Meet Kimberly Simon of KSimon Photography

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Simon.

Kimberly, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My life journey is rooted in my solid upbringing, for which I am eternally grateful to my wonderful parents. They provided a very nurturing environment while raising my sister and me to be very hardworking, driven, and goal-oriented individuals. When I was growing up, you could often find me tinkering with electronics, playing the piano, reading books, playing basketball or drawing something that fascinated me. As a result, I have a deep love for technology and art infused with my father’s ingenuity, strong technical skills, and unwavering determination yet intermingled with my mother’s artistic prowess, passion for lifelong learning, and vivid imagination.

In particular, my father instilled his love for photography in me when I was a little kid. Throughout my childhood, I clearly remember him always carrying his Canon camera around and taking beautiful photographs of people, events, and places. Interestingly enough, I did not pursue professional photography initially. After graduating from high school, I decided to focus on building a career in information technology (IT). I earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering (Software) degree from Auburn University and entered the IT workforce as a Software Engineer. I also became an avid inventor with over 20 U.S. patents for various technological advances and later earned a Master of Science in Engineering (Software) degree from the University of Texas at Austin while working full-time. I currently work in the governance, risk management, and compliance field as an IT Consultant and now have over 19 years of extensive engineering and technology experience with leading corporations in the financial, healthcare, government, and insurance sectors.

When my father became suddenly ill in 2012, my life changed forever – it was my wake up call. It made me realize just how precious and short life is. Our lives should be lived to the fullest, and it is up to us to put forth the effort to pursue our dreams. For many years, I had been desiring to return to nurturing my artistic side but kept waiting for the “right time”. I finally decided to stop putting my passion for photography on hold and instead pursued it. A year later, I launched my professional photography business in Dallas, Texas as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in October 2013. After residing away from my family for many years to pursue my career & business and then putting things into perspective, I moved my personal life in late 2018 and my business in early 2019 from Dallas, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. These difficult but necessary changes have allowed me to continue pursuing my dreams while now residing near what matters the most in my life – my family.

Although I am primarily a self-taught photographer, I continuously invest in my education by taking courses, workshops, and seminars that allow me to further build my skills in photography techniques, business, technology, and trends. I absolutely love capturing extraordinary, authentic moments through my camera lens, as well as finding beauty, style, and color in everything. I also truly enjoy photographing people’s unique stories and bringing them to life as bold, creative, and modern works of art through imagery and visual storytelling. Photography allows me to express myself creatively, challenges me to step outside my comfort zone, and continues to connect me with the most amazing people.

In addition to being beyond grateful for my family, church, and friends, I am also extremely thankful for and proud of my wonderful team, business partners, clients, and professional connections. Because of these amazing people and relationships, my business is where it is today and continues to grow!

Has it been a smooth road?
A smooth road, not at all! My business provides commercial level photography that is customized to meet each client’s lifestyle, personality, and needs – which is not easy to create. Running a successful, professional business is also no small feat. These challenges test my limits while motivating me to become the best version of myself. Faith, hard work, sacrifices, trial & error, and determination are required on a daily basis.

Discovering my niche, determining my business model, figuring out and marketing to my target clientele, and not losing sight of meeting the needs of my clients with what I want or think they need have also been some of the struggles along the way. In addition, maintaining a healthy work/life balance and not being afraid to fail are challenges I continue to face. I have indeed experienced both failures and successes. However, I have realized that the failures lead to successes and build my character and endurance for the challenging yet rewarding road ahead.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
KSimon Photography, LLC is a boutique, Metro Atlanta based photographic firm specializing in high-end lifestyle and business photography with a uniquely creative perspective for diverse professionals and entrepreneurs. We offer top-quality portraits and headshots via studio and on-location photo shoot settings to help our clients level up their brands, reach their goals, and build their legacies.
Our photographic services include: Lifestyle, Family, Business, Product Marketing, Fashion, Beauty, Cultural Diversity.

Our lifestyle & family sessions are ideal for personal (self-love, makeover, just because), family, couple & engagement, bridal, maternity, child & teen, graduating senior (high school & college), and boudoir portraits. Our business & product marketing sessions are ideal for headshots and visual content for advertising, marketing, branding, promo, and public relations. Our fashion & beauty sessions are ideal for headshots, portfolios, lookbooks, and test shoots.

KSimon works with professionals and entrepreneurs, including business owners, influencers, designers, authors, marketers, realtors, media personalities, entertainers, actors, boutiques, models, designers, creators, or people looking to capture the distinct and natural beauty of their diverse tones, textures, and perspectives.

As a proud member of the Professional Photographers of America and Natural Born Artist by RAW, KSimon takes pride in seizing creativity & cultural diversity, enhancing our clients’ personal beauty & style, and using the latest photography, lighting, and production tools to create commercial level shoots. We are known for our personal touch, attention to detail, getting to know our clients, and understanding their needs, lifestyles, and personalities. We love to collaborate with our clients to strategically curate personalized photo experiences that produce visual content to empower them to be the best version of themselves, build and market their brands, and achieve success!

Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
Atlanta is an awesome city for businesses like mine. I would definitely recommend to someone starting out to consider Atlanta. In recent years, there has been explosive growth in industries such as entertainment and technology, as well as an influx of people moving here. Atlanta is also rich in culture, history, music, art, food, and the list goes on. There are so many opportunities and possibilities to leverage here if you are willing to explore, keep an open mind, and trust your journey.

Atlanta is such an exciting, thriving, and diverse place to run a business and continues to grow and prosper. It is truly a blessing to have the opportunity to run my business in this great city. My future plans here are to further my lifelong commitment as a go-to professional photographer to serve my clients with top-quality visuals and maximize customer service while continuing to grow as a business owner, inspire others, and enhance my skills in technology and art. I am looking forward to what the future holds and remaining thankful for those that support me and my business as this incredible journey unfolds!

Contact Info:

• Address: 1870 The Exchange, Suite 200
  Atlanta, GA 30339
• Hours of Operation: By Appointment Only
• Website: ksimonphotography.com
• Phone: 470-588-1825
• Email: info@ksimonphotography.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/ksimonphotog
• Facebook: facebook.com/ksimonphotography
• Twitter: twitter.com/ksimonphotog

Image Credit:
KSimon Photography, LLC

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