Katie Watkins Photography Redding California

Thank you for taking a few moments out of this whirlwind we all call life to peek into my world and the collection of images I have the privilege of calling work.
My name is Katie Watkins and I am a Mother, a Wife, a Daughter, a Child of God's, and a Photographer. My passion is photography and my priorities are my husband, beautiful children, and spending time with those I love. I am so thankful that God has given me a way to enjoy my family, be home for my children, and pursue my love of making things beautiful through the lens of my camera.
My career in photography began in college and continued as I had the opportunity to apprentice and learn the art of wedding photography. Within a few years this led to running my own business and studio where I graduated to indoor newborn and child photography, as well as “natural light and on location” family, senior, and engagement portrait sessions.
I absolutely love living and working in Redding, California. The natural beauty that the foothills, Lake Shasta, Whiskeytown Lake, and the Sacramento River provide is a lush backdrop for the amazing people I have the opportunity to photograph. Having grown up in Chico, California I appreciate the splendor of the Northern California area and have had the opportunity to visit and photograph almost all areas of Northern California as well as Northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area.
As a mother I am keenly aware of how quickly time goes by with our children. One day they are little babies and then it seems they have grown up overnight! I love capturing those fleeting moments of my own children, that I want to remember forever, and I would love the opportunity to do that for you as well.
It has been a privilege of mine to move with my clients through the beautiful moments of their lives from engagement and wedding day portraits, to the portraits of their newborn children.
I encourage you to treasure these precious moments in your lives and to consider allowing me to help you capture them forever through beautiful portraits.
Contact me today!
I’d love to hear from you, and creatively match my work to your ideas. Please feel free to:
Phone @ 530-410-7174
E-mail @ 107,97,116,105,101,64,107,97,116,105,101,119,97,116,107,105,110,115,112,104,111,116,111,103,114,97,112,104,121,46,99,111,109moc.yhpargotohpsniktaweitak@eitak
Facebook @ www.facebook.com/katiewatkinsphotography
Thanks so much!
Katie

01.24.12

My Journey into Photography | Redding Wedding Photographer

I have loved photography since I was a teenager and have always known that I wanted to be a wedding photographer. My parents got me a little point and shoot film camera for my 15th birthday and I took it everywhere I went. All my friends and family knew they could count on me to show up at an event with a camera in hand to capture the moment. I have always been intrigued by wedding photographers when we went to weddings and I just knew that was what I wanted to do when I grew up.

My mom pursued an opportunity for me to work in Jim LaForce’s studio in Chico for a few months when I was 17. I worked in the lab and sat in on a few studio sessions. That just made me more excited to pursue photography but those plans were laid aside for a year or two as I married my high school sweetheart and we had our first baby. Soon I was taking all these pictures of my baby girl and I really wanted to learn more about taking great pictures. This was back in the day before the internet so there was not easy way to learn other than go to a class. I signed up for a B&W photography class at Butte College and fell in love. Soon I had even talked my husband into building me a dark room in my laundry room. I would sneak down there during my daughter’s nap and work on pictures that I was developing. Photography was becoming a driving passion of mine and I started to pursue my AA in photography at Butte College.

Life changed quickly though and soon Josh and I moved to Phoenix and then around the country so that he could finish his Master’s degree. I spent a couple years taking care of my babies in tiny apartments reading all I could on photography (We had internet by then!).When we finally landed in Visalia, CA two years later I began to work for a wedding photographer. I spent a couple of summers learning from her the inside of wedding photography before we moved to Reno in 2006. I opened my own wedding photography business in Reno in 2006 photographing weddings in Reno, Tahoe and the surrounding areas for the next 5 years. I have continued my photography education through books, photography forums, seminars and classes.

Our last home in Reno had a space for me to have my own studio for working with babies as well as a space for meeting with wedding clients for consults. I really loved having a space of my own and can not wait until I have my own space again. Until then I am meeting with clients at Starbucks for consults and only doing location photography. With the move to Redding I see a great opportunity here expand my business. In the next year we hope to purchase a home with property for a onsite studio space where I can photograph babies, children, and families. My other passion besides weddings is children’s portraiture. We may also have room on the property for me to do onsite outdoor sessions. Hopefully it will all fall into place like I have planned in my head!

My journey into photography has been a wonderful experience for me. I had always thought that I would do weddings when my babies were out of the house so it was a very distant dream for a long time. After being trained in it I realized that I could do it now and I could do well at it! I have enjoyed learning how to run my business better and giving my clients an experience they will enjoy and seek again and again as they move through the important moments. I have seniors that I have photographed asking me to do their weddings and brides that I have had in the past ask me to take portraits of their newborns. It is so fun to watch these couples grow into families and I look forward to capturing a lifetime of memories for them!

Because no blog post is complete without a picture, here is one of me and my baby this last summer. Isn’t she cute?!

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01.22.12

The North State Bridal Show | Redding Wedding Photographer

I had a really great time preparing for the wedding show and meeting all the new brides! I put off preparing for the show until after Christmas and I pretty much started from ground zero. I haven’t done a wedding show in years! The last one I did in Reno was in 2006 and it pretty much launched my wedding photography business there. I think I booked 16 weddings that summer just from that one show. Since that show all of my weddings have been on a referral base because all of my beautiful brides have friends getting married and I have been honored to do many weddings this way.

So when I went to prepare for this bridal show I had to start from scratch since most of my portraits are still packed in boxes in our garage until we purchase a home this spring. I sorted through thousands of wedding pictures that I had stored in my hard drive pulling all of my favorites. I had a really hard time narrowing it down to just my 20 favorites for my screen. I have had so many beautiful weddings to photograph over the years!

We were going back and forth on what to use in the booth when Josh remembered the beautiful wood screen that I had purchased for use in my last studio. We pulled it out and I knew it would be perfect for the booth. Joshua put some hours into building the platform for the screen to stand on and I spent several hours tying pictures onto the screen. I love the way it turned out!

If you came by and saw us at our booth this weekend you probably received a card for 20% off our collections until the end of the month. If you are thinking about booking me for your wedding this summer now is the time to do it because that little card can save you a few hundred dollars.

We also have our free wedding package give away going on and the competition is fierce over on my facebook page. If you came by my booth and had your picture taken to enter the contest you can find your picture by clicking here.

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01.18.12

Who is Katie Watkins? | Redding Wedding Photography

I am new to the Redding Wedding Scene so I thought that I would share a little about myself so you could all get to know me and my story a little bit. I have had a successful wedding business in Reno since 2006 but have just returned home to the North State last year.

I am a native Northern California girl! I was born and raised in Chico and I adore my hometown. My family goes back 5 generations in Chico with a family home on Bidwell Ave. Growing up in the orchards of Chico I learned to love living in the country yet in my teens I loved having a cute downtown to go hang out with my friends. My Grandparents had cattle out in the country and I learned to ride horses and work cows at an early age. My Dad is an avid sailor and spent my childhood as a merchant marine traveling the world. From him came my love of water, boats, and lakes. I grew up skiing on both Lake Oroville and Black Butte and introduced my husband to the lake through my family.

I met my husband, Joshua, in Sunday School when we were little kids. I didn’t really “notice” him until I was 12 but when I did I think I fell instantly in love and no other boy could even compare! We are Chico kids and it is so fun to have so many of the same memories growing up. Bike rides in Bidwell Park, roller skating at Cal Skate, frozen yogurt at Jon and Bon’s and snow skiing at Mount Lassen. Joshua stole my heart and when things finally clicked between us after high school we knew that it was real and forever. Josh and I were married young but we have never regretted it for a moment. After 13 years of marriage I am still crazy about him and am thankful for all the growing up we got to do together.

Our marriage was just the beginning of our crazy journey. We had no idea that our journey would take us so far from Chico and our dear friends and family. I had imagined us living in Chico for the rest of our lives but that was just not the path that God took us down. I have lived in 11 homes, 5 states and 7 cities since marrying Josh. It was all school and work related but it has taken us all over the map. After living in Chico, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, Visalia, and Reno we are glad to be back to the North State and living in Redding.

Mixed into all the moving were the births of our three beautiful children Rosie, Cameron and Emma. They keep us really busy and on our toes all the time! Josh’s job allows him to be at home with us a lot of the time. We homeschool our kids so that adds a little bit of craziness into the mix. We love having so much family time and I am so thankful that Josh is able to help me balance the load between the kids and my photography business. He does most of the back-end computer work that I don’t understand and answers science questions for our kids that are over my head! He’s a keeper in my book! So if you call and you hear a little extra noise in the background that is just the busyness of my home with a toddler in the house.

We have a passion for the water so on most hot summer days you can find us on Whiskeytown or Shasta on our wakeboard boat. We live for the lake in the summer and really enjoyed exploring the lakes last summer. I think we did over 15 days on Shasta and just as many on Whiskeytown. Both our kids love wakeboarding and our daughter jumped wake to wake last summer. I don’t have any grand plans of ever jumping wake to wake but I do love surfing behind the boat and discovered that I am fairly good at it!

I love my life of being a photographer, homeschooling our kids, and being a mom. There are moments of utter chaos but when I get out the door and off to portrait session that is my “me time”. I am able to spend a few hours doing what I love which is capturing the uniqueness of a family, a couple or a child in a way that preserves that moment forever. I am so privileged to call this my life even when I am processing pictures, answering math questions and cleaning peanut butter out of my baby girls hair all at the same time!