We recently connected with Nicole Kilday Ashley Bowling and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nicole Kilday, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
The pressure of being full time and knowing this was the only option we were giving ourself to build a career after disliking the corporate world.
Nicole: Originally I went to art school and was convinced by everyone I would never “make it”. Joke was on them as I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Art majoring in psychology. I worked corporately in HR and hit a glass ceiling in the first year and a half with so much more to give – so instead I poured my psychology degree into my art passion.
On the art side of things – it was hard to place pressure on myself as this being solely a business. It lost it’s appeal in the passion department for some time until I remembered – it’s ART. Something Ash & I remind ourselves of is that art is constantly subjective. It ebbs & flows as we change as artists and in our personal lives. With both of us being empaths deep in our cores – a lot of times this comes out in our art. It’s a solid ground to stand on when you’re creating to know your subjects well & intuitively. It helps gear the session, conversations, and wedding days to fully encapsulate all our friends we’ve found in front of our cameras.
All of this combined – it makes you drive even harder in the resilience department.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
We met in 2020 and instantly became fast friends through our passion of photography & human connection. Sharing a combined 9+ years of experience in the wedding & professional photography industries, we decided to join forces in early 2022. The more the merrier!
My Whole Heart Collective is a team of artists and like minded creatives, led by Nicole Kilday & Ashley Bowling. We are photographers who embrace imperfections and celebrate quirks. Just like love – defying standardization.
Having a team atmosphere helps us span the distance in service area as well as be in two places at once to better serve our couples. That also means that our couples have the opportunity to not only have two amazing pre-wedding day teammates for planning, prepping, and brainstorming, but also access to our amazing team members if you opt for two photographers for your best day ever. With our collective of artists, this gives added creativity to the mix, but also added insurance in the unfortunate case of an emergency.
We are not for everyone. And we’re okay with that. We only say this because most importantly, we want our couples to trust us and know that as artists & friends, WE GOT YOU. And it’s 100% OKAY if our art isn’t your style. Ultimately, you can’t ask Picasso to paint a Michelangelo. We want our clients and couples to love their images in terms of the posing as well as the editing! After all, these photos will last longer than our lifetime!
This all goes back to trusting your photographer – truly. Love is wild, ebbs + flows, and sometimes it’s nice to set the hustle + bustle down to just HAVE FUN. Zero worries and actin’ a crazy-lovin’ fool with your favorite weirdo (+ us hehe). This means trusting the process during your photography sessions. If we had to describe our style of art – we’d call it experimental. We gravitate towards true connections and finding a way into our subjects space both physically and emotionally. We’re always down to try something new, and love to fine-tune our prompts, poses, and technical settings to really bring out the truth in each love story. Just like love, we’re ever-evolving as individuals, but also as artists. We firmly believe our art should follow suit & continue to grow!
Our biggest hope for our couples (and honestly all couples looking for their perfect match for wedding photography) – is that you feel your photographer’s art speaks to you in more ways than just a pretty picture and that you connect with your photographer(s) in a personal way.
Our promise is to offer our best selves throughout this adventure with you in a way that allows us to document your story from a place of truth. This entails us being here for every step of your wedding photography experience, from start to finish. It means celebrating the sh!t out of this chapter alongside you and breaking out into dance parties when our bodies can’t help but physically feel the excitement. It means being here for you when the process feels heavy and you really just need a judgment-free space to let it all out. We are here to help you gain perspective and provide encouragement to continue ticking all the boxes and bring the wedding vision of your dreams to life. Most importantly, it means welcoming you and your partner exactly as you are, so we have the full opportunity and knowledge to tell your story exactly as it is. This is our deepest commitment to you on this journey.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
3 qualities/skills/areas of knowledge:
– We both loved photography as a hobby and learned the technicalities of it out of sheer fun. This really started us out strong.
– Our empathy & desire for connection in our profession: this was a big driving factor of our team atmosphere.
– Drive/dreams: our dreams of breaking out of the social norm of a big corporate career really has pushed us to fine-tune our business structure and best practices. The dream to never “work” a day in our lives – but to also be self-sustaining and able to have a career doing something we love.
For folks early on in their journey, we want to share two things:
There are no haters/nay-sayers. Art is subjective, and it is 100000% OK if someone doesn’t like our art. We all are drawn to art in different ways from different perspectives. That is why it is so heavily important to pick your photographer with 100% certainty. Our job is for our clients to love their photos and nothing less – if our art isn’t cutting it, then we’re okay not being “the one” and happy to help with the hunt to find it! Shut down the idea that all art must look a certain way. This helps you find the humans who truly love and admire your masterpieces!
Learning from others in the industry, retreats, education! We cannot stress this enough – even if you think you KNOW IT ALL, those retreats and educational experiences led by others in your industry always add value in this department. It’s almost euphoric to see the 8 other photographers photographing the same models you are at a content retreat because the creative flow is never ending. You build off of each other, and the room fills with “hell yes’s”, shutter clicks, and your next classmate spouting off another idea. It’s so sad when these experiences come to an end – but looking back at the art you created with so many other creatives by your side is a reminder of what you learned from so much creative talent in one single room/space. Pure inspiration sharing space with humans who also love this industry and art form!
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
Couples & families who are looking for friendship in their vendors. We wear so many hats in this profession (business owners & operators aside) – we are not just photographers; but, optimists, shoulders to lean on, coordinators, seamstresses, a voice of reason and validation, children and pet wranglers (we literally will give the kiddos the camera to take some shots – sometimes these are some of our favorites), professional sunglass holders (we can fit 9 on our head during bridal party portraits seamlessly), and so much more. We NEVER want to show up purely to push a button. We want to be fully invested and in the know, so we are feeling the day with our couples. This is a big driver of our style of art, and we always want to be sure our couples and families know that we’re 110% IN when we’re invited along to memories.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mywholeheartco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mywholeheartcollective/
Image Credits
Nicole Kilday
Ashley Bowling
My Whole Heart Collective
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
