Meet Kate Milford | Travel & Lifestyle Photographer for Sustainable Outdoor Brands

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

Hi Kate, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
Getting a business coach. Investing in a business coach quite literally flipped my business upside down, in the best way. I feel a lot of people think having a business coach is working on “masculine energy tasks” — helping with finances, building out business plans and models, etc. It is that, but so much of business coaching, in my experience, is working on mindset so you can trust yourself and get in touch with the value you bring to your industry. The investment in working on yourself is priceless, and payed off a thousandfold.

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.
Ooooh great questions. I am obsessed with what I do. Every morning, I truly can’t believe I am able to live the life I live, and it was created out of thin air. It sounds simple, but my business was built around mixing my values & passions all together and creating work out of it. I knew I wanted to do something with photography, travel, sustainability & environmental awareness, and creative directing my own shoots. So — I created “content trips” where I go on a 4-5 trip to anywhere in the country, and shoot for brands that are contributing to the environment in some way — whether that is by creating sustainable materials, are a 1% for the Planet member, are Climate Neutral, etc. My goal for these brands is to create powerful & beautiful imagery that tells a story of their brand, so THEY are able to connect with their audience, continue to grow, and continue to fulfill their mission to change the game in the outdoor industry. My goal is always for these brands to make more impact through visual storytelling because at the end of the day, that positive impact is making the planet a little better. So — I started going on these trips — choosing a variety of locations for all brands to be included & to have a diverstiy of backdrops — and they were a hit. I just released my Q1 & Q2 2022 trips — Banff, Alberta, Joshua Tree & Death Valley, CA, Vancouver Island & Tofino, BC, UK & Ireland.

Easy was definitely NOT the world I would use. Before I came to Denver to pursue more outdoor brand work, I lived in NYC for two years. I went to NYC when I was 21 with 2 suitcases and an internship that was paying me $12 a DAY. Through my two years there, I was doing side gigs as every starving artist, early 20somethings do in NYC — serving at an Irish bar, barista-ing in different areas around the city, all while doing dozens and dozens of free shoots for wannabe influencers, newborns, families, etc. On the weekends, I would take the train into Connecticut and second shoot for 10 hours for a wedding photographer. I was essentially doing anything I could to make rent & some to travel — it seemed like while I was living there, I did what I could to get out and travel and focus on shooting everything but the city. I even remember taking all of my NYC clients to shoot on the East River — the only source of “nature” I could find in the city. While I was traveling, I was magnetized to the mountains & ocean, anywhere I could shoot earth tones and that is how I created my style, which mostly focused on deep, rich, earth tones. Once COVID hit, I lost all my clients in NYC. I moved out of my shoebox apartment & took a roadtrip to visit Colorado…and.. I never left. I fell in love with Denver & driving just a half hour to be immersed in the mountains. This is what took off my love for shooting for outdoor brands. I loved the people and found community quickly. I was constantly inspired to propel my business forward and work exclusively with sustainable & eco-conscious outdoor brands. Once I started with a business coach, it kinda took off!

In terms of overcoming challenges, I could tell a dozen stories but it all boiled down to learning how to trust myself AND the process. I am a strong believer in everything happening the way that it should.

I remember on a content trip in the Adirondacks, I was staying in a cabin in the middle of no where with sketchy service. I had a model cancel last minute, and had to scramble to find a new one, telling myself “it’s all going to work out”. An hour later, I had a girl agree to drive up at 4am the next day, and she ended up being one of the most talented models I have ever worked with, and the shoot went better than expected.

When I was on my way to a content trip in Italy, I had an accommodation host cancel our stay since it was on an island and due to weather, we wouldn’t be able to get there. Our flight ended up being so delayed we wouldn’t have made it anyway, and readjusting our schedule allowed us to shoot in another location with the best light we had the whole trip.

This business is all a beautiful challenge, and each situation like this is a blessing for me to have more experiences to learn how to breathe through the process & be flexible, and find creative ways to change plans.

Trusting myself has allowed for clients to trust ME. For these shoots, I do full production, trip planning, shot list curation, moodboard curation, location scouting, model sourcing, shooting, and editing, so it’s vital that my clients know that I am confident in my process and can deliver them beautiful & rich content.

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?
Sheeeesh, I love Denver. I love everything about it. I would take them to RiNo to climb with me at Movement & have a beer and a snack at Improper City. I would take them to eat the fry bread tacos at Kachina & scooter around Union Station. Show them the shops on Larmier St and walk around Commons Park area. I’d also take them to Wash Park & look at all the beautiful houses we’ll be able to afford once we’re millionaires. I would take my friends to play spikeball at Sloans Lake and drive to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs near Buena Vista. Since it’s ski season, I would take them to Vail for the day and cross our fingers we don’t get injured down the mountain.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My sister who is on a similar badass woman-entrepreneurship journey My business coach Diana Davis @dianadaviscreative
Family
All the other creatives out there in their journey of owning and curating their own business
Socality creative community

Website: www.katemilfordphotography.com

Instagram: @katemilford

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kmilford11