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Kenzie Fuller
@kenziec.photo
Photographer based in the US
I think I have had quite a different experience growing up than a lot of others. When I was fourteen, I found out I had a benign tumor in my left knee. It wasn’t cancer and for that, I will be forever grateful. However, what was supposed to be one surgery to remove it turned into almost seven years of having a tumor in my knee, three surgeries, and spending three years of my life on and off of chemotherapy. When you grow up in a small town, your business is not really your own – everyone will know – and that made high school and the transition to college much more difficult. It is a strange feeling reflecting back on all of those years and all that I went through, but I am grateful for them anyway. They made me learn from a very young age that life is short and that there is too much of this world that I haven’t seen. There are too many people and cultures that I have yet to meet and understand. The more I travel, the more grounded I feel. Growing up and experiencing something different than your peers can be very lonely and traveling, making myself leave my comfort zone, makes those moments feel less and less disruptive to my life. During those seven years, everything felt stagnant. Whether it was waiting for another surgery, for the chemo to end, or to feel normal again after everything was finished, my life felt very much on hold.
"Life is meant to be lived and to experience more than just your hometown or the state you grew up in. Traveling and experiencing new things are what remind me that I’m alive."
I managed to travel a lot and have been very fortunate to see a number of amazing places. What inspires me about traveling is getting to see places that have so much history and the ability to learn from the people of those lands. When you leave your home and put yourself in a completely different environment you know nothing about, you grow. I have learned a lot about myself over the years and it feels really good to accomplish the goals I set for myself.
"Out of all trips, Alaska has been one of the most intense places I have been."
I grew up in the midwest (Ohio) where things are plain and flat and there is very little risk involved in regard to landscape, climate, and wildlife. However, before we get to Alaska, let me tell that while Ohio is mostly flat, we do have some really great parks that are far from that. In the northeast, you have Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This park is just south of Lake Erie, which is a nice bonus. In southeast Ohio, you have Wayne National Forest and Hocking Hills State Park. This part of Ohio is the start of your ascent into the Appalachian Mountains. A large part of my family lives in southeast Ohio and I have been lucky to have spent a lot of time exploring the area from a young age. There are a lot of great hiking and biking trails and really interesting caves to explore. So if you are reading this, don’t write Ohio off completely!
Now, that first morning in Alaska, being used to flat landscapes and waking up in a beautiful Airbnb up on a hill overlooking the Denali mountain range, I kind of got stuck in a state of awe when looking at the view we had. Right in the middle of that view was Mt. Mckinley, the highest peak in North America. I had seen the Rockies a few times prior to being in Alaska but they do not compare to the Denali. When the tallest mountain you have seen in your life up until that point was around 15,000 feet (4527m), and you are now looking up at mountains that are hitting 18,000 feet (5486m) and above, it is shocking.
We were there in February so everything was covered in snow. We traveled up to Fairbanks which is about eight hours north of Anchorage, and six hours from where we stayed in Talkeetna. Driving up there did not even feel like six hours with all that we had to see on our way. With Fairbanks being that much further north, the temperature plummeted about 35 degrees and that is a very different type of cold. Everything almost felt still, as if the temperature had frozen the atmosphere. The reason we braved these cold temperatures in Alaska in February was to see the northern lights, and they did not disappoint. It was such an insane experience to watch the dark night sky light up with dancing streaks of green and pink. During our trip, we did see a lot of moose which were quite scary at first. When the first time you see an animal that large and it is standing in the middle of the road, it is kind of horrifying. They were much nicer to see standing off the road in the fields. We did not see any bears and I honestly can’t say if I am relieved or disappointed about that.
"I am hoping to make another trip back soon, in the summertime, to hike and see more of the great state because the little I saw did not even scratch the surface of what all Alaska has to offer."
Although I had been traveling a lot already, my passion for photography did not develop itself until the last few years. I actually bought my first DSLR camera in April of 2021 as a birthday present for myself. Up until that point, I had been using my iPhone to document my travels. The more photos I took with my phone, the more I wanted a “real” camera to be able to have control over what I was shooting. Photography for me has always been something that I have had an interest in, but never something that I pursued too much. With everything that I have experienced in life, my goal was to get a job where I could make a difference in others’ lives. This led to pursuing a master’s degree in public health policy and working in politics. When you work in policy/politics, life moves incredibly fast. We go in every day to change policies that will help people in the best way possible and making change takes time and is often an uphill battle. You have to really work to find moments to slow down and take a breath. Photography helps me do that. When I pick up my camera it makes me pause for a few moments and really take in what is around me. I think photography is fulfilling to me as well because it is something I can be proud of that isn’t work-related and so heavy.
It is enjoyable sharing new places with people, places they may have never thought of going. I get to put effort into something that provides me with happy memories and for other people to look at and be inspired to see more of and explore for themselves. If a place, or a photo, can bring people together even if just for a moment, it is worth it.
Nevertheless, I am a quiet person and have been all of my life, so sharing updates about my life or what I do is not something I have been used to doing. Art, whether that be painting, drawing, taking photos, etc., has always been something I have enjoyed doing, but haven’t enjoyed sharing. Though I find that the more I put myself out there and the more I challenge my comfort zone, the more outspoken I become and the more I feel like sharing. Photography does this for me in an interesting way. The more I work at photography and I learn to produce a photo that I can be proud of, the more I like to share. Photography pushes me to be more open and more expressive with my life and thus helps me to take up space that I haven’t before.
My main goal with photography is to continue to work and fine-tune my skills to be a better photographer. I am at the point with it where when people tell me they love my photos, I say, “thank you, but I still have a lot to learn.” I have never studied photography other than what I have taught myself over this past year. Another goal I have is to expand what I shoot. Mostly I shoot landscapes but I also really love photographing cars and people, two things I do not shoot enough of.
"All three categories are so different but can all easily come together as well and I would enjoy one day getting to work on all of those."
I have two main inspirations in regard to my development in photography: Asa Steinars and Amy Shore. Asa is a landscape and adventure photographer and when I started following her I was so immediately impressed with her work and all of the explorations she has done of Iceland. I have never wanted to visit a country more, regardless of the season. Amy Shore is an automotive and lifestyle photographer. I have always loved cars and am a big Formula 1 fan. Seeing her document these racing events and the cars in the way that she does makes me love it all even more. Both of these women are excelling in the male-dominated field of photography. Seeing the two of them succeed is amazing and it very much inspires me to keep learning and working towards my goals. It’s a great feeling to move forward, get better, and feel proud about your achievements.
"At this point, one of my photos that I love most has to be one I took on my recent trip to Germany, Switzerland and Austria."
The photo was taken on my last day in Germany. One of the main reasons I have been wanting to go to Germany was to see all the castles and in particular the Neuschwanstein Castle. I saved going to the castle for my last day to make it more of a farewell to what had been an amazing four weeks in Europe. When I got there, it was so cloudy and I was worried I wasn’t going to see anything. I waited a few hours to go up to the castle and I am glad I did because the clouds finally cleared for the few hours I spent up there. The castle was just as impressive and amazing as I was hoping, but when I walked up the trail behind, it I saw this. This took my breath away more than the castle did. There is a lot to this photo; the mountains, the clouds rolling back in, and the lake. It was such a beautiful thing to witness as the clouds rolled back over the mountains to where they had been just a few hours prior, covering everything. I went up the mountain with the expectation to be blown away by just the castle and when I turned around there was this, and it was breathtaking.
"The combination of all the components in this photo just puts me at ease and it really did turn out to be the perfect last day to an amazing trip."
It was a solo trip and those four weeks traveling alone taught me a lot. I have always prided myself on my ability to navigate a new place and to survive being alone but crossing an ocean really puts a whole new spin on that. In my family, we have this saying “all trains go somewhere.” It is something we started using after a two-week trip to Paris when there were a couple of frustrating times of getting on a train that took us in the opposite direction we wanted to go. We started saying this as a funny little reminder that it is okay if you get on a train going in the wrong direction because you just as easily get off and find one going in the right direction. When you are traveling it is easy to get frustrated when you get lost or things just aren’t going the way you planned them to. You just have to remind yourself that things can be easily remedied and to just take a breath. Inserting yourself into a completely new place where you do not speak the language makes you have to adapt in such a different way. You learn to pick up on words that you see often which help you to navigate your surroundings. I found that what makes me feel comfortable and confident in new places is looking up a ton of information before I get there. I think it is important to know about the cities and the places you will be visiting before you go.
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