Through, With A Splash Of T
Sit Down With: Kevin Augustin owner of Kevin A Photography | Through... S1 EP20
the watch and I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I know not to let my emotions go over my logic. Today. You got them. Yeah, I'm like, my mom already with my ass. What's the problem? You've never poured into that. You've never poured into that kid. Has your blood. Their signs are two faces. Oh my god. Listen, let's not say that because you're like, oh, that's an Aquarius trait. Creativity. Are you an Aquarius as well? What else? Give me some dad shoes and then you know, let me go do my dad shit. I need all the comments. I need the comments. Especially the way the common welfare set up. Hey, y'all. Welcome back to through with a splash of tea. A podcast where we either speak to brilliant people. Do this thing one on one or have best friend chats with my best friend tea. I'm your host, Cass. And let's get ready. So today we're joined by Kevin Augustine. Kevin is also known as Brooklyn Banks is the owner of the Massachusetts based photography company, Kevin a photography. Kevin, I want to thank you and your brother work for coming today and joining us. I really appreciate it. Anytime. I want to begin with an element of your photography that I believe is the biggest contribution to your success, which is your creativity. Anybody that takes a look at your work, Kevin can instantly see your passion for creativity. So I want to dive into their first. Where did that derive from? And have you always had a creative eye? Photography really started back when I had moved to New York. I remember when my first nephew was born, like me, my sister, like twins, like three years apart twins. She's just like my favorite person. But once I got the word that like she's in labor, I was in, you know, I was in mass. And I moved immediately back to New York. And then I was working the T mobile. I was just kind of bored and fed up. I needed something to do. I was really into graphic design, which I'm horrible at right now. But I invested, I invested in the camera. Don't be careful, huh? Kevin is the most humble person you'll ever be in. But I invested in camera, which is my trophy. I still have it. And then, wait, you still have your first camera? Very, very first camera. And it's worth like probably not even a hundred dollars now. Forever. Forever. Forever. But ever since then, it just kind of took off in a sense of like, this is what I want to do. The photography thing. Yes. Okay. So you were in Boston. Your sister was in New York. She had told you that she had gone into labor. You went to New York because you and your sister are super close. Yes. She had her son. Christian. Christian. She had a son Christian with a K. Yes. And then that is when you realize that I love photography. Yes. I fell in love. I was doing everything like taking pictures of family, everything like my nephew all day, every day. So it's just like then I was like, this is what I want to do and pursue. And then just took off from there as in like me one on the road to photography. Got it. So at the very beginning, were you focused on being creative or were you focused on just perfecting your craft? What was the main focus or just getting the shots in? Yeah, just getting the shots in because I didn't know. I didn't know not a damn thing. Like, I didn't know about like, I was shooting on automatic, you know, real photography was going to tell you shoot manual, you know, but yeah, I didn't know. So I'm like, I got a camera. You know, I spent $1,000 on this camera. Let me go do this, do that. And then, but the creativity came years later. Okay. So we're going to backtrack a little bit before we dive into specifically the creativity because I do like to talk to my guests about their background just a little bit just to get an idea. So you said you have a sister. Do you have any other siblings? Yeah, I got other half-siblings. It's like six of us in total. Okay, that's pretty normal for a Haitian. That's normal. Okay. And then do you think your upbringing had any influence on your interest in photography? Like, even before you took those photos of Christian for the first time, what made you even why, why, why? I don't know what did I just think I just wanted something different for myself. Like my father, he's always been a videographer, like all my older cousins would say like, you know, if it wasn't for your dad, we wouldn't have no memories and all this stuff of a video, which I'm slowly getting in. But my brother's like more than video guy of everything. But, um, that's really it. I wasn't really into photography like that until like I got the camera. And in a few years down the line when people seen my vision, but my vision and my potential. But, you know, I was just stuck on like, okay, this is a cool picture and that's that. Not really building the brand just yet. Okay. All right, so let's dive into the brand. So you started Kevin a photography in what year? Summer 2012. Summer of 2012. What led you to launching that company? I wanted something for myself in a sense of like, you know, my mother's a nurse, my sister's a nurse. My father just like, you know, that cool Haitian dad in a sense where so it's like, you know, I was really raised with my mother and sister. So it's like, and these are like alpha women. So I was like, I need something for myself where, you know, I could make these women proud in a sense. So it's just like, let me start this. And then from there, I just slowly took off. Do you think your mom and your sister are proud of you? Well, now they are. I have a Haitian mom. So if I was an a doctor, lawyer, engineer, so it's like, she look at this and be like, what the hell is this? Kevin, you know, like go back to school, go do this to go do that. But she's definitely, she's really, really proud now. So any family function, where's your camera? Where's your camera? I'm like, listen, I'm on vacation. I'm selling, you know. Cut it out. I'm not working. Cut it out. I love that. And then your father, he is in the digital space as well. So does he love that your photographer? Oh, he's like probably like the biggest supporter, like the biggest, very biggest. It's like, you know, my dad's like the more soft spoken, my mom is like the thug. You feel me? So, but like he's very, very proud of like any and everything that any of his kids do, his grandkids do so. But if you need support, you gotta go to my dad. And are your parents all together? No, the voice, I think I was two years old. Wow, but they still support you jointly, like greatly. Like, I moved out to Massachusetts, moved with my father at the high school, but like, you know, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. So that's how I end up coming to mass. And I assumed the beginning part of Brooklyn Banks. Banks, you just added that or is it? Motion? You got motion? You move a motion? What somebody needs a loan coming to you? Listen, let's not say that because you don't know who's listening. But now when I went to Massa Swipe to Massa Swipe a little bit, and then, you know, people, like, my name's always been Banks, but I guess there's a couple of Banks is out here. So there's like, yeah, you know, Banks, Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Banks. And then that just stuck with me the whole time. So, just like that. Do you enjoy that nickname, or is it just what it is? I mean, it is what it is. I'll take that as enough. Oh, no. It's Banks. It's Banks. It's like, yo, where's Banks at? Matter of fact, my cousin just got married, and we went to go get fit for our tuxes and my cousin's mother. She was like, who's this Kevin guy? And I was like, that's Banks. She was like, oh, that's his real name. I'm like, that's crazy. It's like, go up. Hey, I'm not going to be like, give them no vodka. I bought names. I'm like, hi, yes, I'm Kevin. You know, how you doing? And I'm like, I said, Kevin, I'm like, thanks. Get over there. Honestly, I always call you Kevin, like, to friends and stuff, and I'll oftentimes get like the weird, like, I Twitch or the weird, like, or something. They'll ask me, like, Banks, or I'm like, yes, but he also has a birth name. Like, that's my birth name. Oh, man, I just feel like, yeah, my mom, I could just fill my mom and back. Yeah, and it was not fucking broken. It is in your life. That'd be me. I'm your, like, it's, you better use the name I gave you. And I go to Jeremy's family. They'd be like, go. Thanks. Get over here. I'm like, all right, whatever. I'm coming. Whatever. I've been called worse. Don't call me what you want. Right. Okay. So back to dive in, back to diving into the business. I want to know about collaboration. Collaboration is so much of what you have to do a lot of the times, whether it's just one person you're shooting or whether you're collaborating with other people, vendor, shooters, whatever. I want to know what your thoughts about that are. Do you enjoy collaborating? Are you better when it's just you and the client? Let us know how you like that. I love collaborating. I think it's a way to get your name out. Also, it's like a good, like a community activist type of thing, you know, just to branch out also for the town for my son. I'm a big, like, I play, you know, I just love being a father, but like, you know, it's also going to make everybody see like, oh, you know, he's, this is such and such father. He does this. He does that. But collaboration is a big part. Most definitely I collaborate with my brother with everything. But it plays a big role. When it comes to like me and the client, I always kind of like let clients or like people who are just collabing for a creative look. It's more of like, comfortability is number one, you know, once the models and 90% of the time, it's a woman, a female client, you know, so, you know, we don't ever want to be that. You get that statistic, like, oh, he's great, such and such. I'm like, listen, this is a open space. Come with your best friend, your hype man, your boyfriend, your husband. And once they come in, I think their whole environment for them, like, you know, these put their shoulders down and they relax like, okay, good, good space with a good hands. So, but it's, it's much easier once they're comfortable, you know, like every female, you can't have memories in that. In my studio, I have like a TV where you can see the picture after it's shot. And then every minute, they're like, yes. I'm like, oh, God, but I can't see our glasses. So it's just like, you know what? Is that a good shot? It's a light and good. I'm like, yeah, it's good. But collaborations are fun. We love it. Okay, I want to talk about your most recent permanent collaboration with your brother work. Okay, so work. Well, I'm going to let you explain it. I won't explain it, but work. What do you do for Kevin A photography? I'm the guy behind the scenes. I'm responsible responsible for all his rills. Okay. So, yeah, all the videos that you see outside of his birthday shoots that he does with Cairo. Okay. That's Harvard. He does all those videos, but all his rills and stuff. I do. So, Kevin will shoot and then you take video and you create the rails for socials. Wow. Do you enjoy those? Sometimes. I'm like, he enjoys every bit. He'll text me one clip. I'm all set. I'll never be back. Yeah. I'm going to query it so I'm super creative. Ah, that's an Aquarius trait. Creativity. Are you an Aquarius as well? Hell no. What are you? I'm the best one. I'm not a zodiac person. Taurus. Taurus is like, oh, they're headstrong. I mean, headstrong. No, we are. Aquarius. You guys are not giving me. I know Aquarius. They're the best. This is what matters. No, we know that part. Taurus is our great people. Vergos, which my son is, we call them Vergos. So, but good people. Aries to, but Gemini's. Their two face, right? Their signs are two faces. Oh my God. What the hell? I just had a bad experience. I know one, one African lady, she was like the greatest Gemini. But we got good Gemini people though. You got Kanye. You got, we got. That's how you want it to start strong. That's how you want it to start. He's the most creative and influential person. So, you know, the, um, yeah. Okay. What about Pisces? What about Leo's? I mean, I don't like Leo women. Sorry. Anyways, I don't even care. I literally don't even care. I don't even know. I don't care. Matter of fact, Pisces. I got the crickets. No, no. Pisces. Oh, no. I know. Yeah. I like a craze. My mother's a craze. Yes. February, right? Yeah. That's my baby. Yeah. But they're all good. Even like, I just, I just take Gemini's out and that's it. I rock everybody else. But the Gemini. Oh man. And but the Leo women. I'm just one Leo, but like I know a few Leo's. I'm sorry. I'm not even to Zodiac. This just pissed me off. Well, I can say this. Virgo's. I love Virgo's for real. Yeah. My niece, one of my favorite cousin, Marsha, my son. I know a bunch of real good. My favorite artists of all time, Michael Jackson, Virgo, you know, my father, Virgo. So, Virgo's are good people. Yes, they are. All right. Sign seal delivered. So, Kevin, you've been able to share some spaces with some really big names and I want to know if there's a best experience that you've had or that you've can recall. Big names as in what I can specify because I got one person in my head right now. As in people that would be well known for the mainstream. For example, didn't you recently shoe. Millies. He's a rapper from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Why I say him is because he's like the gate for me to see every other celebrity. But him as a person, he's like, you can say like he's my brother in a sense where like, you know, he makes everything easy. Like, he's easy to talk to make sure everybody has the same opportunity. I think like, as in like celebrities, he's probably my best and probably favorite. And he's like, you know, somebody can hit up and be like, it was such and such easy, you know, he's probably hands down. The best experience. Let's talk about pep peeves. You've been in the game for a long time. Work, you've been in the game for a while as well. How many years? As far as content and video. Yeah. So you've been in the game for forever. Yeah, like, we've been, like, when you were talking about the graphic design, like we've been doing graphic design and what is there since. 2004. Okay, so Kevin and work have always been working on creativity together for majority of their lives. You should hit him up and be like, yo, B, I'm about to put out this, we're about to put out this little mixtape cover design this for me. He was, I had ideas, he bring them to life. Wait, so why did graphic design stop? I just feel like it wasn't as what's the word intriguing to me. So I was just like, it was probably too easy for him. He was a beast. I don't want to say beast, but I'll just say like, he's being humble. This is why it was Kevin. What the heck? Why are you just sitting on all these skills? What else can you do? Oh, no, the best thing I could be is do move on. Kill that move. I'm back in the day and I was just messed up for that. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So that's why you're such a creative photographer, because you have all these other outlets of creativity. Yeah, you don't tell anybody about it. You know, I want people to respect the grind and like, you know, the work that because some people look at you think like, Oh, shoot, he, you know, you just got a camera and now he just started. I'm like, I really pretty work to get where I'm at. And I feel like this is just the beginning, even though I've been in for like 12 years. Yeah. Okay. You know, give my son something to be proud about, but like, yeah, that's my dad. I don't know. I think it might be already telling his friends that that's my dad. You don't really make that's my dad. I want to talk about pet peeves of a photographer or a videographer. So both of you guys can dive into that. But are there any pet peeves that you guys have when a client comes in or that multiple clients typically do and you're just like, just don't do that. Yeah, there's a that's way too much. But I give you, but give give you a one. Timing being late. That's it. Says me over the edge every time. Okay, so what's your late policy for having a photography. So, um, I tell people to come 15 minutes prior. You know, just because like me to set up depending on if it's kind of a theme of the shoot is, so, you know, setting up. So when it's shoot time, we can shoot. But 15 minutes late. It's like. That's when you start getting hit with late. Okay, 30 minutes late. It's canceled. You had to. You had to reschedule. You know, but it's more communication. Yeah, I'm a, I'm a realist. So, you know, I get stuff can happen. Something that's not in your control. Just tell me things I've had a time because I could have been spending more time with my son or working on edits or doing something. But I have to be sitting in a studio like they're coming or they're coming and some people will hit you when the whole shoot is actually done. Oh, I'm on my way on your way to what? Where you going? Please let me know I'm back home. So I'm like the nerve and, you know, and those are the, those are the clients that be like the cheapest and then be like, okay, like accent for like a million, you know, read edits and touch up. So I'm like, listen, I got clients that pay more than what the price is. And then oh my God, this is great and amazing at that. Yeah, I call you for the next. I'm like, oh my God, but the people that's like kind of like real cheap, cheap as hell. I'm asking for a million things. I'm like, like, did you not read the, like, what's going on? So I was like, you know what? They probably don't understand. Maybe they have a long, like a language barrier or something like listen, but I try not to be rude though, but that should be getting me tight. Like, yeah. Going straight to a lack of understanding is actually wild because why can they just maybe like didn't read it enough or like, no, they do not understand. They don't, they look at the package and it's like, oh, this price, that price and don't read the fine print. And it's like the pack, like the pricing of the packages that they want is the second page. The first page tells you it's exactly like a gold. So I'm like, I said, you know what, I just like, you know, are you booking or no, it's just like next. If you get me tight for real, but I'm like, you know what, maybe they're going through something or they don't, you know, it really gets you tight though. That made me think of when you were talking about the cheaper clients. That made me think of Alex from Mozy, this guy that I'm damn near obsessed with. He's really, really smart. If you don't follow him, you should search him up. But he, one time was talking about like you have like the $150 client or can't remember the numbers he used, but you'll have the $150 client versus like the $3, $3, $3, $5, $1. And if you're a client, $150 has a million question, $3, $500 already sent it, let me know what else you need. Literally like literally it, literally it. And he has this idea that I really, I really align with. And it's like just basically serve the higher client and not higher as in like morality higher, but like no, serve a client has more money. And you'll have, it'll be an easy, easy, easy, easy, but my thought with that is like, it's more on, I want to serve the people at the same time still pay my damn bills. You feel me? But it's just like some, like, you know, coming from a Haitian household, you know, like my dad would ask me till this day, like, what does this say? What does this mean? Like, give him a better understanding. Some people don't, some people have like, like right now, my biggest client from age group is from 15 to 60 as in women. So it's just like, and like the younger girls, they're either doing like their continuous sweet sixteens and then, you know, they'll tell like their dad, hey, I want to shoot with this guy and such and such and so forth. And then like their parents are just, you know, just paying it rather than not understanding what's what, you know, so some people, I'm just like, I like this is what you got to do. But I feel like me being the nicer person, because once you're late, my brother is like, yeah, he's like, they're eliminated. Don't ever work with them again. Don't do this, this and that. I've been in rooms with like, with like people of high stature. So it's like timing is really everything like everyone and be five minutes they see what that gets you. Yeah, done. So don't don't treat him like that. Because really a lot when you show up early or you respect somebody's time. I could join with his son. Now he called me on your work. I need you to pull up. I don't have to be here. Yeah. I could be on the road doing some other things. I could be. I have other passions of myself that I'd like to do now. Or you want to do some? So I'm giving you my time. Respect my time, please. The money don't mean anything. I can't get back my time. That's the thing. I can make five hundred dollars. I can make five million dollars. Five billion? Shit. Let me get on. Sorry. Sorry. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. It could be happening. So I can't get back my time. I can't get it back. So at two minutes, to me, two minutes I could have been doing something else. So no second chances. He's got to talk me into it. He's got to talk because I don't. I don't. I wouldn't do that to you. So that's just me. But that time it will. I felt communication. And that's what like the root of it. It takes two seconds. The iPhone allows you to send text, call, voice notes, anything. You could be driving hit the butt. You're going to be an hour late. Cool. Thank you. Now I know what I got to do. But if I'm sitting in the studio, like, yo, banks, they showing you I didn't hear nothing. I got my mother calling me and I'm like, this is something that I already set up to do. I'm home. Give me this much time. And I'm on my really. I'm saying like communication going along. Yeah, definitely communication. I feel like I think with me, it's like once you're not communicating to an extent and kind of show no regards. I think I'm just going to always tell you I'm busy on book. Like really you're not respecting my time. One bit. It's like, you know, I had a person I was supposed to shoot. We got the studio. This was yesterday, actually. And it was at 12. And I was just cleaning up the studio anyway. I'm like, all right, whatever, whatever. They didn't say nothing to me until like I reached out to like, you know, you're not coming to the shoe. Like what happened? It's like, oh, yeah, my bad. I think I'm just not going. I won't be able to make it. I should have told you this. I'm like, like no kind of like regards. I'm like, I'm like, well, kind of damn, you know, but now it's just like, I'm just not interested in shooting you. Yeah, absolutely. I'm like, I'm straight. I'm like, oh, if you know, if you, you know, if this was going to be a collab. Well, like now if you want to shoot, all right, here's, here's the prices. Yeah, here you go. And okay, so I have a question. Do you, I can't remember. I think I did. Do people hold deposits down? Yeah, they do. For collapse? No, not for collapse for regular shoots. I do, right? So if you're late, or if you're late and it gets canceled, you don't get that back, right? It's a non-refundable deposit. Okay. But say, say this, like I do a lot of maternity shoots. The baby can come anytime, anytime. So now I don't want you to feel like, oh, I'm just taking your money. Listen, you can't do a maternity shoot or more. But that deposit goes towards whatever you want. It could be a first birthday party. It could be this. It could be like newborn pictures. It's going to go towards that. This is when I say like, you know, I try to be more for the person in a sense. I try to help you out as much as I can, but it's just like, you know, you can only do so much. Oh, so much. Oh, so much. And there's a, there's a level of respect. Like there's a big level of respect. Like at the end of the day, like, yeah, I'm trying to help you out, but you got to respect my time. You got to respect who I am. You got to respect the fact this is a business, bro. Like, what are we doing? You know, people look at you a lot. It's like, oh, you know, this black kid, you know, with dreads and tattoos. So they think like automatically, like my stature of like professionalism is just like, I'm from the hood. I'm like, no, how am I not over here? I'm not doing that. And like, nah, like these are the rules and regulations, this down the third and so forth. Even my family, they were like, okay, all right, can't we do this such and such? I'm like, all right, let's do it. So if you don't respect me, I'm like, I'm good. I know a couple of talkers you go to. Do you guys, and this is for both of you guys, do you guys ever find a difficult setting boundaries for family members or close friends when it comes to this job, like photography, videography, creation, anything? I mean, I only do this for him, so I don't, I mean. Oh, yeah, you don't really have to deal. Do you have an issue? Create boundaries? I don't have an issue. Like, I'm very direct and straightforward. I'm more of like, say like, I don't want to say like, he's the bad guy. I'm the nice guy. But more on the, on the nice side. More on the nice side, it's just like, I'm very direct. Okay, because what I tell everybody is just like, listen, my son don't eat off of free meals. You feel me? And trust me, he's not cheap. At all. You know, but that's my son, but hey, but you know, what I don't like is that certain family members, they just think, oh, yeah, my nephew or my grandson or whoever, he, he's going to start taking pictures. I'm like, listen, you know, just for my family, I got no problem doing whatever, you know, but it's just, you have to tell me ahead of time because I'm not going to lose all my bookings just to go do an event for you guys or whatever the case is. And I say this respectfully and not just on all mean and shit, but it's like, what about me? I got to pay bills, you know, I got to survive. You know, everybody got their problems, but shit, what about me? Absolutely. And you also have a schedule. You also have like things to maintain, so you can be told two days prior to the event. Like, you'll come and want you to shoot, like, I love you, but I can. So for somebody looking to enter the photography or videography/content creation space, what advice can you guys give to somebody that like has no idea where to start, but that they know they want to enter that industry? Start. That's simple. Pretty much? With anything you want to do in life, I do a lot of different things. I consider myself, I walk down the street. Yo, you still do this? Yeah, how did you get? I started, bro. I jumped. What about the fear? It's going to get you somewhere. It's going to teach you a lesson. You got to fall flat on your face. It's the only way you're going to learn in this life. But it's already failed. It's going to keep it. It's life. You're going to continue to fail. You're only going to be feeling it until you learn the lesson. Until you learn to get that one result. So you'd still advise just the person to. If it's something that you truly want to do, that you love doing, like, I'm lysking. We get the joke, right? I sing every day. Am I Chris Brown and Michael Jackson and my Bruno Mars? No, but I enjoy doing it. I think it'll be singing, bro. I'll be singing. I write R&B music. I'll be singing, but I don't want to be on stage singing. I don't think I'm there yet, but I sing every day and I enjoy doing it. So I'm going to do it. I'm going to continue. Maybe by the time I'm 60, I might be the best singer in the world. Who knows? But I'm not going to stop doing what I like to do. And it might put you down the avenue to do something else. I started off just making graphic design stupid stuff like this. This is not stupid. Easy. Yeah. I felt that. I felt that. I was like, "What are you doing?" What's she doing? Good Lord. Do I know him? Is he an ex? And then you know what I'm saying? He's like, "Yo, it worked like I need you to do this." And then put me down a lane to now. Now everybody thinks I do videography. I don't. What do you do? You do the videos and you do content creation. Yeah, but I don't think I'm like a videographer. Yeah, I don't consider myself a videographer. I do this. He calls me humble. I sit in my room. He just all. And I put it together, but you have to start. Okay. What if this person, we're going to call him Brian. What if Brian's like, "Okay, I'm ready to start, but I have no money. I can't buy a camera, what do I do?" That's how I shoot all his rills on my phone. You got a phone? Everybody got a phone. So Brian can start this business on just his phone? Cap cut his free. But now this is it too. Now Kevin's going to make it soft. After work, just screamed at you. Yeah, that was definitely hard for her. And told you to start. Kevin's going to let you. You don't make the kids cry and all that shit. Brian's in his room. Damn it. Nothing. But in all honesty, I got tough skin. So everything he takes is everything he just said. I took you as what I got to do. If I'm looking up to you, this is what you tell me to do. This is what I got to do. But say a kid coming with nothing. First you got to believe in yourself. You like something, do it. I'm in a, like written this field of photography and geography is very, very competitive. But you can't look at it like that. There's a lot of people that have in this field, in this community where it's just like, I'm not in competition with them, but I see a lot of great work. It only fuels me to get my name out there. And for people to be like, oh shoot. I like this. I may shoot a model that a photographer kind of shoots with a lot. So in my mind, what I got to do is, I got to make sure the shoot, the content I'm doing with her or him, is it has to top or be on the level of your last shot that you did with whoever. So now when they go shoot you again, it's like, yo, I got to match on top what Kevin just did recently. Like, listen, it doesn't matter. But I am, most of the time I'll go back and forth with those photographers. Yo, bro, how you do this? What was the setting? How would you get this lighting? How do you do this? What programs should I do that and so forth? I'm not in competition with anyone. I'm inspired by everybody. I'm inspired by you. You know? But it's just more of you have to believe in yourself. You have to start. And then people that you like or admire, you have to reach out. The worst thing they can do is say nothing or don't respond. But like, I'm pretty sure not only one person gives you inspiration. You know? So everybody that I like in a sense, I built relationships with. If I have people that I was like, yo, let's do a shoot with all. Let's do it. I'm like, all right, come through. Let's do it. Let's see how our time, our time aligns together well and all that. But don't be discouraged. A lot of people may see your potential and kind of like kind of shun you. And we'll be like, uh, yeah, like, you know, kind of like, oh, just go on YouTube. I'll tell everybody, listen, I learned everything on YouTube and some, um, mentors that I had, but it's just like, go on YouTube, definitely go on YouTube. But like if people that really want to help you out, they're going to tell you what you may need to do and so forth. There's a lot of people that's going to kind of like derail you to a different like, ah, yeah, why are you doing this? Only get criticism for the people below you. The people above you, they always want to, they always want to help you. The people who tell you, you know, you can't do it. They below you. They can't, they're not willing to do what you're doing right now. But sometimes they just, they're so driven to keep you where they are because they know that they're not interested in growing and they don't want you to grow. So they're so driven. So they try and like drill that into you. That's not going to work out. What are you going to do with that? How are you going to find the money for that? How are you going to do this? And that can really, that can really, really knock somebody down and have them feel as though they can't do it. They can't accomplish XYZ. And it's like, we need to like, just know that you, you got it. No matter who says what, I don't care if it's your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, you can do it if you decide to focus and you decide to move forward and stay like locked in. You can do it. I don't care what it is. I don't care what it is. One experience. That's it. One experience ahead. Maybe step. And just keep doing those baby steps. You're going to get this. One experience I had with one of the guys, Jay Hunt, he always pushed me. He's like, he's seen my vision, the only thing. And like, I love honesty in real. Like, I'm not like emotional to a point. But like, oh my gosh, he said my work was too ugly or too dark. No. It was like, listen, you had the vision. You just need better equipment. That's it. Now when I see him, he'd be like, yo, I'm trying to get where you at. But you know how they say like, you know, how can you tell black people? They're like, yo, what's up, bro? I'm trying to, you know, get like you. Yeah. But when I say it's so like humbling and like, makes me feel good about myself. Every time I see him, he just feels like, yo, listen, you're killing it right now. You're doing this, doing that and so forth. So it's just like, damn, I came a long way and a guy that I look up to till this day. It's like, like, damn, he sees my work, right? Not say I need people's recognition or anything. Like, you know, the purpose I aim for, but it still feels good that people like acknowledge you like you're damn. You came a long way and you're doing that right now. So I'm like, I appreciate it. So the best thing is to people like, don't give up. There's a lot of people that's going to derail you from go do something else or don't want to put you on with games like, you know, so it's like, you know. You just around yourself with them. Okay. So that, okay. I have a question. Okay. A lot of successful people say that you can't have negative people or people that aren't on your side when it comes to your growth in your circle. Like, you got to cut them out. Get rid of them. Today, if you're watching this right now, whenever this drops, that person who's telling you know, delete his number. Get him out of here. Okay. Okay. I didn't think you guys are going to hop on facts that quickly because like, well, okay. So what if it's just something where you're like, I'll just distance myself from this person and not necessarily like, chop the arm off. You can love people from the distance. When it's time for me to be creative, I can't have you in my space. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So like compartmentalize. Yeah. We could be on Friday. Yes. But when it comes time for me to clock in and go do what I need to do for my life, how I want to be here, that I can't have you around me. I can't disrupt the flow of your creativity. No matter what it is, whether it's being creative, being a doctor, whatever it is that you do. If somebody's telling you, no, see you later. Bye. And I'm telling you, I'm in these rooms. I'm in the rooms. I think I want to do this. How are we going to do it? Let's talk about it. Let's talk. How are we going to make this bag? What do you got? It's how they move. They like. There's no way you can do that. What are you talking about? They below you, bro. You don't know anybody that. Hello, you, bro. And then sometimes they got to realize we all want to get in better positions. Better positions financially and all this. But money did not open the door for me and put me in certain rooms and positions. So like, I have a long way to go. But where I'm at right now is not because I was charging this person that price. I know my value already. Nobody can take that away from me. But me being who I am and me always willing to work and better myself in certain situations where money's not the fact or shouldn't be the fact there. That's what brought in the big bucks. So, you know, a lot of people are just driven by money. Yes, I got to go do this. I got to go school shopping. I got to do that. I got to get my son lunch and school. All this stuff. But like, you know what? I'm putting all this work. So later on, you don't got to worry about a goddamn thing. You know what I'm putting all this work. So later on, you don't got to worry about a goddamn thing. You know what I'm putting? Absolutely. And I think a lot of people don't realize that too. If you let that blind you, it won't work. Paper. It's paper. And a lot of the time it's just digital numbers that we see on phones nowadays. Connection is so important. But I need those numbers, though. I don't want them numbers to be. That's fine. I'm looking for the commas, bro. After numbers, the numbers don't mean nothing. That little swingy line. I'm looking for the commas, bro. After numbers, the numbers don't mean nothing. That little swingy line. I'm looking for the commas, bro. I'm looking for the commas, bro. After numbers, the numbers don't mean nothing. That little swingy line. I'm looking for the commas, bro. After numbers, the numbers don't mean nothing. That little swingy line. That's what I need. I need to see the commas, bro. After numbers, the numbers don't mean nothing. That little swingy line. That's what I need. I need to see the commas. Especially the way the common wealth is set up. Make it. I need all the commas. I need all the commas. I need all the commas, bro. I need them commas. Sure. Okay. So before we go into dad and uncle mode, I want to say one last thing on a point that you made Kevin, which was really, really nice that I want to add to, you said that you don't compete with people. You enjoy collaboration, but you don't necessarily like to compete with people. And I want to add to that, because for me specifically, I'm not a competitive person either. But I like to see it like when, okay, first of all, let me rewind. There are some people that like see your work and I'm one of them. And like, I'm silently inspired. So I won't always like comment or let you know that you're doing your thing. But like, like going on your page or whatever, I'm like, okay, so when I'm, when I blow, Kevin's going to be like, Kevin's one of the people I'll see up there because a lot of the time you think about how lonely it is. But there are people in my spaces that I'm like, okay, Shanice, I'm going to see up there, Kevin, I'm going to see up there, so I won't feel lonely when we get up there. That's how I like to see like, oh, okay, these people already know them from back then. That's why my brother's with me everywhere, everything. Because the whole, he's, he's known, he'll know, he knew Kevin 12 years ago, he knows Kevin now and he'll know Kevin when he's doing this for fun and not even having to and just exploring when it's more for fun and he can just travel the world. That's what I'll be trying to give him. Why don't you travel? I'm a dad. I can't just be like, you know, as much as I like it, you know, I'm not there yet but like I book this this down the third. But, um, and it's, it's coming, we're speaking that into existence. Is that the goal? Do you want to travel? Of course. Especially now that I got, I got older, I'm more like, am I like, I, I think don't interest me. So it's just like, you know, if it's not within what I'm into or my kid, then I really don't, I didn't care, you know, but, um, also that, you know, he opened a lot of opportunities for me to, like, when it comes to like the celebrity. Um, it was, you know, we talked about Millies earlier, because of Millies and my brother is the reason why I got to see my favorite artists. He, Mill, you know, I was so, I was so gas, but, you know, but, like, in my head, I was like, I relax, relaxing, but, you know, I'm like, I'm here with a camera, like, shaking, rapping the shit. So I'm like, whatever, cool, whatever, you know. But that's so nice. It was, you know, it's easy, but realistically, I'm not a big fan of shooting celebrities, because these are not the people that's gonna get me where I need to be, as in, like, rather in the community, because these people, like, hey, I know photographer, I know this, this is really cool. I know this, that there is so far, you know, because there's plenty of celebrity photographers that are phenomenal, but it's like, I'm not at that level yet. So I rather, like, where I'm, where I'm at when people know me. Uh, yep, I know this dude, he's great at this, he can do this, he'll do that, such and such from kids, older, older folks and all that, so it's like that. So I'm not a big fan, depending on what celebrity it is. Tell us about your most recent launch, Don't Be Captain. Jeez, I'll probably be real sure on it, but that was like an overnight, like, we started at, like, last week, or say two weeks the most. We got a nice little green couch, because we all love green. Right, but we got a green little, what is it like, I think it's a makeup type chair, whatever. And how social media has gone from when it started, it's like, why not put yourself in this light doing what you love to do. So, you know, you try to be more interactive and more of people knowing who they're going to be dealing with as if they put a shoot or whatever. So, you know, ask questions, I think I might drop a one today at episode 1.2 today. Yeah, probably right after this. Nice. Work, dive in and tell us exactly what, some of these people listening don't know what Don't Be Captain is, like, what is this? So they know Kevin's a photographer, he owns a company, what is Don't Be Captain? Don't Be Captain is just a segment of a little clip series of when we started off with him, because we got the chair. So what happened was, I was doing, making the ribs. I was on Instagram one day, and you see, like, other podcast channels or other content creators, they do, like, sitting in the chair, and they just, on stuff out of a bucket, just asking, they bust it down to, like, an eight second to 30 second clips. I'm like, how can I do this? So I was like, yo, bro, I sent them a clip of where I got the idea from. I was like, yo, bro, I think we could do this. We just need the chairs, like, all right, let's find the chat, get on Amazon, $60 chair, let's buy the chair, boom. He told me the chair was supposed to come, like, on Monday, on Monday, that chair came on the next day after he ordered the next day. Amazon. I said, yo, we need a little mics. He said, yo, I got some at the studio. But now we need this one. We came up on a connect, boom, we get it. He called you, so, yo, I got a shoot. We did the shoot. After the shoot, we set up the chair. He was like, I'm about to go home. I was like, now let's do the first joint. I said, I bet we set it up. I went home. I watched like four or five different clips on how everybody was doing it. I'm just tapped into my creative side. And I put it together and it's really just, just going to ask people, yo, what made you want to shoot with Kevin? What made you get into model? I want you to bust them down into. A little bit on it, yeah. And I think it's nasty in it. Wait till you see the one we put today. Yeah, I'm excited. Wait, are you doing this, this one today or no? I mean, that episode is done. We're just throwing out at periodically. But once I get in the car, I'm going to upload it. Oh, I'm excited. That's a good idea. It was a play on, you know, Kevin A. photography with KAP. I'm like, that's what we call a cap. Yeah, that's what we call a cap. Don't be capping. Tell the truth. Number the truth. Questions in the shoe. You. I did that because he's a sneaker. Yeah. We're going to find a, we ordered this. Do we order this? The camera? Not yet. This bucket that looks like a camera lens. We should keep the shoe. But I love the shoe because I knew it was a sneaker hat. But maybe not everyone knows that. Like I thought that was cute. I was like, oh, this is so Kevin. But maybe not everyone knows it. But everyone knows you're a sneaker hat. We're going to dive into it. Or maybe not. I don't think a lot of people know because even sometimes when we do shoots and like females they be wanting to have a sneaker. I'd be like, okay, we got to have certain, certain rituals because the sneaker hat is all. And maybe they might not. We should do the giveaway. Oh, yeah. Can we. Well, some sneakers like. Yeah. Name Banks's favorite five sneakers. Oh, okay. That's how to get the camera. Yeah. It's got a following all that. You know, some good stuff. Yeah. You guys are really, you're really doing the content game up. I like that. I like that. And it's like, we're like regular people that you see every day. Not like, oh, this guy lives like in Nebraska. He's like, you know, two hundred million. I love it. You know, two hundred million. And I got five million. All right, bro. We don't care about you anymore. Okay. Now we actually have to dive into Cairo. Baby boy. Who's Cairo? That's, that's the gold. That's the guy. That's uncle right there. Kevin's Cairo. That's my baby. It's my first boy and son. How old is he? He's 10. This is actually his golden year. You know, he turns 11 September 11. You know, but this is, yeah, we just finished his birthday shoot. Last weekend and Tuesday was the final. Yeah. Does he enjoy his birthday? He loves it now. He, he like, I've been shooting him. His whole life. You've shot every birthday. Every birthday. It's seven years old. Yeah. It's like seven years old is when I start making it as in content wise. You know, like, I'm pushing it to public. Yeah. So like, I have a YouTube that I barely be on. Only time I really go on it is this. His birthday shoot for me is like Christmas. It's like the best thing for me. You know, my son enjoys it. I, I definitely enjoy it. You know, like, as you get older, like, you know, you have a father's like, yo, my dad was really. On it with me. Like, you know, he did this with me. He was that, you know, even though I think kids are way more privileged. Then when we were growing up, it's just like, they have cell phones. We didn't have this. We was outside playing manhunt and all this stuff. But, you know, every minute they got this. They got that. So, but I love it. I can't wait to. I'm actually adding them now. Real, real dope thing. Oh, we do. So it was like three looks. It's like a fashion. My son's big into cars. I'm not really into cars like that. It gives me a point A to B, you know, if it's a nice little cool car or whatever. But, um, he's big into cars. Um, he loves sports. So we did this year's. It's always going to be a fashion one. Um, what else we did? Um, oh, you know, sneak ahead. You know, I like shoes. He likes shoes too, to a degree. But, um, the second look is at my boy's sneaker store. So I'm the consumer and he's the retailer. And then, you know, he's selling me shoes. I'm trying to get like a nice little fit and all that. It was dope, dope. Um, and the last one of sports is baseball. Oh, he plays baseball. He likes baseball. Well, um, he likes it, but hasn't done anything yet. But, um, he's born out here. He's born in South Shore Hospital. I was born in King's County Hospital in Brooklyn. So the theme is Red Sox versus Yankees. Red Sox one. All right. Well, we got 27, right? You got 27 strikeouts. I did. I was striking that boy out. I was like, you know, you know who it is, man. Kevin, did you always want to be your dad? Hell yeah. I was so excited. Like, I was raised with my mother, right? So not to say like I don't respect my parents, but like, I was terrified of my mom. In a sense of respect, not like, oh, shoot, whatever. But I think going to a patient, everybody's going to be scared of their parents. Absolutely. What the heck? You're waiting for not. So it's like, um, like, you know, if I get tattoos to this day, my mom don't like none of my tattoos. She wants me to take everything off and all this. You're like, you're, you're a dad now. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Just don't touch my son's hair. Cause she hates hair and all this stuff, whatever. She can't say no to me now. Cause now I got hang time, you know, before she's like, oh, I'm like, oh, yeah, whatever. But, um, it was just more of, how can I say, hmm, I was going to be around since young, really young. I'm like, you know, I just thought of like the American dream, big white house, pick a fence, cars in the driveway, kids running around and all that, but I was real excited. And I told my dad, like, yeah, he wants to be a granddad, like, you know, whatever, you know, I was so nervous, so nervous, so nervous, tell my mom, I told my sister. I'm like, yo, you about to be on, you know, such and such. But it's like, I don't know when to tell mom, because, you know, you know, my, I'm grown. I'm 27. I'm 27. I'm like, y'all think my mom's gonna want my ass, you know, I didn't get married. I didn't get married. I didn't do that. So I'm like, but it's just crazy now because you look at, um, like, you know, the parents are parents now, and how do you get the grandkids? Things. I was like, what? My nephew got a Mohawk with like, um, designs on his head. I'm like, I look at him. I'm like, what? I was like, you know what, you better enjoy that shit, you know, because this one, my eyes took my, like, I was a time like, man, but I'm like, go ahead, be great, my boy. Truly. Oh, man, but, you know, it is, we had to fight in the trenches, so they could just. And then all your aunts and uncles would be like, Oh, yeah, your mom, my mom do side ball blood. I got, I got like a whole line up of getting my ass from everybody. I'm like, damn, like, your mom already with my ass. What's the problem, bro? Like back up. She already did it. Like calm down. I'm like, I'm like, you hungry? Yeah. I'm like, yeah. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, yeah, I was like, well, there's some conflicts. It was meant to be, you know, like, like I said, like you see the first one, um, uh, the first, um, don't be capping my nephew. My nephew is like the one that put me in the element of learning to be a dad. Like, I literally moved back to New York because of my nephew. So it was just like, but it, I don't know, it's just, it's just easy. I don't know, like, you know, as in like, and I know a lot of great fathers, a lot. That father's, um, uncles, you know, godfathers, but it's just like, I just don't get like for the guys that don't want to be part of the kids like regardless of however, like they are with, you know, the mother or the mother with the, it's just like, yo, this is your kid. What's going on? Me? I think my son tied to me. I'd be calling him all day. I'm like, what are you doing? Biggest fan? Oh, man. I swear him. He be like, like, whatever, I'm going to call you back and you're doing, you're going to Florida today. You know, I think like, when I land that, yeah, I'm like, I like you better FaceTime. How you doing? Such and such, you know, Kevin, you should hang up, Kevin, you should hang up, but I, I love it though, because I actually work with kids as well. And a lot of kids admire my relationship with my son because most of them don't come where they have both parents or either parents and sometimes they're grandparents and it's just like, and it just bothers me. I'm like, why does your parent like, you know, depending on their situation, you know, but like, they have the parents there still and they still decide not to. So it just kind of drives me nuts. Like, how can you not people look at me like, oh, you're such a great dad. I'm like, ain't this what we supposed to do? You know? So I'm like, I'm like, thank you. I know I'm a great dad because my son reassures that to me all the time, you know, so. I love it though. I love it here. All right. That's the phrase. I love it. I love it. Any more kids? I think I'm a little traumatized. So why not, if I get married, why not, why not, I need a daddy's girl. The way the way my sister swept my dad, oh my God, like, you can't tell her nothing. They could be fighting and just that a third and just like, well, I'm gonna call dad. I'm like, whatever. And then like all the girls that I know that's like that, you know, that that father and daughter's love, it's just impeccable. You know, it balances out, you know, mothers and they sons, but you know, you can't tell nothing to a Haitian mom about her son. Sure can. And then hold on. Didn't your mom pick your youngest brother? Anyways, moving on. Thank you. Moving on. Top number you bring back the traumatic experiences. Yeah. So I, I, I, I'm the youngest of four. They clearly say the best for last and why boy, girl, boy, girl, anyway, it doesn't matter. So I go downstairs and I'm like, hey, mom, I have a quick question. I'm going to record this real quick. She's like, yeah, whatever. What's the question? I'm like, who's your favorite child? She's going to be like, oh, I love my kids on the same. She goes. Carlton. What? What? Every parent really has a favorite. Nobody says it. No one says it. Like no one says it. She said it. What she? Yo, crazy. She don't give a damn. Right in my eyes. Right in my face. Carlton. Did you post the video? I sure did, I sure did and then she's laughing it off and I'm like, mom, she's like, no, no, I love all my kids. Now you want to. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. It's Carlton. Like he can do no wrong. He was just at the house picking up food. But... Nah. She love she love monkey more. I think so too. Yeah. Your vote is monkey? Yeah, but it's just... I don't know. You don't know? She's just... Yeah. It's what she's feeling. Wait. Nah, nah. She love monkey more. Like if he didn't... Nah. I mean, I know that. I was a doctor. I was a doctor. I mean, he tried. You know, talking about her shit. Like, sibling bullshit. You know, I'm like, whatever. But my mom be like, my mom be like, come. How are you, baby? You know, I need some sneakers. Oh my god. Oh my god. Here. Look at Sam. Sam, right to Haiti and shit and all that. We have to talk sneakers. So you're a huge sneaker head. And it seems that Kaira's into sneakers as well. Is that something that was important for you to pass down to him? Or did he just end up loving it because you love it? How did that... I think he liked it because I liked it. I've been collecting sneakers since I kid to the point where like, you know, like I said, I got a Haitian ass mom and everything kind of like, that's where like the source of everything of me comes from, you know, it's just how I was raised. So my mom would buy me some crazy ass like, you know... Shacks? Well, thank God. There was no shacks. But it was like... What's those sneakers? Like skateboard sneakers? It was just like, I loved those. I think it was like, D.G.'s. It was like... It just wasn't it. Wait, there are four skateboarders? Yeah. D.C.'s. They were the biggest thing in Sharon. Oh my God. You didn't like them? Oh yeah. I didn't like me there. Listen, being raised and coming out in Brooklyn, hell no. Like, you know, you go to school in New York, everything's like a fashion shit. And this was where I was much younger. It's not where it's at now. Thank God. Because I'd have been like, hell no. You don't think I just got like, shit from Haiti or something? A baby? It was looking like personal. But then... It was the worst. But my mom always just like, I don't know. I mean, my dad sent me my sister like $100 each, our first... I wouldn't say first pair, but like, our first pair that got us like really in the game was the Chicago 12 flu games. And it was literally... And they came up to $94, but with New York tax and shit, it's crazy. So that was like, your whole $100, you buy one shoe and such and such. But Skyro got into it because, you know, me, I had like a whole storage unit of shoes and all that. He likes it. And then sneaks was just like an investment. You know, when they got to go, they got to go. You know, my son needs this, he needs that, or if I need this, whatever, but... You're Risa? I mean, people ask me to, but I'll resell like my own stuff. I would be like, all right, I got a size seven or eight. Here you go, you know, and it's basically me investing in myself or something. I need a new lens. I like these shoes. I never wore it, whatever, whatever. They can go, but it's just, it had to go. I like that. So you always have something... You always have an investment in order to buy whatever you need. Have the sneaker storage or have past tense or present tense? Don't you still have it? What? The storage? Of full of sneakers? I got a mouth. I got a few, but you know. What do you know? Work. Do you want kids? Do you want to be a dad? Do you want a little Cairo? We're going to need a whole new segment. No! Yeah, I want to be a dad. I need a little tag tank. You need a little woman in my life. Okay. How excited are people what you looking for? What you looking for? What you looking for? What you need? You like light skin like you? Yellow? I like them chocolate sometimes too. Thank God. Okay. Yeah. I like them chocolate sometimes too. Goodness. Honestly. I got a last nigga. With another yellow. I want to be a dad. My sister got... She about to have a third kid come right now. She about to be do. Yeah. I got my sister got three kids. Two boys. She about to have a girl. I went like some kids. You have a lot. You have nieces and nephews. Glor. Okay. You want a little? Give me a good dad though. Yeah. You got that structure. And just like me. I have no choice but to be a great father. I would never want my kids to feel the pain that I did with daily because I have a pops and I'm saying so. Well, all the kids are on them like, "Where's your dad?" And I'm like, "Fuck out of here." Yeah. Kyra don't have like, even though we might tell like Billy, make sure your dad put some seasoning on the chicken on the grill or something, but none of Kyra's friends are going to be like, "Hey, Daquan. Where's your dad?" I'm like, "Listen, Kyra's dad is right here." Yeah. Okay. All the time. Inside of his backpack. Yeah, like, you know. But you got to surround yourself with those type of like, "I don't have friends that are not dads." Like, "I don't... That's not allowed in my circle. You don't take care of your kids. I can't even be around you, bro." Yeah. That's a deal breaker for you for friendship wise? Yeah. How you not take care of your kids, bro? Well, what if you're already friends with the person and then you find out? Like, and then... Then I have to tell you, bro, why are you not taking care of your child, bro? How do you have that conversation with the man before? Nah. I don't surround myself with that type of stuff. I don't have to do that. You know what? He had a kid before me. I got cousins that got kids before me. I'm like, "Damn, all these dudes is great fathers." How could I not... Say, just say if I was scared old, then she'd be like, "You know what I'm saying? I don't want... They were... He's not gonna allow me not to be a father? Nope. Would you be on his back? Oh. That woman's back now. That's not acceptable. How you not? My nieces and my nephew, you have to be a stand-up person like you can't. And then it's like, how do you respect the man that you know to... Or respect the woman that you know has this baby out here. They're not even taking care. They don't even... Bad and I. Like, you've never poured into that kid. Crazy. It's... Has your blood. That's insane. That pain is different. I'm sorry. I go through it. Crazy. Can't respect somebody like that. If I say never did nothing, he never come on a birthday. It's insane. It's insane. I feel it's pain. He's a... You need to walk through this world, know that you have a kid out there and never have poured into... Never give it into my... Lick a wisdom. I can't tell you... I can't tell you... The time my father's ever told me, "Yo, I love you." That dog's... Can't tell you. My father's not even Haitian. What? What? With that, that adds to why when you do have a kid, you're going to be the father you're going to be. You're probably worse than him. I'm not that bad. I know you be on Cara's back. So, I don't know if you can be worse than Ken unless you wear his skin. I don't want your snap. This is Cara all the time. It's all from memories from that I've been at. Cara's four. Cara's six. Cara's seven. And I love seeing him grow because he's so cute. Everybody's like, "Yo, I know your son because I watched him grow." I watched him grow. I've known him his whole life. It's just a proud father. I'm like, "Yo, bro, this is my kid. I'm not in the street. I'm not doing this. I'm not doing that. What else the hell am I supposed to do? Give me some dad's shoes and then let me go do my dad's shit." You feel me? But it's so admiring. It goes to show that you can't do this. You can own a business, be on your kid's back, be inactive, and want to be there as a parent. You can do all that. It's possible. Some people just choose not to. Yeah. You have to stop staying. Is there anything that you want to add about Cairo before we talk about you? He's his daddy's son, man. He's the greatest. You think he's going to get into photography? I don't push him. People ask me a lot, but he knows what he's doing. Yeah, he likes being behind her in front of the camera. He likes to be in front of it more, but when he comes behind, he knows what to do. Last year, one of the themes for his birthday was him being a photographer. Does he choose the camera, too? He chooses the themes, or he chooses the theme? We both go. Because the year before that, I think we did anime. We're both into anime. He did like a demon slayer. He'll choose. Fashion is always going to be one, find a car or whatever. We got a nice car that she had, too. But most of them are accent. What are you thinking? I'm like, he'll just sit like some shit. That's why I'm like, bro, we're not doing that. But I'm like, but not yet. So I was like, we'll try to indicate a sport. I think we might do golf next year, you know? Do something. Do something. Find some rich friends, and be on the golf course and shit, whipping it. A little tucked in shirt, some khakis. With the ill retros. Yeah, damn. We can involve some retros. I was thinking maybe some golf shoes, but we can do some-- They got retros golf shoes. A golf shoe? Yeah! Oh, no. Yeah! Everybody knows that. Nobody knows that. You don't see DJ Khaled post on the choice. DJ Khaled made golf for urban things. Oh, my gosh. I need to be on DJ Khaled Graham or TikTok apparently. I need to go-- He'll go for my retros. What? I'm thinking of the concepts now for what we're going to do next year. Just fire. Okay. Let's hop into Kevin, like who you are as a man real quick. So not to get deep, but you're a black business owner. Raising a black son. How do you keep your mental health in check? Let me see. Buy sneakers. That's a joke. No. Buy something. Buy sneakers. Buy sneakers. Yeah, I mean that. Anytime it gets sad, am I sneakers? It's true, but the ops are watching. They're like, oh my gosh, you see this. Glasses and Rick Olin's. I'm like, oh my god. But in all honesty, how to keep it together. I don't want to take a broken record, but it's just how I was raised. You feel me? I know not to let my emotions pour over my logic of things. So it's more of, I always had a purpose before I had a son. But now my purpose just got redefined. So it's just like now, I just got to like, you know, what's for me? It's always going to be for me. What's not for me? And stuff that I don't have control of, I just back away. You know, like society is just like, you know, it's telling us like, we got to do something besides a nine to five. You know, so it's just like, and I refuse to put myself, myself, my son, my family, my friends. And a position like, damn, look what happened to Kev. He got caught up with this, this, that, that I refuse. You get me, especially the person who's going to probably feel it the most is my son. It's like, damn, like, yeah, they got my dad. This, this, that a third. But it is, my advice is like, you know, talk to your loved ones. That's always there for you. Your friends that are there for you. That are like, when you're second guessing things, they can always be assured. Like, yo, you're really doing it. Like, even yourself, I'm going to pick you up all the time and give you flowers. You see how you say like, oh, um, I watch your stuff. And it's like, every, I'm like, people don't realize how much it takes to be consistent. And like, just like, you know, like photography is not like not my job. You feel me? It's my nine to five. I work with behavioral kids. You feel me? But, um, I'm humbled a lot because, and it tells me like, I have a purpose. And life. And, you know, I love photography. Photography is my end game. My gold, my, you know, my plan. A, B, C, and D. But it's just more of, you got to have chat with yourself. You know, I'm not, but it's not a religious person, but I talk to God as much as I can. In the sense of like, listen, if I'm not a good man today, make me a better one within the next hour, within the next day. Make sure like my son is still saying like, yo, my dad really do this because I got a lot of people. You know, unfortunately, my brother's one where he's like, can't really say nothing about his dad to the center. It's like, yo, when you say he didn't quite put, and that hurts me for him. Why would I want my son to be like, yo, yeah, my dad ain't shit. You know, and some certain kids just be like, they have relationship with their parents in the sense of like, they're more of their friends. I told my son, like, I'm your father. I love you to death, but I'm not your friend. Okay. I'm always going to be here. I'm always going to talk to you. I could be the cool dad. I am the cool dad. But like, don't play that shit with me. Get him that structure. You know, you know what it is. Like, he'll come in here. He'll make sure he's solid. Everybody like, hey, how you doing? Shake your hand. I don't force him to be like, oh, go hug and kiss this person. All these people, I taught him to do that with my mother, my father, and my sister. Better go show your mom, your grandmother, your aunt, and your grandfather. Hug, kiss, and all this stuff like that. But other than that, honestly, with mental health, it's just staying on track. When you need a break, when you need a mental health day, go in your comfort. My comfort is like being at home, being in front of my computer and watching an enemy. Everything else is just like, I don't hear nothing. I don't put my father to not this story, but I hate that shit. But like, the only person I could ring for is my son, my brother, or my sister. Other than that, I'm like, oh, I didn't get the call and mind you. I'm watching the phone. Literally watching the buzz right there. Okay, my bad. There's not a good day for me. I was like, Dad, where are you at? I'm like, what's your name? I'm talking like I have mental breakers over now. Let's get back. I think you just got to know yourself, know your limits. Don't put yourself in predicaments or situations where you may lose the outcome of handling yourself a certain way. Other than that, I'm just like, I said, you're not going to see me out unless my camera is in front of me. Oh, no, I'm home or doing, you know, being a dad. Okay. Nothing else. Out the way. That's it. Are you proud of who you are? Oh, extremely. I can't. I'm like. The trenches. It's like, you know, and people are so shocked that I carry myself. Like, you know, they, you know, a lot of people, I think we all do it. You know, they'll join the book by its cover. They look at you like, oh, okay. But then it's like, you know, they're like, they'll look at you like that. Like, you know, you can turn your white guy voice off and everything. But naturally, it's just me like, how you doing? I'm very personable. You know. But it's easy. I'm very, very proud of who I am, what I've been doing. So, but, you know, there's always space for improvement. They are your humble. Work. Are you proud of the man you are today? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like you said, it's always going to grow. Okay. Am I where I want to be? Yeah. Absolutely. Chasing that M. All of them M. Multiple M. The comma is right. Yes. Chasing the comma. Chasing the comma. Not them. Not damn thing. This is actually for both of you. What do people have to look forward to when it comes to Kevini photography? Anything new rolling out? I know. Don't be capping, which just recently started, so that people have to look forward to. But you've been doing some really creative shoots. And I know these have been like, I know. Kevin, tell us something. Oh, yes. You got to tell them what they've been asking you. What they've been waiting for you to do? You're finally going to do it. What's that? Video. Oh, yeah. I'm definitely starting to, I sold a good amount of shoes to get a video camera. You told me that you got a camera? I'm just, you know, I'm a perfectionist. So I wouldn't be like, oh, yeah, you know, I'll take my little clips, go home, watch you to see what's the right stuff to put, how to do this. But I'm definitely doing video upcoming, you know, learning. I'm an inspiring videographer, but I still love photos. And the reason why, I don't know if this was a question, but I'm going to say this real quick, why I love photos so much is because of a lady on some of the news, Hurricane Katrina. And she said, all she wanted was a photo. So this is why I encourage everybody, like, I'm not a guy that sells you photos. It's just more of, like, listen, and now this day and age, everything is digital, you know. So it's like, it's memories. I tell everybody always celebrate yourself, your accomplishments and everything. Yeah, do that. Like, even if it's not with me, you know, I could give you a list of photographers. I know you can go through this and go through that, but it's like, it's your memories. You know, you can imagine how happy you were that day. Go back to the time of the news. You got like, oh, man, I just graduated here. Oh, I just thought that I was pregnant. Oh, my brother just got back from the military. You know, so it's just like, I always want to capture the, you know, the good time. You feel me? But I love what I do. And that is what you capture. You capture people's memories. And a lot of the time, like their biggest ones, newborns, parties, all that, family shoots. Got to. Sadly, I had a friend, you know, his father passed away a couple of years ago and I did, like, his mother's party and he hit me up. I'm like, yo, what's up, bro? Whatever. Oh, man. Father recently passed. He's got other pictures from my mom's party. And I had everybody's pictures. Everybody's pictures. If you have taken pictures with Kevin A. photography from, he got them. He saved everything. Really? I'm a hoarder. He has them. You had the photos from 12 years ago? Yes. On hard drives? Yes. I got everything. Damn. He got them. Oh, my God. What? It works in his favor? The funeral? The boy got his book? I love that, though. That's good. If your computer crashed, you lost them. Kevin got them. He might charge you for him, but he got them. I love that, though. That's good. More photography. Well, they're having a run out of space. You know, it's just more stuff, but it's just like, it's like, that lady on the news about on Hurricane Katrina, like, it really, it really touched me to the point. It's like less than I, cool. Not everybody's always in the greatest position of finances and all this shit, but at the same time, it's just like, you don't know how much you can make somebody's day. Here's a picture. Here's that. So forth, you know? And I do want to add on that real quick. I am huge on that. Like, keeping memories, keeping pictures, keeping videos. I have, if, like, people want to do this and they haven't done it yet. People want to do this and they haven't done it yet. Get an external hard drive. That's literally what I did. Get an external hard drive at the end of every year. I know this sounds tedious. So you can do it, like, twice in a year, whatever. I drag everything. Castes, birthday, whatever outing this was, whatever, whatever. And I label it. So, like, when I go, want to go back and like, look, I have, I can look at high school. I can look at all this stuff. And an external hard drive could probably cost you, like, 70 bucks, but it's so freaking worth it. I recommend it. Love that. And I always go back and look at like, snowstorms, all this random shit. Anyways, um, the final question that I have for the both of you. Is this one? Um, what is something that you wish that more people knew? And it's in regards to anything, life, photography, videography, anything. But I made this podcast because I want people to learn. I want people to learn about themselves and learn new things. So what's something that you wish more people knew? Love me. I'm shy as hell. I'm very shy. I'm very shy. If I don't know, I'm like, uh, you know, but it's, it's weird because I'm very approachable. I'm a people person. I'm like, Hey, how you doing? What's going on? But like, I like, they come in. I'm very shy. Do you have anxiety? I do. But it's not like, like crazy anxiety. I mean, it can't get, but it's just, I'm just shy. I'm like, no, I'm not like socially awkward or like have social anxiety, but it's just like. Oh, shit. Like, what are you going to say? What they think? Like, do they like picture? You know, like. And then when they start talking, and a whole different person comes out, I'm like, Oh, yeah, I'm coming from such and such. It's not that. I'm like. That's that. Every time? Oh, man. I'm like. Especially if I don't know you, but if I know you. Yeah. I got hit. You already know my body. So other than that, I'll be like, Oh, shit. It's a whole new place. It's like, you know, when I go to like these corporate and rich events, I'll be like. Oh, shit. Make sure my pants is pulled up to the right place. And I'm like, Hey, yeah. How you doing? I'm Kevin. You know, I'm such a limited. I got like. I'm cold. Switch is crazy. But, um, I would say that's it. Um, maybe. I think everybody knows my personality. Most of the time, like on social, like, well, the personality, like the, a lot of people to see, but I would say more. And I'm shy as hell. Work. I'm over here thinking like, damn, what am I going to say? I need something good about myself. I don't know. But, um, network. Network with pride. I wish everybody would. So you could. So ask questions. The worst you're going to get is a note. You want to find something out? Ask somebody. Why is it important to network? It's going to get you in rooms. Money don't, money don't get you in rooms. Your face card, respect how you move, how you handle yourself. Get you in rooms. They solid. I've been in rooms with Drake. Drake, look with my face. Some man, I like you, man. Energy good, bro. Know how to conduct yourself. Know how to get good energy. Moving around like a sucker. Everybody sees it. Moving around like you a snake. Everybody sees it. People that are in tune. You feel that? You're doing too much. You're popping around. You look like a clown. Everybody sees you. Network. Don't be scared to talk to people. I'm saying, oh, you can't do this. Talk. So important. So, so, so important to have those conversations and talk to people because that's how you get into rooms with Drake or rooms with anybody that you're interested in. So, for people that want to connect and want to learn more about you guys and Kevin A photography, let people know how they can find you, how they can connect with you, all that stuff. The best place to reach me is on my Instagram. It's Kevin A photography is not Kavina, but Kevin A and the age for Augustine, which is my last name. People say Kavina? Yeah, I'd be like, what are you up? What's wrong with y'all? You know, Bob and I hate whatever, you know, give them some grace. But it's Kevin K-E-V-I-N-A photography on Instagram. Best way to reach about to me. And I'll display it like I always do and it'll also be in the description down below if you're not watching it and if you're listening to it. Work if people want to connect with you. I'm going to go to him first because I don't really am not going to be a person. If he approves, then he'll tell you how to find me. So you can connect or try and find work through Kevin's page if you want to connect with him, ask about socials or anything like that. You can find him on Kevin's page. We're going to end on that note, gentlemen. Thank you guys so, so much. We went over. Thank you, Pat. I appreciate you, Eddie, for letting us go over. Thanks, Eddie. Of course. What do you mean, thank you for having you? You guys have to come back. I told him I guess this. So you're kind of like locked in. So we're going to check back in another few years. See what you guys are doing. Check in. Let's do it. See what's happened. But let's close out. So now, thank you, everyone, for watching. If you watch, thank you for listening. If you listened. And you can find through with a splash of tea podcast every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday on all podcast streaming platforms as well as YouTube. Thank you both so much. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you, work. And we have to do this again. We will. Please, please do. All right, y'all. You guys have a good one. [BLANK_AUDIO]