Today we’d like to introduce you to Kitta Bodmer.
Kitta, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started Kitta Bodmer Photography in 2004 because my Dad could not stop talking about what a great job I had done documenting our own family vacation to China. My Dad was an architect by trade and my entire family has been or is now in the building trades in Portland. This is where my love of editorial photography for interior design and architecture was born.
Art and people have always been the center of my universe. Photography of people lets me have all of that at the same time. I love being present for all of the milestones of the human condition from birth through early birthday parties, school years, senior year and graduation, prom, first love, engagement, weddings, maternity and all over again. I particularly love photography of elders in families. In fact I have published a book of photographs and personal stories for people who have been married for 50 years or more.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My first years as a photographer you might characterize as a side hustle. I had two small boys and was a single Mom. I would shoot on the weekends and edit late into the evening.
It was not until I met my business partner that Kitta Bodmer Photography turned into a true business. He built marketing and sales, earned us top placement in internet search and got me totally out of the editing in the middle of the night business by hiring and organizing full time dedicated post production support.
With all of this the company grew at a furious pace, posting annual revenues 10x those of the early years. Our reputation has expanded significantly and I have had a lot of opportunities to hone my skills with nearly 100 bookings every month.
Now we are on to the next chapter… training a team of photographers and editors to emulate the approach that I have built over the last five or so years with the goal of delivering fabulous experiences and even more fabulous results to a wider audience. Learning to be a mentor and teacher is as challenging as any of the other stages of our journey.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am sure that everyone knows that what you are thinking shows up on the face of 99% of all of the humans on the planet. People having fun and forgetting that photography is happening make the best photos. So what does that mean to the art associated with photography of people? Well, the subjects have got to feel the love that I have for them, for their situation and we have to have fun together. It is totally more important than the mechanics of photography.
So, that makes me the entertainer in chief of Kitta Bodmer Photography. I teach my team how to make photography of anything an experience worth remembering, for the youngest kiddo to matriarch or elder statesman of the family and everyone in between.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I love doing what I am doing and I do not love what my partner calls the administration or operation of the business, I have learned to delegate and support those things that make it possible to let me do my thing. I get my schedule and can be totally present for my clients. We have fun and I hand off cards to the squad and move onto the next opportunity for fun.
This arrangement allows me to fully exercise the creative side of my brain without wearing me down with details that are absolutely necessary and the foundation of my fabulous place in the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kittabodmerphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kittabodmerphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kittabodmerphotography/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kitta-bodmer-231a9168/
