We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Khadijah Pickett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Khadijah below.
Khadijah, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Honestly, I get my work ethic from my parents. You know growing up around my parents showed me that nothing in this world comes easy. I seen from a very young age, that in order to received the things you need and want comes to you having to work hard and not expect for things to fall in your lap. Ever since I was sixteen years old in high school, I have been working for myself. I appreciate my parents showing me at an early age that its alright to work and earn my own. It has taught me how to be more responsible, and to learn how to manage my own finances. Growing up there was no sleeping in on the weekends, more than likely if I was not in school, or practicing tennis, I was at work. Just seeing the hustle of my parents getting up every morning to provide for our family and to give me everything I need, makes me want to make sure that I follow their footsteps and do the same for my family some day.
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?
So you know I never thought I would be a photographer. Originally I went to college for Accounting. I found out very quickly that was not for me, Fast forward a few years, I really wanted to start making content for Youtube. I wanted to do vlogs, hauls, even make up. After telling my parents about how much I wanted to start a channel, one special Christmas, my parents bought my very first DSLR. When I tell you I cried like a baby. I was so excited and knew that this was going to change my life! I would start filming content, but for some reason I could never get to the part where I would post them. I was very shy and didn’t know if I was even comfortable being in front of my camera, Then moving forward, every event, holiday, or a family gathering I would take my camera. I started taking pictures of everything! It was like I had found a new love. It wasn’t until my boyfriend, asked me the question “Why don’t you make this a career since you love it so much?” Thats when it hit me, I could make this my career, this was something I felt so passionate about. Over time I gained so much knowledge. Now I have been photographing everything from couples, senior portraits, maternity you name it! I love to capture the sweet moments that my clients get to cherish forever and that is something you can never get tired of. Moving forward I see K.Mercedes Photography moving more into weddings and to capture more love stories over the county.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back on my journey, I would recommend any other photographer to just get out there and PRACTICE! Whether that will be on your family, friends, or even things around your house. That is so important to learn your cameras settings, editing, and the business side of photography. I would also recommend that you meet up with other local photographers so that you are around like minded people who share the same interest that. you do. Sometimes people around you won’t look at photography the same way you do, and that’s okay. Over the years, there was a lot of nights staying up watching Youtube, honestly, I still do this. You can always learn something new. You never stop learning things in photography, you have to be open to expanding.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Right at this moment, I would say my biggest challenge is getting into wedding photography. You are shooting the most important day of their life. However, it is one of those things that I will have to work on. I’m just trying to take every opportunity to learn from others and to take it one day at a time. Eventually I will get there. At this point of my career, I am trying to learn as much as I can and to slowly over come my fears and become the best photographer I can be.
Contact Info:
- Website: kmercedesphotography.com
- Instagram: @k.mercedesphotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/k.mercedesphotography/
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kmercedesphotography/
Image Credits
@k.mercedesphotography
