We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful KJ Herb. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with KJ below.

KJ, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Our entire lives we are told that our early twenties are the “best times of our lives.” We have the most freedom we’ll ever have with the least amount of responsibility. Go wild! Go free! I spent a good portion of my childhood looking at my parents’ photographs from their college days dreaming of the day I would get to experience that level of youthhood myself. Suddenly, and without much warning, the architecture around me began to look like that of my father’s photographs. University Street in Tempe, Arizona. House parties of our own. Beer cans and some some smokes. Time was moving at a pace that I had never felt before and I needed to slow it down.

When you graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Arizona State University you’re presented with an opportunity to showcase your capstone project at an undergraduate group exhibition. From the moment I changed my major to photography in 2019, I knew my capstone project had to capture something important to me. As I looked around me I noticed that everyone was starting to come into themselves. I picked up my camera and I started to shoot.

‘Prologue’ was born out of need to freeze time. I combined the photographs that I took casually of my friends with highly staged, directed photographs that aimed to capture the moments that we may forget to pull out a camera to remember. Running to the gas station with friends, a first kiss at the end of a first date, the last time you step on stage as a performing artist who has chosen a different career path, etc. To be coming of age is to face head on what it means to be alive: establishing identity, discovering personality, and experiencing interpersonal relationships. I realized that when we look back on our late teenage years and early twenties we often overlook the softer moments for the ones that feel like they’ve been burned into our skin. I found myself asking “what does it mean to live in the moment?” “And how can you have nostalgia for a moment that has yet to pass?” So, I kept shooting until I could answer these questions.

KJ, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hello! My name is K.J. Herb and I am a directorial photographer born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to photography, I spent 15 years performing and competing at dance competitions exploring emotional interactions on the stage for all to see. However, when I picked up my first camera in 2018 I fell in love with the stillness of the medium and have been pursuing it ever since.

Because of my extensive history in the performing arts, I take a strong interest in storytelling and human interaction within my photography. I love movement and the relationship human beings have to the concept of time. In my most recent body of work, “Prologue,” I explored what it meant to grow up and the importance of interpersonal relationships while coming of age.

Though I can shoot digital, I will always prefer to reach for my film cameras. My favorite camera to use is my Mamiya RB67. She’s large and in charge weighing in at about 6 pounds. Behind my Mamiya RB67, I love my Olympus Trip AF 50 for more intimate photographs of friends and family.

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

Watching people interact with the photographs I create is the absolute best and most rewarding part of being a creative! I love exhibiting and having the opportunity to see how my photographs make people feel in person. When I catch someone staring longingly into one of my images I know I’ve struck a nerve. They’re feeling something because of me. They’re remembering something because of me. I love hearing them talk about their own experiences in relation to the image I created. It’s absolutely incredible.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

One of the most important resources a person can have in a creative journey is community. I do not believe that someone can succeed in art without having a community of people who want to see you succeed. They’re your backbone. They’re the people who keep you excited about creating. They’re the people whose critique you’re excited to hear about because you know that they’re want you to flourish. And you return the favor to them every time.

I would really love to shout out Phoenix Film Revival located here in Arizona. They have fostered this safe space for the film photographers of Phoenix to gather and explore together, as well as keeping the tradition of a dark room alive. Daniel and Stacy Iannaccone are the heart and soul of Phoenix film photography.

Contact Info:

• Website: kjherb.com
• Instagram: @k.j.herb
• Other: TikTok: @kjherb

Image Credits
Headshot taken by Silver and Cedar TinType Studio.