We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Karyn Millet a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Karyn, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
After spending 14 years in publishing and public relations, I decided to pick up a camera and joined the creative side of things. Having all those years of previous experience in the industry really helped me and I started shooting right away after a couple photography courses. This was quite fortunate I know. When you “re-invent” yourself career-wise after some experience, it is such a great opportunity to blend it all together in a way that is successful and satisfying. It’s wonderful to approach an industry from the creative side now, but while fully realizing the editorial and marketing goals from the publishing and pr perspective.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am an LA-based magazine photographer who specializes in interiors and travel. I contribute to magazines such as House Beautiful, Traditional Home, Luxe, Coastal Living, Conde’ Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, etc. When I first started out shooting, I decided to photograph what I love … and that is interiors. When you are passionate about a subject, your clients can sense it and appreciate it. I love shooting the large, establishing shots and also the smaller details and vignettes. I call it a push / pull factor. The large shots give you an overall look and the more intimate shots draw you into the scene, creating some emotion.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a photographer is being able to tell the story of another creative person… the designer and/or architect or even hotelier. The photo shoot represents a culmination of 1000’s of design decisions they had to make that result in a photo I take. It is a responsibility and a privilege to show their project in the very best light.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Currently, my goal is to keep my social media audience refined to a point where people who follow me keenly have an interest in design, architectural and travel. I think it very strange that people want millions of followers for monetary gain. It seems counter intuitive from being an artist where understanding and curation are key.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.karynmillet.com
- Instagram: @karynmillet and also @krushimag
- Other: I think your readers would truly enjoy my Instagram magazine, Krush. It’s just 10 pages and filled with design and destination photos I’ve taken with text to give them a look into the worlds of interiors and travel. We also post behind-the-scenes videos from photo shoots. It can be found here… @krushimag
Image Credits
Portrait: photo credit Dan Shea
(Photo of the sofa) Interior Design: Molly Isaksen Interiors
(Photo of the living room) Interior Design: Lucas Studio, Inc.
(Photo of the chair): Interior Design: Amy Meier
(Photo of the dining room) Interior Design: Jackson Paige Interiors
({Photo of resort) Hotel: Cotton House, Mustique