Meet Chanan Kennedy: Creative Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chanan Kennedy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chanan, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
God has always been the most important factor behind any of the successes behind our business and just life in general. However, if I had to select a 2nd factor that has contributed to the success of our company, it has truly been our ability to see past failures and not let that impact our ability to continue to push boundaries and try new ideas. I find that a lot of entrepreneurs hit roadblocks and it at times can derail them from the entire dream or goal of what they are trying to accomplish. Fear of failure and especially fear of failing “again” can be paralyzing for some. We were blessed to learn early on in business that thru each failure, the knowledge gained from the experience is invaluable. We have operated under the motto ” If at first, you don’t succeed, try, and try again”. Our failures have pushed and inspired us to figure out what works and keep taking risks.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a Creative Director, I have had the pleasure to work on some really amazing projects. Thru those projects, I have learned that ultimately what made those projects stand out was our teams ability to think outside the box. My imagination is very vivid and colorful. I draw inspiration from everyday things that I see in my home to out in the streets. When developing creative concepts for editorials or helping a brand to bring their company to life thru visuals, I am typically not trying to stick to the “status-quo”.  I like to take away the feeling of being comfortable and create visuals that make you take a second look, or cause you stare a little longer so you can take in every aspect. When I first began creative directing, I was trying to create what I thought people would want to see. It was inorganic and to be honest, it didn’t really resignate with people. It wasn’t original. I was trying to stick to rules that I made up in my head or heard other creatives reference. It wasn’t until I started to create “art” that was authentic to my own aesthetic, or my own creative beliefs, that I noticed people responded to my work. It was just confirmation that staying true to myself was not only made it easier to create, but also that my work spoke more to those that saw it. By developing our specific style of shooting our team has create images that are eye catching, yet timeless.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When my husband Will and I first started our business, it was on a whim. Not something that was well thought out or even planned. It was 2008 during the time of the housing crisis. I was working in the mortgage industry and Will was doing forklift work. During that year I had been laid off twice due to company closings and lack of work. The layoffs had a significant impact on our finances. It was at that time that Will decided he was going to go back to an old “side hustle” of taking pics in the clubs to supplement some of the income lost from me being out of work. The only problem with that was that Will’s camera was your basic $100 point-and-shoot camera, and we had no printer to print images on demand. The plan was to save up, get a good printer, and work with what we had camera wise. (Here’s a little back story… My father works in the medical field in respiratory, but at one point in his spare time, he was doing wedding photography. He eventually stopped doing it because he felt it took too much of his free time) So fast forward back to Wills’s side hustle…During a visit from California, my parents were at our house. We were explaining how excited we were to be starting our photo business once we got all the equipment needs taken care of. Naturally, my dad was curious as to what camera we were shooting with. We showed him the point and shoot and he fell out laughing. He immediately pulled out his professional Canon camera and told us it was ours…Not only did he give us his camera, he also gave us our first set of lights. From there, Will’s parents then purchased us some additional equipment and thus Images By Kennedy was started. Our parents were and always have been a huge support and blessing on our journey into entrepreneurship. Both mine and Wills’ parents have been or currently still are business owners and thru their experiences, we have also had the opportunity to be mentored by them.

Website: www.imagesbykennedy.net

Instagram: www.instagram/chanannicole

Image Credits
All images taken by: Will Kennedy