Photographers seek Kickstarter help to explore the boundaries of community

Photography is a competitive and tech-hungry field, but one team of Madison entrepreneurs is taking [1]Maria and En Tao Ko pose with a trailer they seek Kickstarter help to purchase. They want to use it to expand their photography business and forge connections between communities. advantage of smart and sustainable innovation to stand out. Maria and En Tao Ko, founders of Magnified Joy Photography [2], are expanding their community and their photography business by crowdfunding a trailer and truly going to their clients.

“En Tao and I had both traveled together across the U.S., and we loved to document things with our cameras,” Maria said. “We had a shared love for photo, but neither of us came from a background in photography. Shortly after we got married, someone asked us to shoot their wedding, and we jumped right in.”

After working as wedding photographers for several years in Madison, the couple decided to expand their client base. In order to create new connections and build a portfolio, Maria and En Tao took a month to tour the country in 2013.

“We realized along the way that we love serving people around the country,” Maria said. “Our vision for our business grew much bigger. We had very high expectations for ourselves in terms of the art and the personal relationship that we could offer our clients.”

Maria and En Tao wanted to build a national business and nomadic lifestyle while also staying committed to their Madison roots and local-minded values.

“Some of our favorite aspects of Madison are the “foodie” culture, the hospitality, the appreciation for green spaces and the outdoors, and the international exchange that the university brings to the city,” Maria said. “We wanted to keep those priorities alive while also expanding into other communities across the country. As we travel, we try to patronize local businesses, so we go to local dance classes, restaurants and social events to connect with people. We also take our road bikes with us so that we can hit the trails or explore a new city by bike.”

After touring the country and working out of their Prius for over a year while also maintaining their client base in Madison, Maria and En Tao began looking for a long-term living solution. While camping in Colorado after a wedding shoot, En Tao suggested an Airstream as a solution. A trailer would allow the couple to build relationships, holding consultations in their clients’ hometowns.

Using a Kickstarter campaign [3], Maria and En Tao are trying to reach out to potential investors in order to purchase Runaround Sue, a sustainably renovated 1961 Airstream trailer that would allow them to live more sustainably.

“En Tao and I naturally love to host people,” Maria says. We love to connect through cooking and coffee. That's one important thing about the airstream: there's a fully functional kitchen and dining space. We don't just want to have business consultations; we want to invite people into our home.”

While the project hasn’t been easy, it has taught the couple a lot about their commitment to both their future customers and their Madison network.

“It's certainly humbling and challenging in the sense that no one's done exactly what we've done,” Maria said. “We don't have a coach to walk us through all this. We can do all this work and throw ourselves out there online, but we need a community around us to make this happen. Thankfully, we have Madisonian friends all over the U.S. It’s because of those old connections that we’ve been able to easily get connected to new places.”

Maria and En Tao are embracing the lifestyle of modern nomads, but the couple still spends about half the year in Madison, maintaining their relationships here while fostering a national client base via Skype, email and Facebook. Even if they’re on the road, the couple will send their local clients “Thank You” cards and gift cards to local favorites like Crescendo and Graze.

“We are still very connected in Madison,” Maria said. “Many of our clients have become our friends, and some of our friends have become clients, so we find ourselves coming back to Madison regularly to visit. Although we've hit 30 states this year and have traveled 30,000 miles, we find ourselves coming back between our projects.”

From negotiating their prices to setting business practices, the Kos have learned a lot about the value of their and their peers’ work. As they find a place in their field, Maria and En Tao hope their experiences and their efforts toward expansion will benefit the creative community in Madison.

“We had to have some hard conversations, and through a series of learning experiences we grew more confident in our art and in our business,” En Tao said. “We have a lot of artists within our friend circle, and our experiences empowered us to pass on our confidence (to them). By having these conversations with fellow artists and customers, I think we're making the industry here better. It raises the bar for excellence.”

While Maria and En Tao are both self-professed Midwesterners, they are also eager to expand their horizons and experience new lifestyles in communities around the country, and hope that their work reflects their culture.

“As we connect with different communities, we learn more about ourselves and our country: the history, the culture, and the people,” Maria said. “(Traveling) is learning more about the world we live in; it's being able to appreciate the things that shape us. Our community is so much bigger than just Madison, Waukesha or Green Bay. Our community is all over the U.S.”