, I was about to meet someone.
I was only 20 years old at the time, a young girl with a thriving business and a lot of independence, he had just gotten out of the military and had come back from a cross-country road trip himself. We dated for three months, were engaged for three months, and were married by October. It was 100% a God thing, I could’ve never picked somebody better for myself. He also went to college to study photography, so as soon as we met we were doing all of our shoots together, he was joining me for weddings, and by the end of the year, we were able to take my business from a solo person gig to a husband and wife team. We now travel all over the country together doing weddings as a team!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t really believe anything in life is a smooth road. There are always obstacles and challenges. Starting a business at 18 years old comes with its own problems, You have to work really hard in order to gain your client’s trust.
Young age doesn’t always come with credibility, so people are more apt to hire somebody with more experience, more professionalism, etc. I worked my butt off in high school and had a thriving portfolio, but it was now time to push myself to be more social than ever and really carry myself in a way that would make my clients have great confidence in my ability to capture their special events. There was a lot of contemplation when I was choosing between going to school for a different career or continuing with my photography.
I always thought of it as more of a hobby, and I started my business because I was making money and needed to have something legal at the time, but I never really believed in myself enough to think that what I was doing could be my career for the rest of my life. It wasn’t until three years into college that I looked around, thought “what am I doing here!?”, and decided that my passion was worth pursuing.
My family and friends thought that I was crazy, crazy for dropping out of college and crazy for pursuing a career in the art field. I feel like I had to gain everybody’s trust; my family, my clients, and even myself.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a wedding and lifestyle photographer based in Florida, but I travel all around the country for my clients. I am known for my casual photographic style that encourages genuine interactions and emphasizes real moments between people; I’m not a fan of overly posed and staged photos. Rather, I prompt my clients to do a specific thing and let their interactions unfold as I capture their love, emotions, and connection with one another!
I think it’s really refreshing for clients to know this before their shoot because most people have a stigma with photography that they have to know what they’re doing or already be models, or that it will be overly stiff and the poses will be forced and awkward. But that’s never how I want any of my photoshoots or weddings to go! My photography style is based around timeless art and resembles a more film-style of editing, and with that style comes more relaxed posing and a lot of “in-between moments.”
With every person, I meet and get to photograph- whether an engagement, a family, capturing the time of maternity, or a wedding, my goal is to tell a story. After all, I firmly believe that artists are storytellers, and photographers do not fall short of that name. I love capturing the intimacy of human connection and creating art that tells the story of the people I’m photographing.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
So many people deserve credit! I thank my parents for always supporting me growing up and encouraging my work, when I felt insecure about my age and compared my work to other photographers who were more advanced than me, I thank my friends who spent countless hours with me doing random photoshoots to help me build my portfolio.
I thank the photographer in D.C who took me under her wing as a second shooter to get me to experience photographing some of my first weddings, and I thank the photographers who have poured countless hours into creating online education to teach and encourage others photographers on their journey.
I also couldn’t have done it all without my relationship with God; being loved by Him encourages me to love others in the way I never could’ve before. And through that love, through all the opportunities and doors he opens before me, I am able to use my business as a way to serve others. Any kindness and heart of service in me only comes from Him!
Contact Info:
- Email: kayleightaylorphotography@gmail.com
- Website: KayleighTaylorPhotography.com
- Instagram: KayleighTaylorphotography
- Facebook: Kayleightaylorphoto
