047: Taking The Unconventional Path and Raising Awareness with Kristi Odom

Episodes The Bearded Tog

June 20, 2018

Raising Awareness

In this episode of the Bearded Tog podcast, Kristi Odom shares her story of being an engineering student at Georgia Tech to being taken on the unconventional path of photography. She focuses on raising awareness through her work. Kristi is a wedding and wildlife photographer whose work has been featured in Rolling Stone, The Smithsonian, Rangefinder, Fearless Photographers, and on a billboard in Times Square!

She talks about how she funds her conservation photography, and the beauty of using your art towards raising awareness for a cause, balancing wedding photography with her passion of wildlife fine art and conservation.

Kristi Odom’s Takeaways on Raising Awareness

It’s okay to reach out and pursue what you want. Also, it’s okay to be annoying about it. Ultimately, the worst that could happen is they could say no. Kristi emailed and called the people she wanted to work again and again until the opportunities opened up.
Taking pictures of animals doesn’t necessarily pay the bills. Kristin cares about the lives and hardships these animals go through and raises her own funds to travel and document these animals. She’ll then organize art auctions and print sales to give back to organizations that help these creatures.
The skills she has learned as a wedding photographer has helped her better capture animals. They are both about telling a story and capturing the emotional experience you see in front of you.
Photographs should be printed and held and be able to breathe in the real world.
You can take a nature trip to photograph wildlife at any time of the year. Because the seasons are constantly changing, it will give you different experiences.