We recently connected with Kevin Jantunen and have shared our conversation below.
Kevin, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
I think that risk is one of the key components to being able to discern where luck and opportunity reside. It is one of the many hurdles to “widen the blinders,” so to say, and be able to see things in life where luck will manifest in a potential opportunity or moment for you to seize and utilize. Too often when you are immersed in a bubble, echo chamber, or despair you fail to see a chance and ephemeral moments whether they be just outside or around your periphery. Taking risks, alongside education, patience, and focus has helped me carve my upward path. One of the most incredible moments of my career was, ostensibly, a risky decision. I got to travel to Lebanon to be the assistant videographer, lead photographer, and sound tech for a humanitarian documentary. Don’t listen to me though, don’t listen to gurus, don’t listen to pyramid schemers, don’t listen to self-declared CEOs/entrepreneurs, don’t listen to social media, don’t listen to anybody but those you trust to the utmost. Learn who you are, listen to yourself, figure out which risks are appropriate to take, and move forward at your own pace. Enduring fruits of labor come to those who are genuine, I think. In a world so rife with disingenuousness, you’ll find great reward in being genuine.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a photographer born and nurtured in the vast plains of North Dakota, and subsequently raised in the sunny swamps of South Florida. From my early childhood, I have been fascinated with cameras and capturing the wondrous world around me. From the Canon EOS 55, the Minolta X-700, to the Polaroid Cool Cam 600 I shot through many rolls of my mom’s film supply. I continued this trend by attending G-Star School of the Arts where I studied film production and photography. After going on to study computer programming and web development, I realized my true purpose and passion rested in creating images. So, I went to begin anew and pursued photography full-time. I’ve had my images featured in various news publications and multiple group & solo exhibitions around Florida. In August 2022, I had the great privilege and honor of traveling to Lebanon to work on a humanitarian documentary film as lead photographer, assistant videographer, and sound tech. This was a life-changing experience. I currently reside in West Palm Beach, Florida where he works out of his own photography studio.
As of December 2023, I am in two group exhibits up for view. One is at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County in Lake Worth and the second is at The Peach in West Palm Beach.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Patience is critical. Patience with yourself, with others, and the broad process of your work. Measure yourself at your own pace, not by what some social media guru is vomiting out. Focus on what’s important to you and what resonates with your mission and sense of purpose. Finding that purpose is like sonar, your curiosity, patience, and focus are slowly pinging you closer toward it. Just keep it real to yourself and those you trust who know you and understand your goals.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I think it’s better to explore a balance of both. There are times when it is necessary to just jump in the river and learn to swim through it because analyzing could lead to paralysis and missing the opportunity completely. At other times, you could bite off more than you can chew. The only way to really know your strengths and weaknesses in certain moments is to experiment and discover. Through that, you discern your risk tolerance. It’s different for everyone, but I believe in balance facilitating the best performance you can have in any aspect of life. Balance takes patience, focus, and curiosity among many attributes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kajstudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yebinjantunen
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaj-studio/
- Other: https://www.kajstudio.com/exhibitions
Image Credits
All images copyright of Kevin Jantunen – KAJ Studio
