My Story

IT’S CRAZY TO LIVE YOUR DREAMS AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO, RIGHT? 

Maybe it is, but I like a little crazy sprinkled into my daily routine… So here I am, chasin’ those dreams. 

Here’s a little snippet into who I am, and how I got to the place where I am today.

I was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona, a growing subset of Phoenix. I spent the first 18 years of my life riding horses, reading, and traveling with my parents and sisters. We saw places like England, New Zealand, Mexico, and every nook and cranny of the western United States. 

AS SOON as I turned 18, I decided I was never living in Arizona again, because I was going to see the big wide world. So I packed my bags off to college in Utah, where I had the opportunity to join groups to places like Spain, Morocco, France, Italy,  Greece and Washington DC. I WAS SEEING THE WORLD.

If you can’t tell, traveling is a bit of an obsession (*cough* addiction) of mine. The more places I go, the more I feel like I have to see. I lived in the Netherlands for nearly two years, learned Dutch, and fell in love with European culture, style, and (most important) dairy. (For real. Cheese, chocolate, and ice cream are all beyond comparison over there. Gouda, alsjeblieft :)) 

AND THEN I FOUND LOVE. The man of my dreams, swept me off my feet in his military uniform, and we were married and lived happily ever after in a small town in Tennessee. 

Except… not? 

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the circumstances. But suffice it to say that it was a rough year. I found out the knot I had been building in my stomach for 5 years was actually anxiety, and it would rear its head in ways that I didn’t know how to deal with. 

My “happily ever after” marriage lasted just over a year. I spent the summer of 2019 trying to forget my anguish by traveling around the Pacific Northwest… and it almost worked!! But… the grieving process has to catch up to you eventually. And I spent the next several months just trying to remember to breathe, roll out of bed, and shower. I’d found my love of wedding photography in that year of marriage, but I couldn’t even think about two people in love without sinking back into depression. 

Luckily, I had friends and family (and my therapist woot) galley around me to lift me up. If there’s anything I’ve learned from the summer of 2019, it’s that accepting your own personal story… the good, the bad, the funny, the embarrassing, the devastating… accepting your story to be VALID  is the only way to becoming a better and happier soul.

So I picked myself up, dusted myself off… AND GOT TO WORK. And here you have it! My passion, my work, my life.

My brand, By Kristen Marie is symbolic because I don’t just take images, I strive to CAPTURE STORIES. I am an author of the couples I serve. Stories of love, adventure, intimacy, and so much more. Every couple is unique and has their own story to tell. And ( just want to shout it from the rooftops) EVERY STORY IS WORTH TELLING. Every story means something to that individual, every person’s journey is valid, even if it feels a hell of a lot like stumbling in the dark. 

Anyway

That’s just a small background intro into my life. It’s still goin. Let me know if you want to join the journey ♥️