Meet Caitlyn West

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Caitlyn West a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Caitlyn, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

My biggest reason to become a photographer, was due my own experience with my wedding photographer back in 2016.

I had done photography back in High-school, as most teenagers do, but didn’t get further than a few paid photoshoots for fellow friends and families. Life happened and I took a step back from photography, but I would still pull out the camera on occasion. Si I was familiar with how photography worked and the basics of it all, but never has a confidence to truly call myself “professional”

When I got married in 2016, I had a HORRIBLE experience with my own wedding photographer, from the time I booked him, to when I finally got my gallery..
There was NO connection whatsoever throughout the time of booking to the actual wedding day., The consult call was basically it a big trauma dump of him explaining his life and very little of getting to know me and my fiancé and what we wanted for our big day.

He barely contacted me before the wedding day. When he arrived to where we were getting married at, he called me a different name. There was no communication throughout the whole wedding day and no photographer schedule on his end, So by the time reception was almost over, and most of everyone had left, including the bridal party, THEN was when he wanted to take more pictures that I wanted to begin with, and had told him prior to the wedding day. He was also rude to family members throughout the day that I wasn’t aware of until after everything was said and done.

So because of my bad experience, I made a vow to myself that no bride would EVER have to go through what I did on her wedding day. Because there is nothing worse than having a bad photographer capturing one of the biggest days of your life.
My goal is to always treat brides and grooms with all the love, and respect that they deserve throughout the whole process, and to always be there for them even after the big day.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am a wife and mom of 2, who loves to capture love stories as a wedding + lifestyle traveling photographer.
Documenting love wherever it may be at and creating lasting friendships along the way!

I love to read, sketch, dance, rock-climb, game and watch anime, and be at the beach as much as I possibly can. But most importantly, I love to be with my little family snuggling on the couch after a long day.

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?

Patience, empathy, and to stay humble. Don’t let all the noise distract you, or take away from who you are. The right clients WILL find you and you do not have to follow every trend that happens to be “Popular”.
Be patient with yourself and give yourself grace when things feel like it’s not going how you thought it would.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

The biggest challenge I am facing right now is basically starting over in a brand new state.

Growing up in the Midwest all my life, and building a reputation there with my business,
Since moving to South Carolina, I have had to take step back and re-evaluate my business as a whole and who I want to be, and my business to represent.
South Carolina is so much bigger and a wider variety of amazing photographers, and much more opportunity to be had.

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