“I never in a million years imagined that I’d become a photographer” Kirty Khanijou, now a successful photographer and entrepreneur, said. “Nobody around me thought of photography as anything but a hobby.”
Kirty tells me that she grew up in the Thai-Indian community where venturing out of the family business and into creative professions was uncommon. But a look through her home videos reveals that she was perhaps born to take pictures.
With a camera in her hand, young Kirty would run around snapping away. She eventually enrolled in a ‘Computer Graphics and Multimedia’ degree at Bangkok University. As fate would have it, one of her compulsory modules was a digital photography course.
Her first professional camera was bought soon after and then there was no looking back. With a job at a tour company upon graduation, Kirty was sent to photograph the exotic island of Phuket. However, it turned into a desk job and she had a lot of free time.
Deciding to make lemonade with the lemons that life gave her, Kirty continued freelancing on the side and built a website to showcase her work. She switched to another full-time job soon enough but work politics and her increasing freelance jobs prompted her to quit.
With hard work and the help of social media, Kirty soon built up a loyal clientele and a name for herself. Even before Facebook had a company page, she saw its potential and used it to promote her services to members of her community.
From infant shoots and portraits to events and parties, Kirty photographed it all. However, her workload began increasing beyond her capacity. “I had no background in business. But I guess that’s when my entrepreneurial spirit kicked” Kirty chuckled “It’s in my blood after all!”.
As her husband was more comfortable with the business side of things, he supported Kirty with key decisions and helped implement them. That’s how KKSTUDIO was born. Kirty employed her first set of staff in August 2012- and the team is still intact today.
She got her first wedding shoot that year. Kirty suddenly had to deal with sales and marketing, manage and coordinate her team, as well handle accounts and budgets. Countless sleepless nights, phone calls, and meetings later, Kirty has finally found her groove.
Today, KKSTUDIO houses a team of photographers, cinematographers, editors, graphic designers, and printing solutions. Kirty continually invests in the latest gear and updates her team with new techniques.
It’s clear that Kirty and her team have found their niche with ‘Wedding Photography’ and ‘Infant Photography’. While she has been photographing infants all along, she launched a dedicated platform in 2017 called ‘Miniatures’.
Kirty believes that more women should venture out on their own. “Don’t let being a woman stop you from following your dreams and achieving success” Kirty tells me, but is quick to add that “I had a great support system and I credit them for pushing me to grow”.
It’s clear that this woman has done very well for herself. But she’s still as ambitious and bustling with new ideas.
