I’m Kai
Hi, thanks for stopping by! I’m Kai. All of that unfortunately rhymed so I hope you had fun with that. Or not.
I’m a Michigan based wedding and elopement photographer who swapped a career in the music industry for a camera after traveling made me fall hard for visual storytelling. Since picking up a camera I haven’t stopped chasing the weird and wild parts of human nature. I strive to make images that spark something in others and make long lasting heirlooms that will bring it all rushing back 10 years later.
My story isn’t the typical photographer origin story. My dad photographed weddings for two decades, which naturally convinced younger me that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with cameras. Especially after having one in my face for my entire childhood.
Instead, I spent the next ten years in the music industry playing guitar and bass in metal bands, graduating audio school, becoming an audio engineer, and then working with artists like Bill Kelliher of Mastodon and Greg Bissonette of Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band.
In the end I wasn't destined to become a rock star like I thought when I was a teenager and standing in front of my iPod touch recording guitar demos in my skinny jeans... That's probably for the best.
My path changed while on my honeymoon with my wife in 2018. I fell in love with photography and visual storytelling and since then I've been obsessed with photographing nature and the most human parts of life.
That's why I love weddings. There’s nothing more human than community and watching everyone come together to celebrate. You learn so much about people on their wedding day and it’s a blessing to get to experience so much culture and be a part of that community for a brief day.
Nothing means more to me than being able to hand you something that is more than just an image. It’s a memento of relatives no longer with us, the memory of your nephew wearing a garter on his head that you forgot about, or reliving way your dad looked at you during your first dance.
I strive to document people and their experiences authentically all over Michigan and beyond.