About Todd
Growing Up in a Studio
I didn’t exactly choose photography—the profession chose me. My parents, Ken and Margaret, started KenMar Studio the year I was born. I grew up with a camera room in the living room and a darkroom in the basement. I think I was in second grade before I realized other kids didn’t have to step over light stands to get to breakfast.
How I Fell Into This Life
Even with all that, I had no intention of becoming a photographer. I was a perpetual student chasing philosophy and the arts when my dad and his assistant were in a car accident in 1984. They needed help at the studio, and I needed a job. That “temporary” detour turned into a lifetime.
I started noticing lighting everywhere—in restaurants, in movies, on people’s faces when they talked. I couldn’t turn it off. My last name, Kunst, means “artist.” In hindsight, I was born to do this.
Building KenMar
My wife Debbie and I bought the studio from my parents and eventually moved it out of their living room into one of the largest portrait studios in the state. Today, KenMar is a full-time, brick-and-mortar studio with a private outdoor portrait park—woods, stream, hills, and gardens that photograph beautifully, even if the “stream” is technically a ditch.
This place is our baby. We both work hard and put in long hours, but we get to do it together.
Awards & Recognition
Over the years I’ve been honored with awards for my high school senior folios, including:
- People’s Choice
- Best Folio
- Best of Show
- Photographer’s Choice
- Photographer of the Year
- National AN-NE Marketing Award from PPA
What matters most to me, though, is that those folios represent the same quality I strive for with every senior and every family who walks through the door. If you sense a difference here, that’s the match I’m looking for.
Who I Am Outside the Studio
I’m still that interrupted college philosophy student—insatiably curious. I’m a “Big Picture” guy. I look for the widest lens to view the world; a lens so wide that it wraps around the back of me and includes me in the picture.
In my fantasy I’m an aging rock star, so I host a jam every other week with 20 or so “shower singers” and “living room musicians”. I try to stay tragically hip for a guy my age.
My Approach
I’m not slick. Much more laid back with warm, friendly overtones with a hint of irreverent humor. When I’m photographing I become something different than my every day demeanor. I click, I switch, I become an empty vessel that channels our personalities. It’s like a spell. A spell that I love to fall under.
It’s like, the seniors who check “I really DON’T want to be here (mom is making me!)” on my pre-session questionnaire? Those are my people. I know how it feels, and I know how to turn that into the best time you’ve ever had in front of a camera.
