About Me | Kaili Hanenburg Photography

Meet Kaili

I'm excited to tell you my story, but truth is I just feel like a girl lucky enough to pick up a camera.

My journey to becoming a full-time photographer is pretty unconventional to say the least. It started back in 2015, when Sophomore year of high school I was placed into yearbook class instead of a regular elective. I protested this "because who would wanna spend all year with some yearbook nerds" but I couldn't get into another class regardless of how much I annoyed my counselor. My sweet yearbook teacher put up with my whining to switch classes by handing me camera and told me "go take photos of the football game after school."

Thus turning me into one of the yearbook nerds ;) I quickly realized it was cool to be the one carrying around the camera at school assemblies and sporting events, because everyone wants their photos taken right? From there I was hooked, I began taking photos of my friends and family during my free-time and editing the images on VSCO and posting them to Facebook. Luckily as my curiosity grew, so did my editing skills. I grew my little business taking senior portraits as a side hustle to make extra money before heading off to my freshman year of college in Arizona....

I was convinced I was going to be in broadcasting

Being away in Arizona my freshman year made me appreciate my home state of Colorado more than anything. I went to college originally planning to put photography aside but each summer I came home from college I still got requests to take senior portraits. I quickly realized I loved this creative outlet of photography way more than I ever would working an office job after completing summer internships. So I took the leap to leave in-person college and moved back home to Colorado to pursue my degree online from The University of Colorado #skobuffs!

Being able to complete my bachelors degree online while simultaneously growing my business made 2021 one of the most rewarding years of my life so far! Currently, I reside in my hometown of Castle Rock, Colorado alongside my greatest cheerleaders (my amazing parents, my little brother & a bulldog named Daisy)

xoxo - Kaili