Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Everett Smith.
Kyle Everett, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My dad gifted me a camera when I was in my senior year of high school. We had a dark room at my school and I was hooked. I studied photography religiously. Finding out what I did and didn’t like. I moved to LA a couple of years after graduating high school, seeking a different pace of life than I was used to in beach-centric North County San Diego. I went to school and furthered my studies in photography. It was during this time that I really found my style and started to look at my surroundings in a different perspective.
I applied to a handful of California 4-year schools and was accepted to them all. After realizing the costs of pursuing an art degree, I decided to drop out. I realized that school wasn’t the avenue for me. Since then I’ve still been shooting and submitting my work. I’ve been fortunate enough to be published and exhibited around the world. I’m by no means making a living off of photography, but I am forever grateful for the lessons and patience it has taught me.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Photography has not always been a smooth road for me. I find myself struggling with being inspired all the time. Forcing creative things doesn’t feel right to me. Sometimes I take breaks from shooting for a month or more at a time. I’m not financially relying on it, so I try to allow myself to be ok with the idea of not making photographs every single day and fill my time with whatever feels inspiring at that moment. Photography will always be with me though. I cannot imagine living a life that doesn’t involve it in some capacity.
After a very slow 2022, I’m feeling more inspired this new year and am looking forward to creating new work.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I love film photography. I know that is all the rage these days, but it is true. I love the fact that I am restricted with a certain amount of frames. It makes me think more about the intention of each image. It also makes me feel less pressured about shooting so much in general.
I love making photos without people in them. That’s not to say I don’t like people. I just try to tell a story or provoke an emotion with images of everyday objects or places.
Typically, to do so, I’ll go out right around sunrise on the weekend. No one is really up yet and I’m able to shoot photos without any people around. Once I finish or the light starts getting too bright for my liking, I’ll drive around scouting for locations for the following weekend. To me, morning light is everything.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I wouldn’t say I’ve taken any “major” risks. The only thing I could say might be risky, is that I’ve just done what I like to do. The type of photography I’m interested in isn’t necessarily for everyone. I take a lot of bathroom photos, photos of cars I find interesting, or maybe an interesting door. They’re just normal, kind of boring things. But to me and a smaller sect of photographers, we find these things really fun to look at.
I draw a lot of parallels for seeking locations to shoot with skateboarding. I’d always catch myself watching videos or looking at magazines and wonder where all of these spots were that these people were skating. I’d go out to try and find my own places to go skating. I do the same thing with photography. I see an image and I say to myself, “Wow, how did this person find this? I need to find something like that.”
Except instead of getting excited over a cool skate spot like I did when I was younger, I’m getting excited about a photo of a bathroom or an abandoned car.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kyleeverettsmith.com/
- Instagram: instatrife
