We recently connected with Kris Zigich and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

The “All in one” media jobs. If you’re a freelance photographer, videographer, editor, social media manager or anything related to media you have probably experienced this at some point in your career. When employers expect all of those titles to fit under one job description and not adequately pay for the skills and experience at hand but still expect the highest quality of results. I have applied for these jobs and accepted these jobs only to find an overwhelming amount of work and exhaustion. If I could give advice to people wanting to make it in this industry it is to make yourself as versatile and adaptable as possible.

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 began my journey in photography and video production in action sports, mainly snowboarding and rock climbing. Photography and videography were all my hobbies wrapped into one medium. It was my perspective of the adventures, moments, and characters I was experiencing and meeting. After graduating from the University of Nevada Reno with a minor in photography and cinematography I eventually made my way into the tourism industry in Montana where I developed my camera skills. I eventually was asked to shoot weddings and was launched into a 6-year business (Kris Zigich Media) shooting photography & videography for weddings, real estate, and brands. The skills and experience I’ve acquired over that time are endless. Everything from FPV drone, content creation, professional interview sets, and the list continues to grow.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I was lucky enough to land a freelance photographer job with the local newspaper in my home town after I graduated from college and gained some valuable experience from that position. From there, I migrated to Montana and worked as a photographer in the tourism industry shooting rafting, zipline, and mountain tours. Eventually this led to getting asked to shoot a co workers wedding. I would say this was one of the pivotal points in my career as one wedding led to another and so on to where I eventually I started to do wedding videography as well. The pressure of weddings honed my camera, sound, and editing skills quickly. This the first time I was making a decent living with a camera and it eventually propelled me into real estate photography and videography.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Authenticity. I want my work to speak for itself. I’ve always struggled with turn and burn projects. I don’t like putting my name on something that isn’t my best work. I strive make every project better than the last. Which is also my downfall as a business owner, because I have a hard time saying “that’s good enough” in order to meet deadlines and focus more on the marketing aspects of running a business. Lately, I’ve had the realization that I am more of an artist than entrepreneur. I came into to this career as an artist with skills and accumulated enough clients to become a business, which was never my plan. However, I am more than grateful be able to pursue a creative career with camera in hand.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kriszigichmedia.com
• Instagram: @kriszigich
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kzweddingfilms
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kriszigich/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KrisZigichMedia
• Other: @kzweddingfilms

Image Credits

Kris Zigich