Today we’d like to introduce you to Kris Dowlen.
Hi Kris, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
In 2017, I would constantly be placed around friends who had a camera, and one way or another I would always end up with it in my hands taking photos. I didn’t mind not being in the group pictures, and being the one taking the photos.
After almost a month of this, I decided to buy a camera of my own. The day I bought it I realized that’s what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t know exactly what I would do with the camera, I just knew a lot of photography and videography were in my future.
I basically lived on YouTube for the next 5-7 months watching hundreds of tutorials on camera settings, lighting, editing tips, tricks, etc.
In January 2018, I enrolled at the Art Institute of Nashville. Stayed there for 6 months or so before it closed down, then transferred to Nossi College of Art where I graduated in the summer of 2022.
I won 4 awards at my graduation ceremony; Talent Discovery (Best of the Best), Perseverance Award, Class Participant, and Academic Allstar. (This is significant to me because in high school the only superlative I won was “Most Likely to Sleep In Class.”
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Of course, it hasn’t been as smooth as I would have liked. In the last week of February 2020 I unknowingly got an infection due to some dental work I had. On the first of March 2020, I checked myself into the hospital because I felt so bad. They ran some tests and told me I needed to be transported to Vanderbilt to have more tests run/possibly surgery. They gave me morphine on the ambulance ride to Vandy, where I fell asleep shortly after I was wheeled off the ambulance…
I woke up over a week later… Upon awakening, they told me I had had 10 surgeries in the last week, and that I would have died had I not come in. In those 8 days I was asleep, “Murder Hornets” had come and gone, the big tornado in Nashville happened, causing major shortages in equipment throughout the hospital, and the NBA was shutting down.
Prior to me going to the hospital, Covid didn’t exist to me. So the world I woke up to in that hospital was not the world I was just in a week before. I was in my hospital bed for 4 weeks seeing all of the chaos that Covid brought with it. I checked out of Vanderbilt on March 30th, 2020.
That was the only struggle in my opinion that was worth mentioning. The next closest thing would be in 2019 my car got broken into, and they stole everything out of it…. except my camera bag. They even stole the change out of my car, but somehow by the Grace of God, they didn’t see my camera bag. If they had, I’m not sure how long it would have taken to replace everything.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do photography, videography, graphic design/illustration, and produce music. I would guess I am most known for live event photography, or music videos.
I would say my specialty is music videos/live concerts.
I am most proud of the example I have set for my little brother, and the peers I grew up with. Where I grew up, it is easy to be influenced by nonproductive activity. My friends and I didn’t know a lot of positive role models to look up to. At least what they were doing wasn’t “cool” if it wasn’t somehow mischievous or even illegal.
Thankfully, I was never impressed or saw the real value in following that path so I made my own path. No one I knew personally that was my age wanted to be a photographer or videographer. So when my brother and peers saw me doing something I was passionate about, and saw the different doors that it opened for me, I know it was a real life example of “you can do anything you put your mind to.”
What sets me apart from others is I’m sort of a “one-stop shop” for musicians. I can give you the beat for your song, do the music video for the song, do a marketing photoshoot for the song, and create the song/album cover. That’s an extreme version of it, I can do the similar things for, sports teams, businesses, other creatives, etc.
So maybe we end by discussing what matters most to you and why?
Creating a sustainable business that allows me to work for myself while simultaneously keeping a positive work/life balance.
I am big on finishing what I started. So I want to see this journey through and I want to see it succeed. Preferably while my closest relatives are still here to reap some of the benefits.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linqapp.com/snappedbykris?r=link
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snappedbykris/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kris-dowlen-450035190/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iewjZeBAB5U
- Other: https://www.beatstars.com/snappedbykris
Image Credits
@snappedbykris
