Daily Inspiration: Meet Christy Gibson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christy Gibson.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My first wedding I captured was in high school. I was the kid that used to cut French class to go back and hang out in the art room. One day my art teacher came to me and said “hey kid, how about you photograph a wedding?”……..
It was the lunch ladies daughter’s wedding. The photographer they hired had stop responding to them and they needed an emergency backup. This was around 1999 My junior year in high school. I didn’t own my own camera, I had to borrow the schools camera and it was all film. I showed up, did my best and the actual photographer ended up showing up and intimidated me so bad.

Fast forward, I attended Columbus College of Art and Design and maintained my foundation studies there.

I ended up being a young mom, at 23 I got married had a baby and we bought our first home. We were so broke and couldn’t afford camera gear for me. I was working at a job that wasn’t great pay at the time. So my husband spent his whole tax refund to buy my first digital camera. A Nikon D300 DSLR. It was sink or swim at that point. I took on small jobs and everything I made I put back into my collection of lenses and camera gear until I had enough to feel comfortable taking on larger Jobs. Around 2008 I was working for a law firm that represented banks that gave out mortgages and then the housing market crashed, and ultimately I was laid off. After that, I was able to dedicate all of my time to my business and it almost quadrupled within a year.

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?
No. Definitely not a smooth road. Raising my daughter and missing out on weekend activities and leaving in the evenings when my husband got home from work to go photograph families, couples, etc……
There’s been a lot of ups and downs and tears along the way. It’s a lifestyle to be gone every weekend…..and you have to have a family that understands and supports it. I eventually lost most of my friends and no longer received invites to get togethers or parties. But that’s okay, my family is all I need, and I do have a very small group of friends who “get it”……
quality vs. quantity!

This is by no means a negative toward my job because I wouldn’t change it for the world, but there are major sacrifices that have to be made to be part of this industry.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a wedding photographer, however I also photograph families, newborns, seniors, sports events……
It’s been somewhat of a “circle of life”…….My couples come back after being married to share their milestones with me and I get to follow them! That also has somehow snowballed into other fun things like sports and seniors!
Some photographers will only capture one “genre”. But it’s such a create reset for me to be able to go from one extreme to another and helps me from becoming burnt out creatively.

I feel that having such a wide range of clientele definitely sets me apart from others in my industry. In the wedding industry I am known for my nerdy love of lowlight photography and creative light photography. I love it all, but those are the fun creative boundaries I love to push If I am able to. I consider myself to be a photographer with a timeless yet creative aesthetic.

I am proud of the fact that I truly build my business from the ground up, and that I have so many loyal families and couples and clients that continuously share their milestones and special moments with me.

My husband and I are the only ones left in our families. We have both lost our parents in what I consider a young age. So our two daughters only had grandparents for a very short time. We have extended family that live out of state but we are on our own 100%. We work so hard to be everything we can be to our kids. I feel like god continues to send all of these amazing families my way too so I can somewhat live through them. It’s such a joy to be able to have a small part in their lives. I feel like all of my “clients” (I hate that word by the way, the people that come to me are so much more than that).
Are more like family to me. And I truly wish I could show them all how much of a void they fill in my heart. One of my favorite things is when my Bride & grooms come back to me when they have families and their kiddos start to remember me when they get bigger and I get to experience the “Hi, Mrs. Christy”……..

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
This industry is such a scary place sometimes! During Covid was the first time I thought that I may not be able to do this job any longer. We kept getting shut down and all of the restrictions were so so hard to conquer. Thankfully I feel like weddings are on an upward trend and people are comfortable enough to start planning their weddings again.

Trends come and go, and sometimes I panic thinking that eventually photographers will be obsolete. However, it’s so much more than just photography. People need a person who can lead them through their wedding day flawlessly and be their biggest Allie and hype girl. Someone who is 10 steps ahead and can manipulate light on a whim, etc. We fix hair, bustles, and shoot sometimes I even put bandaids on blistered feet from bridal shoes (and feet freak me out haha).

So I try to not think about the changes too much, unless they are good ones. I plan on being here for the long haul.

Pricing:

• Weddings starting at $3500.00
• Portraits starting at $350

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gibsonphotographics.com
• Instagram: @gibsonphotographics @christy_gibson_families_gpg_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gibsonphotographicsllc