Karra Kostya Photo & Co. - Wichita KS

Karra Kostya Photo & Co. - Wichita KS Karra Kostya Photography works with businesses to make engaging marketing images to sell their products

Hey Momma, how are you doing? Yeah me too. We are both, are staring at the calendar, watching the days are ticking dow...
08/13/2025

Hey Momma, how are you doing? Yeah me too.

We are both, are staring at the calendar, watching the days are ticking down until we get to be that mom who posts on Senior Sunday. Hiding behind our phones while tears stream down our cheeks, remembering all those trips to the zoo, trying to celebrate our newly minted seniors, soon to be minted newly college students.

Wasn't it just yesterday that they were boarding the school bus while you silently cried that the part of your heart that lives outside your chest is starting school?

The years that passed between then and now have been much faster than you could have ever thought. That older mom at the post office was right, the days are long but the years are short.

And here you sit, making a Pinterest board of ideas. You have started planning for senior announcements, senior party and getting those last few minutes before they are grown and flown documented.

I know you want to organize it all and tell them what you want. I'm there too. But this is one of the first things you need to let go of what you want l, maybe just a little and let them decide what them want.

Gasp, yes Momma, it's time to channel your inner Elsa and let it go.

Just like your grown baby's future, it's not about you, it's about them. How do they see themselves? How do they want to remember their senior year? What stories do they want to tell?

Now before you send out the pitchforks and torches for me, hear me out.

I'm a firm believer that your senior's photo session needs to accommodate both sides. It's not just about them and not just about you. It's a meeting of the minds and a conscious effort to compromise.

Yes they get to put the coolest filter on the otherwise vibrantly timeless photos that you will cherish.

Working with your senior will get you far more than fighting with them. This year is our last chance (for many of us) to live close to them while they make small adult inclined decisions.

Wanna chat about how we can work together?

Falling forward. That sounds like one of those bad motivational posters from 30 years ago ... but it still holds water...
08/06/2025

Falling forward.

That sounds like one of those bad motivational posters from 30 years ago ... but it still holds water.

That has been the goal for this year. Stepping back isn’t an option, I need to keep building on the steps I have made thus far. It’s a bit wobbly and sometimes I’m sure I’m going to fall off the questionable foundation. An old mentor tells me that you need to jump out of the plane and plan on the way down.

Falling down feels so foreign to me but maybe that’s what I need to do. Fail, get back up and fail again. Perfection isn't a goal, it's a cage.

P!nk calls it a trustfall. Van Halen said to just jump. The juxtaposition of P!nk and David Lee Roth is quite the visual. Both are mildly flamboyant but the message is the same.

Being an entrepreneur is a journey unlike any other. You are a pioneer of sorts, who has to use all the options available to you. You try one option, see if it works, evaluate the results then tweak as needed. The goal is not perfection but a constant modification, re-energizing of effort and then implementation etc. Round and round the cycle you go.

I’m not sure why perfection is always the goal. In any given session, the digital reality is that you take a photo, chimp the back of the camera and re-adjust as needed, like adding salt and pepper to your meal.

You have an idea in your mind as to the end goal is but you also know what you can do in camera and what will need to be done in Photoshop. Such is the job of the photographer. Know your craft, know your tools, know your clients goals.

And some times, you have to reevaluate your own. Some times, we have to plant ourselves for a while to figure out where we need to grow next. Lotus flowers grow first in the mud before they bloom.

That is how you plan a successful session and business. Plan, execute, evaluate and realign.

Have you ever actually looked at your social media stats? Have you actually looked at what are your images, be they sto...
07/31/2025

Have you ever actually looked at your social media stats? Have you actually looked at what are your images, be they stock or custom, showing potential customers? Are they telling your business story? Do you need to switch up that headshot from 3 haircuts ago or do you need to refresh your visual brand story?

Are your social media images showing your customer what to expect when interacting with your business? How could they tell the story more effectively? What would you change if you could redo your images?

Are they showing your potential who you and how you interact with your customers? If you answered no, how would you change them? Is it an easy fix or do you need another set of eyes to help realign your visual brand?

Did you answer no to any of those questions?

Maybe it's time to up your image game. I’m here to help because I know from countless conversations, sessions and clients that entrepreneurship thing is not for the faint of heart or something to be tackled alone.

Nothing says you have been in business for a long time like having clients that you have known since they were small chi...
07/28/2025

Nothing says you have been in business for a long time like having clients that you have known since they were small children.

One such client is this lovely young lady who is headed to WSU in next fall. I have known her family for many many years. Her dad and I have known each other for nearly 25 years and is the reason we live here ... I stopped blaming him for that years ago, lol.

When this young lady's mom contacted me about doing her senior photos, the first thing I asked after I said of course I would be honored to do her photos, was are we doing a cosplay option? Please tell me we are.

As long as I've known this wonderfully brilliant girl, she has been the one wearing pink Bat Girl tshirts while making Star Wars cookies.

The weather was super chilly but we were able to get updated family photos done. After the family photos, we got some in her band uniform - her mom was able to help her into her uniform for the last time. That was a little bittersweet.

Then came the fun part, the Jedi. Super fun to plan, execute and edit! The weather was perfect and cloudy which lent itself so well to the end result!

May the 4th be with you!

07/26/2025

Who can relate to this? Dreams don’t have deadlines…

As a business owner, it is up to you to show up social media. But how I hear you say? I know I have to be there but ho...
07/10/2025

As a business owner, it is up to you to show up social media. But how I hear you say? I know I have to be there but how do I do that? You use visual imagery to create connection and attraction to your business. Need help creating visual content to tell the story of your business? Soothing Aesthetics LLC

What makes you use a service provider again and again? Even when times are tough financially, sometimes just that littl...
07/06/2025

What makes you use a service provider again and again? Even when times are tough financially, sometimes just that little bit extra changes your mind.

Case in point. It’s been a bit of a week and I needed to grab a quick lunch to run back to the office. I just wanted something close and quick. I checked the website of my chose destination - it was a 5 minute walk and opened at 11am.

Perfect, or so I thought.

I walked over to the lunch place - the outdoor placard was out but the Open sign was off. No biggie, it’s totally usual that people forget to flick the sign on. I try the door, it’s locked - 30 minutes after their socials say they should be open.

Well, sorry man you lost my money today.

I go to the next best place who has amazing breakfasts. Not really a breakfast person but I’m a sucker for avocado toast.

I walk in and before I can even say I’m here for a to go order, the young guy (like early 20s) at the counter looks at me and says avocado toast right? Now, I haven’t been over here in 3+ months and they serve a lot of people. He just won my business.

What am I saying? It pays to go that extra mile, whether it be making sure your Google My Business page is accurate, whether it’s answering the phone even when you are waking your cat on a sunny day (done this and got a gig out of it) or just listened when someone needs an ear after they’ve tried 6 different service providers.

Truly, it doesn’t take much to make someone’s day.

This is Maxwell, a Shiba Inu mix, whose parents (previous clients) came back to get he and his sister Penny photographed together, after he got adopted from KHS. This photo was taken steps from the restaurant I just paid double my lunch budget at for my coveted avocado toast.

Will I go back to the other place? Sure when I’m not pressed for time. I know where I can get the service I need, even it costs more.

When you first start your business, it may be a hobby or at the very least something you love with all your heart. You ...
07/01/2025

When you first start your business, it may be a hobby or at the very least something you love with all your heart. You are so proud of your little fledgling business so you do whatever you can to water it, grow it and keep it going.

Slowly, people start to notice your little business. You are so proud of it and show it off whenever possible.

Some people will be super excited for you, some people will drag you down and others will try to copy you.

Instead of focusing on those who are there to support you, you just can't help but try to convince those around you, those who are the scoffers and maybe the copiers to like you.

You go so far to twist yourself into shapes and structures that just aren't you -- Do you know what happens then?

Nothing. No matter how much you twist and turn, you can't change some people's minds and it flat out sucks. There are ample reasons why those people feel that way and you just have to channel your inner Elsa and let that stuff go.

Move on and serve those who want you for you, not for what you will never be. Read that again.

It's hard still to think of the last time I saw my Dad alive, which ironically was Father's Day. He passed on the 4th o...
06/15/2025

It's hard still to think of the last time I saw my Dad alive, which ironically was Father's Day. He passed on the 4th of July.

We did a photo session with my parents the year previous to his passing when we were home visiting them on the farm back in Canada.

To this day, I struggle to look at those photos. It was a time of change and of wonderful memories but if I'm being honest, I can see the pain in his face. He thought was his heart but in reality was the lung cancer that would claim him far too early, that was starting to make itself known. He played with my kids like he somehow knew it was the last time. He was struggling, but he wanted to make the most of what little time we had in Canada, while he could. He was so proud to share his home and all his farm meant to him, with his grand kids.

My parents had quietly made the decision that it was time to sell the farm and move to town.

We always had a bit of a funeral home sense of humor. We actually joked, at the time of we had captured photos, we could use for either parent's funeral photos. When my brother passed, my parents struggled to find a family photo they could use for the funeral. In hindsight, that probably underscored so much of what I do - photographs remind the world we existed.

In the days that followed his funeral, I busied myself with my kids/my mom and just documenting what I could of his life before it was packed up, given away or just tossed into a garbage skip.

Hug your parents, if you still have them and remember the memories you had with them, if they have stepped to the other side of the veil. Those who have left us will always live on in our hearts.

As KungFu Panda taught us - yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not promised - all we have is today - that's why it's called the present.

It always amazes me of the simple and yet so prophetic lessons that are weaved into stories created for children and so easily forgotten by adults.

So fitting … borrowed from a page that wouldn’t let me share …"Do you love Me?" Alice asked."No, I don't love you!" repl...
06/13/2025

So fitting … borrowed from a page that wouldn’t let me share …

"Do you love Me?" Alice asked.
"No, I don't love you!" replied the White Rabbit.
Alice frowned and clasped her hands together as she did whenever she felt hurt.
"See?" replied the White Rabbit. "Now you're going to start asking yourself what makes you so imperfect and what did you do wrong so that I can't love you at least a little.
You know, that's why I can't love you. You will not always be loved Alice, there will be days when others will be tired and bored with life, will have their heads in the clouds, and will hurt you.
Because people are like that, they somehow always end up hurting each other's feelings, whether through carelessness, misunderstanding, or conflicts with themselves.
If you don't love yourself, at least a little, if you don't create an armor of self-love and happiness around your heart, the feeble annoyances caused by others will become lethal and will destroy you.
The first time I saw you I made a pact with myself: 'I will avoid loving you until you learn to love yourself.' "

Credit :
- Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland

Address

Wichita, KS

Opening Hours

Monday 2pm - 8pm
Tuesday 2pm - 8pm
Wednesday 2pm - 8pm
Thursday 2pm - 5pm
Friday 4pm - 7pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 2pm - 5pm

Telephone

+13162909857

Website

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Karra Kostya Photo & Co. Hounds, Hashtags & Headshots - Wichita, KS

You probably know 6 other photographers in town and nope I'm not a wedding photographer. Now that we have that taken care of - Hi! I'm Karra of Karra Kostya Photography, it's a pleasure to meet you. I specialize in Hounds, Hashtags & Headshots.

Sorry, what? Yes Karra Kostya Photography is probably the most eclectic, non traditional photography studio you will find in Wichita and we love it that way. We work with you to create crafted photographic stories of of your pet, your business and you! Photographs tell the stories you want to share of your best four legged friend, to your business's customers and to the world about you!

Whether you are having your pet photographed, your business or product photographed or if you are getting fresh headshots - you are telling a story. Photographs are silent unless you give them a voice. The voice give them is your location, your wardrobe, your expressions, and even your props you use communicate a message to those who see your story. Photographs tells a story that your written words cannot in our fast paced world of sound bites, memes and swipes. www.karrakostya.com