Meet Tiffany Yates | Photographer

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

Hi Tiffany, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m from a small town in Kentucky. To expand on how small it truly is, the population is about 3,000. My upbringing is a huge factor of who I am today. My family has always been so supportive even at a younger age. I come from a line of business owners, so it was no surprise when I started a business fresh out of high school. My grandfather and dad were in the car business and my uncle in the floral business. I had have such great support knowing the ends and out of running a business. Throughout my childhood into my adulthood my entire life has been family centered. I have always been shown compassion and kindness by the people I have been surrounded by, and because of that I show the same to others. It is a huge reasoning around the brand I have created.

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.
I’m extremely proud of the relationships I build with my clients. I take pride in getting to know them. It is super important for me to make that connection so that when I’m working with them I can reflect their raw emotions into the art I create for them. I believe that sets me apart from others in general because I have hired others to photograph me before and if there is no connection, it just makes things awkward. I would never want my clients to feel like that.

Getting to where I am today professionally was not easy. I’ve been at this for 13 years now. In the beginning it was a lot of free work, shooting friends and family, and trying to get myself out there. It was so hard and upsetting at one point, I had taken an entire year off from working with others besides photographing my family. During that year, I had taken time to improve my skills, upgrade my equipment and just rebrand. When things started to take off again, I just keep taking courses, mentorships, and putting hours upon hours into finding my style and building my brand.

I have learned a few hard lessons on the way. One being not everyone is your friend. In the past I have been used just to so that others could benefit from my talent. I have been stood up and I have been not paid. All of these were such eye opening moments for me. I know I needed to stop letting others take advantage of me so I stopped the free work, I stopped scheduling sessions without having a paid retainer or contract in place, and I required sessions to be paid in full prior to the session time. This was such a turning point in my business and brand. People now viewed me as business and not some small town girl trying to make it out in the world. I would say that at that point people took me seriously, in a professional sense.

I want the world to know and other creatives trying to make it to never let yourself get the “big head”, Always stay humble and kind. When you remain humbled and compassionate about something you love doing, others will see you. People watch even when you don’t think they are watching. You will have strangers cheering you on when the people you thought you knew aren’t even rooting for you.
I would tell others that every single person has had to endure hardship, loss, or some obstacle in their life but don’t let that stop you from chasing your dreams. Keep pushing, keep growing and your hard work will pay off. When I was at my breaking point in my life, I knew I couldn’t stay there. I knew if my dad was here he would be cheering me on every single step of the way. I picked myself up and I got to work. I have put so much time into my brand and work. It has truly paid off.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my friends and family were visiting the area I would most definitely take them to the Rocky Mountain National Park. I’m originally from eastern Kentucky in the heart of the Appalachian mountains. We have a love for outdoors, rock climbing, and hiking. A funny story, my husband and I love the show “Gold Rush” so we like to pan for gold. I would take my visitors to Phoenix Gold Mine, in Idaho Springs. We would make a day trip to Dillion, Frisco, Breckenridge and Keystone. The breathtaking scenery and views is something I know they would love. We would park and shop in the charming town of Frisco and Breckenridge just for them to have that experience. We love food so it’s hard to narrow down to just a few places we would eat but we would recommend our friends and family to try the pizza, burgers, and cinnamon rolls here. We would possibly even fish or hike trails around Lake Dillon. An experience we have all talked about doing is riding the train in Colorado springs. There is so much to explore and do right within Denver and a short drive away. Visiting Pikes Peak, The Garden of The Gods, and museums are just a few things that I know they would love to see.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband, children and family are so deserving of how successful my business is. At the young age of 22 my father passed away unexpectedly. At the time, I found myself in a dark depression state. I had no motivation and I put my business on the back burner. I was in this constant cycle of going to college, work, and home to sleep. I didn’t look for opportunities to grow or be better. Then one day it hit me out of no where, my dad wouldn’t want me to mope around. At that given moment I changed my outlook on life and my purpose. I used my heartache of losing one of the most single most important people in my life as a foundation to build my brand into something I have always wanted it to be. I focused on capturing the true raw emotions into a photograph, verses the traditional posing.

My husband is so strong to have stood by me all this time. He has pushed me to reach for my goals, step out of my comfort zone, he has been amazing to our children and most importantly he has never stopped believing in me. He travels with me when I work outside of where we reside. He truly has been my rock.

My children plays a huge role of where I am today. I love to capture their daily life, special moments and their features. My son who is 7 soon to be 8, I have loved capturing him over the years. It’s bittersweet to watch him grow and become his own person, but yet still be dependent on me for somethings still. My daughter is 3, is a ball of energy. She loves to be in front of the camera and she is really developing a personality right now. They are my reasoning for everything in life. I’m so thankful for them and my family.

My mother deserves a shoutout as well. She is absolutely amazing and a huge part of who I am. She is my best friend. She never hesitates to watch my kids when I work. When I first started my career she would let me photograph her to practice. Looking back on those photographs I have had such an amazing growth. She has been supportive since day one.

Website: www.tiffanyyatesphoto.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/tiffanyyatesphotography

Facebook: www.facebook.com/tiff.yatesphoto