We recently connected with Kyran M. John and have shared our conversation below.

Kyran M., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I always tell others, “motivation means nothing without discipline”, You can be as motivated as you want by watching youtube videos, reading books, buying courses, and watching lectures. Still, if you do not have the discipline to get up and apply what you’ve learned, you will not succeed.

My journey into the photography world came during the pandemic when I lost my job as a program director of an after school program at the YMCA in Brooklyn New York. Being in that position I thought, oh there’s no way they’re letting me go, I run the program, boy was I wrong.
Me losing my job was a blessing in disguise though, as I was finishing off my degree in psychology and decided to take some classes in photography and my whole world changed from there. I found I had nothing but time being stuck at home without a job and I figured, what do I have to lose by putting in 12 to 15 hour days just shooting in my home every day? Nothing. So I watched videos, bought books and shot every single day until I felt my skills started to develop and it paid off. Landed me some gigs working with Haitian owned coffee company Caribrew, where I shot the photos for their products for an entire year and my whole world changed for the better after that

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My journey into the photography world came during the pandemic when I lost my job as a program director of an after-school program at the YMCA in Brooklyn New York. Being in that position I thought, oh there’s no way they’re letting me go, I run the program, but boy was I wrong.

Me losing my job was a blessing in disguise though, as I was finishing off my degree in psychology and decided to take some classes in photography and my whole world changed from there. I found I had nothing but time being stuck at home without a job and I figured, what do I have to lose by putting in 12 to 15-hour days just shooting in my home every day? Nothing. So I watched videos, bought books, and shot every day until I felt my skills started developing and it paid off. It landed me some gigs working with Haitian-owned coffee company Caribrew, where I shot the photos for their products for an entire year and my whole world changed for the better after that

My wife and I started to develop a plan to start the business with getting an actual legal starting, creating an LLC. From there we came up with price packages for the various photography services we provide and slowly but surely we had a legitimate photography business on our hands

As I powered through the learning process of product photography it lead me to jump into food photography which came through me doing work with Doordash and it was another life-changing experience where I was able to fall in love with photographing food. I realized after a while that ALL restaurants need high-quality food photography that attracts customers and this just came from the number of responses I would get from others about how my food photography made them hungry. With that realization, I have been taking the time to build a solid portfolio with close to 100+ restaurants within New York and New Jersey.

Good food photos attract customers. I have talked to so many restaurant owners about how, yes although people post pictures of the food they are eating on yelp, open table, and other google review sites, it STILL does not give an actual depiction of the food any justice. From that one statement alone I realized, I can help these restaurants by giving them high-quality images that will attract customers and so far so good. My plan is to develop my photography business into an agency that works with restaurants and helps them with photos for advertising marketing and social media.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My journey into becoming a freelance photographer started during the pandemic. I lost my job at the YMCA as a director while finishing up my degree in Psychology. I decided to take some fun electives (digital photography, history of photography and film, business of photography) as I was finishing my degree not realizing that those classes would change the trajectory of my life. Being that we were on lock down during this time I had nothing but time being at home just figuring out how to really master my camera and techniques in the realm of product and food photography. Within this journey of photographing every day, I took it upon myself to say you know what, Im going to take this leap into this world and see where it gets me, whats the worse that can happen? I have been making music all my life and never took a “REAL LEAP” at seeing where it took me. I figured this is the best opportunity to make it happen because its either I suck or ill make something of myself and BOOM here we are running a full blown photography business 2 years later.

Making that shift was scary because again like I said I don’t know where it would take me, I didn’t know what steps to take immediately except just being like screw it were going to figure this out as we go. I went to go work for Shutterfly since I told me myself you know what? Although the pay would be ridiculously lower compared to making 30 dollars an hour as a director at the YMCA, I would at least be taking photos every single day. In thinking of the 10,000-hour rule, I rationalized that it would at least cut down on that time lol. Compared to if I had only had time to take photos once or twice a week I would be able to do it 5 times a week every week. I gave myself a time goal and said I would work at Shutterfly for 6 months and that would be the end of it and give myself enough time to start building my own client list. From there I found some wedding photography and regular photography agencies such as Enchanted Celebrations, and Snappr just to name a few. From there my career started to flourish as I built a client list and built my wedding and product/food photography portfolio and boom here we are.

The shift was scary but sometimes you have to just take a leap and see where it takes you

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As an individual who has been a creative (music producer and pianist) from birth, I consider being creative as a superpower. The ability to create a vision from “scratch” is something that we should never take for granted. Businesses and individuals trust our ideas and our creativity to bring a vision to life that will bring many of them business clients and money. I know many times people look at creatives and look down on them but they don’t realize that our creativity is the basis for almost literally everything that the average person enjoys, from Sprite Ads to even Covid Mask commercials, an individual with a creative mind had to have their expertise tapped into to grab the attention of the masses. As someone who is creative, I always tell others to hone in on that craft as much as they can a realize how important their contribution is to everyday life and how the world is viewed. Creativity makes the world go round and allows everyone a place to enjoy things at leisure and as well as strike their emotional cord in realms of uncertainty.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.foreignkollect.com / https://www.foreignkfood.com / www.foreignkweddings.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foreignkollectphotography/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ForeignKollective

Image Credits
Kyran John of Foreign Kollect Photography (Foreign Kollect LLC)