Today we’d like to introduce you to Maloos Khonsarian.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Maloos. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My passion for art revealed itself from an early age. From the age of five, my sketchbook and color-pencils became my best friends; they were all I needed to keep myself busy all day. I put them right by my bed so then the first thing I got to do in the morning would be drawing. I’ll never forget my first art lesson. One day my dad’s friend, who was an artist, taught me to look at things through a viewfinder he made out of a shoe box for me. He taught me that if I looked at the object I wanted to draw through the viewfinder, I could get a focused perspective of the objects and eliminate the surrounding distractions. This helped enormously with proportions. I didn’t know at the time that I just had my first photography lesson too: composition! Coincidentally, he was the one who took the most beautiful photos of all my childhood
We had a very basic camera that I loved to take pictures with. Our camera, like any other camera of the time, took negatives. I was always impatient for the films to complete a full round so that I could take them with mom to the lab and print them. I remember once we travelled to a beautiful historical site decorated by blue tiles and I asked my dad if I could take pictures of the place without having my family members in the frame. My Passion to take picture of the architecture alone was, of course, perceived as a strange act, given photography was merely thought to be for capturing family memories back then.
Later, when I was taking drawing and painting classes, my parents bought me my first digital camera. The first thing I used the camera for was capturing the compositions I found attractive for drawing and painting. This is how I was officially introduced to the world of photography. I read the manual as if it were my school textbook with highlighters in hand. For a while I tried to teach myself how to take better pictures, but later I started taking classes and reading books about photography. I would beg my friends and family members to model for me so that I could experiment and cultivate the ability to breakdown lighting and camera settings. When I graduated from the university—in a major that was more financially promising in my dad’s opinion, accounting—I rented a basement and set up my first photography studio and started officially working as a portrait photographer. I have never been away from my camera ever since.
Has it been a smooth road?
Obviously, it has taken so much dedication just like any other achievement in one’s life.
Being able to develop your personal voice in your art requires lots of practice and persistence and being able to establish a business based upon that is completely another story. It is fun to spend time, create and do the things you enjoy, but it is not necessarily easy to make it available for the public and get paid for it. I have to say the latter was the most challenging part. Coming up with my own business model, putting a value on my services, finding the right audiences, and marketing to them were all very challenging. Once I managed to establish all those aspects well enough in San Francisco, my husband and I had to move to Chicago, and in effect I had to start it all over again but at least this time I knew how to do it.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Maloos Photography – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I do portrait photography. I have done weddings and engagements in the past, and I still do here and there, but my main focus is newborn and family photography. I love life-style photography because I enjoy telling stories and for that purpose I occasionally go to my clients’ houses and record few hours of their lives in their own place, so that years from now their children will have an idea of the place they grew up in. To me this is very valuable. I also designed my own studio in a way that my studio sessions would have a homey feeling. However, if a client desires a posed studio session, my business has a warm and suitable setting to fulfill that desire too.
During my sessions, in addition to taking pictures, I usually capture some video and compile them with the photos into a musical video/slide show, which I make available to my clients at the revealing session. It is very rewarding to watch their reactions while they are watching a few minutes of their everyday life, narrated by my camera.
I love patterns and motifs. I have a collection of fabrics from different parts of the world. Moving to Chicago has given me a different perspective of this multi-cultural place, and as an artist I decided to reflect that into my photographs. It was time to bring those fabrics in use. I started to incorporate those fabrics in the pictures in various ways. For example, I photographed newborns being wrapped in textiles or used those fabrics as backdrops. This project has drawn a lot of attention which I am planning to expand and hopefully someday publish it as a book.
In my art, I always try to stay away from the conventions. What is interesting now may not be as appealing in the future. But if you follow the rule of creativity versus others’ subjective tastes, you will create an image that never expires and will be treasured in a family for generations. I also insist in printing photographs which can give the memories a chance to be seen and kept. We all have experienced loosing digital files and you never want that happen to your photographs which can’t be redone. I provide prints and albums and I work with professional labs in the US and Italy. I believe when one cares to hire a professional photographer, she deserves to get professional products and prints, and I gladly offer all different kind of products and services.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I moved from San Francisco about a year and a half ago. I love Chicago and it has grown on me since I moved here. It is a beautiful city with four seasons; although the coldest is the longest. It has great people from variety of cultures and ethnicity. The only thing I wish were different is the segregation I sense between people of different cultural backgrounds.
Pricing:
- I offer two different sessions; in studio and at location. My studio sessions are starting from $350 (before tax) and goes up.
- And I also offer life-style sessions in my clients’ homes or outdoor with flat rates that are priced differently from my studio sessions.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.maloosphotography.com
- Phone: (408)775-5636
- Email: maloos@maloosphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maloosphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Maloosphotography/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/maloos-photography-wilmette
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
