Meet Katie Butler | Wedding and Portrait Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Butler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I always loved serving others and photographing them in a way that highlighted their natural beauty along with capturing life’s most important moments- from little to big. So combining all of those passions of mine was a dream until the Lord called me into photography which made it all reality!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a wedding and portrait photographer who focuses on the authentic, natural connection between people and their moments they are wanting documented. My style is a mix of documentary and traditional. I love capturing the “grandma fridge pics” where people are smiling and posing nice. But also the movement, laughs, and emotions through silly and fun prompts allowing the photos to resemble the client more than my shooting style. I like to say that God is creator, I am just the photographer.

Right now, I am most excited about being able to go full time in my business and finally having the time and energy to put forth everything I have to Authentic Radiance. The journey was not easy by any means. I had to figure out how to run an entire business by myself, save up for the right gear, go through trial and error to figure out my editing style, my client experience, and backend systems to my business. I learned how to reach out for help and to admit that I have room for improvement (which we never really grow out of that).

Through all this, my brand is focused on glorifying God as He is the one who placed this passion in me and blessed my clients with their story and season. I want the photos I take to bring back all the emotions as if you were back in that exact moment- and I do that by natural editing so you can remember all the colors, the light, and the feelings.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is hard to answer as my husband and I just moved to the Kalamazoo area a few months ago! But as of now, I would love to take my friend to either Al Sabo Land Preserve or Asylum Lake Preserve for a hike, grab something to eat at Kumo Hibachi and Sushi, and get ice cream at Bella Creamery. Then on Sunday morning, take them with me to Radiant Church and get brunch afterwards at Michelle’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I give a lot of credit to my mom. She is the one who helped me recognize the passion and talent God has given me. I never had a dream of what I wanted to do in life for a career which led me to exploring multiple majors in college all leaving me unsatisfied. But it was my mom who suggested photography and believed in me from day one that I could build it to be a full time career and one that would one day support my family. Without her confidence in me, I would not be where I am today.

Website: https://authenticradiance.co/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authentic_radiance_/?hl=en