Southeast Minnesota photographer tells life stories from beginning to end

Sara Guymon, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
Updated ·4 min read

Apr. 8—WINONA, Minn. — Sierra Kurth is capturing the beauty of life from the beginning to the end.

Sierra Kurth has always had an interest in photography. She's tried other artforms but photography is her passion. She grew up taking photos of friends and family before finally realizing that this could be a potential career path. She specializes in family photography, but offers a wide variety of different packages.

"I was really into taking pictures of my friends and my family and I was just always editing them," said Kurth. "Then I had the idea of getting paid for it. I had no education behind it, but in 2015, I started taking clients and made my Facebook page and my website. I specialize in family photography, and I do a lot of children's photography, boudoir photography and then when my cat passed away a few years ago, I started doing the end of life pet sessions."

Kurth is located out of Winona County but is willing to travel thoughtout Southeast Minnesota. Most of the packages include all of the edited digitals, with typically 30-80 per contracted hour.

Kurth offers photo packages for end of life pet and a honoring a loved one. Both are designed for the client to pay what they want to ensure they can have memories to preserve during or after the loss.

"My inspiration for that was when my cat died, I knew that she's gone and I've just realized that I don't have as many pictures of her as I would have loved to have," said Kurth. "So I know at the time I was not in a super great financial place. So I wouldn't have been able to afford paying somebody full price for our photo shoot. So I created Miley's Mission to make photo sessions available to those in any financial bracket."

Over the past few months, the inquiries about this package have increased. It was a package that Kurth had never advertised before, but she started to last fall.

"It's kind of cool to create relationships with these people too," said Kurth. "I have one that found a mass in their dog and she was just keeping me in the loop for all the vet appointments and when their vet finally gave them the 'your dog could have days or weeks' prognosis and they reached out and we scheduled their session."

In addition to the pet package, Kurth offers an end of life package that is also on a pay-what-you-can basis.

Kurth has developed many connections through her career, but her favorite part is connecting with kids.

"I have clients that started as infants or even maternity photos before they were born and now they're in elementary school," said Kurth. "It's really cool to see kids grow and then when I became a mom myself, I got really into motherhood photography and just telling people's stories. I've had clients who have had miscarriages and told those stories. Just connecting with the kids is probably my favorite part."

Kurth is the mother to two daughters who she loves to take photos of. She's really delved into motherhood photography and hopes to make her packages suitable for new moms.

"I was exhausted and lacking sleep and I just didn't have a lot of energy to take pictures with my own girls, even though I have the photography skills to do so," said Kurth. "I didn't feel that any of the surrounding photographers in my area offered a package that catered to new mothers and so I have worked really hard to make affordable packages that moms can take care of before the baby comes. The payment, the planning and then I literally do the rest. I pick out the outfits. I bring the props. I decorate the space and make sure that all the moms have to do is just show up with their little one."

She has also been doing boudoir photoshoots for a few years.

"I really like the empowerment," said Kurth. "I feel good after the session. The clients feel good. There's a lot you can do with one. You can make it sexy, you can make it just empowering. You can wear a lot of clothes or not so much clothes."

There can often be a negative connotation to boudoir photos, but Kurth said she is all about the empowerment of women. The photoshoots have increased in popularity in recent years and Kurth is excited to do more, especially when her new photo studio is finished hopefully sometime this year.

"I think it really blew up around the pandemic," said Kurth. "I think people were just at home and they were really working on themselves. People have the downtime to exercise and eat well and work on their skincare and everybody was feeling really fabulous about themselves."