Entrusting a photographer with the responsibility of capturing your most precious images is a big deal; whether it’s for your yearly family portrait or your once-in-a-lifetime wedding. You want to know at least a little bit about the person you are hiring and be able to trust that they are going to produce the type of images you want.
       My name is Kristyn Leonard, and I am the proud owner of RedAce Photographix. I grew up in Salem, Oregon and I got my first camera at the age of 8, a wonderful 110 that I used to photograph every plant on my grandmother’s deck.
       At the age of 18, I moved to Hawai‘i to attend Brigham Young University – Hawai‘i where I graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in Communication Studies and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Cultural Studies, Communication Studies emphasis. While in college I took some photography classes through the local continuing education department and for my internship I worked with ‘Olelo, which is the Community Access Television Station in Hawai‘i. For my senior project I created a documentary on the relationship between language and culture, focusing on a Hawai‘ian immersion preschool, Punanaleo. So not exactly photography, but at least I still had a camera in my hand.
       About a year after I graduated I decided to move to Nashville, TN; I was working at Kinko’s at the time and transferred with them so I would at least have a job in Nashville, and that’s where I met him… the most attractive, wonderful guy on the face of the planet! Too bad he didn’t even see me…and he had a girlfriend. So after 6 months I moved to Utah to work as a recording engineer, I love music as much as I love photography. Then the strangest thing happened, that wonderful attractive guy broke up with his girlfriend and followed me! We moved from Utah back to Oregon and were married November 23, 2004.
       After the big day, since I knew he would follow me just about anywhere, we moved back to Hawai‘i where I started on a Master’s degree at Hawai‘i Pacific University. We decided to switch gears after about a year in Hawai‘i and moved to Savannah, where houses are much more reasonable and Joel could attend Savannah College of Art and Design for his Master’s (He received a Bachelor of Art in Art, Graphic Design emphasis from David Lipscomb University in Nashville right before he moved to Utah).
       But, fate had other things in mind... right after we got here, and before we could even think about SCAD we found out I was PREGNANT! Surprise! And ever since we have been working hard to give our little munchkin the best we can. Which is what brought me to finally take the leap to open our own business where we can have just a little more control over our lives. And although we’re small now, my goal is to one day be able to work for only RedAce (which by the way – is our two nicknames…).