Meet Chrissie Kohne

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chrissie Kohne.

Hi Chrissie; thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstories.
Our mission is rarely found in one monumental moment but in a series of seemingly insignificant events. It all started with a Barbie Video Camera, Circa 2002. The video camera sent live feedback to the TV and then recorded it onto VHS. My parents had gotten the Barbie Video Cam for Christmas, and I wanted to capture everything. While the pink VHS tape had quite a few scenes permanently erased, my curiosity for capturing images never faded. Flash forward twenty years to May 2022. The last time I picked up a camera was in my first year of college. Sure, I’d captured quite a few images over the years on my iPhone, but apart from a few random “photo shoots” of my friends and me, I was in complete remission from my photography addiction.

During the dark era, I didn’t see photography as something that could help me accomplish my career goals. I saw it as something that would distract me from them. So, I put down my camera and traded art for law school textbooks. I didn’t realize that art and law could create a beautiful and multidimensional plan for my career. However, as soon as I was handed my diploma, I fell back in love with art in a way I never had before.

It all started at M.L. Rose on Charlotte Ave. My best friend and I had just grabbed lunch and were headed back to my car when I saw this vintage, beat-up car that is a permanent fixture of M.L. Rose. I knew I had to take a picture of it. My best friend, a model, was dressed in a vintage chic fit. So, I asked her to go pose by car. She humored me. Six pictures and a quick edit later, I handed her phone back to her. I remember her eyes just lit up. She said, “Chrissie, this is good. I mean, good. You need to do something with this.”

I laughed it off. Sure, she worked with dozens of photographers, but I wasn’t a photographer. I was just someone who loved photography. However, her comment gave me the courage to start retaking pictures. I started asking local musicians, comedians, and artists if I could take their pictures. A lot of them said no at first. So, I’d show them my instagram, which, at the time, read, “one girl’s collection of beautiful people, places, and things;” I would tell them they were one of the beautiful people, and I promised I would take a picture that made them feel beautiful. I’d take a few pictures, edit them, and as soon as I showed them to them, I would watch their faces light up. They’d thank me, ask me to send them the picture so they could post it, and then they’d go on their way. That’s how Chrissie’s Photo Journal was born. It was so validating.

At that time, I still didn’t realize how my art could be anything more than a hobby, but I didn’t care. I was madly in love—more than I’d ever been with anyone. So, I started taking pictures of everything and everyone. I got my old camera (a Nikon D3300) from my parent’s house, and I decided it was time to define myself as what I’d become: a photographer. Only one question remained: how could I use photography and my J.D. to promote the mission? I wish I had an unbelievable story of how I realized the two could coincide, but I can’t. Someone’s vision is rarely created by one monumental moment. Instead, our visions are created by a collection of little moments, sometimes with a passerby. So, as these little moments poured together, I found the perfect cocktail of Chrissie Kohne, J.D., and Chrissie, the photographer.

I have just launched my boudoir, engagement, and wedding photography page on WeddingWire and the Knot under the same name: Chrissie’s photo journal. In the new year, I won’t be bringing in a new me; instead, I’ll be bringing in the next era of my business (or businesses). Additionally, I will be using wedding photography to fund my real mission: helping veterans and service members have access to quality care and treatment teams that will treat them holistically; therefore, a veteran or a service member who has PTSD, a TBI (spicy concussion), and back injury will be treated for all the conditions together, because if one flair up, the others will as well.

Additionally, I am starting a photojournalism campaign this coming year. The campaign will focus on capturing images of veterans and service members, getting their stories, and holding an art exhibition where all the funds will be used to fund my (second) business: RAMBOC. RAMBOC will be a business that will fiercely advocate via lobbying for legislation and educating healthcare providers about the current inadequacies of healthcare for those who have served and get them to work as a team.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As I mentioned earlier, I struggled a lot with figuring out how to continue to create art and use my law degree simultaneously, but I should have mentioned that at first, I thought it was impossible. I felt torn. It felt like the artist side of me was one person, and the almost attorney side was two completely different people. The artist was free and could tell a story that the JD side of me could never put into words. The JD side of me was driven and focused and had a mission to help veterans and service members obtain quality care and treatment teams. I felt like I had to give up one side of myself to have the other side of me, and the grief I felt was immeasurable.

I remember sitting in my car one day, and I was sobbing. I’d had a conversation with a man I was seeing at the time, where I explained the artist, free-spirited side of me wasn’t who I was. I was high-strung. I was the type of person who could, as TikTok puts it, “go with the flow as long as I knew what time it started and ended.” I wasn’t this artsy, free spirit that loved life. I was someone who was dedicated to my purpose over being happy. That conversation made me into an identity crisis.

I didn’t know who I was. I was curious to know if I was the artist or the JD. So, I called my uncle, sobbing on the phone, and said, “Uncle Bobby, I don’t know what to do. I can’t be both people. I can’t be an artist and an attorney.” I’ll never forget what he said to me after that. He said, “Chrissie, you’re not one or the other. While most of the world lives in black and white, you live in color. You are vibrant. You are a full spectrum of color. You don’t have to choose between being ‘one or the other’ because you’re both, and you can be both and thrive, and we’re going to figure out how.” And we did.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I find it funny that even on this list of questions, it asked me to choose which one I am: practice/business/firm, employee/professional, or artist/creative because, as I said earlier, I decided to fit into all of the categories above. I specialize in photography and veterans/service members’ quality of care and accessibility. But the two now go hand in hand. The thing I’m most proud of and what sets me apart from the others is that I’ve chosen not to fit into a box of one thing or the other. I’ve decided to recognize my talents and use them for the greater good.

What makes you happy?
There’s a long list of things that make me happy:
1) Photography makes me happy because I love to capture a moment and tell a story in one image that would take a thousand words to write. I love to make people feel beautiful when I show them pictures I took of them. I love the process of editing images. I love everything about it.

2) Talking to veterans/service members’ about my plans to help them makes me happy. Every time I tell them, I see the gratitude on their faces, and I can’t express how good it feels to know that one day, I’ll be able to make a change for everyone.

3) My friends and family make me happy. They are my biggest supporters in this journey.

4) My cats make me happy. They’re my babies.

5) Nature and rock climbing make me happy. I love camping, bouldering, and the community I have found in my fellow “granola” people.

Pricing:

• Boudoir sessions: $120/one hour $200/ two hour
• Wedding packages starting at $1650
• Engagement sessions: $120/ one hour $220/ two hour
• Veterans portrait sessions: Free of cost
• Portrait/Events for local artists $100/hr

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Chrissiesphotojournal