We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kris Dowlen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kris below.
Alright, Kris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar you earn in a new endeavor is always special. We’d love to hear about how you got your first client that wasn’t a friend or family.
In my early days of photography and videography, like many creatives, I was doing a significant amount of unpaid work, which is typical for beginners. Despite not receiving compensation initially, I loved what I was doing and was having a lot of fun doing it, which is a major factor in the beginning of any sort of business. I knew I would be compensated for my work eventually, but my primary focus was on perfecting my craft. My first paying client resulted directly from the exposure gained through months of free content creation, leading to inquiries sparked by my work shared on various social media platforms.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I grew up about 35 minutes outside of Nashville in Springfield, TN. I attended both high school and college in Nashville and have been here all my life.
I graduated high school in 2016 and in 2017, my journey into photo/video began organically as I frequently found myself behind a camera among friends. The turning point came when I purchased my own camera in August of 2017. Realizing my passion and a clear direction for my future, I spent the next few months watching HUNDREDS of YouTube tutorials learning camera settings, lighting techniques, and editing skills.
In January 2018, I enrolled at the Art Institute of Nashville, continuing at Nossi College of Art after the closure of AI. Graduating in the summer of 2022, I received four significant awards at the ceremony: Talent Discovery (Best of the Best), Perseverance Award, Class Participant, and Academic Allstar—(Significant to me because in high school my senior superlative was “Most Likely to Sleep In Class.”)
I film & photograph everything from live events, weddings, music videos, sporting events and almost everything else you can capture with a camera.
I also do graphic design/illustration, along with music production. So if you are a musical artist, I could be your one stop shop for almost all of your musical/visual needs.
This is something I believe sets me apart from a lot of creators, especially in Nashville. There aren’t too many people who can make your beats for your album, do all of the music videos / photoshoots for the songs, AND create your album cover, all from scratch.
Although a lot of my work may seem centered around music, I am not boxed in to only taking on projects that are exclusive to the music scene.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In late February 2020, I got an infection following dental work, leading me to check into the hospital on March 1, 2020, due to severe discomfort. After initial tests, I was urgently transferred to Vanderbilt for further assessments and potential surgery. En route, I received morphine, and my last recollection was shortly after arriving at Vanderbilt.
After regaining consciousness over a week later, I learned I had undergone 10 surgeries during that time, with medical professionals emphasizing that had I not come in when I did, I was facing certain death. During the eight days I was unconscious, significant global events unfolded, including the brief emergence of “Murder Hornets,” a destructive tornado in Nashville causing equipment shortages in the hospital, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before my hospitalization, quarantines and lockdowns were foreign topics to me, so waking up to a world in the midst of a pandemic was vastly different than the one I had known just a week earlier.
While in my hospital bed with a trachea and feeding tube in my nose, I was still able to maintain communication with current and potential clients via text/email, and was able to book a few small projects following my discharge and recovery. I even closed a few sales on some of my older work while I was there.
Witnessing the chaos brought by Covid during my four-week hospital stay, I ultimately checked out of Vanderbilt on March 30, 2020.
This isn’t a pity party and I’m not looking for anyone to feel sorry for me, I just feel this is a very good illustration of resilience and it is something I am proud of. Not knowing how or when I would recover from this, I was still clear headed enough to work on my business make sure this small chapter in my life didn’t take away from my bigger picture, but added to it.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
In 2017 leading up to the purchase of my first camera, there was a small sequence of events that took place that completely changed my way of thinking and set me on the path that I am currently traveling. This audio clip, that was showed to me by a close friend at the time, is the very start of that sequence of events.
It is titled “The Strangest Secret” by Earl Nightingale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN6m0-UVLro
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linqapp.com/snappedbykris
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snappedbykris/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kris-dowlen-450035190
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iewjZeBAB5U
- Other: https://www.beatstars.com/snappedbykris
Image Credits
Kris Dowlen | @snappedbykris