From competitive skiing as a child growing up in California, to working as a masseuse in Lake Tahoe, Catherine Hall’s path to success has been neither straight nor clear-cut. Today she is one of the industry’s top professionals, with a diverse portfolio and far-reaching talents. Hall is best known for her highly personal and creative approach to wedding photography, but she is also an accomplished teacher and public speaker. She has exhibited worldwide, worked with multiple non-profits, and lists John Deere, Goldman Sachs, and News Corps, among her commercial clients. She cites a strong sense of community, family, and a powerful need to give back, and pays ultimate respect to maintaining a sense of balance.
Hall has been photographing since she took her first high school photo class at sixteen and instantly fell in love with the craft. When it came time to pursuing a path in university, she took a look at the two school subjects at which she excelled - math and photography - and made a choice. "I guess deciding between being a math professor or being a photographer when you're 17 or 18 is kind of a no brainer..." she says with a laugh. She went on to major in Art and Design with a concentration in photography at California Polytechnic State University.
Looking for a change when she finished her degree, Hall moved to Lake Tahoe, where she became a massage therapist. Being in school for five years had left her feeling burnt out. “There was this combination of being a total student but also being very active socially. My schedule was insanity for five years. After that I needed to detox. I needed to just be.”
The slow, relaxed pace of Tahoe, however, eventually got the better of her, and after two years she went a bit stir crazy. “I was still photographing and creating images, but I wasn't doing anything with them,” she says. “I had this big shoebox of negatives, and it occurred to me that if I didn't actively do something then I was never going to be a photographer. I was just going to have it as an advanced hobby.” Never one to shy away from taking risks, Hall sold all of her things and moved to New York City.
It turned out to be a fortuitous move. Knowing only a few people, with no job and little money, within a week Hall had a place to live and a job working for her hero, Steve McCurry.
The job was a dream come true. As a young, aspiring photojournalist, on her travels Hall would carry around McCurry’s books and look through them every night for inspiration. “He had an incredible influence on me,” she says, “ there was no one else I could have imagined wanting to work for more.”
The internship lasted three months, but the relationship has gone far beyond. Hall credits McCurry with starting her career. “Working for him was like my version of graduate school. Steve is known for these astounding portraits, and when I saw what he did and how he worked, I subconsciously realized that I could do that too.”
Working for McCurry also taught her a lot about the industry. Later, Hall would work as a part-time photo editor at Getty Images, and these two jobs combined were instrumental in helping her make connections and establish herself within the New York City photo industry. She quickly started building her own business, making the transition from photojournalism to wedding and event photography.
One of her first big jobs was to shoot the closing-bell ceremony at Nasdaq, and the massive party at Reuters that followed. The whole thing was going to be broadcast live on the company billboards in Times Square. Hall was petrified, but nevertheless enthusiastically agreed. Looking back, she is somewhat amazed, but advises young photographers never to turn down an opportunity because it seems too big or intimidating. She knows that pushing oneself is the only was to grow, and recalls how she almost didn’t take on some of her biggest jobs due to fear. “Its ok to be scared.” she says. “Fear is a normal and natural emotion. It’s not the enemy; the enemy is when you let your fear disable you from moving forward.”
After three years in New York, the city was beginning to wear her down, which Hall took as a sign that it was time to leave. She has always placed her state of mind above commercial success, understanding happiness to be inseparable from maintaining a successful career and business. For Hall, this meant moving back to be close to her family in California. “I love New York to death, but what brought me out here was career reasons,” she says. “I always knew that I was going to move back. That’s where my roots are. That’s where I grew up.” Of course, she still makes regular visits to “get her fix,” visit old friends, and maintain contacts.
Hall now runs a successful studio specializing in wedding photography in the Bay Area, but she has not lost her passion for travel and documentary work. She continues to take on editorial jobs and work on personal projects both at home and abroad. Most recently, Adobe flew her to Tasmania along with sixteen other photographers to beta-test the new version of Lightroom 2.2. The images she shot on the trip won first place in the WPPI album competition.
Never one to see roadblocks, Hall has pursued her every goal with full force, keeping herself and her ideals in tact. It is this determination and respect for her own wellbeing that have been the secrets to her success. She emphasizes the importance of taking care of herself mentally, physically, and emotionally. “At the end of the day, I need to be happy. I think as an artist, it’s really important to take care of yourself if you’re going to be creating things.” That’s good advice for us all.
