Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Kim Loeffler.
Hi Mary Kim, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I think my love for photography started when I was a young. My dad had a camcorder that he would bring to my games, holidays and school functions and by use of the camera, he instilled in me that there are always things worth remembering. When my dad tragically passed while I was in high school, I gained a new perspective on the connection between those captured memories the emotions tied to them.
I was always the friend who brought the camera along. I’d considered pursing photography in college but was always told I was “too smart to take pictures.”
Turns out I wasn’t smart enough to follow my own passion at the time.
I finally purchased my first DSLR after I was newly married. While my husband was deployed, I took a few community college classes to learn the basics. At the time I was working in our church’s youth department in North Carolina. A few of the seniors also had cameras and we would take photo walks- walk and talk while we photographed nature and did street photography. Some of those seniors asked if I’d take their senior photos, and what went from a hobby then turned into a realization that this could actually be something that I do as a career. It wasn’t long before I was taking sessions; seniors, couples, and military homecomings. I started shooting weddings soon after.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I started my career as a photographer on the brink of becoming a mom, so I don’t know motherhood without also being a photographer.
Balancing being a mom and working from home has always had it’s challenges. There’s a mental load that can distract you: when you have young kids at home, being with your kids you’re thinking about the images you need to edit. Then when you’re editing you feel guilt that you’re not spending time with you kids. When your kids are older it shifts to, “I have all this time to edit while they’re at school.” ..but then it’s time to leave to shoot sessions or a wedding when they’re home from school.
You have to learn to set boundaries that work for your family. Seasons look different now with the ages my kids are when it comes to my work life. Right now it means not taking many October weddings so that I can make it to band competitions, or in some months only shooting weeknights so that we can finally have dinner around the table as a family on the weekends.
I love photographing families but I don’t want to risk missing my own family’s moments in real time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a wedding, family and senior photographer, servicing the St. Louis area.
Honestly, there’s nothing special about my skill as a photographer. Yes I can know the right settings and angles, but the magical part is in the emotions and feelings that are attached to the images I’m creating.
I don’t do that, it’s my clients who actually make that magic happen.
When a mom sees an image of her child from when they were young, what makes it special isn’t the actual photo- it’s about the memories of that season and how it makes her FEEL. Photographs are a conduit for connecting memory and feeling. I love that I can give people the power to mentally time travel back in time to a moment with just one look at a photograph that I created.
It gives me so much joy to think about a couple showing their grandkids their wedding pictures one day and remembering all both the joys and sorrows that have made up their marriage to get them to make them who they are now.
If I can be just a small part of that by documenting their beginning- I consider it a huge honor.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
A lot of photographers niche down and only service one type of photography. While it would probably simplify things for me, I think I’d miss it.
One of my favorite things, is when I have returning clients: I’ve photographed families over the years and watched their kids grow up.
I’ve seeing seniors become brides, brides become moms. And more recently, I’ve had almost full circle moments: senior to bride to mom.
In my eyes, a returning client is one of the biggest compliments you could receive as a photographer.
Pricing:
- Sessions begin at $600
- Weddings $5000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mkloefflerphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mkloefflerphotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mkloefflerphotography
