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High school class spurred Arickx's love for photography
by Warren Haacke, Press-News Reporter
Katie Arickx's love for photography was "jump started" by an experience she had while attending high school.
The 2002 Osage graduate and owner of Arickx Photography and Expressive Art Gallery in Osage recalls the situation that led to her interest in photography as a career.
"In high school I always took as many artistic classes I could, and my senior year I had the opportunity to take part in the annual class," said Arickx "Back then, we didn't have the computer technology they have now. We used film and digital. The school had a dark room and we developed our own film. We created the layouts and such for the pages in the annual. This by far was my favorite class. I fell in love with it."
Katie (Jennings) Arickx has lived in Osage all her life. She is the daughter of Paul and Donna Jennings and has one older sister, Stephanie and an older brother, Tony. She grew up on a farm outside of Osage, until she was about 7 when her parents bought a house in Osage.
Arickx is a "self made" photographer and success story. After graduating from Osage High School, Arickx worked in jobs involving dealing with the public.
"I am definitely a people person," she said. "I have always had jobs in the public. Jobs where your #1 priority is the customer. If you know me, my friends say I know everyone and it's because of working with the public. It seems like you get to know everyone and become friends with them."
Arickx continued, "The jobs I have had in the past have really benefited me when I opened my own business. They include waitressing/ bartending and working at convenience stores, most recently Kwik Star, where most people recognize me from. I learned a lot about management, finances, and customer relations."
Arickx's decision to move seriously into photography as a career started with some experiences at home.
"I have always loved taking pictures, but it probably starts with when I started having children," Arickx said. "As kind of a God given talent, I was always photographing my children and people would tell me I should start doing that for a living. I never much thought about it seriously until I was at work one day and said, "Is this what I want to do with the rest of my life? I have no college experience, I have three small children, a husband with a great job and Osage is a great place to raise your children, so moving was not an option."
Arickx continued, "Without a college diploma your job choices are not so abundant, especially in a small town. So I continued working, but also started a small photography business out of my home. Soon I was too busy with my own business and three children, so I quit my other job and started solely doing photography. Most recently I expanded and moved my business to 518 Main Street.
"I love my job because of my clients," Arickx commented. "I get to capture a moment in that person's life that they will look back to for years to come. I love to make them happy. My mission is to give my clients great photos at an affordable price."
"I primarily photograph people," Arickx stated. "From children to families, to senior portraits and weddings. My favorite thing to photograph is to capture the emotions on the bride's face on their wedding day. Words cannot describe the emotions you can see in the bride's face on her wedding day when she sees the man she will spend the rest of her life with."
Recently Arickx has begun to expand her business.
"This year I took over the school athletic/events photography job at the Osage Schools and have really been enjoying that," she said. "I have been out of school long enough that I don't know any of the kids anymore, so getting to know them has been fun."
"I more recently started photographing more landscape scenes," said Arickx. "My father in law, Gregg Arickx, owns and operates a custom framing business, Cut n' Corners, where I have my art work framed and matted. My business is now called Arickx Photography and Expressive Art Gallery."
In addition to doing photography, you can purchase my artwork or bring in something you already have and have it framed and matted. I also do something I call expressive letter art. In about a 6-month time frame I accumulated photos that I took of objects that look like letters. People can order art that has their last names or popular words such as: live, laugh, love, etc."
Arickx is married to her husband Brandon who has worked at Tops Business Forms for the past 8 years. The couple has three boys, Darius, 7, Devyn, 5, and Dawson 2.
"We love to spend time together as a family in our free time, when we do have it," she said. "We love to take family trips once or twice a year. Brandon, with the 2 older children's help, enjoys cooking on his smoker on the weekends. They have become quite the cooks. We also enjoy having company over to eat."
Store hours for Arickx Photography and Expressive Art Gallery are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 2 to 5 p.m. She also is closed during scheduled appointments. You must call to schedule a photographing session.
"I will be running monthly specials at my new location," Arickx stated. "For bookings in November- December, I am offering specials on family sitting fee which is an extra saving for people who want to get their Christmas pictures and cards done."
Story created Nov 18, 2008 - 11:04:43 CST.
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