Life & Work with Kelsi Camper

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelsi Camper.

Hi Kelsi, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story starts pretty much where I’m at right now. My day job is a high school counselor for North Park High School – a TINY rural town in Northern Colorado. This is actually the same school that I graduated from (just a minute ago). This is where my interest in photography and design took shape. I was the editor of our little yearbook and my best friend and I would pour our hearts into getting the coolest and most unique shots for the yearbook and for our Myspaces! Ha!

Fast forward through college, marriage, kids and more life – and I always maintained my passion for photography. It wasn’t until 2019 that I took the leap to make it a little more than a hobby and start working towards creating a business. That officially happen in August of 2021. It’s been a whirlwind of ups and downs but ultimately it fills my cup and I’m so grateful I made that leap of faith. What started as some wildlife documentation has turned into a website to sell my art and also wedding and portrait photography! I’ve also become pretty known for my high school sports photography – it’s a great way to give back to my students who also take a huge part in filling my cup!

Alright, 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?
Smooth? Smooth as a washed out two track road going down a mountain! No, it really wasn’t ever really any pressure so it’s really just developed at its own pace and is just now starting to really come into focus. It started as just a great thing for our family to do – we’d load everyone up and go drive around the backroads of our tiny mountain town to find all the wild things that live here. I have caught some INCREDIBLE moments of wildlife just being wild and my kids have gotten to see pretty much all of Jackson County about a thousand times; that’s probably the most rewarding part. It’s a beautiful area and it’s nice to be able to appreciate it as often as we do.

I will say that the push to actually get my website up and running wasn’t easy. I had an incredible creative designer – Hannah Odneal with Peach River Creative. Hannah was amazing to work with and soooo patient with me. As a mom of two, school counselor, high school track coach, waste disposal company owner and wife, I was a little difficult to connect with. She read between the lines and basically coached me along to finish what I started. I am forever grateful for her.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
If I were to describe what I specialize in as a photographer, that would be a little difficult. When this started, I NEVER wanted to take pictures of people. I wanted to take pictures of animals and sell that art in the form of metal prints. My focus was to highlight Jackson County and bring attention to our diverse landscape and all the life that calls this place home. I wanted to bring in some tourism and just spotlight my mostly undiscovered beautiful home. Turns out, equipment to photograph wild animals is pretty pricey (zoom lens, tripods, camouflage clothes…) and those prints don’t exactly fly off the shelves. To keep maintaining my hobby, I entered contests for cash prizes and then also reluctantly started taking pictures of people.

It was a slow start but it really took off when I committed to taking pictures of all the varsity sports at the high school I work at. Those parents and students were DYING every week to see what I captured during their competitions and it grew from there. Soon I was doing senior picture sessions, family pictures, engagements, maternity and even a wedding! I did not think I’d enjoy it like I have but the challenging nature of it has been extremely rewarding. It’s nice that I don’t really advertise for this type of work and I can pick and choose the projects that I take on. I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much if it wasn’t kids I teach and coach or my best friend’s family pictures and weddings.

I am most proud of that fact that I HAVE started selling quite a bit of art and word of mouth has been my best advertisement.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
SELF CARE! Interestingly enough, I don’t know that my website would have ever been finished if COVID hadn’t hit when it did. I immediately went to remote work and was struggling with keeping my mind right when I just really dove into my photography and all the projects I had going.

The pandemic didn’t slow down my access to my main subject – North Park’s Wildlife – so that wasn’t the challenge; but the products I used were harder to come by and there weren’t going to be any craft or local artist shows scheduled so I knew I’d have to get my website up and going if I wanted to keep moving forward.

I did have more time to try and gain a presence on social media but that was hard to maintain when real life started up again. I think that what I really learned during that huge historical event was that nothing is ever promised and life as we know it can be completely altered in a matter of days. It’s important to take the opportunities when you can.

Contact Info:

• Website: wildkcimagery.com
• Instagram: wild.kc.imagery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildKCimagery