About Us

My friends, welcome! I am genuinely humbled that you've navigated to this depth on our website. I hope that whether you decide to work with me or not, that this will not be a waste of your time. I suppose I should dive into telling you about me. Friends, I'm closer to 30 years old than I am to 20 these days and boy has it been a ride. Most of my life I spent it being the black sheep, a misfit, and misunderstood. I spent a lot of my life feeling like I wasn't good enough or that no one would ever find it worth the while to get to know the real Rylie.  I used photography and poetry to escape much of my younger years, they were a means for me to be heard and understood - even if I never shared the content with others. I was for sure the girl who always had her camera (before it was trendy!) Fast forward to high school, my small town didn't have much to offer in terms of work for a kid looking to make some gas money so I launched my photography business.

 

In my first year I photographed over 100 senior sessions, three weddings and countless families. A new layer to my creative passion had been birthed, though I'll admit I had no idea how to run a business. Fast forward to college, I had become a suicidal atheist with no desire to keep living life so alone, so misunderstood, and very much broken. The night of my intended suicide attempt, I found myself instead crying out to a God I didn't believe in - I begged for the spirit of depression to be removed and for someone to know me, to love me, to stay. Friends, I'm able to write to you on my about page of my photography business because of what happened next - that next morning the depression was lifted off of my life and that week I met my husband. All because Christ found me worthy to be saved, not just once but twice, all because of him I'm here today. After God answered my prayers, I was led to the lord and welcomed Jesus into my heart. Not long after that, God put a charge on my heart to love others in a way only unique to them - It's my life's desire that no one will feel alone or insecure with me. I want to know and love others for who they are at their core, I desire to meet and see people where they're at - this is a gift I hold closely to my heart.

 

You see, I thought when God brought my husband, Eric, into my life that that was his way of answering my prayer for someone to know me for me and love me for me. This is true mostly about my husband, but in actuality God is that answered prayer. He knows me fully, because he created me in his image - and I am fully known and fully loved by him and I have a purpose in my life because of his creation of me. This my friends, is The Truth and it is true for you as well. You were created in the image of God, you were his idea, his invention! In short, there is a God that knows all of you, that loves all of you, that has compassion and a calling for your life. I pray you will choose to pursue knowing him fully too, if you'd like help in how to get started, I would be overjoyed to love you through this!

 

So that's my "why," I am here to serve you and capture you and your relationships in a candid photojournalistic style so that I can tell your story while also expressing my view of the world around me creatively. God made me an introvert with a big personality and a wild imagination, I suppose I'd be called a dreamer. I was also made with big emotions and a preference for deep meaningful conversations and relationships. I believe there is power and healing and strength in vulnerability and wearing your heart on your sleeve, it creates an air of relatability and that removes isolation and at times the stronghold of the devil. I believe deep down most often, we as people have good intentions and should be extended grace when our humanness reveals itself in our faults, flaws, and sins. I have no time in my life, nor interest, to deal with living up to arbitrary standards or the world's idea of perfect, I want to just embrace and live my life with Joy and peace. Because of God's redemptive love in my life, I have a sincere desire to grow and to glorify God through all areas of my life, especially my mess. Because of this I believe in blooming where we're planted while vetting ourselves against what the bible says, and doing the work to till our soil appropriately.

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Along with my faith and history, my husband and I have two young children who keep us very entertained and my goodness do we love those goofballs. Eric and I, even before getting engaged, shared a really strong passion for marriages that are strong, healthy, happy, and willing to work. Anyone who is married, knows that marriage can be really beautiful and really tough at times, and we live in a culture of divorce, long term dating, of abandonment, and of single-parent homes. We also live in a culture that has created this narrative that the world revolves around our children. There's some validity there at times, and yet my husband and I believe that Marriage was created in God's image for the betterment of the world and to glorify him, not to bring as much pain as it does at times. Of course, Satan wants nothing to Glorify God and he aims to destroy anything God-honoring like Godly perspective, the health, and the foundation of the family and we believe he does this through breaking apart marriages. The bible says to call upon the name of lord, Jesus, and he will rescue you. A marriage that is founded and centered around Christ will be a marriage and a family that thrives - this is our prayer for you, if you both cry out to Jesus, he will make your marriage and the marriages around you thrive!

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All of these things are complex values, truths, and thoughts of mine in a nutshell, yet what I've shared with you so far leads me into the values that Eric and I have for Kostreva Images. We want to honor God by loving people where they're at, celebrating everyone's uniqueness, serving our clients well and how we'd like to be served, all while being bold in our faith. Here at Kostreva Images, we believe in authenticity, biblical God-honoring marriages, accessibility, excellence and empowering others to be themselves as God made them. When working with me, I'm not recreating the same photoshoots with new faces or putting you into stuffy poses and telling you to fake laugh - No, I take a 'fly on the wall' approach, meaning I step back and give you the reigns so you can relax and just be present, while also equipping you with tools that remove burdens and will equip you to have a good experience. When working with me, I sincerely hope that you feel loved, seen and everyone can just enjoy their time together - as a result I believe you'll leave with images that are intimate, authentic, emotional - you'll get creative imagery that feels like home.