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    Season 2 · Episode 9

    Traveling Photography, Gypsy Lifestyle & Embracing Your Journey

    ZADAN with Reinhardt Kenneth

    · 1:30:34

    The conversation

    Reinhardt Kenneth explains how a teenage crisis over whether to be an artist, plus hours on Tumblr, led him to photography at 14 and to Vogue Italia's website a year later. He and ZADAN talk about Los Angeles as a filter for people chasing big dreams, why Reinhardt sticks to photography instead of spreading himself thin, and what goes into a shoot beyond pressing the shutter: mood boards, concepts, retouching and the team around him.

    Reinhardt describes the world map tattoo inspired by a Lady Gaga song, the loneliness of constant travel, and growing up in Indonesia feeling he was never quite enough. He gives his take on faking it till you make it, why failure is the price of good work, and the places he loves to shoot, from Borobudur temple to a purple house in Los Angeles. The episode closes on his mother's fashion career, leaving a record for future generations, and his advice that nothing is impossible.

    Topics, with timestamps

    Pick a time to start listening right there.

    1. From Tumblr at 14 to Vogue Italia at 15
    2. Los Angeles as a filter for dreamers
    3. Fashion photography versus celebrity photography
    4. Everything a shoot takes besides the camera
    5. Social media turning a generation into artists
    6. Automation, money and inflation
    7. A world map tattoo and a song called Gypsy
    8. Growing up in Indonesia and not feeling enough
    9. Faking it till you make it in LA
    10. Why the person who fails more wins more
    11. Favorite shoots, from Borobudur to a purple house
    12. His mother's fashion career and New York Fashion Week
    13. Leaving a legacy future generations can watch
    14. Advice for anyone starting out

    Worth hearing

    • Reinhardt picked up photography at 14 after seeing people post their work on Tumblr, and had work on Vogue Italia's website at 15.
    • He calls himself a fashion photographer and says everything else he does ties back to photography, because he values quality over quantity.
    • His world map tattoo came from a Lady Gaga song called Gypsy, and he made sure the design included Indonesia's smaller islands.
    • After his mother, a fashion designer, won an award at New York Fashion Week, he gave up a scholarship in Australia and moved to Los Angeles.
    • He says faking it is fine only if you are also doing the work, and compares failure to a game where every loss still earns a point.
    • He used to skip food and water on shoots to chase adrenaline, and now eats, drinks and leans on his team for support while he works.
    • His favorite shoot was his first fashion campaign, made with his mother at Borobudur temple in Indonesia.

    ZADAN's original episode notes

    Reinhardt Kenneth is a professional photographer and world traveler, creating content in line with his gypsy lifestyle and nomadic nature out of Los Angeles, California. Reinhardt works in the fashion industry with Vouge Italia, capturing portraits and creative work to best represent his passion.

    In this episode Reinhardt and I dive into his passions in photography and traveling, creating and spreading his positive message in everything he does. We go through niching down and focusing on one thing as opposed to being variable and spreading your talents in a broad spectrum, life in California and living in the center of "where things happen," how faking it till you make it isn't as effective as embracing your journey and failures and so many other awesome topics; so without further ado I give you, Reinhardt Kenneth.