Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristie Andraschko.
Kristie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Marietta, Georgia and was always told I would be an artist when I grew up…I just never want to grow up!
Much of my childhood was spent looking at my grandmother’s projector slide shows on her living room wall. She loved taking pictures, capturing memories of travel, flowers, family and friends and then showing them off! I was always the artistic type and worked with all kinds of media, however, I started photography in my young teen years with a hand me down Kodak camera and rocking a cube flash.
For Christmas one year, I received my first manual camera, a Pentax as well as a lens! In high school, back in the film days, I would practice photographing my best friend who would model for me. I do consider myself an artist first and a photographer second. Art was my absolute best subject in school & I’m horrible at math, though I have my ‘flashcube’ moments! I was awarded an art scholarship upon graduation and I declined it to work in the ‘real world’.
In 2005, my family and I had been living in Biloxi, Mississippi for close to ten years and went through Hurricane Katrina. That was a turning point for us as the economy slid down a desperate slippery slope on the Gulf Coast and never really recovered, We moved back to Marietta and that is when I started Turning Leaf Photography. Needless to say, I understand the value of creating, capturing, preserving moments and memories! I’ve been honored to photograph many happy clients, received wonderful reviews, worked with Atlanta Parent Magazine, several celebrities, actors and musicians as well as Major League Sports stars!
For me, Turning Leaf Photography is coming full circle, back to something I love and that is a passion for me. I strive for that passion to be displayed through the artistry and creative composition, color, light and feeling of my photography. I am my own worst critic and have high standards across the board for my photography artistically, compositionally and most importantly in fulfilling my client’s dream photography session, because at Turning Leaf Photography, “A Photograph Never Grows Up”!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
When I started Turning Leaf Photography, there were probably 100x less as many photographers as there are in a Google search today! Even Yahoo was still a valid search tool! The competition was less fierce and there were more studio photographers than those without. Twenty years ago, Olan Mills was a household name and you searched the yellow pages for a photographer.
Through the years, the internet and search engines has greatly shifted how professional photographers are found. Those photographers come with varying degrees of skills, artistry, experience and equipment making search results sometimes hard to sift through for a potential client. The Metro Atlanta market is littered with entrepreneurial photographers and the photography industry as a whole has become somewhat of a ‘fast cash’, fly by night market. In many ways, the value of a professional photographer, with professional equipment, who has studied their craft, and perfected it, has been devalued.
While the internet is an amazing place, websites as well as social media have taken the world by storm, replacing the traditional phone book. Just about everyone has a computer and anyone can establish a website, blog or social media account and easily create an online business. And let’s face it, our mobile phones are an amazing asset of communication in our personal world, where we can snap a picture, edit it and share it to the internet, friends and family in a matter of minutes- all from one device! Literally everyone is a photographer today, in one way or another and we are a DIY society wanting instant gratification! Simply put, there are more ways than ever to find a photographer and more photographers than there ever was before.
Being found in the sea of entrepreneurs has been one of the biggest challenges I have been working to overcome last couple of years. the internet is an intentional faced paced autobahn, Google has shifted their algorithms to keep you on your toes and search tools are flooded with varying results. The options for a client selecting an excellent photographer, providing an amazing customer experience and end product can be somewhat daunting in today’s market! At the end of the day, I hope when a potential client seeks out a photographer, they find Turning Leaf Photography. But if they do not, I hope they are happy with the photographer they do find, love that photographer’s portfolio as well as their reviews and receive an awesome customer experience that they will remember and treasure for a lifetime!
Turning Leaf Photography – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Located in North Atlanta at the Cobb County and Cherokee County borders in Marietta, Turning Leaf Photography is close to everything Atlanta, whether you are from Woodstock, Alpharetta, Dunwoody or Mid-town in Fulton County, you will be happy to know I photograph all around the Metro Atlanta Area!
Turning Leaf Photography was started out of a passion for beautiful imagery, artistry and composition in a client’s photograph and to capture treasured memories… Just like it takes time to create a perfect menu and craft a recipe from scratch for the holidays, I take the time to slow down the pace of life and work with you to create an amazingly exclusive, customized client experience and give you and your portraits the attention that is deserving.
A custom on-location portrait photography experience with Turning Leaf Photography is exclusive and uniquely a “from scratch recipe” for you, there is no “cookie-cutter” about it! Turning Leaf Photography offers the following exclusively customized portrait experiences:
Graduating high school senior
Family and child
Maternity and newborn
Headshot and fashion
Online dating profile headshots
With each photography session, I include fashion forward advice with ‘What to Wear’ guidance, creative one-of-a-kind ideas based on your feedback, awesome locations to match your style, as well as attention to detail. Then I spin it with top notch customer service, all in an effort to create magazine worthy images for you to treasure and enjoy for a lifetime.
Sessions include client consultation via phone or email and all portrait selections are presented in an online password protected gallery and each image is masterfully hand-edited, just as you will see on the Turning Leaf Photography website.
While I offer digital images, I also offer items other photographers have thrown by the wayside including fine art prints, beautiful fine art canvas, ready to hang or ready to frame wall art, fine art cards, custom photo albums and more. All of my fine art items are heirloom quality from a professional lab.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Turning Leaf Photography’s work has received numerous awards through Kudzu and was voted best photographer in Atlanta. My work has been featured in Atlanta Parent Magazine articles as well as in cover issues and I have been excited to photograph numerous actors, musicians, Major League Sports stars, celebrities and more. With over 35, five-star Google reviews alone, my happy clients say more than I can about the experience and portraiture I provide!
Contact Info:
- Address: 825 Jamerson Road
Ste 102
Marietta, GA 30066 - Website: www.turningleafphotography.com
- Phone: 678-920-8216
- Email: kristie@turningleafphotography.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/turningleafphotographyatlanta
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/turningleafphotographyatlanta/?ref=bookmarks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tldphoto
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/turning-leaf-photography-marietta
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/turningleafpin/pins/
Image Credit:
All Rights Reserved/Kristie Andraschko/Turning Leaf Photography
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