Today we’d like to introduce you to Kait Mace.
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 starts at the age of 15. I decided to pick up a camera that summer and photograph the children my mom baby sat in my flower girl dress and little ring bearer costume and just had fun with it. Before I knew it, I had cousins and friends reaching out of for paid sessions. This was in 2010, and at the time, I thought making $35 off of these shoots made me rich. By my senior year, I was missing my homecoming to shoot a wedding and photographing over 50 seniors in our yearbook alone, not counting the seniors from surrounding schools. I started college that next fall only to receive the most unconventional advice from a business school counselor a student can receive– drop out. She saw a thriving business where an 18 year old who hated school stood. From then on, I hit the ground running and have never stopped. I am now retired from weddings after over 300. I have photographed concerts, meet and greets, album covers, music videos, thousands of family and senior sessions, and lots of others in between. I have switched to Private Practice, where I only shoot for aligned clients and personal fine art projects. I started a Podcast called High Standards that has been on break, with plans to come back better than ever one day soon. In 2024, I released my first planner for photographers on Amazon called Bustle. Today, I am designing our home we are building from the ground up this year and planning our homestead, as that is part of the next chapter in my story.
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?
It has always been smooth gaining clients, however it has never been easy running a business– and that is okay. There have always been moments that made me question if I should do something else, especially in the wedding industry, but ultimately the struggles never outweighed the blessings of running my own business. I would say not having enough help on the back end and running everything myself is the biggest obstacle that I have ran into. This should be changing very soon too. It’s hard for small businesses to be able to afford the help they need behind the scenes– especially artists/photographers. Realistically, a photographer should have a shoot coordinator at every session. Our job is to capture and create. When posing and perfecting is taken out of the equation, we can focus so much more on the art itself. But in rural areas, people can’t afford coordinators when they’re already splurging and saving every penny for their shoots. Businesses often come to photographers for content shoots, but have no idea what they need, nor do they know what they need set up. A photographer cannot do their job to their fullest if they’re coordinating a shot list for a business they have never ran. Just little things like that, that you obviously make work and evolve your practices and clientele intake around.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I currently specialize in creating art for local businesses in Missouri through photography and videography. Most of my clients have me film B-Roll for their social media platforms, and then photograph their businesses in high end, artful ways. I also stay plenty busy photographing my friends families, as they are all in the little kid stages of life and it’s truly magical to capture. On the developing side of my art, I am exploring all new avenues. From watercolor and collage work to hand embroidery, I plan to have a farmstand on our homestead with a booth to sell all my works in, in the near future.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success by having enough time to do everything you want to do in life, and the resources to do it. If I am able to pay my bills without stress, have enough time to be in my community and invest in my community, thrift & antique and time for family, friends and rest, I am successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kaitmace.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kaitmace
