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MEET Katelyn

I never started my business with dreams of it becoming what it is today. I just pursued what I loved and paid attention to how my passion and my purpose could be intertwined. The more our story evolves, the more confident I am that every season, every journey and every up and down, is purposeful.

My journey as an entrepreneur started in my childhood bedroom painting .69 cent porcelain plates from Walmart and selling them for $36 each. The thrill of being able to use my natural giftings to turn a profit sparked something in me that I could never shake. 

In college, I launched my wedding photography business just hoping to avoid having to apply for a “real job” after graduation…. A few years later, I had my first six-figure year, my husband Michael joined me full time in business and we started teaching others how to build their own profitable and purposeful businesses! 
Fast forward to 2023, we have a team of 6+ employees, over 30,000 students in our online courses, over 350 KJ couples who have trusted us to capture their day and have built a reputation as being a educator who helped transforms not only photographer’s businesses, but their lives as well.  

In the past few years, as we have entered the season of becoming parents, we’ve experienced life’s greatest joys and have also walked through the darkest valleys. Our story is one of joy, peace, loss and hope. Keep scrolling to meet our children, hear our story, and get to know us.

Michael and I dated for 8 years 

before we were married and then waited 6 more years to have children.... they were well worth the wait! They bring us so much joy and despite less sleep, more responsibility and the loss we've endured, this is by far our favorite season of life together as a couple. What a privilege it is to call these little people ours!  

THE TIMELINE

2002

Highschool Sweethearts

2008

2010

Photographed First International wedding in Jamaica

Married on 10/10/10

2011

How did we get here? 

2013

2014

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2002

2008

2009

2010

2013

2011

Officially a 6 figure business

Started my business from my college dorm.

The Beginning: 

A lot of “About Me’s” pages share how they wanted to be a _________ since they were young. That’s not my story. I had no idea that I wanted to be a photographer until I became one. I didn’t dream of this career my entire life. 

My creative journey started with a bunch of paint and big ideas on the floor of my childhood bedroom. I painted .79 cent plates from Walmart and sold them for $36 a piece. During my time running my first business, “Katelyn’s Krafts”, I ruined my momma and daddy's carpet, but the time that I spent exploring every creative outlet I could think of eventually pointed me to my dream job. 

Something I remember specifically from that season of my childhood was that NOTHING seemed scary to me. I was so young and so new and so naive to what failure could feel like in business that I just tried any idea that came to mind!! Fast forward a few years and this would eventually serve me REALLY well in my future photography business!

NO FEAR, RUINED CARPETS & .79 WALMART PLATES:

THE EDUCATOR

My little business that started in college wasn’t so little anymore. Photographers from around the country and then eventually around the world wanted to know how I did it…. What were my secrets…. What were my systems…. How could they replicate what I had created….

From the very beginning, I believed that sharing my secrets would never burn me but rather, it would build others up….. And that would create a better industry for all of us. I hosted workshops starting in 2012, launched my first online course in 2015 and currently serve over 25,000 Photography students online from around the globe. I’ve had wild ideas like letting photographers become my virtual third shooters on wedding days and hosting a conference of my own for 400 attendees in our hometown. 

I apparently never lost my lack of fear that I had when first started testing the waters of being an entrepreneur…. And now I spend my days teaching others how to take bold leaps, transform their work and build businesses they are incredibly proud of. 

Wild ideas, sharing my secrets & building others up

THE MOMMA

My business exploded and I fell in love with the thrill of success. That passion for constantly dreaming and pushing forward blinded me from realizing that deep down, despite my doubts and feelings of inadequacy, I did want to have a family. 

After enduring gestational diabetes, an aggressive tumor eating through my knuckle in my shooting hand and emergency hand surgery at 9 months pregnant, we welcomed the most beautiful baby girl into the world in February of 2017. 

Fifteen months later, we lost our second child to complications from Down Syndrome at 31 weeks and our worlds were rocked forever. 

Twelve months later, we welcomed our beautiful rainbow baby into the world. Baby Graham restored so much hope into our lives that we desperately needed. And in December of 2020 we welcomed our fourth baby, Everett (we call him Rhett) into the family.

Our journey into parenthood was like a wild, fast-paced, terrifying but life-changing roller coaster ride that we never anticipated. Through it all, we were changed in the most beautiful way. Our business thrived, our story was shared, and our purpose had never been clearer.  The baby we never got to bring home is the very member of our family that forever changed our home and how we view our legacy. The impact of Baby James' story taught us not to hold back, to let God use us even when life is hard and to seek purpose even in pain. 

Complications, celebrations & victory in a valley

MICHAEL

meet our

family 

Our travel agent, manager of all things business, Second shooter, Apple guru, and the Enneagram 7 that brings all the fun to our family!

katelyn

The dreamer, teacher, momma, lead photographer, content creator, and lover of all things teal!

EVY

The 6 year old queen of all the boys, who loves to sing, perform and is a slightly bossy and very protective second momma to her baby brother!

GRAHAM

Our 4 year old who loves anything with wheels, grabbing anything he shouldn't and is the cutest little dancer! He's our rainbow baby!

EVERETT

Our 2 year old, Rhett, who has a contagious smile, is momma obsessed and has the best giggles around!

MILES

Our newest addition, Miles, who is a champ at constantly being fought over for snuggles from his siblings! 

In order to truly know our family, there is a member of the family not pictured above but is very much a part of our life and our story. When Evy was 8 months old, we were surprised to find out that I was pregnant. At 20 weeks pregnant, we found out that our sweet baby boy had severe complications from Down Syndrome and would likely not survive. We said hello and goodbye to our little boy at 31 weeks, May 1st 2018. Carrying a baby with a fatal diagnosis changed our lives. To learn more about our journey and to get to know our baby in heaven, you can read more here

BABY James

The Story of Our

If you're going through a similar story or just want to be a part of ours:

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OUR PURPOSE

ultimately, our passion is linked to

We are so passionate about helping photographers build businesses and lives with purpose, made for a lasting legacy. Our stories, our victories, our struggles.... everything is a part of the greater story that God is writing in our lives. We believe that our business and our passion for photography provides us with a way to use our story in a powerful and purposeful way.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks of our job. We have emails and editing and Youtube recordings and Course filming to keep up with on a daily basis,  but we know that these tasks are just the busy work that lead to a greater mission in our business. Through these tasks, we build relationships. Through these relationships, we build trust.... and when we build trust with other people, we begin to have impact on their lives in a special way.

We believe whole heartedly that our interactions and experiences that we give our couples and our students are special opportunities full of purpose.  God has blessed us with the ability to not only do what we love as our career, but He also brings AMAZING people into our life in the process. Whether it's sharing our story online, genuinely caring for our clients and being more than just a hired hand, or helping our photography students discover that their gift and passion for photography is the key to fulfilling their purpose in life, we want our business to leave an imprint on all of those that we have the opportunity to serve! 


get the details

the

Faves

kj

Capturing iPhone images through Chatbooks, writing childhood memories through our Promptly Journals, my ring Michael surprised me with after we lost Baby James, gummy bears & lake time.... they are all some of my favorite things!

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MORE OF MY FAVES

frames

six

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Frames are my weakness. If I pass some frames on sale at Target or Homegoods, I'm sunk. I love them! I also love anything that's TEAL! If it's TEAL, I'm a fan! That is totally MY color! 

6

candles

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This is the one thing that Michael will ALWAYS let me buy for the house, without question! We both LOVE us some candles! Anthropologie's candles are hands down our all-time favorite

7

spare time

Though there are times when it seems like photography is all I do, I'm really much more than just a photographer. If I could do anything in my spare time, it's always decorating!! Michael and I are passionate about hosting, and it's important to us that our home feels warm and inviting. For me, decorating isn't about making things looks perfect, it's a creative outlet that completely unrelated to photography! It's what I love to do in my free time and it's how I feel refreshed and inspired. Because of this passion in my life, I'm obviously a die hard fan girl of Joanna Gaines. If I could sit down with someone and ask them a million business and design questions, it would be her! Jojo, if you see this... I'm your girl!!!!! 

in my

Tour

Our Home

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on instagram

#kjdecorating

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YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Behind the Scenes

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ON THE BLOG

Personal Posts

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POPULAR DESTINATIONS

Not sure where to start? Here are some great places to begin exploring! (We hope you feel free to stay awhile.)

This podcast is an outpouring of our desire to share our story, what we're learning in our marriage, our business and in the ups and downs life has to offer. 

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CHECK IT OUT

Learn, grow and get connected via our Youtube Channel! This is where I'm constantly sharing new content, talking all things gear, business, tips, tricks and letting you into the behind-the-scenes of our everyday life! 

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Katelyn James

The

Podcast

"I have invested in all of KJ’s education!

The way she teaches makes so much sense and I’m so grateful for her! My business will be forever changed!"

- Renee Nicolo

"KJ education has been life-changing

 It has elevated my work so I could quit my day job and work from home with our baby boy!"

- joanna k.

"I'VE INVESTED IN SO MANY RESOURCES... 

and none compare to what I get from KJ!"

- LAUREN M.
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