2018 Behind the Scenes | KHP Year in Review

LOOKING BACK AT 2018

We are so excited to celebrate another amazing year with our annual Year-in-Review blog post! It’s hard to find the words to sum up an entire year. When I think back to 2018, I remember photographing some of our favorite weddings to date and meeting some of the most amazing couples. I remember a lot of delicious wedding cake,  joy-filled ceremonies, and high energy receptions! I remember fluffing a lot of dresses, laughing with bridesmaids, and making our couples feel comfortable in front of the camera. I also remember traveling…a lot! At one point in the spring, we traveled to out-of-town weddings across Texas 4 weekends in a row. It was a lot of driving but also a lot of fun! I remember some periods of non-stop hustle. At one point, we had 10 wedding weekends in a row, and it was such a blessing but also a reminder that rest is important & needed! I remember staying up late to work, celebrating small victories, and constantly reevaluating our work-life balance. Most of all, I remember all of the joys that come with working alongside Alex every weekend. He’s my best friend and the best second photographer, and he makes this journey so much fun! Our big project of the year was undergoing a complete rebrand of our business, and we worked together to determine how we wanted our new brand to appear and feel. Check it out:

  

 

When we say it’s been an amazing year, we truly mean it! It was an incredible year of growth, exploring new mediums with film photography, and continuing to dream big for the future. Here are some of our favorite business memories and achievements:

-Celebrating with 39 incredible couples on their wedding days!

-Photographing our 100th wedding!! This was such a fun milestone to celebrate! 

-Winning The Knot’s Best of Weddings 2019 award.

-Seeing our work featured in the inaugural issue of Brides of Houston (now sold on newsstands) and attending their first ever Launch Party!

-Completing a rebrand for our business including a brand new site, logo, and custom designs created by Kindly by Kelsea

-Attending ShowIt United in Arizona for the 3rd year in a row.

-Becoming a member of the leadership board for the Houston chapter of Tuesdays Together. I even had the opportunity to facilitate a conversation about protecting your business at our September meet-up.

-Attending Hybrid Collective where I shot my very first rolls of 120 mm film (trying to get on Alex’s level- haha!)

-Participating in Bliss Bridal Magazine’s bridal show.

-Traveling to Virginia for a styled shoot in Richmond- so breathtaking! 

-Upgrading our gear to include a Nikon D850, 24-70 mm lens, and a Think Tank.

-Having 18 photos place in the top 10%, 20%, and 30% in the 2018 Shoot and Share contest, as well as having 2 images place as Finalists in their categories!

-Starting a dedicated travel blog! 2019 is the year of sharing all of our recent trips, and we can’t wait!! 

-Being featured in Voyage Houston’s “Local Stories” section where we got to share all about our journey as entrepreneurs and photographers: http://voyagehouston.com/interview/meet-kati-hewitt-kati-hewitt-photography-katy/

 

And of course, some of our favorite “life” moments:

-Celebrating 2 years of marriage!

-Finishing the decorations in our house after a year of living there- haha!

-Going to the Taylor Swift concert…obviously. 🙂

-Attending a wedding as guests (shocker!!!)

-Volunteering at church and Greek dancing on stage in the Annual Houston Greek Festival (OPA!)

-Traveling to Arizona, Tennessee, Oregon, Washington, Virginia, Nevada, Louisiana, New York, and Europe (France, Italy, and Croatia)!

-Camping at Caprock Canyon in Texas over Labor Day Weekend.

-Taking road trips to Galveston, Dallas, and College Station throughout the year.

 

q&a with kati and alex

Here’s a fun little Q&A I put together so you can learn more about us and our business. (A is Alex’s answer and K is Kati’s answer.)

 

Q1: Favorite part of working with your significant other? K: It’s fun to be invested in the same interest and always work towards a common goal together. I love being on the same team as Alex! He always cheers me up when I need it, he keeps me laughing on wedding days, and he always blows me away with his images! He’s my constant cheerleader/encourager! A: It’s fun having another thing to share, like getting to be together in a professional working environment. It’s like another layer of our relationship. I’m constantly amazed by Kati when I see her in action on a wedding day- she engages with her couples and makes sure everyone feels comfortable! She always encourages me to be a better photographer, and I love how we can read each other’s minds on a wedding day.

Q2: Favorite song to hear at weddings? K: Yeah! by Usher A: Anything classic by Frank Sinatra

Q3: Favorite surprise at a wedding? K: A surprise groomsmen dance! A: Late night honey butter chicken biscuits from Whataburger.

Q4: Estimated miles driven for photography in 2018? K: Oh gosh, I know it’s at least 16,000 based on our 2017 mileage! A: My guess is 16,001 because I always go the extra mile. (Hahaha!) [This number is still unconfirmed- any guesses?]

Q5: Number of images delivered in 2018?  K: Hmm, 46,000!  A: 53,000. [It was actually 49,825- woohoo!]

Q6: Favorite trip of 2018? K&A: Our anniversary trip to Europe, specifically Italy!

Q7: Favorite camera lens to shoot with? K: My newfound love this year is the 50 mm! A: I like the 70-200 mm so I can snag epic close-ups during ceremonies.

Q8: Things you are most proud of this year? K: I’ve been really proud of my workflow this year- from outsourcing my editing for the second year to delivering wedding galleries back within 4 weeks! It gives me more time to spend with Alex and my family. A: Lugging my Contax (120 mm film camera) around Europe, and getting some incredible shots that are now framed in our home. It gives our house a really cozy vibe.

Q9: What’s your specialty on a wedding day? K: I would say mine is definitely portraits! I love working with the bridal parties and creating some magic of the bride and groom together. I also really like dancefloor photos! A: I take the majority of groomsmen photos, and I also enjoy using our specialty lenses to capture reception details and ceremony candids.

Q10: What do you hope 2019 has in store for your business? K: I think we worked really hard in 2018 paving the way for an amazing 2019, and that already shows with the amazing weddings we have coming up this year! We’ve been defining our style throughout the years, and we’ve found that a “black tie wedding with a garden vibe” is the sweet spot where our work really thrives! We hope to see more of that style in 2019. I hope we continue to grow artistically in 2019, find more work-life balance (the ever present struggle!), and start implementing the all new client experience we have been dreaming up! A: More film! More black ties! I really want to pursue film photography, specifically fine art landscapes and travel photography. I’d also like to find a way to incorporate film into wedding days to give our work a more artful and intentional feel.

 

behind the scenes photos

And now it’s time for the most entertaining post of the year- behind the scenes of our 2018 wedding season! These photos, no matter how embarrassing, are so special to me because they remind me that behind all gorgeous wedding photos is a real person who was there capturing the day. It’ll be fun to look back at these photos one day and tell our future kids all about what it was like working together. There’s no one else I’d rather have by my side for our usual 2 hours of driving per wedding day and 10+ hours of shooting! (Give or take!) I hope you’ll enjoy this behind-the-scenes sneak peek of us fluffing dresses, tossing veils, testing the lighting by wedding cakes, and of course, capturing embarrassing candids of each other during receptions.

 

 Before: setting up the shot. After: say cheese! The time I wore sandals because my original shoes got soaked in the rain. A rare sighting of Alex without a beard- gasp!!Alex on dress fluffing duty!      Standing up in front of 200 + people waiting for the ceremony to start is always fun. 😉 Hahaha- I promise I’m not as bossy as it looks here! So embarrassing! I call this one…”The Chair Pose”   Such a goofball!   Honestly no idea what is happening here- haha!  Expert veil tosser!!

And now for the RECEPTION edition:

My go-to face when I know Alex is trying to sneak a picture of me.

 Three of our couples at another bride’s wedding! 🙂  Someone has to test that cake lighting- haha!!     Trying to hydrate! We all have a favorite wedding song, you know? Haha!!   And for the grand finale, I call these next three: “Trying to make my way through a dance floor, er, gracefully?!” Hahaha!

 

Thank you everyone for following along this past year! It’s by the grace of God we get to follow our dreams together. We are so blessed and can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store!

 

 

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