Meet Caylee Rush | Family Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Caylee Rush and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Caylee, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I had always loved photographing natural landscapes and animals. I thought of it only as a hobby, something that inspired me to explore our world. I had my son in 2017 and I was not able to create for a few years. Having a new baby is very consuming, and honestly they become all you really care to look at for a while! At the end of 2020 I looked over at my camera gear which had gone untouched for several years at this point. I told myself, I need to sell this stuff, or get back into photography. I never even intended to start a business, it sort of just evolved into one. Which I am shocked about every time I get a new booking inquiry. I sold my baby stroller on Facebook Marketplace, and the woman saw I did photography and asked me to photograph her newborn. That was my first paying client, and I was absolutely terrified! After that I just kept thinking of creative shoots, asking work colleagues and friends to model for me, and people started reaching out to me. I am so grateful for this natural evolution. Even though it has come about this way, it is not to say it has not been a great deal of failing and hard work. I guess it is just that the failing kept driving me forward rather than repelling me away to quit. I read the book, “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek, which was highly recommended by so many successful people I had been following. I struggled to see my why at first. I thought there has to be more than I just like to take pretty pictures. Through my process of working with so many families, and seeing the joy they get from these memories we are creating, I was shown how deep and purposeful this form of creation is for me. I truly feel blessed that I have people who want to hang these family portraits in their house. I never understood when photographers wrote about making memories, and honestly found it to be rather cheesy, but ultimately I now see what they have all been writing about and it is so much more soulful and beautiful than I ever imagined picking up a camera could be.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I absolutely love creative portraits that have a soulful, emotive, connectedness with nature. It combines my love for exploring the outdoors with creating meaningful works of art for people to love forever. I spend a great deal of time finding amazing spots to shoot at, and curating my client closet. One of my deepest pains is our culture addicted to fast fashion and throw away items. Our overproduction of cheaply made clothing is destroying the health of our Earth, so I work hard to bring in purposeful pieces to my business. Many of the gowns I have are from small independent dress makers. I have so many adorable hand crochet items for babies made from organic fabrics and the textures just add so much interesting depth and tones to a photograph. Having these items on hand allows me to offer people unique items to wear during their session, that they wouldn’t necessarily have lying in their closet. This way I get to align my business with my core values and support other artisans in their beautiful crafts. It feels like I get to decorate people up into these works of art, accent them with a gorgeous backdrop and then photograph memories they can hold onto forever. It gives me so much joy when a client messages me months later thanking me for their photos!! It’s not even a prideful joy, but more of a special piece of me lights up knowing how much love I am spreading into the world.

It has not been an easy journey. I am a single mom who has sole custody of my five year old son, additionally I work a full time job. So I have virtually no social life and I spend late nights and early mornings studying and editing photos, and our weekends exploring and photographing. I know this work will pay off and eventually it will be my full time venture where I will gain more time back, but I do wish I had more time with my son. Thankfully I get to bring him with on adventures so he is getting to grow his curious little soul through exploration. I never intended to create a business, it happened so naturally that once I began to book out I realized it is possible, and the freedom I would gain from this would be just what my family needed to live our best lives.

The other challenge is the nagging imposter syndrome so many creative suffer from. It feels like this huge emotional roller coaster of OMG I am failing, to OMG I totally nailed it!! I can’t wait until that is replaced with complete confidence, but that is why I am continuously investing in my education so that I will grow more every year.

In 2024 I plan to launch full time and split our time between Colorado and Costa Rica where my sons other half of the family live. We don’t love the long winter seasons, so in 2024 we plan to leave Colorado and start the business half time down there and spend Spring/Summer/Fall in Colorado with my family here. I am obsessed with exploring Colorado in the summers, but I could live without digging my car out of the snow every morning, and the tiny tears from little ones who were dragged to a winter wonderland photoshoot with frozen fingers and toes.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend were to visit we wouldn’t be spending our time in the city at all. We would pack our cars to the top of the ceiling with cameras and camping gear then head out to the wilderness. We don’t work so well with itineraries, but free flowing spontaneity. We would pack up our cooler with easy to cook foods, fruits and our mushroom coffee. We would then look for animals, sunsets and the milky way to photograph underneath the clear skies free of light pollution. We would bring our sketch pads and art pens and create art together while sitting by the fire. We would take a bunch of mountain hikes, lots of photos and find lakes to paddle board while my son sits on the edge dipping his toes in the water.

One of my favorite apps of all times is AllTrails which shows you all the amazing hikes and lakes around to explore! We really love driving down to the Sand Dunes and playing in the mountains of sand in Southern Colorado and then photographing our tent under the stars. We also really love feeing animals, and one of my favorite places of all time is a Bison feeding spot at the border of Wyoming. They have the coolest long, pointy black tongues!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As I was coming across my journey into who I wanted to be as a photographer, there was a series of photographs I kept seeing in my social feeds from a photographer Stormy Solis. Her photographs had so much soulful connection in them, and I immediately saw that photography could be so much deeper than having a group of people sit in a line and smile at the camera. I found out that she offered a series of online courses and I decided that I had to become more involved with practicing a more emotive style of photography. I met a photographer friend named Kelsey online who is involved in the same photography communities as I am and we constantly message back and forth bouncing ideas off of each other. It is very invaluable to feel like you have a network who understands the language you use for your business. We have signed up for an in person mentorship later this year together and we are both over the moon waiting for it! My sister has been so supportive of me, listening to my repetitive comments about how I am growing. She is so sweet as to act as if it is just as exciting every time I tell her I got a new google review! I live with a few family friends of my father who passed when I was a teen. Having their support to give me a place to call home and just feel like I can be present and grow rather than think about where the next place I should be going. I have been able to settle a bit into being comfortable, rather than always on the move and I think that was a really big piece of my ability to grow into this new journey. However my all time biggest support would be my little soul child. He is the source of what has shown me all of the greatest love in my entire life. I get the most adorable model to practice my work with. He is also my little photo assistant on nearly all of my shoots. Something that I find so fulfilling is being able to bring him with me on these ventures. He is my greatest inspiration to be the best version of myself and I see him just as much as my teacher as I am his. Children are more wise to the depths of their being than we give them credit for, and when we allow them to see their purpose is not to just obey us, but grow with us they are able to have a greater sense of self.

Website: www.cayleerushphoto.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/cayleerushphoto

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cayleerushphoto

Image Credits
Caylee Rush Photography