Today we’d like to introduce you to Kalonji Allmond.
Kalonji, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Well, as far as photography and filmmaking go it, all started during my 10th-grade year of high school in 2010. I had a dance crew that I would dance in and shoot videos for as well. While looking at other dance crews videos, I came across 1 video that looked like a movie, from that point on, my life was changed forever. I started to take making videos more serious. I spent hours everyday on youtube learning new techniques and different video editing software so I can get my dance videos to look like movies. In the process, I realized I loved being behind the camera more than being in front of the camera. I wanted to learn more and get some hands-on teaching so I decided to take photography classes during my junior & senior year of high school. My high school didn’t have film making classes so photography was the closet I would get. In my mind, one dealt with moving images and the other one dealt with still images so the basics should be the same. For the most part, I was right.
To be absolutely honest at that time, I hated photography. I would get frustrated and mad that my photos never came out like everyone else’s or how I thought they should’ve looked. I would do random photoshoots just for money. My photos at the time weren’t terrible they just weren’t where I wanted them to be. I didn’t find love for photography until four years later around like mid-2014. My cousin was in town for a bit and she wanted some photos so I decided to give her a photo shoot but for this shoot, I decided to do things differently then what I would usually do. For this shoot, I decided to relax and not to try and imitate or shoot like other photographers. To my surprise, the photos came out great and better than anything I had taken up until that point. I was truly happy with the results. Seeing the final products from that shoot really inspired me and made me want to take photography more serious. Since then, I’ve been learning and doing photoshoots more frequent to the point where now I’m doing photography and film making as a fulltime career.
I learned that you have to have patience. You’re not just going to pick up a camera for the first time and take magazine quality images or movie quality videos out the gate. It’s a process, it can be discouraging at the time but if you enjoy the art form just take your time and focus on what you like to shoot. Find inspiration in others’ work for motivation but never compare and feel like your content is inferior. Every photographer or filmmaker is at different points in their career with varying experience but I can guarantee every photographer or filmmaker has taken shot some terrible content during the beginning of their career. Take your time and learn from your mistakes patience is key if you want a lasting career in this field.
Has it been a smooth road?
No, it’s been far from a smooth road. There were a bunch of times where I wanted to give up and stop altogether. I would go months without a single paying gig. I would message tons of people to provide them with my services and would either get no or they wouldn’t even take the time to respond back to me. I had an internship at one point and in the middle of the internship the guy I was interning for just stopped contacting me and wouldn’t respond back to my messages. Even though all this stuff happened I didn’t stop despite wanting too. I knew as long as I kept god first things would get better. I kept learning and working on new ways to improve and eventually things got way better, granted I’m still nowhere near where I want to be but each year I get closer and closer. I’ve had work published in numerous magazines like Ellements and Elegant Magazine to name a few, I’ve had Music videos I’ve done get over a million views, and I’ve worked with some major brands. If I would have stopped and given up, that would have never happened.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Visions By Kalonji story. Tell us more about it.
I’m a photographer & Filmmaker. For photography, I specialize in Editorial, fashion, and lifestyle photography, and for filmmaking, I specialize in making Fashion films, music videos, and commercials. As a company, I’m most proud of being able to be in a position that I can use my services to help bring mine and other people’s visions to life. I feel like the thing that sets me apart from others is the fact that I listen to my clients and I try to bring what they want to life, all while creating something that’s still within my style.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I feel like within the next 5-10 years the creative industry is going to be far ahead of where it’s at now. There will be tons of new aspiring creators. Instagram and youtube which are huge platforms for creators will get rivals that will cause some huge changes within the creative field. I also think there will be a shift as far as social viewing goes. People won’t focus so much on followers and likes but actually on quality content.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.visionsbykalonji.com
- Email: info@visionsbykalonji.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visionsbykalonji/
Image Credit:
Valentina Ferrari, Elizabeth Hernandez, Julia Badji, Raven Alyssia Brown, Ella Solomon, Sydney Garde, Sydne’ Autry
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