Meet Alex Kittoe | Film & Digital Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Kittoe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I have always thought of myself as somewhat creative but never really gravitated towards a specific art until college. In college, I started using photography as a creative outlet when I got my first camera. I fell in love with the idea of capturing different scenes and telling stories through photographs and occasionally videography. I quickly realized that I was very passionate about creating whether it be paid work for businesses/individuals, videos, or just trying to create art to hang on a wall. I started shooting anything and everything as I continued to get better and ended up doing a lot of work for Kimbal Musk and his restaurants around Colorado. From there, I started getting into concert photography and shooting for musicians such as Tall Heights, Big Gigantic, Two Friends, and more. I have grown my freelance work a lot since college and am excited to see where it takes me next.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started out shooting an inexpensive digital Sony camera which is what made me realize my love of photography. I upgraded to a nicer camera as I started to get more work doing freelance projects, concerts, and even videos. I was buying concert tickets for venues that allowed cameras trying to work my way up to shooting bigger names. After a series of concerts, I was all set to shoot for Action Bronson and Method Man on April 19th, 2020 in Denver. It felt like a dream come true as I was really just getting started and was so happy to be shooting some bigger names in the hip hop industry. I had learned so much and was eager to keep growing and learning. Of course, Covid brought that fast track to a quick halt. I moved up to the mountains for a few months when Covid really hit hard and no one was allowed to really go anywhere. I wanted to learn something new, so I bought a Pentax K1000 film camera. I didn’t know anything about film photography at the time, but figured it would be fun to do something that would take me back to the basics. I really fell in love with film photography and have been acquiring old cameras from all over the world ever since. I was shooting landscapes and started selling prints for the first time ever. I was fortunate enough to sell prints all around the US, Canada, Italy, and more. Now, I am doing a lot of paid work on 35mm & 120mm film because I am more comfortable with my film cameras. It’s been a very random journey, but film photography reignited my passion when the world came to a halt. Having people trust me to do shoots on film when they can’t immediately look at any photos has been amazing, and I look forward to shooting more film as a freelancer.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Whenever someone visits Denver, one of the first things I suggest doing is going to Red Rocks. It’s such a cool venue but the hiking trails surrounding it are gorgeous. It’s close to the city but feels like you are up in the mountains and is a must see in my opinion. I love being outside and hiking and there are so many fun day trips to take from Denver, so I would definitely spend a couple of days visiting places such as St. Mary’s glacier and Golden. On top of that, my favorite dining is in Cherry Creek. My two favorites restaurants for Dinner are Sushi Ronin and Cherry Creek Grill, so I would for sure be going there. For lunch, the best sandwiches in Denver are at a small Italian deli called Spinelli’s Market. Lastly, I would ensure that we hit some breweries around Denver on the weekend. I love beer and I think 10 Barrel, Zuni St Brewery, and Denver Beer Co are some of my favorites. With so many breweries in Denver, it is definitely a must on my list.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are a lot of reasons that I got into photography and I took a pretty irregular path. I never studied photography in school or took a formal training courses. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and learned through trial and error. That being said, there are a few people who deserve some credit to helping me get started, or I would not be where I am today. The first is Will Alverson. He is a close friend of mine and had his own company and a food blog when I returned to University of Denver after a summer internship. He put a lot of trust in me to be in charge of a lot of content. He introduced me to Kimbal Musk, who we ended up doing a lot of work for, and really gave me my first taste of commercial photography. The second is James Edmunds. Another close friend who is also a very talented musician. He started playing bigger shows in college and asked me to photograph for him even though I had never shot a concert. Concert photography really inspired me and led me down some cool paths, but I am not sure I would have ever started doing it if James hadn’t trusted me. Both of these people introduced me to areas of photography I had not previously explored, but the thing they did in common was give me a little bit more confidence behind the camera.

Website: www.alexkittoe.com

Instagram: @Alexkittoephotos (link: https://www.instagram.com/alexkittoephotos/)

Other: Print Shop: https://alexkittoe.darkroom.tech/