Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Koi Digital Media Co.. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Koi Digital Media Co., appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

We set ourselves apart by not being afraid to experiment and think outside the box. We feel like coming from the world of skateboarding culture, it has endowed us with a certain level of steez and originality that we fully embrace. Also Laura and I can offer each other a separate perspective to our work, which has been a tried and true method since day 1. Apart from that, we always push each other to be better than we are and mix in the fact that were both very competitive haha. I personally feel like my work wouldn’t be as good without input from Laura. so I guess what sets us apart is our refusal to become complacent. since day one, we’ve understood that we are not going to stand out unless we’re actually good at what we do.

Koi Digital Media Co., 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?

We are Jonathan Garcia and Laura Davis of Koi Digital Media. We create branding media for companies individuals, and small businesses and like to consider ourselves a one stop shop for everything photo/video related. our jobs are dynamic and vary from client to client, which keeps it very interesting and challenging. We got started doing freelance photography in 2019 just before the pandemic kicked off, and we utilized all the free time we had during lockdown, to really hone our craft and learn all the technical aspects of photography that we could. We think that’s when we really started to DEVELOP. Thats a photography joke. But we won’t EXPOSE you to that humor hahaha. ISO think we should retire that bit but I digress.(photo people will get it)

A challenge we faced in the early days, was an oversaturated market of photographers and videographers who, frankly just aren’t good at it. It’s hard to get noticed in a sea of mediocrity. so the goal was to be a cut above the rest, as far as technical abilities and more importantly, creativity. We strategized different ways to get our name out there, and did a lot of charity work for things near and dear to us. During that time, Jon got a drone and logged many many hours of flight time in an effort to “git gud”. Even got an award from DJI for recording so many hours of flight time. the drone became very crucial to our business and makes us a triple threat doing photo video and drone. each of us play a role in how the flow of the business runs and we stay in our lanes…mostly.

Our creative style and Aesthetic is deeply rooted in skateboarding, much like a lot of creative directors and filmmakers such as Spike Jones, or sports photographer, Atiba Jefferson. Skateboarding teaches you to roll with the punches and adapt to things very quickly, and lets you see the world from a different perspective, and a lot of it is style and grace. A lot of lessons are learned on that piece of wood with wheels, When all this stuff is applied to the world of business it just feels very natural. constantly evolving and improving and embracing adversity. So far it has worked and were excited to see what the future holds.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

We think that NFT’s are like a prototype version of a currency system that is in its infant stage and will evolve into something better in the future. The fact that NFT’s are a thing, yet no one can really explain them or understand them, is weird, and that sorta reminds me of how it was when the internet first arrived going back further, when the first plane flight took place at Kitty Hawk, or the invention of the automobile, and then if you want to go allllllllllll the way back, when the primitive man learned to use tools. these are all things that, in that time might have seemed crazy to the people, but in retrospect are all key things that changed the world and led us to where we are. NFT’s im interested to see what that turns into.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Our initial capital was out of pocket and it was a 200 dollar canon T3i from cash America pawn shop on 30 and broadway, and while we didn’t purchase the camera with the intention of being professional photographers, its what led us here. at that time 200 bucks was quite an investment for us but were happy we bought it and we still keep the receipt. we were going to keep the camera but I came across a young man on Facebook that wanted to trade his drone for a dslr camera. the guy lived in San Antonio and I could tell he really wanted to level up his gear and that he may not have the means to do that. he reminded me of myself(Jon) so we(Laura and myself) went on a road trip to get this kid his camera. it was a pretty fair trade because his drone was a mini 1. but yeah the road trip was an awesome adventure. by the time we decided to become a business, we had enough gear to get by and with a philosophy of making the absolute best with what we had it helped us learn and also to appreciate the gear we use now. mostly all of the money we made went back into the business which in turn, helped us get better business, because our gear was better. but lets face it, we’re just adults buying cool toys and using those toys to help buy more toys. its an endless cycle haha.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://koikoiphotography.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/koikoi_photography
• Youtube: Koi Digital Media co.

Image Credits
photo credit: Koi Digital Media Co. all photos taken by myself or Laura and belong to Koi Digital Media Co.