We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kiara Hargrove a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kiara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
First and foremost, my name is Kiara Hargrove. I go by the name, “Kmhvisuals”. I currently reside in Pine Bluff, AR. When I am doing visuals arts (Photography and Videography) I learned how to do what I do by teaching myself the basics within the applications such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro and over time I picked up everything else very quickly and I would use YouTube for the things I didn’t know. Sometimes I would learn and try new things as I go when it came to clientele work. The skills that I think were most essential were distributing the work to clients in a timely fashion, good communication, patience, work under pressure, and an online presence. Obstacles that stood in the way of learning more were the Internet connectivity from my house prevented me from sending work to clients. I would have to either go to my institution where I attend or a McDonald’s to send work. I still live up to a fast turnaround rate despite this challenge.
Kiara, 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?
I got into this business because I always had an interest in documenting my journey and as well as others. For instance, I received my first DSLR in the year 2016 and I have been doing visuals arts seriously since then. I use this tool to help both of my brothers and other students during their high school basketball careers. I have given a lot of exposure to two high school basketball programs and basketball AAU teams. I also do senior pictures, weddings, and birthday parties. The type of creative works I provide are basketball mixtapes, highlights, and photography. The problems I solve for clients are pretty much what he or she wants to bring to life within the project. They give me a vision and I make sure to make it come to life to the best of my ability. What I think sets me apart from others is my time management and adaptability skill sets. I was able to fit time in my busy schedule because I am a full-time student, professional skateboarder, and work a job. What also makes me stand out was me being able to deal with Internet connection that I mentioned before. I had to maneuver through it with no excuses. What I am most proud of is all of my work gets better and better every single time I am filming, photographing, and editing. The main thing that I want potential clients, followers, and fans to know about my brand and work is that I can, “ENDURE”.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
As we all know, social media is a great tool for exposure. I believe society should share artists and creatives work because one share or like can go a long way. Also, the old school way which is by word of mouth. This can surely help us creators thrive in our creative ecosystem.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
A particular goal for now, is I may want to continue visual arts when I move. I am relocating after graduation for a full-time job. I have already built my portfolio so I am keeping in mind that I can contact any schools and athletic programs at this new state if I may want to continue my visual arts journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kmhvisuals.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: kmhvisuals
- Facebook: Kiara Hargrove
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiaramhargrove1/
- Twitter: kmhvisuals
- Youtube: Kmh Visuals
Image Credits
Instagram: e4teproductions Facebook: Susan Warren Wolf Instagram: toniabreedingphotography Instagram: nickwenger.designs ** Here are the image credits of the images used in each design I created and uploaded. **