KATHERINE
HOLLAND
Katherine lives to love and share people's stories. In the face of a challenge, she refuses to accept defeat. She'll get back up, everytime. It’s all just a learning experience and Katherine is on this planet to learn everything!
Q: WHERE DO YOU LIVE AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
A: I live in Toronto. I work as a photographer primarily, and as a broad spectrum artist as well.
Q: YOU'VE BEEN “SHAPING LIGHT SINCE 2010”. WHY PHOTOGRAPHY?
A: Really it’s just people. I just love people a lot. I love being a cheerleader and telling other peoples’ stories. Light is a really amazing way for people to be able to see themselves differently. It’s also a unique way to separate yourself. It’s distinctive photographer to photographer.
Q: CAN YOU SHARE A RECENT PROJECT OF PERSONAL IMPORTANCE TO YOU?
A: Honestly, anytime I get to shoot my pals working on something. I love being there when someone has just started something. I love that contagious excitement. I love beginnings. When they see themselves as bigger than they feel that are. With new shots they feel armored, ready to take on the world.
Q: HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?
It’s an interesting question. The danger is that you use your career to define success, but that is not something you will always have control over. As a woman and a mom, it definitely feels like crunch time career wise. I’ve reached the age where all of my friends are doing cool shit! Being around people that are successful puts the pressure on more. That said, I think it’s important to define success for yourself. I feel like shit when my business isn’t doing well, and I can’t help that.
That’s why I work as a multi-tier artist, so it feels like I always have the ability to push things forward.
Q: HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE SEASONAL EBBS AND FLOWS OF PHOTOGRAPHY?
A: I’ve never managed it well! It’s always a challenge. In order to dictate your schedule as a freelancer, the compromise you make is that you have no guarantees. As much as you want to believe it’ll be fine (cause knock on wood it always has been), and you will go through crazy busy times and then slower periods, you can never assure yourself of this, so you always live in a state of anxiety!
Q: WHAT DREW YOU TO CERAMICS?
A: I’m addicted to learning. It’s so important to my personality. Learning to do new things drives me. I want to learn everything! It started lighthearted with friends in a studio, and then I became addicted to it. Just like photography, with ceramics you can do it for 60 years, and still be learning new techniques. With photography, I sometimes feel like I’m not getting anything tangible out of it. You can’t help but feel that your work disappears into the ether somewhere. Ceramics was important for me because I wanted to see something I made afterwards. It’s very therapeutic and satisfying.
Q: WHAT DO YOUR PIECES CONVEY ABOUT YOU?
They are a combination of whimsy and utilitarianism, which is basically me in a nutshell! I respect something that serves a function.
Q: IS THERE A DREAM OR IDEA THAT YOU ARE WORKING ON?
A: Yes, I’m shooting a fine art series next week called “Bobbing for Apples". As I said, I am a crazy person, I don’t know why I try to make shit as hard as possible for myself. I have a ton of models coming in, I haven’t tried it yet and I don’t even know if it’s gonna work! I’ve invested in a giant plexiglass tank that they are going to be dunking themselves into! I just really love the idea of people in water. I think it captures an interesting softness. I wanted to capture that vulnerability on a small scale, and it’s turned into a bigger scale thing and now it’s a little bit overwhelming. We’ll see how it turns out!!
Q: CAN YOU SHARE OF A MOMENT OF FAILURE, AND HOW YOU PERSERVERED?
A: Honestly, I’m pretty obsessive compulsive and I do not accept that I can’t do something. I think my ceramic lamps are a good example of that in that I tried 6 different ways to make the bases and none of them fucking worked. I wasted so much clay. I eventually figured it out and can make them now semi-reliably. It’s one of those things where Roz was like “You may just wanna call this one and design a different vase” and I was convinced “I need to make this one, and only this one first, then I can do anything!”. It’s like you throw yourself in to the deep end over and over again and then everything is easier after that. It’s all just a learning experience. That’s the only way you can look at it really, otherwise you’ll just go insane!
Q: WHEN DID YOU REALLY PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE, AND IT PAID OFF?
A: I don’t really pitch myself ever. I probably should, but it’s beyond my comfort level. Others should not do what I do. But this one time, I had it in my mind that I wanted to shoot Jane Goodall. I had no associations with the organization. I reached out and they would only let me shoot her if I had confirmed coverage. So I secured a cover with an image of her that I hadn’t even shot yet. I was very proud of that.
Everything was done completely backwards and somehow it still worked.
Q: HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH STRESS?
A: I compartmentalize it. I’m regularly extremely stressed, but I think most of it is of my own creation. A lot of the time you have to push through it or find a new perspective on the situation. For me, stress comes from a place that I don’t have control. I relieve my stress by trying to remind myself that you never actually have control and everything is still going to be ok.
Q: WHAT DECISION CHANGED THE PATH OF YOUR LIFE?
A: When I became pregnant with my daughter I had been working in radio and television, and I decided that working mornings and afternoons and all the hours was simply not possible. I pivoted into photography and have been doing it ever since. It was really hard. You have an identity crises when you become a first-time mom regardless. I put a lot of pressure on myself. My expectation was that I would be able to maintain a career while raising a young daughter right from the beginning with my husband working extremely long hours. It took me a long time to come to terms that it wasn’t going to look the way I thought it was gonna look. I was simply going to have to prioritize what was important in my life and focus on what was going to get me there. I wanted to still be able to tell peoples’ stories and photography felt like a more flexible way to do it. It’s been a real gift. Roz is an incredible support. I certainly could not have done any of it without him.
His love is the structure of my life.
Q: CAN YOU SHARE MOMENTS OF PROGRESS, CREATIVITY & LOVE THIS WEEK?
CREATIVITY – I finally unlocked a new lamp design that I was very excited about, and it worked the first time!
PROGRESS – I booked 15 people for my fine art project, secured the rentals, and tried to build the entire set in my head so I’m ready to go next week.
LOVE – I had a lot of conversations with my husband about how he’s left one of his full time jobs, how he’s feeling about it, and how he’s managing the extra time in his day. More time together is more love.
Q: WHAT ARE YOU OBSESSED WITH TODAY?
Quilted things! Quilted jackets. Quilted Quilts. Quilting in general.
And food, always! Food is amazing.
My husband. Very very into him. My daughter, of course.
Flat shoes. Giant grey sweaters. I think there is a theme.
Basically comfort shit because it’s getting cold outside in Toronto.
Rapid Fire Questions
HOW DO YOU TAKE YOUR COFFEE?
Decaf with almond milk
CITY OR COUNTRYSIDE?
Countryside
OCEAN OR MOUNTAINS?
Mountains
SUMMER OR WINTER?
Always summer!
ORDER IN OR EAT OUT?
Order in
LOGIC OR GUT?
Gut
HIRE OR DIY?
DIY
ANALOG OR DIGITAL
Analog
CLASSIC OR MODERN?
Classic
SAVOURY OR SWEET?
Savoury (but really sweet!)
Got a (big or small) progress story to share, or know of an individual who’s doggedly tracking their extraordinary dream? More inspiration is always more. Send us a note at [email protected]
PROGRESS VIA YOUR INBOX
Keep your inner fire burning with occasional emails about dreams in the making.
We’re a creative studio specializing in Branding & Design with a fine point on identity, digital and storytelling.