Meet C.K. Kanda | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with C.K. Kanda and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi C.K., what inspires you?
There is an image of the Golden Gate Bridge that I found while surfing though Instagram a while back that to this day still makes me cry when I see it. While I do not have the privilege of knowing who took the shot I would like to think they are sitting somewhere enjoying the good karma they have earned from their generous gift that they have bestowed not only upon me but everyone else who had the privilege of seeing that image. The photo itself is not remarkable; it’s a pretty average wide angle shot with a quite normal composition. You can see both of the towers and the Marin Headlands on the other side. What makes this shot absolutely spectacular is the fact that there’s a thick, dense fog caressing the bridge almost as if someone had heaped a scoop of whipped cream on it. For me, its such a quintessential image of the place I called home for over 10 years. This is what made me want to become a professional photographer. I wanted to give people the ability to feel all the emotions I experienced when I saw that image. The nostalgia, all the memories of times riding my bike around the city, the ups and downs, the heart-makes and breaks. I wanted to be able to make people feel something, and as I am not much in the way of an artist, I found that pictures are a close substitute to more traditional forms of artwork (i.e. drawings and paintings).

Photography is so special because it is the most accurately inaccurate way to represent a moment. Photos capture life in a moment but how that moment is perceived is up to the photographer. I wanted to have this power, this ability to shape and create. Dialing in the right aperture and making sure to include the shadow in a shot to me is the same as feathering a paint brush to add texture to an image. Photography like other artistic mediums, it is about technique and understanding of the basic principles.

As a photographer I seek to provide viewers of my work, whether a client or passerby, with the opportunity to fall in love with their eyes . Even though most photographs are concrete, I want my art to have a abstract type quality that makes people really put some thought behind their interpretations. When people say “we need a photographer” I want them to think of me and how I don’t just take pictures but how I tell stories.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I strive to provide clients with a novel product. Photography has been around for a long time but that doesn’t mean that it is not still evolving. At Bizmythe, we try to take old-school techniques and blend them with modern technologies to provide a product we can be proud of and that the client can be satisfied with. What sets us apart is our process. We insert ourselves into the creative process of our customers to help them create a narrative. We often say, “we aren’t just taking pictures, we are telling a story authored and illustrated by you.” We strive to provide a comprehensive creative process in which the client feels heard and their visions are realized. As we move froward as a company and family, we look forward to helping small businesses and personal clients realize their goal, and most importantly, tell their stories how they want through their lens, even if they borrow ours to do it.

Getting to this point though has not been easy for me. Admittedly, I am an anxious individual and suffer from crippling social anxiety – two characteristics that make it absolutely impossible to run a service based business. In another life, I was a civil engineer, and while that was a soul sucking 9-5, I do sometimes miss the solitude. Nonetheless, the pursuit of creating art and more so helping others realize their artistic visions, has been enough to get me out of my comfort zone. While marketing and socializing is difficult for me, I try my best and have still been able to find clients and foster good relationships. One piece of advice I would give my younger, entrepreneurial self would be to understand that being a business owner in the beginning is receiving a lot of “no’s” and “not right now’s,” but thats okay as long as you get one “yes.” It is very easy to be discouraged but as long as you believe in what you are doing, things will pan out.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am actually brand new to the city but so far so instead of a week I will give you a day. In my short time here I would recommend that we would go to El Porto to see the ocean then come back downtown to Prime Pizza and get the Meat Lovers Square Pizza in the city and probably finish out the day at the Wiltern seeing a show. I hope I can discover more things here in the coming months.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My younger sister Renee has been absolutely instrumental to our businesses success. She is our creative director, website creator, creative writer, anything you can imagine a photography business needs she can do. She is one of the reasons why I created the company. I wanted her to have something of her own that she can fall back on if her other life plans did not pan out. She is my business partner and honestly the person who keeps the ship moving in the right direction. I could not do any of this without her support.

Website: https://www.bizmytheproductions.com/

Instagram: @bizmythefoto