I am excited for you to meet my friend, Katlyn. She’s a busy young mom with a passion for photography. I have been inspired and amazed watching her start out snapping pictures of her children to beautifully documenting her family’s daily life with her current talent. I am especially a fan of her black and white candid moments from ordinary days at home. If there’s one word that I’d use to describe this young woman, it would be loving. She lives out a passionate love for her Lord, her children and her husband –with humility. What a treasure! I haven’t yet met her in person, but I’m hopeful for the day I am able to do just that.
It’s a common quest among women who are building a photography business: balancing life with learning. Let’s peek in on her life for a glimpse of how a busy mom and wife can grow her knowledge of photography and manage to handle the household day to day.
Did I tell you she has 4 children 4 years old and under? They’re ADORABLE! Now, here’s Katlyn (and family)!
Hi, I am a 23 year old. A mom of 4 ( all under the age of 5) and a photographer. Even though I am still learning everyday, I am here to share what I’vee learned so far- as a mom and a photographer. Let me start off by saying it is far from easy juggling it all, but it is possible.
My number one piece of advice for other moms of young children at home is to make and follow a schedule. I am a little crazy about schedules but it makes it all work. I schedule my kids day and then also mine. During the day I have a cleaning day, two days a week I set aside time to edit client photos, one day to edit personal photos, and a day to just spend time with my kids. On weekends I am more laid back, and except for the sacred sleep times which I really try to keep consistent, we kinda go with the flow. One promise for myself is to be lenient with my set a schedule. Structure is important but not more important than life and the people in my world. If I am excited to edit a client’s photo, or if I decide to move my unplugged day up, I just swap the days. I love the flexibility to rearrange my schedule all the while knowing I’ll be sure to fit in all the days. I think its important for me to have set days because it keeps me accountable. In the past I have gotten busy with photography and had to spend more time editing. Before long, I found myself eliminating my unplugged day or other personal opportunities. I love photography, but I love my family more. I keep my family as my true priority, and that entails spending time with them and keeping up with editing my personal photos. I don’t want to look back in 10 years and see that I took a ton of photos of clients but none of my family.
Day in and day out, the kids have set times they do crafts, eat, go outside, and sleep. Bananas, anyone?
My kids are the reason I started photography in the first place, and that’s something I have to remind myself of-sometimes more than others. There are times I get side tracked and don’t pick up the camera for a few days, but even when I’m tired or don’t feel like it, I get out that camera once again. I enjoy lifestyle photography and capturing my real life moments. When the kids are older I am going to want photos that mean something and have a memory attached to them-not just a photo of them smiling looking at the camera. Although, like any professional photographer, I get excited and love having photos that look great and are technically correct, when it comes to getting the kids’ lives documented, I’m ok with a snapshot vs no shot. I leave my camera out on a shelf so that when I see ‘a moment’ I can quickly get to it (kids are fast) because there are no re-dos in real life!
Running my days according to schedule not only make them happy during the day, but also secures their routine at night. The most important thing to me is their bedtime. (A day with twin toddlers and two little preschool princesses makes the best of moms ready for a refresher! ) They go to bed at 7PM, and that gives me time to get some things finished I didn’t get to during the day,and also gives me time to spend with my husband.
That it something really important to me. Even as young as my children are now, I realize that someday they will be gone out of the house and it will be just me and my husband. When they leave, I want to be left with a good relationship and great bond with him. I think many ignore their marriage in favor of parenting for 18 or so years, then it’s hard when they realize it’s just the two of them left and they’re strangers to one another. I don’t want that to be us, so we work on building “us” with time alone to talk, dream, laugh and relax with one another each evening. Remember, it’s not easy, but it is doable–and worth it all!
I hope you were encouraged with this invitation into Katlyn’s home for a brief visit. I know I am every time I see or read something from her.
I’m sure she’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment for her here and look her up on facebook at Katlyn Rose Images.
