Style Guide: Highlighting Human Moments with Kody Kohlman
Kody Kohlman is a director and photographer based in Boulder, Colorado. He found photography through skateboarding as a teen growing up in the arid deserts and hot streets of Arizona. He spent a decade enraptured by skateboarding’s subcultural subtleties and cut his teeth as a photographer shooting film. Through skateboarding, he learned how to chase the charged energy of motion behind the camera, while also focusing on the individual in the still moments. Today, his work is still influenced by those roots: capturing the immediacy of movement while creating a larger portrait of the humans at its center. He is most drawn to projects that tell stories at the intersection of craft and culture and has worked for brands across industries including: The North Face, American Airlines, Columbia, Fujifilm, Rapha, Shopify and Yeti.
LBB> How would you describe the work that you do?
Kody> I have a really hard time with this question. I work as a director and photographer and in a very umbrella statement, would say the majority of my work is centered around the human spirit associated with athletic and adventure pursuits. That being said, I do work in many other fields, including a fair bit of stuff in the ag and workwear sectors as well as some more traditional commercial work. I’m interested in many things things and want that to be represented in my work.
LBB> And do you have a particular style (or styles) that you like to work in? If so, how would you describe that?
Kody> I have a few styles that ebb and flow depending on both internal and external factors. Things like seasons, what bands I’m listening to, what’s going on in my life, those things all hugely affect how my work is being created. I’m not exactly sure how I would describe my work stylistically other than it feels really representative of who I am. Even in the projects that are unconventional for my portfolio, I still want them to tie together and feel like I have my fingerprint on them in some way.
LBB> How did you gravitate towards the particular medium you work in?
Kody> It’s been a really natural progression since the beginning. I grew up deeply embedded into skateboarding, so that shaped the majority of who I am today. Because of the symbiotic relationship needed between a skateboarder and a filmer or photographer, I naturally became really interested in photography as time went on. I found it pretty fascinating how different angles and lenses and lighting represented what was happening in different ways. I started shooting some 35mm photos of my friends on trips without any real understanding of what I was doing or documenting other than what was interesting to me, which often ended up being moments in between people trying tricks. Friends laying in ditches or parking lots, antics at parties, moments of joy and defeat, but again, this was all just what I was naturally drawn to.
That was my introduction into photography, and over the course of 10 or so years it eventually led me to directing still and motion work in the commercial world.
LBB> And when you started developing your creative skills and styles, what were you inspirations and influences?
Kody> For a really long time, all I knew was skateboarding. From a film and photo standpoint, I pulled so much inspiration from there. People making memorable photographs and skate videos were my main point of influence. I watched skate videos on repeat in my teens and was just so heavily influenced by the skateboarding alongside the edits and the song and titles and how it just all came together and flowed like you were watching a movie. Kevin Barnett, the O’Shea brothers, Ed Templeton, Matt Price and Fred Mortagne were huge points of inspiration. Aside from that, I think particular moments and feelings have been a really big influence. Moments of fleeting youth, a painting you can stare out, a song that you play on repeat for hours, I’ve always liked analyzing those things and trying to replicate the emotion felt in other mediums.
LBB> How has your style evolved over time - and can you talk to us about some of the stylistic experiments or avenues you’ve explored over the years?
Kody> It’s wild looking back and seeing how my work has evolved. In some ways it feels like a huge departure and in other ways I still see very clear threads from when I originally picked up a camera. I actually think the biggest change was early in my commercial career, I had built up this idea of who I wanted to be and what I wanted my work to be, and I was so burnt out on skateboarding I wanted to basically be as far away from that as possible. I was really getting into outdoor pursuits and was taking on this sort of adventure persona. It wasn’t me at all. I think in both work and in my personal life, I lost a little bit of who I was at my core during that period of figuring things out. Since then, I’ve really dug my heels into what I like, what I believe in and injecting myself into the projects I’m working on. There’s always going to be trends and people and fashion and everything else that influence your creative decisions, but at the center of all of that, I think my work has always been rooted in passion and hard work and highlighting human moments.
LBB> And was there any one particular moment or project that really crystallised your understanding of what your style is or should be?If so, can you tell us about it?
Kody> I wouldn’t say there was one particular moment, but since I made that decision to make my voice clear and really lean into what I like, I feel much more confident in my work and I believe people connect with it more. If I had to tie one project to myself, I would say it was the film ANTON for Rapha. It lives right at this perfect place for me. It involves an athlete with a strong personality, it’s dark and grainy and moody and in my opinion, isn’t super definable. It’s sorta a doc, but also kinda a narrative, but could maybe even be looked at like a music video. I’m really interested in exploring more of that.
LBB> What sort of ideas shape your style today?
Kody> It’s really the same stuff that’s been shaping it forever. Music, specific emotions, various forms of art, my friends, places. I just try to keep the needle moving, once I’ve made something, I don’t want to make it again. I’m not trying to be formulaic and sell myself as the guy that does this one specific thing. I want my brush stroke to be broad but have those underlying themes and emotive elements incorporated in everything I work on.
LBB> From NFTs to the metaverse, there are more spaces for your work to show up - what are your thoughts on the impact, challenges and opportunities brought up by these new spaces? And do they influence how you think about your style (ie. is there pressure to adapt or change your style to fit these new digital frontiers - or is it kind of exciting?)
Kody> Like most things, they can be looked at as a negative or a positive. Of course cropping half your sensor and shooting for a 9x16 social cut isn’t the most inspiring thing in the world, but in my opinion, your job is to figure out how to make that interesting for yourself. How do you take these constraints and make them challenges that will push you forward? I believe it’s a balancing act of staying true to yourself while adapting with times in a reasonable way. Am I going onto TikTok and making videos of people dancing to stay current? No. Am I trying to creatively and tastefully push myself to fit into certain parameters needed for client deliverables? Absolutely. If something is such a big barrier on a client project that you can’t get past it and it’s going to make the project a nightmare, why take it on?
LBB> Working in the commercial sphere, is it more important for an artist to have a distinct brand or style? What’s the balance having a distinctive voice and being able to accommodate the visual language of the brand/campaign?
Kody> I’ve struggled with this a lot. Everyone is doing work they don’t highlight on their portfolio. There’s a time and a place for it and it’s part of our jobs (for 99% of photographers and directors). Some days you are there to execute a client vision and there isn’t anything wrong with that. Show up, bring on good people, make it a positive experience for everyone and give the client what they need to walk away happy. Then, there are projects where they want you and your vision and your personality. These are the projects we all want to be working on all the time. These are the times to push the client creatively and be okay with letting them get out of their comfort zone to fit into the world as you see it. In my opinion, these are the most successful brands and campaigns. We see ad’s constantly, they’re everywhere. I don’t like traditional ad’s. I don’t want the work I make to feel like ad’s. At the end of the day, they are ad’s, but I want people to stop and feel something before they look at the technical features of the shoe being sold. I want there to be an emotional correlation, even if small, and then an end card where they say “whoa, that was cool. That felt different.”
LBB> Typically, on a commercial project, how do you like to tackle a brief?
Kody> It starts with what I mentioned earlier. Is this a ‘you’ project or is this a ‘them’ project. If you can understand the difference and know which one is coming your way, you’re going to save yourself so much energy and so many headaches. From there, it’s just a dance between executing the vision you think will bring this project to life the best way and also providing your client with what they need.
LBB> What projects have you worked on recently that you feel were a really satisfying marriage between a brand and your own style? What was it about these projects that made them really interesting to work on?
Kody> That film for Rapha, titled ANTON, which I mentioned earlier, felt like it was the perfect example of that. They had an idea, I pushed back a bit and challenged them to go about the project in a different way, which they were super receptive to and from there I felt like we were in a good jump off spot. When watching it, I think people wouldn’t bat an eye that it’s a Rapha project, even though it’s a bit of a departure from other things they’ve done, but it’s closely related enough that it plays. From my side, having a trusting client is such a massive benefit going into a brand project. Rapha let us do our thing and made that process really natural. It felt like we were working on a passion project honestly. I had provided loose storyboards so they had an idea of what they were going to be getting, but when someone puts that much trust into your vision, it’s always going to be really nerve wracking sending a first version over. Looking outside that specific project, I’m super fortunate to have a handful of clients that I’ve built really strong relationships with and we understand one another well enough to be able kinda just riff on ideas and walk away with something we can both be really proud of.
