Hi Friends! We thought for our first blog post that we would share our story. Throughout our business journey, we have discovered the power of a personal brand and why our story is so important. It’s so crazy to look back on where we started and where we are now. That’s the fun thing about adventures because you never know where they will take you.

It all started before Kevin and I (Anna) met. Kevin studied Communication at the University of Kentucky and afterward moved out to Portland, Oregon, where he received a Masters Degree. What he loved most about living on the west coast was that he was surrounded by the beautiful outdoors from the coastline to the rugged mountains. He loved spending his free time hiking, snowboarding, and rock climbing. Kevin purchased his first DSLR camera to capture photos of nature and the outdoors. Over time, as he continued to learn how to use his camera, he realized how much he loved photography and decided to pursue it as a career.Kevin eventually moved back to Kentucky to be closer to his family. In Kentucky, he started working freelance for an online local event magazine capturing events and concerts. Kevin then started working for Blood-Horse, a horse racing magazine. At his new job, he learned all about the power of story and the editorial process. He gained valuable experience photographing a variety of different subjects and events. Meanwhile, I (Anna) had just moved back home to Kentucky from Missouri, where I had received a degree in Business Management. Deep in my heart, I had always had an entrepreneur’s heart wanting to own a small business of my own. I, too, loved the outdoors and had spent a lot of my free time in Missouri rock climbing. After graduation, I moved back to Kentucky, where Kevin and I met at a local rock climbing gym. He shared with me his love for photography and started to teach me how to use a camera. Our first jobs together varied from families, events, to weddings. We began to realize that our hearts were in capturing wedding day love stories.

After ten months of dating, we got married and created Kevin and Anna Photography. Kevin soon went full-time with our business, and I joined him full-time shortly after. One of the things we loved most about being wedding photographers was getting to know our local industry of wedding vendors. One of the things we felt we wanted to do was give back and share their stories. Kevin and I started to do blog series on local wedding vendors where we featured their businesses. We wanted to capture their business by showing behind the scenes of them making their product, the faces behind their business, and their products or services in action. We began to realize that we not only love capturing love stories but also helping businesses succeed by helping them tell their stories.Together, Kevin and I have a combined photography journey of almost 20 years. In the past several years, we started to realize a shift was happening in the business world. People were beginning to identify with personal brands more than ever. We began to notice that we received more engagement on our personal posts than on our other photography posts. We started to see the power of sharing our own journey. People wanted to work with us because they felt connected with us, along with our photography style. We realized that personal brand photography was more important than ever and that it had been in our hearts all along. So that’s why we launched Creative Trek Branding. Creative Trek Branding has allowed us to fulfill our dream of working alongside businesses to empower them to create a successful personal brand. Our vision is to help others see the power of a creative, unique, and consistent brand that will help make them more profitable and allow them to connect with their audience. We hope you join us on our journey as we capture the stories of so many outstanding entrepreneurs and business owners!