Kirsten Lewis Photo

1. Name of Business?

Kirsten Lewis Photo

2. What services does your business provide?

Kirsten Lewis Photo provides photography for:

• Weddings,
• Engagements
• Bridal Portraits
• Rehearsal Dinners
• Wedding Stories
• Day After Sessions
• Family Portraits
• Beach Sessions
• Maternity, Birth, & Newborn Sessions

3. Business Philosophy ?

Two years ago, I began a documentary project on my beloved grandmother, Mormor. She is my most favorite person and the influence that I believe has shaped me into the person I am today. I have spent countless hours not only photographing her but listening to endless stories of love and loss, laughter and life.

On a Sunday afternoon, we went through 12 boxes that I didn’t know existed, living on a dusty shelf in the basement near the 70 yr old furnace. What we uncovered inside the boxes changed my life forever. Hundreds and hundreds of articles, love letters, report cards, licenses, price tags, receipts and most importantly, pictures.

It was through these pictures, these photographic stories, that I could travel through time and relate to my grandmother as a woman, as a friend. I got to meet all of her old boyfriends and watch her graduate from nursing school.

I got to be the flower girl at her wedding and be in the room while she gave birth to my mother. It was through these pictures that our generation gap dissolved and I got to hold her hand while revisited her experiences from childhood through the depression to the first moon landing.

It was then that I truly connected with the art I have been producing for the past 10 years, I finally understood just how important my work is. The pictures I make are not for you. They aren’t for your parents or your friends. They are for people that have yet to be born.

I document life events to share with future generations. My goal is to establish a relationship with my subjects, gain your trust so that you let me be a part of the moment so that in 50 years you can travel back in time with your own grandchildren and relive those experience together.

4. What things help set you apart and make you unique on the Outer Banks?

Well, for one I am the only ALL GREEN photographer on the beach. I have made adjustments to my business as well as my life so that I can continue to create meaningful photographs while still taking care of the environment.
Secondly, I am predominantly a documentary photographer. My background is in photojournalism and I continue to work for Richmond Magazine, am in the process of shooting 2 separate documentaries and will be a mentor in January at the Foundation Workshop for Wedding Photojournalists in Texas.

I am NOT unobtrusive. I shoot with a wide angle a lot and am constantly in the moment in order to catch the moments. What is very special about my approach to shooting is that I make an effort to connect with everyone around me so that I am considered a guest, family, and that myself and my camera kind of disappear after a short period of time.

Although I love shooting portraits, I am still moment driven during those sessions as well. I place my couples in beautiful light and interesting composition and then encourage them to live within the moment.
I encourage constant conversation and flirtation while I am shooting from a bit of a distance so that I am still capturing moments between two people who love one another.

My favorite are the couples who don’t feel like they are photogenic, who don’t like posing for the camera and get a bit nervous when having their picture taken. I love making them feel and look beautiful and my favorite compliment is that these are the very first pictures ever that they like of themselves.

5. How long have you been in business and where?

I have been shooting weddings for 9 years. I am based in the Outer Banks however I photograph weddings world wide.

6. What is some of your best advice you would give a friend who was going to be married on the Outer Banks?

HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER!!! Even if it’s just for the day-of. Planning a wedding can be so incredibly stressful and time consuming. Attempting to do it from another state is just madness.

I have so much admiration for all the brides that do this and still manage to keep their sanity. We have such an incredible group of planners here on the beach who will make your life 10 times easier.

7. What is your favorite part of your job?

This is a no brainer. I’m not sure if I’m the norm, but I develop real friendships with my clients. I have great friends whose weddings I shot even 9 years ago, whom I still hang with once or twice a year.

I keep in touch regularly through phone, email, FaceBook as well as dinners and full on out of town visits. I am so grateful for this aspect of this job. I am constantly surrounded by people who make me laugh and cry and everything in between.

8.Where is your favorite place on the OBX?

For food there are 4: Metropolis, Blue Point, Red Sky and Ocean Boulevard. For an outdoors escape, kayaking in the Alligator River National Park.

For Mingus (my dog) and I, we’ve discovered this private little beach on the sound where we can swim and he can retrieve balls while watching the sun set. For me time, the movies. I LOVE movies and have no problem taking myself out on a date.

9. What are your favorite hobbies or passions beyond your work?

I began studying dance at age 5 and by age 17 my plan was to continue at the University level. Unfortunately in my senior year in highschool my hips and arches both collapsed ending my ballet career.

I could not imagine giving up dance so the doctors advised I find a different form that did not require a turnout. That is when I started studying ballroom. I still continue, 15 years later, to train in Latin Ballroom and am hoping to start performing a lot more this winter.

10. Just for fun, what would your all time favorite meal be?

Ha! Well, if I were given a last meal it would definitely be 2 female lobsters, a 4 ounce filet, a dozen steamer clams with drawn butter, one whole steamed artichoke and a perfect ear of corn.

For dessert I would have one of my carrot cake cupcakes and a slice of my keylime cheesecake. I’d require an IBC rootbeer, Mexican Sprite in a glass bottle, one warm glass of Ravenswood Zinfindel and a pint of Allagash.

Wedding Pictures

[Show as slideshow]