Hey ya'll! My name is Katherine and I am the photographer and owner of Sycamore Tree! This is my first ever blog post on my newly redesigned (by me!) website! I want to take a moment to tell you more about me, my family and my business!
I was born in 1994 while my dad was active duty in the Army. I am the oldest of 5 kids and I was home-schooled until Junior year of high school. By the time I was 18 I had moved 9 times! I loved being an Army kid and I loved being home-schooled. I consider my childhood to have been very blessed. I met my husband the month before I turned 14. We met in the same house my parents had met in at West Point military academy. We lived at West Point for a year before his family moved away and we started a 4 year long distance relationship. I do not recommend that. I believe that it is only by God's hand in our relationship that we survived that time and came out the other side stronger and wiser. I did one year of college at Northern Arizona University before moving to Indiana and getting married. My husband was a full time Music Education student at Anderson University and I worked full time at Olive Garden. At this point in my life I had never considered being a photographer. I was joyfully living on a shoestring budget, just thankful to be doing life with my best friend. My husband graduated and we moved to San Antonio, Texas. He started working and we got pregnant with our daughter, Vivian. Only a few weeks after our daughter was born I was pregnant with our son, Ezekiel. They are only 11 months apart! It was difficult to be pregnant and have babies that close together but now they are best friends and I wouldn't change that for anything. Last year we had some big changes with my husband starting a new job, buying our first home and our first car that wasn't two miles away from dying! All along our journey God has had an active hand in our life and has blessed us and pruned us. Now our life continues to be crazy and full and we just do our best to do the next right thing.
In April 2019 I started my journey as a professional photographer. A close family friend saw potential in me and believed in me enough to loan me her backup camera. We agreed that I would use it to start practicing and once I started making money I could rent it from her. Well I scheduled my first session only a few days later. After several months of income I purchased that camera from my friend. This is the little Rebel that kicked off my photography journey. Not long ago I upgrade my camera body to a 6D Markii so now the Rebel is my backup. Someday I hope I can pass it to another up and coming photographer!
When I started my business I knew I wanted it to have a name beyond my own name. As much as I liked the sound of Katherine Drake Photography, I wanted it to be more than that. Photography came to me at the perfect time and it was the perfect opportunity. I am able to work from home while raising Vivian and Ezekiel. I am able to make some extra income to support my family as my husband transitions careers and navigates the job market. And best of all, I found a passion! I absolutely love every aspect of photography from the technical skills and editing to working with clients and getting to know some fantastic people. I knew from the start that I wanted to use this gift for ministry. So I chose the name Sycamore Tree based on the well known Bible story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus but he was very short and there was very large crowds surrounding Jesus. So Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree in order to look over the crowd and see Jesus. But here is my favorite part of that story, that sycamore tree had been planted long before Zacchaeus needed it. It had been planted and been growing for years in the exact right place, to the exactly right height, for the exact right time that Zacchaeus would need it. In that same way God orders our steps, and prepares a way for us long before we need it. That's what my business means to me. A way planned for me long before my need so that at the right time, God could be glorified.
I hope you've enjoyed reading a bit about me and my story! I can't wait to get to know you better, thanks for reading!
Racist bigot.. This woman posts constant White Nationalist and anti- Jewish rhetoric. Why would you pay for someone who hates most the worlds population.