lifestyle branding photography

Hi, my name is

Kate Ridley

branding

photographer

It all started with the orange point-and-shoot Olympus my mom and dad gave me in the early 2000s. I took hundreds of pics of my everyday life in my home country of Ukraine. When I was studying in university my friends and I had frequent photo shoots at the beach, but my favorite was to capture beautiful nature around me.

After moving to the US in 2012, I started freelancing and doing many family sessions, weddings, birthdays, and events. I dreamt of studying photography in university, but I chose to pursue a corporate career in HR and work for some awesome companies and keeping photography as my side hobby. Working in Boston I fell in love with a local bakery I went to for lunch daily. I decided to email the owner and ask her if she would let me shoot some images of their yummy foods for free and the rest is the history. I fell in love with food photography and later discovered branding.

My husband and I own Kateryna Woodworks, which is a very small furniture manufacturing company here in Dover. I am a part of the business community here on Seacoast and I am very passionate about helping small businesses like ours to grow and support each other. That's how I came up with becoming a full-time branding photographer. After I found out I was pregnant with my second baby, I decided to pause my HR career and do what I truly love that will let me be with my kids more. I gave my notice, bought a brand new Sony camera, and went full force on growing my own brand here in Dover. I've been a full-time branding photographer since May 2023 and had my second baby in September 2023.

I am very lucky to do what I love for a living and be able to spend time with my family.


Some fun facts about me:

  • I am a flower girl, I love all flowers and my dream is to own a flower farm where I can take photos.
  • I was born and raised in Ukraine, I moved here to the US when I graduated from university and met my husband Dan during Work and Travel on beautiful Nantucket island.
  • I have 3 kids - son Logan, daughter Sofia, and French Bulldog Emma.
  • I love traveling. International travel excites me the most, so if you have a project for me in Europe I'll jump on the plane tomorrow!
  • Woodworking is my hobby. You can find me making some kind of shelf or creating new cutting board designs in my spare time (lately I don't really have any spare time with a newborn).
  • I love local businesses. I shop local, support local, and promote local. If there is a new shop around I am there at the soft opening and I post to my Instagram stories about it!
  • I love meeting new friends, and I am a great listener and enjoy hearing everyone's stories.


@katbrandphoto

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