The Story Behind My Journey as a Photographer
Kiera Slye
The detective in me has always been drawn to photographs and evidence of the past. I have been fascinated with photographs and stories behind images since I can remember. And that goes WAY back -- I remember life through images. Whether hand drawn illustrations in storybooks, photographed in print or digitally -- or even just a mental capture in my mind, all of my memories are centered around an image.
I am the “documentarian” in my family. I would take disposable cameras with me everywhere and would capture snapshots of things I loved in life before I knew that being a photographer was even an option for a career.
I got my first “real” film camera as a gift when I started taking photography classes in high school. I found great joy in using my camera to manually focus and frame an image of the world I saw. I was fascinated that you could play with light and focal length and shutter speed to stop time and tell a story. I was even more blown away by the quiet darkness of a darkroom and the thrill of watching the combination of time, light and chemicals expose the images that I captured. Everything was so much more deliberate back then and you had to wait for the moments to unveil themselves again after your initial capture.
Pre-digital era and even dare I say Photoshop - I would spend hundreds of hours in a darkroom developing my images and singling out just a handful of particularly favorite moments. For my 17th birthday, I was given the greatest gift by my mom -- a darkroom in my basement. Hand processing the film and images I captured gave me time to sit with the images and the stories and emotions I felt around each of them. It was such a peaceful and meaningful way for me to give a nod to time. I was hooked.
I was an average student in high school with no formal extracurricular activities other than working, hanging with my boyfriend, and occasionally taking pictures of pretty things. Traditional four year college wasn’t in the plans for me due to my grades, finances, and unwillingness to flee far from the nest.
I decided to attend a local community college while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. It was there that I learned that my determination and hard work could set me up to accomplish any goal I set my mind to. I continued to take photography classes, worked several jobs at a time and went to school full time. I found a passion for helping people through my internships at the District Attorney’s office and still had a burning passion for documenting life through my photography. At the end of my two years in community college, I decided that I wanted to be a prosecutor AND a photographer.
My high GPA during my first two years of college and simple but decent photography portfolio set me up to get into my dream school / photography program at one of the nation’s top photography schools, Rochester Institute of Technology. I was one of only 9 students to be admitted into the accelerated Advertising Photography program that year. In this program, I spent 60 hours a week in class and in the darkroom. Over the summer I completed a full year of work within 3 months time! It was my hope that by majoring in something unique, I would be an ideal candidate for law school.
What happened instead was my ego and passion for pretty pictures was challenged through harsh critique and below average grades. I was told that I lacked life experience and the chutzpah that was needed to take my images to the next level. Living in my parents basement, commuting to school and living in a little bubble of life was holding me back. My writing skills were also not developing.
Photography school taught me how to handle intense deadlines, subjective critique, and determination to stand my ground to defend my art (and heart). I firmly believed that the world would appreciate my pretty pictures one day and I had a hard time accepting the push to conform to producing more “arty” (read more provocative self portraits and abstract images.)
My line with photo school was drawn when I made the “extra effort” (:: cough :: cough:: conformed ) to instigate getting an A on an assignment. My grades hadn’t been failing because of technical application, but were flawed due to subject matter. I was determined to get an A, so for the final self portrait photo assignment I went big. I created a storyline where I would find my brother and mom killed in a drunk driving accident. It was quite possibly the worst scenario I could imagine, so I figured the teachers would love it.
I went to our local fire station (where my boyfriend at the time had volunteered) and staged a horrific car accident. I splattered ketchup all over my mom and brother, laid them on the ground, and covered them under a yellow tarp. I captured a series of 5-10 images for the story and voila — Instant A. I was done. I couldn’t believe I had been pushed to this extreme and it worked. I didn’t want whatever art school was selling me. I needed to focus on getting into law school.
I transferred to the local state college and began the next major transformation of my life — growing my life experience. Within the first year, I had gotten to fly out of the country and spent 10 days in Europe with classmates traveling and pretending to be members of the EU for a European Union Simulation club. I made life long friends on this trip and learned that there was a world far outside the confines of my parents basement.
My writing skills improved, as did my determination to become a budding young attorney. I applied to all of the local law schools and was denied or waitlisted to them all. I took a shot in the dark and applied to the last law school still accepting applications — a tiny private law school in New Hampshire. I got in and began my next big transformation.
Upon graduation, I moved out of my parents basement (finally) and on to law school in New Hampshire. I was still in a small town, but started meeting people from all over the world, from different backgrounds and life experiences. I suffered the heartbreak of breaking up with my high school sweetheart and learned that there was MUCH more to life outside of where I grew up.
I traveled abroad for my first summer in law school and spent that summer studying e-commerce law in Ireland. I also started building a new relationship over Skype dates with this incredible man from NJ (who would eventually become my husband.) I had met him a few months before at a law school party. He started filling my heart back up with joy and I started taking photographs of my adventures throughout Ireland so that I could share what I saw with him. There were tons of rainbows, bright green pastures, and many pretty pictures shared. From that point on, I started documenting my journey throughout the remainder of law school with photographs and short video clips of what I was experiencing.
Graduation from law school coincided with the crash of the legal market. My big dreams of becoming a prosecutor were not coming true. Instead, I accepted a job as a criminal defense attorney, making about as much money as I did delivering pizzas in college, but riddled with an incredible amount of debt from law school. Yet still, I was determined to help people and make the world a brighter place. I firmly believe that everyone deserves to be treated fairly. I spent the next 2 years giving my all to defending the rights of indigent people accused of crimes. I quickly burnt out when I realized that despite my best efforts, my positive attitude and faith in humanity wasn’t going to be enough to reform the entire justice system.
When my light began to fade, that’s when that incredible man I had fallen in love with during law school stepped in. He encouraged me to remember what brought me joy and reminded me of the talent that I had that was being suppressed. With an incredible leap of faith (and support from my future husband), I decided to “retire” from my career as an attorney and jump feet first into the world of photography.
I started Kiera Slye Photography in 2011 and spent a few months being bold and taking any photography opportunity I could get. Within the first two months, I had photographed Betsy Johnson with her private vintage collection of clothing, an American Idol finalist, and a gaggle of newborn babies and pets. I watched people light up when they viewed my portraits and pictures of pretty things. I felt alive again.
My photography style has developed into a candid and documentary based approach — with a focus of capturing images that embrace life and the little stories that happen within it. I am fascinated with storytelling and helping people catalog and document the chapters of their unique lives.
Within two years of marrying my law school sweetheart, my mother in law and sister in law passed away unexpectedly. I was also pregnant and expecting our first child. Life took some pretty crazy huge turns for us in a very short period of time. My photography was one of the main ways I was able to process some of the grief, joys and unexpected growing pains that I experienced during that time. I learned to embrace the imperfections of life and to celebrate the everyday moments that occur.
Realizing how precious and unpredictable life can be has been the impetus for me creating the Frame of Life Project. Since my daughter was born in 2016, I have spent every spare moment exploring ways to document and preserve the memories of our days together. My relationship with my family has been strengthened as I share stories of what I go through and learn from my parents and grandparents that what I am experiencing isn’t entirely new. They have had similar experiences in life.
The birth of my daughter has given me the gift of seeing the world through a new lens. I am more conscious now of my past and how the present day may impact her future. I feel like I notice the speed of life and how fleeting memories can be when I don’t take time to pause, feel and reflect upon the moments. I am working every day to be more aware of the here and now and to be grateful and present in the moments.
I am captivated by learning new ways to share life lessons, family history, inspiration and dreams for the future. Through sharing my stories and desires to document life, I have realized that there is an entire community of like minded memory keepers and life lovers out there that also find the same joy as I do in preserving and creating a living legacy of their lives.
It is my hope that this Project helps people become more present, grateful, and inspired to make memories, share stories, and connect with life on a greater level.
