Capturing life’s special moments
Photography was a lifelong interest for Kathy DeMerchant
With a sense of modesty, wedding photographer Kathy DeMerchant describes her shooting style: “It’s clean, it’s timeless, romantic, elegant, it reflects me as a person.”
Growing up in Poland, she was influenced from an early age by her father, who always had a camera and was constantly taking photos of her. There was no sending the film away to be developed since he processed it in the bathroom. Childhood memories like that really stuck with her, planting the seeds for where she is today.
For DeMerchant, photography has always been in her life.
After seeing her wedding photos (she is married to Spectator Prepress Supervisor Rick DeMerchant), “something sparked in me, I wanted to be a wedding photographer.” She decided to take some photography courses at Mohawk College, along with seeking knowledge on her own.
Each wedding is a unique situation, and after doing hundreds of them in her 14-year career, she’s still in love with her job.
“It’s always exciting going to a new wedding.”
As exciting as each wedding can be, you can never predict what challenging issues will arise, but DeMerchant considers herself to be very adaptable at going with the flow. With the demands of trying to record every moment of a couple’s special day, DeMerchant usually has a backup photographer to cover off on most of her wedding shoots.
In addition to weddings, she
also shoots the joys of life, including newborns, children, engagements and family portraits. She has managed to make a living as a photographer along with balancing a family life with her husband and three children. In terms of finding the balance of how much work to take on and how to promote her business, DeMerchant is as busy as she wants to be at the moment.