Join us in congratulating Katie Kubiak on becoming one of our newest Unraveled Expert Artists! Katie’s artistry shines through in both her portrait and landscape work! We love the way her images are full of color and warmth making it easy to spot a Katie Kubiak of Shortie Studios photo!

Katie is a newborn, family & landscape photographer based in Buffalo, NY. She lives in East Aurora with her husband, two teenage sons and her German Shorthaired Pointer, Zemgus. Katie has been a middle school counselor for 23 years and decided to pursue photography as a business when her boys were in elementary school. As often as they can, Katie & her family travel as far as they can to see beaches, mountains and everything in between. During the school year, Katie looks forward to documenting her boys as they play volleyball, basketball and run cross country. They are growing so fast, but it is the greatest gift to be watching your children do what they love.

We are so excited to have Katie not only in our community but now as an Unraveled Expert Artist!!

For more inspiration from Katie check out her social links below:

Here is Katie, Unraveled…

What inspires your art?

I am always inspired by emotions and interesting lighting in photographs. I try to think about that when I am taking a picture and how I can incorporate that. I want to create something that can fill a home, serve as a reminder for a special event, trip or even just a random day of hanging out. I want people to be able to look at my images and know that we really did have a great time being together shooting. With my landscape photography I want to be able to capture the big, beautiful scenes as well as the little campgrounds we may visit along the way. Essentially everything I create is to serve as a gift to my sons. I never completed their baby books, I didn't write daily journal entries to them or even letters on their birthday. But I always took pictures. I have pictures of them all over our home. Each picture holds a story or a memory that they can hang on to.

What do you shoot with? Camera body and favorite lens?

I shoot with my Canon 1dx-mii, DJI Mavic Air 2s, Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II, a couple of GoPros and my iphone 13 ProMax. My most used lens is my 35mm, but I love playing with my tilt-shift lens the most. It is super tricky to use, but I love the effect on images. I bought it used and just put it on and started to play. I take it everywhere with me just in case I want to try something different.

What other ways do you express your creativity?

I've always loved designing and color, but because I couldn't draw in high school, I wasn't allowed to go any further with the art classes. Working in a paint store throughout college gave me that opportunity to work with colors, fabrics, spaces and I loved it. We just lived through a major renovation so that was 3+ years of planning some of my dream spaces. Now I just need to save some money to finish the rest. ;). But in the meantime, I try to take images of my sons' sporting events that aren't your typical "newspaper" image of the sport. I like to get creative with my angles, my aperture, and my distance to be able to tell more of a story within the image.

How do you de-stress at the end of the day?

I am truly a homebody. So coming home, throwing on some comfy clothes and eating dinner with my boys is perfect. Occasionally, my hubby will make me a strong mule and put on some good TV with the fire going and life is pretty good.

What kind of music do you listen to while editing?

I love all kinds of music, but I find I'm super distracted when I'm singing along. So most of the time while editing I am watching a crime show because I've always had an affinity for mysteries.

What is your favorite book?

So I'm not a huge reader....I know, that's bad. I have to read a lot for work, so when I do have down time I find myself here, going through the classes, reading their stories and watching the videos. But I did recently start swapping books with my friends, so I am getting back into reading for pleasure more. Currently I am reading Invisible Girl and that has been pretty interesting so far....I can't even really make a prediction about where it will end up because of how it is laid out.

Name one movie that inspires you.

Yikes...this is hard! I'm a boy mom, so I typically see the Marvel & Star Wars movies. But ones that stick with me are ones that tell a good story. So I would say Argo, Black Panther and the Greatest Showman.

How do you handle self-doubt or creative slumps?

This has been very hard for me. I've always felt like I would never be good enough for anything because I can't shoot whenever I want, I am confined by my schedule most of the year and I am not officially trained. I once went on a city shoot-out in Buffalo where I knew NO ONE. My hubby came along to be my walking partner. This was a big step out of my comfort zone for me, and I was so proud to be standing there, on the cold but sunny day, with my Canon Rebel 3ti ready to walk around and shoot. Well, these men showed up who looked like they were dressed for a fucking safari, with huge gear and lenses and laughed at me and my little camera. I ended up leaving the group and my hubby and I did our own thing. I never did anything with those images. When I looked at them I felt so small, like pursuing this passion was just a silly pipe dream. When I've been in slumps, I just try and look for the light. Even if it is an image I take with my phone, it usually gets me motivated enough to go out and keep looking. Travel also constantly motivates me. Seeing new places, new experiences makes it easy for me to want to document those moments. I've also participated in weekly challenges when I can and the Creative Practice through UA has been a big one for me.

What has been the most difficult part of your creative journey?

I would say allowing myself to "break the rules" of photography and then put myself out there. I feel frozen at times and don't do any shooting. But UA has been somewhat of cure for that with me. I'll pick a few classes, take in all the information and then set some time aside to put that into practice or incorporate it into my own work. I'm not really sure where I would be without UA.

What is your favorite pizza topping?

Sausage, Green Peppers & Mushrooms.

What is your most favorite kind of light and why?

I love that warm, golden hour light. I love catching sun flares, I love how it filters through the trees. I love how much it can make an ordinary location and turn it into something amazing.

Who is one of your favorite photographers?

This is hard! I have a few for different reasons... Hailey Faria for her emotion and variety in her sessions Kristen Ryan for her landscape and use of color & light.

What is your favorite course or lesson at Unraveled?

Oh my gosh....there are so many good ones. And for whatever path you might be on! Seeing Your Home in a New Light by Karen Dell is one that I'll come back to again and again especially in the dreary winters. But the first assignment I ever had with Unraveled was Your Last Shoot. We had to plan, prepare and execute what would be the last shoot we could ever do. It really made you think and prepare. I had decided to document my boys in our town over the summer. We had the best time doing it, and it was so freeing to just do this for me.