So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in Ukraine, and Russian is my first language. I have a Bachelors of Arts in English language and literature and I studied German and French in college. I moved to Sonoma County (San Francisco Bay Area) when I was 20, and consider it my second home to this day. Over the past thirteen years, I have worked in graphic design and marketing and have been self-employed for over 10 years now. When my daughter was born in 2014, I started pursuing photography as a way to document those every day fleeting moments of our new family life and in March 2016 I decided to take a plunge and start my own photography business.
I have been married to my husband for 7 years and we have an amazingly sweet and beautiful daughter together. We live in Roswell with our miniature dachshund Bella and love everything about this area. I am a natural birthing, attachment parenting, extended breastfeeding, organic mama. Being a mother is my absolute priority.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting something new and taking a risk is always scary and challenging. The biggest struggle for any aspiring photographer especially in such a saturated market as Atlanta, is to be noticed. Marketing has been my biggest challenge and my main priority too. I did teach myself photography from the ground up, without any special education or classes, but I was able to apply my years of experience in business, marketing and graphic design to help propel myself to new heights within the industry. Another struggle was to differentiate myself. Finding my niche and my audience and catering to them has been a fun and exciting journey.
Katya Vilchyk Photography & Design – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I consider myself a lifestyle, nearly documentary family photographer but I am mostly known for my maternity work, motherhood photography is what most of my clients come to me for (and stay for newborn, baby milestone and family sessions after). I love natural light dreamy maternity sessions where I get to bring out the love and emotion of that fun and exciting time in a family’s life when they are expecting their first (or second, or third) baby. Often my couples have been dreaming of and working on becoming parents for years, and when it finally happens they are ready to celebrate every moment of their pregnancy, so they look for the most amazing romantic and emotive portraits. I like to think I am that photographer to deliver those portraits to them. I supply maternity wardrobe for the mom, and together we create a stunning maternity session tailored to their family.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being featured on atlantaparent.com, newbornphotography.com, lookslikefilm.com and a few other online publications have all been very proud moments for me. Getting this interview is one of those moments too. Having clients gush over their images and share them with friends and family and having referrals come from that are my most proudest moments.
Contact Info:
- Address: Roswell, GA
- Website: http://www.katyavilchyk.com/
- Phone: 707-484-0028
- Email: info@katyavilchyk.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katya.vilchyk/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katyavilchyk/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/katyavilchyk/
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