We recently connected with Kirstin Zahradnick and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kirstin, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I think I’ve spent far too much time in my life wondering what people think of me and the work that I do, so I choose not to think about it. However the hope of what you want to be remembered for is what drives character and pushes all of us to do what we do in our lives so I’ll answer to this question. I think growing up training to be a professional dancer I was always living with the mindset of doing everything possible to be the best that I can be. While this is extremely motivating and is what pushes people to the top, this isn’t in some ways what I strive for anymore. I think our modern day society has lost sight in the beauty of a mundane life in some ways. Everyone wants to be famous with all the luxuries that come with it and have a legacy that spans generations. To be honest I would be fine if my legacy didn’t last long after I pass. I hope with my photography I can give something so special to the subjects of my pictures that in someway that experience is unsharable and unique that it can’t be explained to anyone else who wasn’t a part of it. I want to give everyday people something that makes them appreciate the life that they have built for themselves. If I had to choose between millions of people seeing my photographs in a museum or knowing one couple treasures a portrait I took of them forever, I’d rather have the latter. I want my legacy to be that I took care of everyone who stepped in front of my lens no matter who they may be.

Kirstin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I defiantly took a round about way to getting into professional photography. I took photography classes in high school and was generously taken under my teacher Ms. Sierra’s wing, however my main goal as a child was to become a professional dancer. I trained for 20 years before accepting my first professional dance contract with Klaipėdos Valstybinis Muzikinis Teatras in Klaipeda, Lithuania. This was everything I had worked for my whole life, however I felt deeply unfulfilled and ethically at odds with the dance industry. There were a lot of things being promoted that I personally couldn’t stand for, and after conversing with many of my friends who were else where in the industry, it didn’t seem to be much better in other places. I’ve never been someone to stick around in a place or with people I didn’t get along with, so although this was a high stakes situation I quit dancing and moved back home to the States. I spent a good 4-5 months just trying to decide what I was going to do with my life. I’m very fortunate to have grown up with parents who let me pursue other hobbies and interests outside of dance, and one of those was photography. I brought my camera with me to every place I went, but it was always a passion project only to be brought out when I felt truly inspired. Fast forward to now and I am in the process of building my own company kz-portraits. I’m still in the early stages of building up my brand and working with clients, but the center point of kz-portraits is that I love photographing people. Whether it’s documenting and important stage of life, like an engagement, helping a business promote their own brand through my photographic skills, or simply capturing people at this exact moment in time for them to treasure for years to come. I want people to feel better about themselves and their lives after they leave my photoshoot sessions. I think something that sets me apart from other photographers would be the wide array of things I’m willing and wanting to photograph. I have ADHD, and while this makes certain things difficult for me at times, it also keeps me inspired to always be trying new things, and gives me a willingness to collaborate with clients to try and make something new. I understand that having a distinct brand is important to give clients security in what you are going to provide, but I hope I can find a client base that is willing to trust me in trying new things.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

While I have worked, as some people would call them, “normal jobs”, like at a retail store or as a waitress, my career path has always skewed creative. If I had a dollar for every time some one asked me “Okay, but what’s your real job?” when I told them I was going to be a professional dancer, I would have enough money to not need a job anymore. I’ve always had my career choices under scrutiny by the general public, and whether it be my former career in dance or my current career in photography, I always remind them of how important art is to our everyday lives. Most people go through this world not realizing how greatly art affects their everyday life and therefore they struggle to see it as a viable career option. I usually give them a daily scenario of how art touches their life in a multitude of ways before they even get to their 9-5 job. You wake up and get dressed in a suit, you get into your car, you turn on a playlist of your choice, you swing by your favorite coffee shop, you drive past hundreds of advertisements, all to arrive at your office building. It may seem obvious to everyone that they do all those things, but art has touched every single one of those moments whether they recognize it or not. Some one had to design that suit, someone had to render the shape of the car, someone had to produce to music that they use to set the mood for their day, someone had to work on the interior design for their favorite coffee shop that they like because of it’s atmosphere, someone had to do the graphic design for all the adds and logos they drive by, and someone spent hours upon hours to create the architecture for the office building they work in everyday. At some point I let go of defending dance or photography as a job, I defend art as a whole.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I think something that drives my creative journey, particularly through the lens of photography, would be that I can show people the true power of my craft. About 97% of American’s have a smart phone, which means they have a camera in their pocket. Anyone at anytime can capture a moment and within a matter of minutes share it with their friends across the globe. Now, I would consider myself to be an old soul so a lot of things that interest me aren’t particularly popular with my generation, or even some of those above me. However, I hope through my photographs I am able to spark an interest in people to enjoy photography as an art. Anyone can capture a moment with their phone camera, but a photographer can capture not just the moment, but the essence as well. There is a somewhat magical quality to what a professional camera and photographer can bring to a scene. I know that hiring out a photographer can be a costly endeavor, but I hope my art can inspire people to take the leap of faith and let me turn their own life into a piece of art that they can have forever.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kz-portraits.com
• Instagram: @kzportraits
• Facebook: kz-portraits
• Linkedin: Kirstin (KZ) Zahradnick

Image Credits
kz-portraits