Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carlos Ku King. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Carlos, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

It’s difficult to pinpoint a time when it became clear art is what I wanted to do with my life. I suppose it’s been one of those things that has always played a part of my life. I can go back all the way back to Pre-K, and remembering myself just sitting there drawing or writing silly stories I’d have my friends play out with action figures. So for me, pursuing a career in art, or media was just something that made sense, and I couldn’t really see any other options for myself. Maybe the first instance when I felt those feelings were validated, was when an old teacher told my mom I was an artist and to be happy about that. I had some difficulty in school, with some of my grades falling a little short. He had talked to my mom during a parent-teacher meeting and had told her that. Since then, I felt my mother had my back in any sort of decision I would in respect to my career choices, and probably made it easier for me to do that.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a video producer, as well as a visual artist. Some of the work I focus on is documentary style filmmaking, educational productions, illustrations, and photography, mainly analog photography. The main thing about my work is that I try to get to the realism aspect of it as much as possible. I love presenting things just as they are, with the type of aesthetic I find the most pleasing. So in many instances, especially those I am in control of creatively, what you get from the camera is what you get, or at least as closed to as possible.

In my personal projects, I’m usually attracted to stories about less than known characters or topics. With photography, you will find me in some dirty dark alley, or a busy street, capturing the chaos around it. Those are my favorite subjects.

A lot of my other “more professional” work is educational. I have been producing educational content for about a decade now. Most of it being medical, as I work for a medical educational portal for my day job. In that role, I also approach it in a documentary style manner, and I always attempt to portray each story in the realest way possible.

For those looking to work with me, I would say that as a freelancer I approach each project that lands on me by taking it on a direction sometimes the client does not expect. My aesthetic is very much based on old film, tv, as well as vintage Japanese photo books. Having grown up in a rich multicultural environment, has informed every single aspect of my work. I can take inspiration from a Tokusatsu show, or a 1990’s MTV bumper, as much as I can from a Danny Boyle film, or a Daido Moriyama photo.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

One of the most important resources I actually knew about, and helped me a lot in my journey, was online education. And by that I mean online tutorials. Nowadays they are incredibly common, and very easy to access, but back then they were a little harder to find, unless you knew exactly what you were looking for. I would say to anyone coming up or starting their career in video/film production, go online and supplement school with tutorials, even if it seems too advanced for you. You will pick up a few tools and remember them once you are asked to use them in the real world. By the time I reached school, I already had a good grasp on how editing suites worked.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think more social programs, and more investments could be done to help artists, specially at a local level. Art and Creativity is still seen as something that isn’t as important or crucial as other careers, so maybe reaching out to less privileged communities with social programs is something I would like to see. More government subsidized programs should be the way to go.

Contact Info:

• Website: uncannyvalleymedia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lcl_null