Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Sheppard
Kyle, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am an adventure elopement photographer/videographer and I work full time on a team with my wife, Tori. Neither of us have any formal photography training, but we were both into photography when we met and enjoyed doing to together. Eventually we made it a goal to make it a career and successfully quit our day jobs almost 10 years ago now! We built our business around Zion National Park and developed an eye for pairing portraits and beautiful landscapes. That experience naturally led us to focusing on outdoor weddings and elopements. Now we work with couples from all over the world to help them plan their dream elopement experience and capture it for them to relive for years! It’s an incredibly rewarding and fun job!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like starting any business, we have had our fair share of struggles. We were feeling like we had just hit our stride as full time photographers when COVID hit. We basically lost all of our upcoming work that year in the course of just a few short weeks. It was very stressful and nerve wracking. We decided to invest some of our savings into hiring a business coach and a marketing consultant. With their help, we revamped our website and leaned even more heavily into elopements. It was scary but it paid off big time for us. As lockdowns and restrictions continued, lots of couples opted for a socially distant elopement outdoors and we were there, ready to take care of them!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are photographers/videographers. While we do all kinds of work (like commercial, product, small businesses, and boudoir) our primary specialty is in outdoor elopements. Even though we’re known for our true to life imagery that incorporates couples into the natural landscape, behind the scenes we help all of our couples plan their elopements too! We help with everything from locations to timelines and everything in between! I’m extremely proud of our ability to work with couples who feel awkward and camera-shy and help them feel comfortable in front of the camera for images that feel authentic and candid. That skill more than anything is what sets us apart from other photographers.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was a pretty nerdy kid, I spent most of my days playing video games and watching movies. My only interest in the outdoors revolved around snowboarding. I started skiing when I was 5 and switched to snowboarding when I was in middle school. Throughout my high school winters, I lived and breathed snowboarding. I was on the slopes pretty much any day we didn’t have school (and maybe a few when we did have school). I’ve always been an extroverted, social butterfly. I love spending time with friends and getting to meet new people. To this day, part of what I love about elopements is getting to meet and work with new people all the time!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kylelovestori.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kylelovestori_
