We caught up with the brilliant and insightful McKenzie Berquam a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
McKenzie , 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?
My work ethic is through and through from my parents! They are the epitome of growing their life from the ground up and throughout our entire lives have worked endlessly to provide for us and continually strived to give us better than we ever had. Looking back on their path to success, it seems like the picture-perfect walk up the mountain, but it was never easy and a rocky road to get us where we are; with them working multiple jobs, not always able to see us or be there for events but always giving 100% for our lives and well being. They have always worked hard to create the best possible lives for all of us and in turn have raised children who work just as hard. My siblings and I all give 100% to everything we do and at times it is to multiple things at once. From starting and running businesses, to balancing multiple jobs at once while also attending school, we have been raised to give it our all and strive to create a life that is comfortable and fulfilling. My work ethic is one of the main things I can also be successful at teaching my own children as I raise them up.
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 nanny by day and a photographer by every spare second I have. I tend to photograph couples and weddings and have a new branch of photography to capture the milestones of little babies in their first few years, which has been so fun to dive back into since I actually started my business in that niche to begin with.
My work is unique because I am an extremely deep thinker and am always trying to find ways to portray my ideas through my photos. I work very hard to not be a photographer who just simply poses you, but analyzes your connections and relationships to catch the smaller moments that you didn’t know would mean so much to you and make you feel something special when you look back at them. Which is how I came up with the motto: “Photography That Makes You Feel”.
I have been working hard this year to find my creative spark and passion in photography again and am excited to dive into my creative projects that scare me, but ignite something in me and the people around me who haven’t seen what I plan to do.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My top three things:
1. ALWAYS being open to learning! Go into business like a sponge and anything you don’t know, recognize, or are aware of, go on the search to learn about it. The more knowledge you have the more you can grow and evolve. It’s like when your teacher would tell you to look up words you didn’t know in the dictionary as you read a book. Look up the things you don’t know, don’t just hold onto the things you already do.
2. Find inspiration ALL around you. I feel like people think they can only find inspiration that is exactly the same as their niche or line of work (ex. you don’t have to find wedding photography inspiration only by searching for wedding photos on Pinterest), but the best inspiration comes from the most unexpected places. Art museums, public spaces, creative books, fashion, and decor are all amazing places to spark a vision.
3. Try your best not to work yourself into the ground, but if you do, don’t see it as a setback or failure, see it as a reminder that you need to lie down and rest.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am working on a passion project called; Morning, you. It is a series of photo sessions taken of people / families at the wee hours in the morning to capture their organic and natural lives with me as a fly-on-the-wall. My mission is to capture small moments and connections that people might not realize are huge parts of the lives and evolving days and may be moving too quickly out the door to appreciate it all. These are much different than normal sessions from me because I do not direct you at all, I simply just follow you around quietly. I also don’t move for better light so the scenarios vary and force me to use lighting in more unique ways throughout the morning.
I am looking for a few more people willing to let me come capture their morning routines for my portfolio and then will be offering 4 sessions at 50% off once my cap is reached for free sessions. If this is interesting to you, you can reach out through my website: www.knzphotography.com/contact
Contact Info:
- Website: www.knzphotography.com
- Instagram: @theknzphotography
- Facebook: @theknzphotography
Image Credits
All photos taken by KNZ Photography
