The hugely talented and successful photographer Kid Circus took time out to give us an insight into his journey as a photographer and his top tips as to how to navigate the creative industry.
by Charmaine McKoy
What inspired you to become a photographer?
It was quite organic if I’m honest. It started with me using Instagram more actively than other social platforms I’d been on and wanting to share pictures I was genuinely proud of, and this was before I even got my first camera as a lot of my peers I came up with started on smartphones. I then started following photographers across the world, and then started connecting with some of those that were based in London both online and in-person. With Instagram being such a community platform at that time, all these things combined in a way that got me seriously hooked on the process of taking pictures.
Tell us about your journey to becoming a photographer.
I actually started out wanting to become an actor and performer like my older sister and I trained in performing arts before falling into deejaying and producing. I feel in hindsight that photography was something that I’d always wanted to try, but until the age of blogs and You Tube tutorials, you had to do a degree or at the very least take up an evening class to learn the ropes. Thank goodness for social media, Instagram and people showing very publicly that you didn’t need those kind of qualifications. You just needed to use what you had to hand and shoot enough to eventually get to your vision and your way of capturing things. Equipment helps but it doesn’t make you a better photographer. Taking more photos, and in my case going through every conceivable genre of photography on the way, helps way more.
How would you describe your aesthetic?
I feel like my aesthetic lends itself primarily to emotion and soft palette tones. Believe me though, when I say that this is not how I started. Initially, because of street photographers in places like New York who had this dark, gritty look, I was so in thrall of this aesthetic, I would always try to emulate the same tonality. I now look back at my old work and cringe, but you know, you have to start somewhere!
What is the most enjoyable aspect of your job?
The best bit about what I do is the sheer number of talented people that I believe I would not have met in any other context, some of whom I now consider good friends. I also get to work with people who have the skills that help me do better work. My professional life would be poorer without them.
It’s exciting that you are keen to give back to other creatives in the industry, can you tell us more about your mentoring role?
I’ve felt for a long time that this creative industry is a rather nebulous and hard to navigate space. It’s not like if you want to become a lawyer, a banker or even a teacher where there is a set and prescribed path to doing these jobs. Let me put this put there. I hate being thought of as a mentor! There, I said it. All I try to do is to give whatever meagre bits of advice I can to help people as they try and navigate this industry from their starting point. I’m always conscious that this is purely from my, I still say limited, experience within it.
How can we as creatives help to create a more inclusive and diverse industry?
Whether or not you are from an underrepresented group, it is about trying your best to bring in people from underrepresented backgrounds onto shoots, be it paid or collaborative, for instance trying to prioritise having more female and non-binary people and POC onto editorial shoots to assist. I also recommend people from these backgrounds for roles I hear about, whether or not I know them. If you think their work is good, just recommend them! For example there are some amazing female/POC lighting technicians, DOPs, digital technicians who either I’ve worked with, I know through social media or who I’ve met through other people. I always try and recommend them to people trying to fill roles on projects as there are so many groups of people still not represented enough in so many areas of the industry.
I started something called ‘JOBCENTRE’ on my Instagram account whereby I repost other people’s job callouts on my stories. I doubled down on it because I want to make more accessible the kinds of opportunities that may only be found on conventional or even specialist job websites, or the likes of Linkedin – a platform many people still don’t really use. Whereas everyone is on Instagram, and it’s easy for other people to share opportunities widely.
A special thank you to Kid Circus for this interview.
You can follow him on Instagram @kidcircus
