Ken Kaminesky chases adventure.
With his work gracing the cover of National Geographic and in The New York Times, this travel photographer has as knack for capturing picture perfect moments in the world’s most beautiful places.
Ken caught the photography bug during college and since developing that first roll of film, he’s never looked back. After dabbling in portrait photography as a young creative, Ken is now knee-deep in the world that is travel photography. From his popular travel photography blog to his photography touring company, Dream Photo Tours, Ken is busy traveling the world and snapping pictures of it.
This week, Ken will be sharing some of his favorite photos on our Instagram feed, shot everywhere from New York City to Budapest. Follow along with the hashtag #KENaboutdotme and let us know what your favorite shots are.
Check out our interview with him to learn more about his path to successfully pairing his love of photography and his passion for travel.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a photographer and these days shoot mostly travel related subject matter. I also do some writing and consulting, and I work with several awesome brands as an ambassador. I’m very proud to be associated with brands like Fujifilm, Zeiss, Arc’Teryx because I would be using their gear even if I were not sponsored by them.
One of the things I love the most about what I do these days is running photography tours all over the world with my new company Dream Photo Tours. On these tours, I get a chance to share wonderful moments with cool people from so many different countries, and I get to do this in some of the most spectacularly beautiful places on Earth.
We run tours in Italy, Jordan, Iceland, Cambodia, Myanmar and will be expanding to several exciting new destinations soon. We make sure to mix cultural, historic, culinary, and artistic experiences into the tours and photograph everything from landscape, cityscape, architectural, landmarks, people, and more.
Travelling the world, visiting awesome places to take photos with nice people… Yeah, not a bad gig.
I live in Montreal, but that may be changing soon. It’s time for a new adventure, and I’m looking at someplace warmer and more suited for the type of work I’m now doing.
What inspired you to start taking photos?
In my first year of college, I took an introductory course to photography, and after developing my first roll of film, and making my first black and white print, I was hooked. I had never taken any other kinds of photography courses, nor had I owned a good camera. I was a late bloomer, but once I got started with taking photos, there was no looking back. My real goal was to be a cinematographer, so learning photography seemed like it would be a good base before diving into motion pictures. I guess my main motivation to pick up a camera, was to get into the movies. Needless to say, I did not end up working in cinema.
The second thing that motivated me was wanting to photograph pretty girls. My sister had been modeling in Europe, and when she returned home she introduced me to her agent. After that, I began shooting portfolio photographs for models. What seems like 500 years later… Here I am, still taking photos.
What do you love about travel photography?
It allows me to combine two passions into one. Travel and photography are both so rewarding in their own way and getting a chance to photograph some of the world’s most beautiful destinations is a privilege. I’m always thrilled when I hear that my images have touched people in a positive way. If I can inspire people to travel to the places I photograph, then I’m doing something right.
Where is your favorite place to visit + photograph?
Whenever I’m asked this question, I always say that my favourite place to photograph is the next place I’m travelling to. I’m forever curious about those places that I have not yet seen and can’t wait to explore a new area.
Have any tips for people who want to share their photography or passion and gain recognition for it?
Shoot a lot. Practice is the way to get better. Get good at editing your images in Lightroom, Photoshop, and all the other wonderful image editing software out there.
A good work ethic combined with practice, perseverance, patience, passion, and Photoshop, or 5 Ps as I like to call them is a great place to begin. Don’t ever do anything in the arts to gain recognition. Do it because you love it. Recognition is for the ego. Passion and love are for the soul. Recognition will come organically when deserved.
What’s your favorite thing to photograph?
I don’t think that I have a particular favourite subject matter to photograph. There is magic in shooting a breathtaking landscape and a wonderful energy in cities, towns, and villages. Photographing an interior of a church or opera house can be equally incredible, and all of the subject matter I get to photograph is rewarding in its own way.
I recently returned from a trip to Myanmar and for the first time in years found myself photographing people. It was a wonderful experience, and I have some new photographs that I love. It was a great experience to try something different than what I’m used to doing with my photography.
What do you like most about photography?
Photography is the perfect blend of technology and art. It is one of the few art forms that can be taught to anyone, as opposed to painting or sculpting, where I’d say that one would have to have some aptitude to begin with.
Photography allows me to see the world in my way and share that vision with others. One of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received came from an old business colleague who told me: “I wish that I could see the world as you portray it in your photographs.”
Who are some photographers that inspire you?
The list is endless, but here are a few of my all time favourites:
- Fine art wildlife photographer Nick Brandt
- Portrait photographer Jill Greenberg
- Fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh
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Zoë Björnson is a College Outreach Coordinator with about.me. She is a graduate of Tulane University. You can find her on Twitter @kzoeb.
Great Post – Thank you!