Hi!  Thanks for taking the time to find out about the story of “KM” and most of all I’m hoping to hear your story too.  Grab a cup of coffee or chai tea (my favorite!) for this one...

 

KM photography was founded by me, Krissy Millar.  However, I named it after two of my greatest inspirations, my daughters K. and M.  I officially started the business just after the birth of my second daughter.  In the clarity of hindsight, I realized that I had been preparing for my contemporary portraiture and photography business since I was a child.  

 

I grew up in Malibu, California, and so beauty was always around me.  I still love foggy mornings more than any other weather.  I remember being enthralled with photos from a young age, and I remember Photomat, Supercare Drugs, and then the 1-hour photo explosion to get them developed.  My dad had a Nikon SLR film camera with some lenses, but I could only sneak into that cabinet and carefully hold it being fascinated by it.  I also would become lost in distant lands looking through National Geographic magazines.   Around 10-years old I was using the graphic design program on our computer and I was finally allowed to take pictures with my mom's point and click camera.  I loved the sound of the film working hard to advance to the next frame.  And I loved dressing my two golden retrievers up in various wardrobes to make "cute" pictures or arranging my menagerie of stuffed animals for posed shots.  Fast forward a few years to high school, now in Westlake Village, and I always had a camera.  Each year I made a collaged-out, filled ringed photo album.   And my senior year I took a proper photography class and even published some of my photos in the yearbook.  I loved it, but photography would be a hobby because I was off to college.

 

I went to college at UC Davis (go Ags!) and spent 4 years loving college.  I cheered on the stunt team my freshman year, then competed on the gymnastics team until I ended my career with a fractured back.  Then I started Athletes in Action at UC Davis my senior year, and it was the most meaningful thing I did up to that date.   Of course I had hinged albums for every year of college too because I always had my camera.  

 

I worked in the Bay Area for a year, then God moved me back home, again in Westlake Village.  I started teaching Pilates and studied it and personal training for the next 10 years.  There is more, but this is getting long.  It was during this time, combined with my many years as a competitive gymnast, that I truly studied and appreciated the movement of bodies.  This helps me in photography today.  The other thing I did during this time was study acting for a bit, and at DW Brown/Joanne Baron I was drilled in learning to both recognize moments and fully live in them.  I also got my first SLR film camera and loved taking pictures more and more all the time.  

 

Well, a good thing that God moved me back down to L.A. because I met my incredible husband, and we got married in 2003.  (Yes, that is the short version!)  The most important thing to me for my wedding, short of the vows and the covenant of marriage itself, were my photos.  The following year  we welcomed our first daughter, K. in the the world.  I started Stroller Strides in the Conejo Valley so I could work from home and still be with my baby girl.  On the side I was hired for and published in a few educational text books for my photography.  Eventually, with the encouragement of my husband, I upgraded to a basic digital SLR, and began learning more and more about the science of photography. 

 

In 2008 we welcomed our second daughter, M. into the world.  At this time I officially started my photography business.   I completed some more education for it, and within a year I was so in love with it, that I sold Stroller Strides to focus on the photography business and my family.

 

And here we are today.  I am a wife, a mom, a homeschool teacher, and a professional photographer. I’ve seen how the appreciation for both body movement and moments guides me in my photography today.  And motherhood of course helps me in too many areas to begin to mention.  I’m so blessed and so thankful that this is the business I have.  Every time I meet a new child, a new family, see a miracle of a newborn or the love at a wedding,  I’m honored to be there documenting it for generations to come.  

 

I hope to hear and capture your story soon!

Krissy