My name is Kate Fried (pronounced 'freed'), I am...

...the wife to a wonderful junior high World History teacher,

...the mother to 3 beautiful little girls,

...an artist who loves to draw, paint, craft, crochet, and anything else that calls on my brain to imagine and my hands to create,

...a nature-lover, God-worshipper, down-to-earth Enneagram type 4 wing 3 with an insatiable appetite for ice cream.  

I lived in Mexico as a missionary kid from the age of 6 to 17.  When asked what that was like, I remember vivid smells that will take me back to my childhood - leather, homemade tortillas and Nivea lotion are in the top 3.  We lived in the city of Chihuahua, 4 hours south of El Paso, Texas.  It is a city in the middle of a desert surrounded by the Sierra Madre mountains.  The green lushness of the Ozarks has been watering my parched soul ever since I moved here 23 years ago.

I earned an Art/Education B.S. degree at College of the Ozarks here in Branson, MO.  After graduating, I taught High School Art at Blue Eye, MO, for 4 years.  I loved the small-school feel which reminded me of my own high school experience in Mexico where I was 3rd in my graduating class... of 4 students. 

Blue Eye is a little bigger than that, I suppose :-)

I married my husband, Nick, and began teaching at Branson High School in the same year - 2008.  After 5 years of unexplained infertility God gave us our first daughter, Norah, in 2015.  I resigned from teaching to be a stay-at-home mom.  Zoey was born 2 years later & Gracelynn 1.5 years after that.  My doctor said that while there's often no explanation for infertility, the cure can sometimes be to get pregnant.  That could be the most maddening thing ever said to someone trying to get pregnant but she was right in our case.  Our girls are now 7, 5 & 4 & we are typical parents-to-small-kids - exhausted! But so very grateful.  These girls have stretched us in ways we could never have imagined.  We are not who we once were, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

I was gifted a big camera when Norah was a baby, so I taught myself the ins and outs of photography.  It has been a perfect fit for this season of my life.  The pace of mothering & keeping house is an all-day-long occupation, but there is still time for creativity.  Being able to pick up the camera at a moment's notice has kept my artistic soul alive.  After learning enough to be proficient, I started my own business & began capturing family sessions, seniors, children, weddings, concerts, parties, you name it, I've photographed it.  

My absolute favorite session is families with small children.  The energy that kids bring and the way they instantly put everyone at ease makes for such beautiful moments of realness and connection.  

Only God knows what the future holds, but my hope is that my business will continue to thrive and grow.  I could see myself loving photography until my hands can't hold a camera any longer.  

Alright, that's enough rambling about me for one day :-)  I always want to know more about my clients than an hour session allows for, so consider this your open invitation to overshare next time we see each other.  

xo- Kate