Wedding Photography is a tough business. You collaborate with people who are expecting to see passion and love reflected in your work, people who want to see every precious moment captured beautifully. There are no do-overs on wedding day, and the pressure can be enormous.

Kate Williams, who works primarily a wedding photographer but also does stunning portraiture, is an artist who has studied photography for years. Her business is primarily located in Liverpool, England, but she travels throughout the United Kingdom and even outside of the country for her clients. She also happens to use Albedo as her WordPress theme. We snagged her and asked her a few questions about how she makes it all work as a wedding photographer and an artist.

Hi Kate! Tell us a bit about yourself and your photography.

I’m Kate and I’m a Wedding and Portraiture specialist. I would describe my style as being a mixture of fine art and reportage. I’m a pro at waiting for that exact second when the magic unfolds and making those images that really tell a story. I also love creating those stand out and unique shots that people will remember. I thrive on meeting new people and always enjoying getting to know my couples or families. I think this really helps me to capture what makes them unique and also create the relaxed and natural shots that really represent who they are. I am a total sucker for a wedding and still always cry during the ceremony! It’s just such a joyful and happy experience to be a part of!

I’ve always had a total fascination with photography right from when I got my GCSE photography qualification at school and this continued all the way up to my BA in Fine Art, where my end of year degree show comprised of photography, video and installation.

After leaving university I trained as an art teacher and my creative energies were fueled towards developing that spark and practice in others. I found this incredibly fulfilling but I did also reach a point where I knew I couldn’t ignore my own creativeness any more. It’s weird but not having that in my life make me feel slightly incomplete and it took me a while to realise that it was my own photography that was missing! This was when Kate Williams Photography was born!

What role does your website play in your business?

My website is totally crucial to my business. Working in a visual industry the importance of the ‘image’ and how it is presented is completely central. When a potential client looks at my site it is their first clue as to who I am, what kind of photography I create and why I am the photographer for them.

How do you use your website?

I use my website primarily as a tool to display my work. I love the fact that I can create portfolios to highlight all the different aspects of what I do. The other main function of my site is to blog what i’m up to and allow potential clients to see my most recent work. I get a lot of my enquiries through my site contact page and have had lots of amazing feedback from clients using the site about both the general look and the ease of use. I also like the fact that the site allows me to easily integrate SEO tools which I use religiously to help me get the best reach possible.

How did you chose your template and why.

I chose my website template really carefully as I wanted a site that would showcase my work in the most clean, minimal and easy to navigate way possible. After looking at lots of quite fussy templates I decided that Albedo was perfect for achieving a look where my photographs did all the talking. This theme also allowed me to display my most relevant content on the home page and still looked great when viewed on a range of different devices. Another important factor was the ease of setup. As a small business and one that was just getting started, I needed to build my site from scratch and with little coding knowledge, a theme that would give me lots of support was essential!

Have you ever reached out to Graph Paper Press? How was that experience?

In the early days when I was first setting up my site I used the company’s technical support so much! It was completely invaluable to have a ‘real’ person to talk to! After looking into different themes I knew that lots came with little or no support which meant that while the template might look great in principle I would actually be able to achieve that look! The email communication from Graph Paper Press was always really prompt friendly and helpful. Depending on the problem I was either pointed in the right direction or the issue was fixed for me.

Are you working on any passion projects right now? What’s next for you?

As part of my desire to always keep my spark and passion for photography I try to have a few projects on the side to inspire me and keep my thinking fresh. It’s not always easy when you are juggling work and general life commitments but I believe this is really important.

I am a huge fan of street photography, and I also love to travel. During a campervan holiday across Europe I set myself a challenge to capture a series of street scenes in each of the 9 countries me and my husband visited. Lots of these used multiple exposure techniques which I adore for their unpredictability and sense of atmosphere.  I am currently editing these and have actually just bought a separate domain to showcase my personal work. Watch this space for developments!

This has actually also directly influenced my business as I now also offer bespoke double exposure artwork works as part of my wedding packages. They have been really popular with couples who are looking for something just a little bit different and unique.

In terms of what’s next for my business, I just feel so totally blessed to have a job that I am head over heels about and cannot wait to continue working with my increasing numbers of couples and families!

Thanks for talking with us! Last question, if you could only carry one piece of equipment with you for an entire year, what would it be and why?

This is an easy one- it would be my Nikon D800 and my 50m 1.8 lens. It’s perfect for working in so many different situations. For me I just love how unobtrusive the lens is and no matter how many other amazing lenses I use, I still always love the results from this trusted friend!

You can see more of Kate’s work on her website: www.kate-williams.co.uk. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook, and get some serious #inspiration from her Pinterest and Instagram!