We recently connected with Jhalin Knowles and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jhalin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
From a very young age, my parents taught me to chase any goal I had. I come from a very creative/multi-talented family. My dad is a designer, my mom is an event planner, and my brother’s a producer. Coming from a creative family helped me stay open to different career goals and plans for my life. I feel that many people grow up with their parents pushing them towards being lawyers, doctors, etc. My parents did the opposite. They enforced happiness, creative freedom, and support on me. Watching their success in their careers gave me the courage to go after my own (without college). I wanted to say my parents believing in me was the best thing they did, but that isn’t true. The best advice my parents gave me was to depend on God for all my needs. My purpose isn’t to push religion on anyone, but with God, I found my true passion and purpose.
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 Jhalin Knowles. I’m a 24-year-old freelance photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Georgia during my mid- junior year of high school. My love for photography came at a very random time in my life. I started posting old work to the social platform VSCO and received great feedback on my work. Through the usage of VSCO, I was able to be a part of a campaign they launched. I felt like all signs led to photography being my career instead of a hobby. Since the campaign, I’ve been a professional photographer for about four years. I honestly love what I do! I enjoy portraiture the most. Being a photographer is a gift because we are constantly freezing time and capturing these small or monumental moments. I am most proud of my billboard. I photographed my little sister in 2021 and thought nothing of it. I received an email asking for the image to be a part of an art installation. The art installation turned out to be a billboard in downtown Atlanta. The billboard will be up for ten years. This moment meant and still means so much to me. It’s one thing to love your work, but another thing when others love and understand it.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I wouldn’t say that there are any resources that I knew about. I will say that I wish I made more connections with people. You can’t make it alone in this industry. I have my family, but having creative peers or friends earlier couldv’e helped.
Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
I don’t get it. That’s my view. I would love to understand it though.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jhalinknowles.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jhalinknowles/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/KnowlesJhalin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPGu9agJ2PbuYt_SFuplmlA/videos
Image Credits
All Images taken by: Jhalin Knowles (Models) Image 1 ( Asia Lee) Image 2 ( Ma’Kayla Howard) Image 3 ( Jhalin Knowles) Image 4 ( Victoria ) Image 5. ( Micah Ballard) Image 6 ( Jhalin Knowles) Image 7 ( Ma’Kayla Howard) Image 8 ( Matte)