Meet Katy Moses
Evergreen photographer Katy Moses has learned an invaluable trick to living life right: be open to what life hands you and always include others in your journey.
Born and raised outside of Chicago, Katy found herself interested in several subjects that seem at first, totally disconnected. Where she did throw her interest was biology and architecture classes. “I debated between pre-med and architecture. I like structure - how things are set-up.” She continued to take biology-related classes but headed down a path that led to interior architecture.
“It’s about how people move and use space.” Katy equates her love of interior architecture to biology - the interior of our own space. Surprisingly, she didn’t take photography classes but would “still shoot. It was just something I always did.” She also exposed herself to a lot of other art classes. “I took all sorts of fine art classes, drawing, pastels, painting,” as well as fine crafts, including metal-smithing and wood-working. That’s like Katy; she’s interested in so many things.
During her last year of school, Katy’s parents moved from Illinois to Texas, leaving her an orphan of sorts. She found an apartment and became a nanny. In 1998, the classes she needed to complete her education lacked any real interest to her so she requested and was approved to study abroad in Milan, Italy. “It was a great experience. Although I wasn’t working at the graduate level, I was taking classes with others who were. It gave me experience that I would never have been able to have. I focused on signage and its intent in different places.” Katy used the example of “Mind The Gap” - placing it on the ground, where people are focused as they leave a subway train.
Returning to NYC, Katy settled into Manhattan where she worked for five years for the renowned Perkins and Will architecture firm. “I worked on projects involving hospitals, city buildings, and corporate offices,” among others.
Katy reflected that, “I took photography classes in high school but later I loved it so much, I was afraid it (studying) would kill it for me. But I never stopped shooting.” Upon her return to NYC, in addition to working a full day, she took weekend and evening photography courses through the New School. “I met a great group of friends. We’re still good friends.”
In 2003, Katy decided to make a change. “It was a culmination of things. At work, I would need to get outside. I would run in Central Park, and I was in the NY Roadrunner Club; we would have races every weekend.” Katy also lived through the 9/11 attacks. “I got to the point to rethink where I wanted to live. I researched Colorado and California.” Katy came to Colorado. She checked out Evergreen and “when I stood at the lake I thought, ‘I need to live here.’” She “loves to have four seasons and the hiking is incredible; I know just about every trail in the Front Range,” she laughed. Katy has also done Ride the Rockies. Best of all, “this was a place where there were growing businesses.”
She worked at The Little Bear for her first six months and met a lot of locals before launching her photography career.
When Katy started, her marketing was “an ugly tri-fold that I made myself,” she shook her head. “Back then we were still using film, which made the profession male-dominated. All the equipment needed in the dark room made it so. In the last 13 years we’ve switched to digital. There’s a fast learning curve, and you can experiment so easily.” The costs of photography kept coming down. “I think there are more women than men working in photography today. Women as a whole work differently than men. Men are proprietary. Women are collaborative.”
That describes Katy and her circle of friends. “There’s a group of us (women) up here who serve as a support network. We share our struggles, equipment, and successes. We’re here for each other” – so much so that Katy shares her photography studio with two other women photographers. “It’s nice to be able to bounce ideas around and work collaboratively.”
When she first looked to photography as a profession, “I ended up working for a company based in Idaho where I was shooting sports teams. I did Little League to University of Wyoming football. It was like boot camp; I had to focus on 100 faces and I was shooting off a ladder. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t creative.” In her optimistic manner she said, “I treated it as a learning moment.”
Feeling that her work was just “odds and ends, I wanted something consistent.” In 2006 she was shooting for a furniture company for marketing. I thought that maybe I could do design work too. The company was Evergreen-based Cocopa. “The person who owned it was Jay" [Huggins, presently her husband]. In 2008 the economy slowed and Katy went to work for St. John Properties in Golden, where she worked for five years.
She and Jay married in 2009. They had their daughter Mackenzie in 2010 and their son Ely the following year. With children in their life, she decided to work independently, fulltime in photography. In March, 2012 she opened Katy Moses Photography. “I enjoy studio photography but love shooting out in nature. I like natural light.” However, on cold and windy days, she prefers to let the light shine into her bright studio.”
Her interests and inclusion of others expands beyond photography. She has explored the art of pre-natal yoga, Reiki, and practices in self-healing. “It’s a tie-in to my interest in biology.” Her practice has shown her ways to teach others to remove all negative talk, and eliminate stress and anxiety. Today she uses her knowledge to help entrepreneurs approach their goals in a positive manner.
On her Facebook page her personal information reads: “your secret weapon, healer, Reiki master, mom, artist, entrepreneur.” When you meet her, you’ll quickly recognize that description is only the tip of the iceberg of one incredible lady.
