By Deb Peterson | Photographs courtesy of Kim Singer
She fishes remote waters, climbs tall mountains, and shoots Razorbacks—games, that is. She can laugh so hard she bends over gasping for air. I have known her to dance with abandon, one hand clutching a maraca.
Kim Singer is an adventurer. She says yes to life. Enthusiasm for anything fun and creative, anything adventurous, bubbles out of her. If you happen to be within the sphere of her aura at the time, I can almost guarantee you will be inspired to join her spirit of celebration, perhaps without even realizing what it is you are celebrating. She’s a force.
Marvelous! has had the great fortune of working with Kim on several stories and covers. She photographed Jamie Rigdon and Anna Pogue for the December/January 2013 cover, Vicki Vowell for the October/November 2012 cover, Molly Clark for the cover of February/March 2012, and Lisa Chism for the cover of April/May 2011.
She owns Kim Singer Photography in Greenwood, Arkansas, where her husband, Matthew, owns The Greenwood Veterinary Clinic. She is an official photographer of the Arkansas Razorbacks. When they aren’t running their respective businesses, out on photo shoots, or off on adventures, Kim and Matthew are fishing the waters of the Twin Lakes Area where they own a second home.
I know Kim well enough to know she is not Superwoman every hour of the day, and that makes her even more interesting to me. She is real. When she’s down, as we all are at times, she picks herself up and looks forward, as any adventurer would do.
Q & A with Kim Singer
M!: What have been your favorite adventures?
KS: Developing a photography business for the last nine years, deciding to tackle fly fishing as a hobby to share with my husband and taking it to extreme levels, and climbing the Grand Teton. It’s 13,770 feet that I have complete respect for.
M!: What are your favorite moments from them, the snapshots that pop up first in your memories?
KS: As far as photography, the relationships I’ve developed with my clients, especially my wedding couples. As far as fly fishing, I challenged my body and mind backpacking a portion of Yellowstone Park for four days, fly-fishing in remote waters that most people would refuse to go to, and yeah, the grizzly bear threat hanging over my head was there too. It was worth every moment of hip flexor pulls and muscle exhaustion.
M!: Who or what inspired you to choose these adventures?
KS: Being the mother of a daughter, I feel one of the best things I can do for her is to show by example. Being a wife, adventures are a wonderful way to share time with my husband.
M!: What difficulties, if any, did you encounter and how did you overcome them?
KS: Daily I’m challenged with, “Is it good enough?,” “Did I work hard enough?,” self-gratification. I have learned to be at peace with my endeavors, to not be so hard on myself, to not judge my every move.
When an adventure comes along, the first thing I do is truly believe that I am already successful purely by accepting the challenge. People sometimes ask me, “Why do you do this?” I simply say, wearing a goofy smile of course, “Why not?”
M!: How have your adventures changed you?
KS: I have overcome fears I never knew I had, such as the fear of trusting. When climbing the Grand Teton, there are several times when another person was responsible for securing my safety. It’s called belaying. This was something I had issues with only because I was deemed the clean-up climber, hence the last one up bringing the hardware. Although the person belaying is there just in case, I had to overcome the fact that I was trusting this person with my life. Also, just dealing with the elevation, climate, etc., I feared my mental strength was not up to the challenge and had to constantly speak to myself within.
I have grown spiritually, and best of all, I have met people I could have never met otherwise and now consider friends.
M!: What is your next dream adventure?
KS: That’s the thing…I don’t have one. Keeping an open mind allows me to see the possibilities that I can’t think are possible.
M!: What would you like women to know about having the courage to go out and make their dreams come true?
KS: Allowing yourself to go beyond your comfort zone is completely empowering and the best part about it, it is addicting.
M! FM 2013
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