Check out Kiana Duran’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiana Duran.

Kiana, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’m 21 years old and I am currently a junior at Arizona State University pursuing a degree in Conservation Biology/Ecology. I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico but now my family lives in Parker, Colorado. Some of my interests include photography, road trips, horses, and storm chasing. I am also a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo. When I was younger, my mom would get my sisters and I (I am the oldest of 4 sisters) disposable cameras to take on road trips and I think that is what got me interested in photography. I got my own DSLR camera, a Canon Rebel T3I, during my sophomore year of high school and that is the camera I still use now. I am a mostly self-taught photographer and I taught myself mainly by just going on random adventures and taking pictures of everything while gradually changing the settings, so I could figure out which settings did what for the photos. I also read a few photography books which helped me understand how the camera actually worked. The first photography class I took was during my freshman year of college at ASU and I have taken a couple others since then. My dream job is to be a photographer for National Geographic, but I would also like to work in a National Park or have a job where I can still travel and explore a lot. One of my life goals is to take a road trip across the whole continental United States (for a few months or a year, I don’t know a time frame for that yet), and I want to get a pickup truck and build storage and a sleeping space into the truck bed so that I don’t have to worry about hotels every night.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I prefer landscape, nature, and wildlife photography over everything else, but I often find other interesting subjects to photograph. My favorite places are rural, forested or mountain areas and I like to capture both large-scale views and small details in my photos. I use a Canon Rebel T3I and I have a few different lenses for it. My main goal with photography is to show the world how I see it while at the same time finding perspectives that most people might not notice, such as unique viewpoints or a small hidden detail. I try to get my photos right naturally instead of editing them after, and with any edits, I do end up making. I always try to keep the photo looking how it looked in real life when I saw the scene. I also like to experience taking the photo myself and physically see my shot – for example, while drone photography is interesting, I would rather be in a plane or something, so I could see that view for myself rather than rely on the drone’s camera. I also prefer to capture natural scenes, not staged ones. I think it is somewhat of a challenge to do this with nature photography because it is hard to predict when a certain shot will occur and that may be your only chance to get the shot you were hoping for. I hope people who see my photos discover a new perspective of a place they have already visited or are inspired to go visit somewhere new.

How can artists connect with other artists?
I have found that many times, if you are out on a photography adventure, there will be someone else who is doing the same thing and you’ll end up talking to each other. Instagram is also useful for seeing photos that other photographers near you have taken and for getting photo ideas or potentially meeting new people. A few Instagram accounts I know of have meetups a couple times a year, where photographers can go hang out with and meet the people who they may only know by their Instagram account. I can see how landscape photography is more of a “lonely” activity than portrait photography, for example, but I find it peaceful to be on photo adventures alone sometimes.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Right now, I mostly post my photos on my Instagram account (@kiana_duran). I would like to have my photos shown in an art show or exhibition sometime, but I’m still working on that. I am also happy to make prints of my photos if anybody is interested in buying them.

Contact Info:

• Email: durankiana@yahoo.com
• Instagram: @kiana_duran

Image Credit:
Joe Grana

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