The “Photographer of the week” series is dedicated to highlighting photographers within the SCAD community that demonstrate unique abilities behind the lens. This week, Kiden Riley Smith, a first-year photography student shares her recent project and personal insight.
When did you start your photography journey and what does photography mean to you?
I had always been creating and making art since I can remember. I was constantly drawing, painting, and crafting whatever was in my mind. I have a long line of artists throughout my family and my parents constantly encouraged me to do what I loved. I always loved taking pictures with my mom’s old cameras until they had gotten me my own when I turned 8. After getting my own camera, all I wanted to do was to take pictures. Photography has always been a consistent variable in my life. Pictures and films are my favorite forms of media and the idea of capturing someone’s true beauty and uniqueness is something that I’ve always loved. The art of photography is something I can’t help but love, and I’m so incredibly grateful to have the outlets I have to achieve my goals and create the work I love.
Where do you attain your inspiration for your work?
I absolutely love fashion and contemporary photography, and I gather a lot of inspiration from both. I usually get a lot of my ideas from Pinterest, as well as photographers and artists I know and follow on social media. Instagram is another big platform I used to get inspiration and ideas for my work as well. I tend to write down my thoughts and create sketches for future shoots over time and collect a plethora of ideas.
What is your creative process like per shoot?
For the majority of my shoots, I jump into it knowing the location and model(s), and throughout the shoot, gaining inspiration by talking with the model(s) and discovering around the location(s). However, occasionally I like to gather my inspiration previously as well as throughout the shoot. I try my best to connect with my models to make them as comfortable as possible, and together we find more poses and ideas throughout the process. I sometimes like to have some sort of mind-map played out previously as well, so I have some sort of direction.
What impact do you want to have on the industry?
Ever since I was very young, I had always noticed the lack of representation of unique people in photography and media. This bothered me greatly. I have consistently seen very little acknowledgment of various genders, races, “unique” features, and the overall exaggerated retouching of people has greatly changed my perspective on art. I want to be someone to help extend that representation in my work. I’ve always felt that every person deserves to feel beautiful, and to see themselves in those commercials, fashion ads, all throughout social media, etc.
What project(s) are you currently working on?
Currently, I’m working to find more models to bring more representation to my work. I have a few shoots (more fashion-based) soon, that I’m super excited to share. I have a long list of ideas for photoshoots to add to my portfolio and my overarching ideas to work on as well.
Is there any advice you’d like to leave to other aspiring photographers or SCAD students?
Something important I’ve been taught my entire life is to always follow your passions. No matter how many times you get shut down and no matter how many times it gets hard, you must keep fighting for what makes you happy. If you are trying to create your dreams, you can achieve them with consistency. Never allow someone to take that away from you.
To see more of Riley’s work, you may visit her Instagram.
