Today we’d like to introduce you to Kris Kehe.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kris. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have always been an artist. I’ve used drawing, sculpting, photography, and painting as my way of expression. I gained the basics of what it means to be an artist through working on my talents and skills.
In College, I attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois. In 2006, I graduated with a Bachelors degree in 3D Animation and Design. I took everything from Life drawing classes, sculpture, storyboarding, Film, Graphic Design, and illustration.
In 2010, I landed a job at NASA Johnson Space Center working as a Multimedia Expert. With the help of my mentors I was able to tackle the world of the DSLR camera. As you can imagine working for an organization like NASA was very exciting. With a Canon 5D Mark II I was able to learn, work, and play all at the same time. It is here where I really learned to love the idea of capturing moments in time. Engineers, Rockets, Robots. I got to capture and document the stories and the process of those projects. Being embedded into projects like that teach you how to look at things from different perspectives. I got to do many cool things there including designing mission patches, help send the first humanoid Robot into space, See one of the last American Space Shuttle Launches, experience many cool rocket tests with Lunar landers, and experience life at sea with Aquanauts. I worked for NASA for about four years and learned a lot about telling stories and capturing special moments.
In between jobs, I had time to explore my own personal photography fascinations. I dived into the world of Cosplay and creating Image Composites with photoshop. I’m a nerd at heart and grew up with comics, cartoons, anime, superheroes, and film. It was only natural for me to combine my love of photography and the cosplay/nerd world. At this point, I was introduced to the modeling world and shooting with models in a studio. There is something really cool that happens between a model and photographer that elevates your artwork. You start a collaboration between each other and create a dance that happens when you shoot with them. It’s here I started to learn a lot about lighting and the way it interacts with the subject. This also helped me out of my shell and made me more outgoing and comfortable with interacting with people.
Once I was comfortable with the process of shooting models in a studio at a small scale I started to attend comic conventions around the area. I attended these events to meetup with cosplayers that wanted to do some quick photoshoots with their crafted costumes. It is here where I really started to learn to network, Collaborate, and scale my presence very quickly.
It is a combination of these events and support from my friends, family, clients, and fellow artists that I am here today doing what I love to do. It is your own story that will reveal your true self. Only by living your life and walking your path will you unveil what it means to be you. Only through experience and connection will you gain the knowledge you need to move forward. Time, patience, courage, perseverance, empathy, an open mind, and an open heart will take you to the next chapter!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There were times were it felt very daunting to scale a presence but you slowly learn that collaboration, networking, kindness, and just pure talent really help to build your style, presence, and reputation.
I had a huge support system as I journeyed through the world of photography. Social Groups and local Meetups in the Houston area were a great way to meet like-minded people who loved photography and cosplay and were able to teach me countless ways to tackle the problems I was facing.
One challenge you have when you’re a compositor is having enough to work with image-wise. As a compositor, you use other images to create the full composite. This includes special FX like fire, Light, Textures, and other images. As a compositor first starting out you have no image library so you have to use what you have. Taking my own images and going out on photo walks helped me create a vast library of images to use for my composites. I also found that searching for public domain images and free photo sites like pixabay can be very helpful with getting you started in the world of compositing.
You will never be fully prepared for what’s to come. There will always be unknowns. Stay true to yourself, yet always be open to learn. Learning as you go is always the best way to learn because you gain experience and priceless knowledge for the future.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Cosplay Composites, Captured Beauty Composites, & Driven Image Photography – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
In 2015, I started Cosplay Composites. I shoot with cosplayers around the Houston area to create stunning visual art.
I specialize in Composite photography. Composite photography is taking more than one image and creating one seamless image. For Cosplay Composites I shoot with cosplayers around the area and help showcase their crafted costumes into a stunning vision of art. Each Image is carefully prepared as I do research on each character. Where they are from, what their powers are, other artists interpretations, as well as images that will help create the final scene for the composite.
Some composites take anywhere from 2 hours to a full 8 hours of editing work. This is because it is not a simple edit. Each edit can consist of 20 to 50 layers in photoshop. Each layer can include other images of ground, sky, dust, light, debris, particles, textures, and more! Each layer is carefully adjusted to match the scene’s layout, color, light, and textures so that it seamlessly looks like the many images are one image.
I have recently branched out into Beauty, Fantasy, and Car photography as well. I use the same editing techniques for cosplay and create some really cool images. The next image is always the most exciting to create and I always enjoy the process from vision to studio, to editing, to a completed work of art that tells a story.
Most photographers spend 10 to 15 minutes editing a photo, making small adjustments and then completing in a very quick turn around. But I take it many steps further by spending hours creating a very detailed scene from scratch. Every shade of color, every texture, gradient of light, and FX is placed to create something no other photographer can create in a blink of an eye. With this amount of care and love into one image it makes the viewer stick to the image and enjoy the viewing and experiencing of the image. I especially love when people see my before and after images and it gives them a sense of all the work that was put into that one image.
The other important aspect of my photography is the relationship between the photographer and the model. Without the model there is no subject. They bring the emotion, movement, form, shape, and help mold that light your controlling with your camera into the beauty that is your art. I have much respect for each and every model I have worked with and with them I have created a huge portfolio of experience, skill, talent, and creativity. Each model is different and working with them has helped me better understand the importance of connecting and interacting with them. You might not be a people person at first, but being a photographer will help you better understand human beings and how we all strive to have connection.
I love shinning light on the world so that others may see the beauty of it. This includes everything from Beauty, Fashion, Fitness, Cosplay, Boudoir, and everything in between. Art can change people’s perspective and help show strength, power, hope, and uplift a person to greater heights. I will continue to point my lens in the direction of the people of the world and shine my light on the beauty of all things.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I have recently branched out into Beauty, Fantasy, and Car & Model photography so there will be a lot more new creative images that will capture that subject matter.
I’ve also joined a mentor program on facebook that allows other photographers to join in learning how I work and how I create my composite images.
I have plans in the near future to create online tutorials on compositing and the techniques I use to create each of my images. You’ll be able to find more tutorials and videos on my youtube channel: @ youtube.com/cosplaycomposites/
I also plan to create some stock libraries of images that I think might help other aspiring compositors to start to create their own works of art. So stay tuned for that!
Pricing:
- 15 min photoshoot with 1 Composite Edit – $80.00
- 1 Hour Studio shoot with 2 composites and 5 simple Edits – $200.00
- 2 Hour photoshoot with 4 Composites and 5 simple edits – $300.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cosplaycomposites.com
- Email: cosplaycomposite@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosplaycomposites/
www.instagram.com/capturedbeautycomposites/,
www.instagram.com/drivenimagephotography/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/cosplaycomposites/
- Other: www.youtube.com/cosplaycomposites/
Image Credit:
Photographer: Kris Kehe, “Super Girl vs PowerGirl” – Model: Cosmic Empress@, “Captain Marvel” – Model: @noenicky “Woodland Elf Sorceress” – Model: Cirilla Rose @cirilla_rose “Shazam” Model: Woody Almazan @Northstarfitness “Android 18 ” – Model: Angel Mellody @fairylafey “Lightning” – Model: @nemesis.cos “Stormtroopers” – Model: Damian Hebert @dhstarwars “Frozen Elf Queen” @mcheredia86
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