Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiffany Katz.
Hi Tiffany, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Unlike many photographers, I didn’t grow up with a camera in my hand. I had recently separated from the military, and married my husband when I decided that I wanted to go to college to learn photography. When I was younger I thought I would be an actress when I grew up. I was in drama club in high school, I took acting classes, acted in a couple of small local films, but I did a lot of modeling. This was when my interest in photography took hold.
I was in the air force reserves at the time and took a lot of pictures with my point-and-shoot digital camera while deployed overseas. I really enjoyed it in my downtime. When I returned home I was like that’s it, I’m done, and I took my GI bill and went to Daytona State College as a full time student. I started out focusing in portrait and fashion photography and admittedly I was quite good at it, but my passions shifted toward nature and landscape photography around the time my father became ill with Alzheimer’s disease. He passed away only a couple of years later.
I hadn’t really thought much about the timing of that until now, but I don’t view it as a bad thing or as giving up on my dreams. My photography is still meaningful to me, just in a different, more personal way now. I think it’s funny how I’m still learning about myself at age 46, but I’m actually quite introverted even though I’ve always worked in fields that required me to engage with the public and tell people what to do.
Landscape and wildlife photography is very different. The first time I went out to photograph the beach at sunrise, I didn’t understand why I hadn’t been doing it all along. I’ve had a love and respect for nature since I was a child and I just never slowed down enough as a portrait photographer to even think of photographing it. Now I have a list of places I want to travel to and create a portfolio that let’s me get creative again in a more personal way.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Unless you have a lot of money to start out with, or you plan on working as a photographer’s assistant, you really have to hustle and do a lot of networking as a photographer. That hasn’t been my strongest area of expertise as an entrepreneur, but I’ve learned the hard way that’s what it’s like in this industry if you want to work for yourself. I’ve had whole months with few to no bookings. Looking back I’d say that’s been the biggest struggle and I’m so blessed to have a supportive husband.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
After 12 years in portrait photography, I now create landscape and wildlife photographs. Florida’s Great Outdoors is an ongoing project and the existing portfolio contains mostly local work. I have so much ground yet to cover, but I figured why not start in my own backyard. The first photograph I took that I’m really proud of is the Flagler Pier at sunrise. It was taken before hurricane Ian and sadly that pier is no longer standing. I don’t want to reveal my next project location, but it’s a little closer to Jacksonville and it’s a project I’ve been putting off for too long.
My newest portfolio, The Pacific Northwest, is the first of my many bucket list locations. It contains the southern coast of Oregon and California’s Redwood National Forest. I visited at the end of rainy season and didn’t get to see much wildlife, but the experience was so amazing, I cried in the car on the way back to the airport. I didn’t want to leave! After seeing the Redwoods in person, I can only hope that my photographs have done them justice.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up as an only child, I’ve always been very shy, imaginative and creative. I remember writing stories and playing make believe a lot whether alone or with my friends. When my cousins would visit, we used to perform skits for the adults and I’d usually direct them. My dad was the one who inspired me to enjoy the outdoors, so I also became interested in sports later on in middle school and high school, but still mostly interested in drama club. I definitely didn’t fit in with the cool kids and didn’t have a lot of friends.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tiffanykatz.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/tiffanykatz.photo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tiffany.katz.58/
- Other: https://tiffanykatzphoto.smugmug.com
