Today we’d like to introduce you to Madison Gray.
Madison, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My mother, Cinnamon Gray, started Bad Kitty when I was only two years old in the spare bedroom of our small apartment in 1998. From there we converted our garage to our studio, then on to a small studio space and now we have multiple studios, with San Diego being our largest with about 13 sets! My whole life I grew up with the entire community of women that started this business, as well as was apart of the process in making Bad Kitty Photography the staple studio that it is today! You know, it’s hilarious but I never saw myself working for the studio until I was about sixteen years old. My mom bought me my very first car but told me that I was responsible for putting gas in it and to get a job.
I asked her if I could clean up after the other photographers and basically do the grunt work. She agreed, so I cleaned up after people, ran errands and fetched lunch orders, made sales, answered emails and phone calls I worked a few hours a day after school and got a first-hand experience on what our studio actually did for women. I fully understood how and why Bad Kitty was important to its clients. I heard the most incredibly honest and vulnerable conversations amongst the clients and photographers and saw the bond that was made before the shoot even happened. They cried, they laughed, they joked around and they together created a unique photo shoot! Not only did I see a clear confidence boost in the clients, but how happy they were once they left our building. It was so inspiring and I wanted to be apart of it.
So, I asked to be a photographer. Let’s just say, it was not as easy as I thought. She said no three times before finally allowing me to be trained by one of the girls. I was so incredibly excited about it and absolutely terrified. I trained the summer of my eighteenth birthday and shortly after, I had my very first photoshoot. My mom monitored my every move, more than any of the other girls, and if I messed up I had to go home with her at night and sit at the opposite side of the dinner table. She grilled me, tested me, challenged my creative eye and my abilities with my camera. But, one day she looked through my photo shoot and didn’t say a word. She glanced through them and walked away. I knew right then I did it and worked my butt off for her not to have anything to say about my shoots!
Flash forward about six years and here we are today! In November of 2016, I took over full ownership of Bad Kitty Photography, but don’t let that full you mama Cinnamon is still very much an active part of the West Coast Studios which include: San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Since taking over as owner, in 2017 I have opened up our East Coast Studios in New York City and Philadelphia! It has been an incredible ride so far and I have met some of the most inspiring and strong-willed women all over the country. It has opened my eyes to how difficult running a business is at twenty-three years old but I would not trade it for the world!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has been a fun ride but not completely a smooth one. For example, like any creative business, you run into a road bump or two. A big part of who we are as a photography studio is that we are always evolving. What I mean by that is in order to stay alive in the creative industry, you must always create something new and fresh based on popular demand. We like to modify or completely change our backgrounds and set options for our clients as often as we can but also for each photographer that way we don’t feel like we are doing the same thing every single day.
Don’t get me wrong, we have our absolute go-to poses, well because they are amazing no matter what set it is on!! With updates, comes new ideas as far as posing, lighting and angles. Something that was a huge challenge for me when I was starting out was completely taking in what my client wanted her final photos to look like and making it happen. Each client wants a different styled shoot, so learning how to take ideas and suggestions from my girls and making it a reality was a tricky task to master!
Please tell us about Bad Kitty Photography.
Bad Kitty Photography is a boudoir photography studio! Not only are all our photographer’s amazing ones at that but we are also your hair and makeup stylist so from the second you walk in the door it’s me and you the whole shoot!
We are known for making women feel comfortable in their own skin and embracing what you’ve got! We make women feel like supermodels! We are also the only female owned and operated boudoir studio in San Diego! All of our photographers and staff are female! I am so proud of how no matter what city you shoot in and what set you to choose, your experience and overall quality of photos will always be the same.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Growing up, my mom used to always take me to the beach and raised me to be quite the beach bum. We never stopped going. To this day, if we have a day off and I am in town we choose to go down to the beach.
If I had to pick one favorite memory it would be taking my dogs Leeka, Tavi and Spartacus, our three rescue pitties, to dog beach in OB and watching them run around while my mom and I walked and talked along the sand.
Pricing:
- Standard studio session- includes three full sets and three full outfits- is $100.00
- Hairstyling ranges from $30-$50.00 depending on the length of your hair
- Makeup styling is $30.00
- We have a large variety of packages to choose from ala carte prints starting at $20.00 to all of your photos digitally for $500.00
Contact Info:
- Address: 7959 University Avenue, La Mesa CA 91942
- Website: www.badkittyphotography.com
- Phone: 619-589-6494
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: badkittyphotography
- Facebook: Bad Kitty Photography
- Yelp: Bad Kitty Photography
Image Credit:
Cinnamon Gray, Stacey Hartman, Skylar Di Stefano, Rocky Kroesing, Candis Anderson, Ashley Saunders and Kate Hagan
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