We’re looking forward to introducing you to Alyssa Kaye Parker. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Alyssa Kaye, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
Well, if I could find me in the big wide world out there, I’d definitely hire me! I have tried to craft my business into exactly what I wished existed. Someone who doesn’t just point a camera and take a picture, but guide people outside and fill them with life and joy and then snap the moments.
I’m a photographer people can book if they want their kids to be allowed to be just as wild and wonderful as they already are. Before I became a photographer, I was a Park Ranger, so I use these skills to help make people in front of my lens feel comfortable outside and show the beautiful quiet locations that help create the best connections and memories. I’d also hire me because I’m really friendly and a bit silly and totally not judgmental. I’m your guide, friend and quiet magical but genuine supporter. Oh and I take some really lovely colourful, nostalgic images of your family too!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m Alyssa! A warm, slightly eclectic, nature obsessed photographer behind Alyssa Kaye Photo. I create dreamy, wonder-filled photography experiences for families, couples and anyone who wants photos that are full of life and just a little bit magic feeling.
I’m originally from Michigan, and moved around the Southwest and Pacific Northwest as a Park Ranger through my twenties, teaching kids in the outdoors, and now I leave in the North East of Scotland! I’ve turned my past work as a Ranger into creative experiences outdoors as a photographer!
I guide people into wild and beautiful places, and help them feel safe and free. This allows them to connect with each other and experience childlike wonder in emotional and real ways and capture the tiny magical moments.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
The National Parks in America. And when I first heard that that the beautiful, wild places might not exist into the future for future generations. Staring up at giant trees in California, or out over canyons in Arizona. Thinking that if these places aren’t protected, they could be destroyed and it set me on the path to preserve them, but also capture and appreciate the beauty of them, and help others see the beauty too, so they could be here in the future. Our world is so full of magic that’s worth noticing and I want people to look closer, feel childlike wonder, and see it in each others eyes too. I look for lovely connections between families in these beautiful places now and hope they can feel free and feel the magic too.
Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
I do absolutely love Scotland, the rugged and enchanted landscapes, and the rich culture here, but I do still miss the vast wilderness of America. I find myself comparing locations around where I live, to places I loved travelling and living around America and it is pretty fun to sneak those vibes into my photography in tiny ways. Whether it’s big skies, Americana style, or subtle vintage national geographic, I just love how it soothes my homesickness and creates a intercontinental piece of art.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
Helping people see their lives as beautiful. Not because they are perfect or have the best outfit or perfect smiles, but because they look at their photos and see how much love there is in their life. Like softness and strength of being a mother, or joyful playing in a moss covered forest, just really simple things that make us human, that we might miss down the line, that make life worth remembering and living. I want photos to be tiny portals into natural, genuine moments of how life actually feels beyond trends. But stories that grow more important with each passing year. And I feel like when people can look at themselves in a gentle way, they can treat others and our planet in the same way
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What light inside you have you been dimming?
My quirkiness. I love all things technicolour, sci-fi, folklore, moss-covered, dreamlike worlds. I still find myself worrying whether people will like the work I make for them. Whether it’s safe enough, edited and shot perfectly, interesting enough. But the things people say they love are the dreaminess, the magic, the nature and colours, so I need to lean into it and trust myself. I’m a quiet person on the outside, but inside my brain is full of colours and images of nature and I want to make the mundane feel a little bit mythical, and electric and I’m working on letting that all out because it’s a story worth telling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alyssakayephoto.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alyssakayephoto/
Image Credits
Alyssa Kaye Photo
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