Introducing Kelly Meredith Photography

Introducing…..Kelly Meredith Photography! 

Wow, that feels so crazy and surreal to say! Ask anyone who knows me well, and they’ll probably tell you I’ve dreamed of being a photographer forever. And it’s true! I’ve loved photography for as long as I can remember, but one thing or another has always kept me from going forward with actually pursuing my dream. So to actually be pursuing photography professionally and officially launching my company feels…truly unreal and indescribably exciting. (Along with all the other feelings that naturally come with starting something new and putting yourself out there)! This has been so long coming but I’m FINALLY doing the thing! So, I figured there was no better way to start than by letting you get to know a little bit about me and sharing my hopes for this business.

First, let me introduce myself. As you may have guessed, I’m Kelly! I was born and raised in the Atlanta area, but have spent the last 7 years moving around the country quite a bit for my husband’s job. I’ve been fortunate to live in some amazing places, from New Orleans to Denver to San Francisco, but now we have come back home to plant roots in Georgia! I’m a travel-obsessed, adventure-loving, introverted Enneagram 9 (I think). I’m a law enforcement wife and a dog mom to the sweetest Yellow Lab that exists. I would eat Chick-fil-A every meal if given the chance, and I can have entire conversations in Friends quotes. I love spending weekends exploring new wineries and hiking trails with my hubs and pup, and love slow quiet mornings reading a book and enjoying a cup of coffee. I spend my days dreaming about the next place I can travel – the short end of my Bucket List is to visit all 50 states and all 7 continents – but I also have major FOMO so my entire bucket list is much longer! I love going on new adventures and I am an adrenaline junkie, but I’m also a book-lover who will always love a quiet night in, snuggling on the couch. To put it simply, you could say I’m always up for a little bit of anything!

Like any photographer will tell you, I’ve always loved photography. I’ve always felt a need to document the moments in my life (don’t look at the photo count on my phone’s camera roll – it’s embarrassingly high…mostly with photos of my dog), and my parents bought me my first professional camera in college. As I played around with this camera and started taking a few classes, I began to gain a new love for the actual art of photography and all that went with it. Learning about composition, lighting, and all the intricate settings was fascinating to me and I couldn’t get enough. Looking back, one of my biggest regrets is not just diving full-force into photography and making it a career then. Instead, I kept it as a hobby that I came back to from time to time as I pursued different jobs over the years, always knowing my heart was in photography deep down.

Over the years since then, I’ve pursued just about every type of career you can imagine. Our frequent moves kept me on my toes searching for new jobs quite often, and I gathered a lot of interesting experience along the way. I graduated from nursing school in 2012 with my BSN, but decided to go a different route afterwards for a lot of reasons I won’t get into. I’ve worked as a Newborn Hearing Screener, receptionist for a veterinary clinic, Victim Advocate, and most recently worked for a travel company in the beautiful Presidio of San Francisco. I learned a lot and enjoyed so many parts of all these jobs, but I always felt deep down that there was something missing…that I never really found “it.” And I think I knew all along that that was because what I really wanted to do was work for myself as a photographer.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and my job in the travel industry was one of the first affected, I started thinking differently about what I really want to be doing and how I want to spend my time. I think we all got some sort of reality check when the world changed that year, and I know a lot of people ended up pivoting in both their professional and personal lives. Time suddenly felt a lot more valuable, life more fragile. Suddenly having no job and a lot of time to just think, I realized that I would be crazy to spend any more time not doing what I was truly passionate about. I didn’t want to waste any more time in jobs that weren’t my dream, and I realized that I needed to make my actual dream happen, no matter how much work that required and how scary it was.

So now, a ton of hours spent on education, practice, learning the ins and outs of business, and one cross-country move later, here it is. My dream come to life. This photography passion I’ve held for who-knows-how-many-years finally has a name and a face, and it’s finally happening. And above all the fear and doubt and nerves, I couldn’t be more excited to see where this goes! I have a lot of dreams and vision for the future of where this business may lead eventually, but for right now – we’re going to start slow and steady and just enjoy the ride. 

If nothing else has become clear over the 2 years, it’s the importance of cherishing every moment because we truly never know when our life could change. I feel the importance of capturing moments big and small, and my heart for my photography is in capturing the priceless, fleeting moments in your life. I want my photography to be true-to-life and represent you, just as you are. I hope that my photographs hang on my clients’ walls and fill their homes, and that every time you look at them you are brought back to that memory frozen in time and reminded of exactly how you felt in that moment. This time in the world has also made it clear just how important it is to make the most of every moment we have. Life is an adventure, and I think we should treat it as one! So that’s my hope for what my photography will reflect. I want to capture your adventures – whether that means a walk in your favorite park or hiking to the top of the tallest mountain we can find or dancing in a waterfall. Eventually I dream of combining my two loves – photography and travel – exploring the world with camera in hand and capturing adventurous couples and families in their favorite places. But the important message that I want to put out there is that adventure can be found anywhere, and any moment we can pursue an adventure is one worth capturing. 

And I’m here for it all!

Thank you, friends, for being here. I am so grateful to my friends and family who have listened me talk about my photography dream for years and encouraged me, inspired me, and supported me along the way. Thank you for your support as I begin this adventure, and I can’t wait to share more of my heart (and a lot more of my photos!)

Let’s do this thing!