ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Those looking for a photographer who can take formal studio photos now have just that with the new King Luxe Photography studio at 112 W. 2nd Street.
As owner Julie King tells it, photography has been a long-time hobby of hers.
“I've been a photographer since 2011, and I got started because I was tired of my children's sports photos and school photos not being of as good a quality as I felt they should have been,” Julie said. “There was also some inconsistency in terms of whether or not they would even get those photos – sometimes they were offered and other times they weren't, but I wanted consistent photos of my children for memory's sake. I had been in photography in 4-H when I was a kid and learned to take photos with film and process those in a darkroom and all of that, so I'm familiar with those processes. Then, when I was in high school, I was in journalism and yearbook and really enjoyed all of that, and I found myself missing that after I graduated from high school. When I went to SCCC, I did some work out there as far as taking photos of different things and events, but I started wondering how I could incorporate that into my life. I started rather as a hobby – I'd always done landscape photos and architectural photos and family/friend portraits. I started with film and then digital became all the rage and became really popular, and I wasn't sure what to do since everything had changed.”
Eventually, Julie said, there was a massive shift to take in.
“There came a time when the entire industry changed and there wasn't much film photography going on anymore since everyone was so excited about the digital evolution. So I ended up doing a deep dive online to figure out where I could learn about this new industry, and I started practicing on family and friends and other people I knew,” Julie said. “Once I decided I was going to pursue a part-time job in photography – I've always worked another job as well – I decided I needed to get in touch with someone who knew more than I did. I did some more research and found the Professional Photographers Association, which I joined, and it was definitely worth the investment. I then went to the Texas School of Professional Photography and took some business classes at another school and graduated with everything I needed to. I started collaborating with other professional photographers and getting some advice and mentorship. When my children were in school, their coaches started asking me if I could take their sports photos, which I happily did. I proceeded to start my photography business along with the two other jobs I had at that time, and I started with youth and team sports. I did that pretty heavily for a few years, and then I started incorporating other genres of photography like family portraits and weddings and things like that. Jimmy and I met in 2020 and married in 2021, and my previous business was under my old name, so we decided to do a rebrand and rename the business, so we created a new logo and design and everything else and ultimately decided to name the studio King Luxe Photography. We also started building up our inventory of props and backdrops and all of that.”
Co-owner Jimmy King said there was a lot of work that went into the business.
“When we started building everything up and focusing on expanding the brand, we were operating out of our home like many other photographers in the area. About four years ago, we started acquiring props and backdrops with the goal of opening an official studio spot in Liberal, and then it was about a year or year and a half ago when we started seriously looking at commercial spots in town,” Jimmy said. “Ideally, we had to have high ceilings, we wanted to be in the downtown area and somewhere that saw a lot of traffic, and we wanted to be somewhere highly visible. All that being said, there was a lot of patience required for a place like that to become available. Our building, which has housed a few other businesses, eventually became available, and there was a lot of back-and-forth with the previous owners in terms of negotiating a price, which took about six to eight months. But eventually, we signed the deal and took the building over, at which point all the fun began. We remodeled the entire building aesthetically and did some needed upgrades, but we kept the major bones of the space like the high ceilings and the other historic fixtures. With Julie being a professional photographer, we wanted to have a nice, big studio that offered multiple backdrops and other features, which we have, and we use a company in Alabama to manufacture those. It was also important to have a salon included in the space because in our mind, photography and beauty go together, so we wanted to provide a space that was elegant and unlike anything Liberal's had before. We want this to be almost a total immersion experience for all of our clients.”
After working on the space for so long, both Kings said they are excited to have the studio now officially open.
“With the salon area, there are a couple loose ends to finish with that, but we will soon be able to rent out those booths. We're really excited to be able to serve the community. There's been a need in this area for a professional photography studio for quite some time, and we have had clients expressing they wish there was somewhere to go and get classic, traditional portrait photos taken,” Julie said. “I feel like a lot of people are past some of the recent trends in photography and want to go back to that classic look that can be passed down as time goes on. We create legacy images – we're all going to have stories our descendants will tell, and those stories will continue getting passed down. However, if you don't have an image to put with the story, there's not that legacy there, and it's important to historically document not just the community, but our families. I'm excited to provide that service to people and provide a custom session for our clients where they get the images they really want and deserve. When we meet with clients, we customize the session to their wants.”
“And it's also important for families to have family photos in their homes. A lot of people we've talked to have realized they don't have very many, if any, true family photos on their walls at home since everything is digital and in the cloud and shared mainly on social media,” Jimmy said. “And that's great for those avenues, but what's hanging on the wall at home? We've brought that back to where you can get those types of photos of your family and/or children to hang in your home. We can also do business photos and drone photos and other types of photography, we want to provide that need for people in this area.”
Julie said photography is an art that cannot be understated.
“The important thing we want people to realize is while social media images are great for documenting the daily things, they're not very big in terms of file size, so when you print them out, they don't turn out the greatest,” Jule said. “Digital files also degrade over time. We know technology changes and social media platforms change, and those photos – at some point – are at risk of getting lost or damaged in some way. And if those photos are lost, there's nothing left, so if you're wanting images that will be around for a long, long time, it's important to use a professional to capture those images. I would encourage people to come in, speak with us, and we'll set up a consultation and talk about what the process will be like and all of that. Another thing is, when you have a family and children growing up in your home, it's scientifically proven that children who see their photos on the wall at home have more self-confidence, better self-image and feel like they're really part of a family and loved. I would also want people to know there's going to come a time when we're not going to be here anymore, and it's important for future generations to know where they came from, and these photos are going to outlive everyone. We feel like it's our calling to provide this service and help people preserve their family legacy.”
“We've only been officially open a few weeks so far, and we've been really well received and have booked several sessions. We're still transitioning to this new building in some ways, but that's all coming together,” Jimmy added. “We've been really well received so far and have had a great rapport so far with the Seward County Development Corporation staff and the mayor and other City of Liberal leaders, and we can't be grateful enough for that. We encourage anyone and everyone to stop by and visit with us. And there are actually a lot of younger people who have never even heard of a photography studio, so they have no frame of reference for that type of experience, and we're happy to explain everything we do. But once they come in and get immersed in the environment, they love it because we're not just creating photos, we're creating art centered around them.”
The studio is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and then from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and people can call for a session or consultation at (620) 309-8437, or they can email
“It's definitely been a challenge getting everything put together, but we're really happy with what we have now and we can't wait for everything to fully come together,” Jimmy said. “Julie and I are a mom-and-pop operation, so when we jumped into this, there was definitely a lot to do. But that's the dream, taking something over and taking that risk. We jumped headfirst into this and so far, we're very, very happy with how things are going. Clients have come in and been amazed with what we've done with the building and how we have everything set up.”
