We were lucky to catch up with Charles Kennedy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Charles, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Earning a full-time living from my creative work as definitely been a journey. I got laid off from my corporate job in 2018 and I honestly started looking for a new job the same day I got laid off. My wife encouraged me to work on getting my business off the ground and start doing that full time. Without her encouragement and all of her support over the years I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing with the same kind of success. I don’t think there’s any speeding up the process. Everything happens in its own time and it takes a long time building clientele, and a reputation that encourages people to refer you. It’s so competitive and there are so many people who have been doing it longer, you just have to put your head down and keep making steps forward no matter how big or small.

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 grew up in Pontiac, Michigan and I’ve always had a big imagination and sense of humor but I figured my path would lead me to doing something with number since I was also really good at math. I didn’t really figure out what I wanted to do until senior year of high school. I was apart of the audio/visual ministry at my church, and one of my mentors there suggested that I go to school for broadcasting. I took his advice and ended up at Lawrence Tech University. When I got there, my focus was on audio engineering until one of my classmates invited me to work on a 48 hour film challenge. That opened my eyes to all kinds of possibilities. I never realized that making movies was possible if you weren’t in Hollywood. I would say the rest is history but I worked in a handful of different departments (sound, art, camera, directing etc) until I eventually realized where my gifts and voice truly are. Now, my work primarily comes in photography and cinematography. I love telling stories visually and using my imagination to do so. No matter what the assignment is, the camera is a vessel to getting my ideas out and I treat every shoot personally and want to get better with every press of the shutter. I’m most proud of how far I’ve come in such a short time. I didn’t really accept the fact that imagemaking was my where my voice was until recently. I have my tribe to thank for that. I wouldn’t have gotten to this point without their support.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Creating is like therapy for me. It allows me to process painful moments and experiences that confuse me through the lens of someone else. It’s also a way for me to say things and philosophize without feeling like I have to censor myself. That’s the most rewarding thing for me.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

This isn’t a lesson I had to “unlearn” per se but I had to learn how to evolve my thought process over time. My college advisor as a freshman told me to learn as much as I could in different areas so that I could come out of school with as many tools as possible so that I could land a job easier. That was definitely helpful because it allowed me to do a lot more than I would’ve had I not taken heed. But one thing that I’ve learned lately is that I’m more valuable and have a higher ceiling if I become a master of one thing rather than a jack of all trades. The most important thing for me in evolving in that thinking is identifying what I’m not passionate about doing and how that affects my work. Once I learned that, I went all in on imagemaking and I’ve seen a leap in the quality of my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.charleskennedyjr.com
• Instagram: Www.instagram.com/ckennedyjr
• Facebook: Www.facebook.com/ckennedyjr
• Other: Www.mis-fitted.com

Image Credits
Siddy Morgan Tony Adegbola Anna Soustina Zachary Cunningham