Kriston Koon Koon
Creatively, Who am I?, That’s a great question! This is something I ask myself every day. I don’t have a definite answer. I think I have the direction though; it’s relative to the frame of mind and time as well. I think to answer that, I must answer what creativity/creating is to me, first. For me, it’s giving part of yourself for something bigger, it’s telling your truth, it’s having a conversation with yourself, it’s getting closer to God, it’s being free and it’s therapy. There are many mediums to this; on a general scale, it’s visual and auditory. I focus on the visual; specifically, photography and videography. I have always had a passion for the camera and the way it works. I did Instagram comedy skits, for a while I produced content on YouTube, I opened my first media business in 2014 and covered events and did some photo shoots. I got into the more creative side of Photography and did lots of concept work from 2015 into 2016 and I slowly rebranded. I fell in love with the whole creative process.
I followed artists, covered concerts and slept in my car. I did anything for that shot: that truthful, pure, beautiful shot of who or what I was capturing. After a while, I began to see more things creatively. I saw the relationship between colours, shapes, shadows and textures. I paid more attention to the importance of music to culture. I began finding ways to speak to my viewers. Sometimes the energy of my stimulus did it on its own, sometimes I guided the energy. I used all that I had to say and merged them together to tell beautiful stories. The amazing thing was seeing how people reacted and connected to it. It’s so inspiring, to inspire!
Anyways, I focused only on the art form of Photography at a point in time. I experienced a loss in my family; my Grandad, who I was extremely close to and suddenly Photography wasn’t enough for me. Through my Photography I could speak but in dealing with the loss of my Grampa I needed to shout. I took a break from Photography for a month or so and I began to paint. It was all I did; paint and read. I was shouting and learning how to shout louder. It helped. It also taught me that I don’t need to restrict myself to one art form. I began to learn music.
I understood what music was to the people I captured, so the image had more value to me. I’m currently on the journey of just understanding the art forms, expressing myself and being one with them. To add to what I was saying earlier, creating is a way to connect to your creativity, and you are a vessel on this earth to your creator and by extension the art form. You need to respect it and do it purely with a truthful heart. In understanding that I am a vessel for the art form, I let the art flow through me and not control where it flows, because if I’m controlling it, I may lose the purity. Someone may need it and connect with it more than you as the artist, still waiting for the right medium to manifest itself. In summary: I am an artist, my preferred medium is photography but I’m not restricted to it. I will end with this quote that a very wise person told me in a very dark time; “If you know in your soul that there’s so much more that we have not discovered about anything around us, you must know that you haven’t discovered all the lands and oceans in yourself. Cause the moment we change perspective, the pieces come together and show something different”. I’m focused on observing and discovering these lands and oceans and I share that through my various medium.
This shot makes my pores raise every single time. I got backstage access to a Chronixx concert in Trinidad. I anticipated pure, good energy. I never really listened to Chronixx much before but I knew of him, so being able to be in his presence was an honor to me. I would be honest; I was scared out of mind. I was afraid I didn’t get good shots, I compared myself to other photographers there who knew his music and I just couldn’t focus. But then he sang. It all then dissolved and I just let the energy that was emanating from him, the place and the fans, guide the lens. This was the result. I got lost in the moment.
This was one of the shots I did in Miami for The Hide Out Clothing (An Urban Street brand offering to the world, coming out of Trinidad) Summer Collection: Flourish. Man, this shoot was crazy! It was my first time being flown out of the country to shoot. I mean, I never thought it would be possible. Being paid to see the world and do what I love; man that sounds blissful to me. I went to Wynwood so the art was, as they say: “Bussing my skull!”. This shot, in particular, was in an ally we found and made ours. It felt real, truthful and rebellious. I felt it told a proper story of what the brand represented.
I got a DM from the well-known soca artist, Kees Dieffenthaller one day. Before he messaged me, I had attended a writing session with Jimmy October and Kees happened to be there. I captured the rawness of the session and tried my best to remain unnoticed as I respected the energy that was in the midst of the foreground. I didn’t say a word to anyone. I just took the photos and left. I then sent them to him through Jimmy. He loved them and he loved and respected my process. He wanted to work, but he wanted to meet up first to feel me out. He wanted to make a beach run. He told me where, but I told him I had no transport, so he picked me up. Yes, that’s right; I was blown away as well! He went out of his way to pick me up. I instantly got a grasp of his genuine selflessness. We had mind-blowing conversations on our drive to the beach. This shot right here, was him taking a dip in the waters of Blanchisseuse, on the North Coast of Trinidad. This day felt like a dream to me. I saw growth in myself and I felt honored to be recognized by one of my country’s leading artistes.
This photo was of the one and only Jimmy October, a musical genius based in Trinidad. This shot was the first photo of him after he chopped off all his hair. He had loads of hair and all was gone. The shoot was similar to photo 2., the one of me, it was bare, vulnerable, pure but bold as well. We did the shoot with a piece of orange cloth I had and one studio light. I found that the colour drew out the perfect emotions to compliment the image and the spontaneity of it made it more genuine to me. We used flower petals as well to signify growth, letting go of the old and welcoming the new. Through the lens, while I shot I saw his lies, his dreams, his mistakes, his fears, his pain and his desires. It was a solemn moment.
This one was one of the end products of a shoot I did in 2017. I was the most vulnerable I think I ever was in front of a camera. The idea of it was a black and white portrait shoot that focused on the emotions I felt at the time. I set my tripod up, played some soulful tunes and created magic. I just set the timer and left it shooting, expressing as much as I could, truthfully. I experimented with light, with darkness, with shadows and with textures. The more I took, the more I understood myself. It was a truthful, pure conversation with myself.
