Kenneth Wilks Photography

About

I’D LIKE TO TELL YOU MY STORY.

I remember the moment I fell in love with photography. I was 6 years old and my parents gave me a blue and grey Le Clic 308. I took that little camera with me everywhere I went and I must have burned through at least a mile of film before I wore that camera out. I photographed everything. My friends climbing an old oak tree on a school field trip, the rain drops on the car window, my aunt as her belly grew large with my little cousin. I was fascinated at how I could record a specific moment in time with just press of a button.

When I entered college I took every photography course my schedule would allow and that is when I discovered that photography was more than a snapshot of a moment in time. It’s a powerful art form, that can inform and shape the way we view the world around us and even ourselves. It can make us laugh or cry or stare in amazement as we are at a complete loss for words. It’s capturing an emotion in the larger narrative of life. I wanted to be a part of capturing those stories so I became a photojournalist.

Directly out of college I went and worked for the newspaper and apparently must have caught the attention of someone important because about 6 months into the job I received a call asking if I would be interested in becoming the Governor’s staff photographer. Naturally I was thrilled to take the job. Then came the storms. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated Louisiana and I was in the middle of all of it. I was faced with the constant task of recording the death, destruction and despair caused by these storms. 18 hour days, 7 days a week for months. I got burnt out. I resigned and walked away. I put down my camera. I was done with photography. Photography, however was not done with me.

I started to miss telling other peoples stories. I knew I didn’t want to go back to the newspaper. I wanted to focus on the happiest moments of people’s lives. I wanted to make art that my clients would treasure for years and then pass onto their children and grandchildren, so I made the switch to weddings and portraits and haven’t looked back since.

I truly believe there is no recipe for a perfect photograph. Each client and each shoot brings its own unique set of challenges and opportunities. With my classical art training, photojournalism experience, and hundreds of weddings and portraits sessions shot over the past decade I am uniquely qualified to take your story, that moment in your larger narrative of life and turn it into art you will love for a lifetime. That’s my job, and I love what I do.

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