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My name is Ekaterina (Kat) Knapik, and I am Buford/Suwanee area-based photographer. I studied photography at ´óÏó´«Ã½, in Gainesville, GA where I took variety of classes that gave me enough practice and general idea about my future work.

I came from a large multi-lingual and multi-cultural family. I grew up among many talented and bright individuals, who influenced my work with a positive vibes and luminous colors. In my works I love to play with the light and colors to capture unique memories of families’ portraits, encouraging people to love and appreciate themselves more.

I was fascinated by photographs when I was a child. Our family saved old black and white photos of great aunts, uncles and grandparents and I remember looking at them, wondering what was going on right before or after the picture was taken so long ago.

My parents bought me a cheap Kodak 110 camera when I was a preteen and I cost them a great deal of money at the photomat booth. I got serious about photography much later when a got my first drone, a hobby that brought together two of my favorite interest: model airplanes and cameras. That led me to my first DSLR and I have been trying to improve my photography skills in earnest ever since.

My love of photography goes back as far as I can remember. I usually had a basic camera with me along life’s journeys and would capture every moment possible, especially after having my son.

I have always been a creative person with the gift of seeing nature’s beauty in a unique way. I enjoy spending time photographing sunsets, macro and landscapes.

A few years ago my husband surprised me with my first DSLR camera. Now that our son is grown up and out on his own, I decided it was time to take my love of photography to the next level and learn all that I could.

I enjoy capturing the precious memories of our life as we explore this world on as many new adventures as possible.

Photography has always been a passion of mine but as I grew my love for it changed and transformed. I received my first camera when I was in high school after expressing to my parents I’d love to explore the art. For several years it was point and click, not understanding the technique behind it.

I took a film photography class in my senior year. I learned how photos were taken with film and even developed my own images in a dark room. It was after that when I realized I loved it more than I originally did and began learning more behind it.

Since then, I’ve explored many different types of photography and decided to make it more than just a hobby. Taking the class at ´óÏó´«Ã½ furthered my love for it. Through the courses at ´óÏó´«Ã½ I’ve been able to enhance my images with the techniques I’ve learned and will continue to carry them throughout my career.

I have always been curious about cameras and photography and for the most part made do with my phone. Once Covid hit I ended up having a bit more free time. I saw some waterfall pictures in a magazine and remember thinking “How in the world do they get the water to look like that” I had a camera so I figured I would give it a go. Well I didn't do so well the first few goes and figured it was my camera ( I was wrong). I ended up finding a Canon T3 at a pawn shop and it was off to the races after that.

I started watching YouTube how too's daily to learn some tricks. Once I got the hang of aperture and shutter speed I thought I was set. I knew what they did, but I didn't understand how they worked together. It wasn't until I took the Photography classes at ´óÏó´«Ã½ that I started to understand. And The main reason I started was to get a confidence boost for portrait photography.

When I started the classes I had a decent understanding of wildlife and landscape photography but really wanted to dive into taking pictures of people. I was only going to take one class... Well I ended up doing the whole certificate course. Since taking the classes I have a more dynamic range of subjects in my photography, from waterfalls and wildlife to people and weddings. The flood gates have opened and am looking to move to more of a career than hobbyist in the future.

My interest in photography stems from my interest in art as a whole. Ever since I was little, I loved to illustrate the world and its inhabitants in my own personalized way.

The camera is a powerful tool that allows me to depict a scene that would have taken artists of centuries past dozens or even hundreds of hours to paint in less than a blink of an eye.

It makes for a valuable tool to shoot still images of subjects to be able to use as a reference for my art pieces. I have a particular interest in photography of living things,whether it be humans or plants, but what I love most is taking pictures of animals. Their incredible variety in shapes and sizes make them some of the most beautiful subjects to depict in photography and art.