Meet Kalina Acevedo | Kalina Acevedo I Luxury Wedding Photographer

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

Hi Kalina, what do you attribute your success to?
Creating a successful brand doesn’t happen overnight. So many things build off of each other in order to create the brand that you and your clients grow to love. For me, the most important factor behind my brands’ success is finding the right people; the right associates, the right network connections, the right clients.

I make sure to get to know each client personally before booking them. If we can’t click with one another beforehand then we won’t have the optimal results we want to find during their session. For me, it’s not just money. I won’t take any booking because it brings me money, because often times when you do go that direction it ends in major stress and headaches. I pick and choose what clients will bring creative freedom, joy, trust, and a drive that pushes me to deliver the best product possible to them, while being treated with the same respect and excitement from my client. By choosing to work with the right client, the money comes along, the word of mouth referrals will flow in, and my ability to still love my job and build on creative freedom grows.

Along with that – I have an associate team, other photographers that I have trained to shoot and create the same client experience I would deliver on my behalf. Just as any other business, hiring the right employee is critical to the success of your business. I truly believe that because I have the right team it only elevates and escalates the way my brand has continued to rapidly grow.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Being a wedding photographer was never in the plans. In fact, I said I would never want to shoot weddings because I felt unqualified to preserve someone’s intimate memories. There were so many days I even felt “imposter syndrome” when I would book a free session to get experience working with lighting and posing. BOY have I grown from those days. I was thrown into my first wedding by accident. A family member of mine was shooting a wedding for their friend and ended up asking me to take it over for them. I was FULL FORCE thrown into shooting a wedding with ZERO wedding experience. From that moment, I fell completely in love with weddings and couples. I resonated with them, I had just been married myself. I found it more natural for me to connect with couples, to pose them, to make them laugh, and relate to them. From there, I began investing in multiple mentoring sessions, hands-on learning, and doing all the back end work necessary to find my own clients. It wasn’t always easy and there were many nights of tears to my husband over a small mistake I made, the thought of having to spend more money to buy gear unsure if I’d be able to book another session, or not being picked as the photographer to shoot a wedding. The best advice I have is to KEEP going. Keep learning. The learning never stops, you can always get better. Find ways to always better your client experience, to provide a better product, to connect on a deeper level with your clients. Don’t let a troubled client keep you from serving and helping the next. Not everyone will be satisfied, not everyone will love your style, but the best thing about that is it’s art and there are people out there that love your style, and want to work with you. You are your brand, work to find those that believe in it and don’t waste your time on those who don’t.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Iconic Spots:
Spiral Jetty
Temple Square
Little Sahara Sand Dunes
The Salt Flats
Bryce Canyon
Park City

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My brand would not be where it is today without my amazing husband, Taylor. Thank you for pushing me to pursue my dreams, for never letting me give up, for supporting me spending the little money we had as college students to buy equipment and to grow my knowledge, and for always being there for our amazing little kids. Thank you for believing in me, and what I could do with my business, even when I didn’t believe it myself. Taylor, I love you always!

Website: Kalinanicholephotography.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/kalinanicholephoto

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kalinanicholephotography

Other: Google – Kalina Nichole Photography

Image Credits
Kalina Acevedo – Kalina Nichole Photography