I’m Kirstin Zahradnick, but you can call me KZ! I was born here in Denver, Colorado, but my journey to return to my home state has been quite an adventure. Growing up, I dreamed of becoming a professional dancer—and that’s exactly what I did. I attended summer intensives every year from the age of 12 onward, studied dance at SUNY Purchase with a concentration in ballet, studied abroad at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and eventually joined Klaipėdos Valstybinis Muzikinis Teatras in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

After completing a few seasons with the company in Lithuania and working on various projects along the way, I made the difficult decision to walk away from my dance career. Leaving something I had dedicated 23 years of my life to was no small feat, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t the right path for me.

Through my life experiences, I’ve come to realize that what fulfills me most is helping others. While dance certainly has its own way of inspiring and helping people, I longed for a career where I could see the impact I was making right in front of me. That’s when photography entered the picture.

I first picked up a camera during my sophomore year of high school. Although my demanding dance schedule often pushed it to the back burner, photography always brought me joy. It gave me a creative outlet to process my emotions and connect with the people around me in a meaningful way.

While photography is a very different medium from dance, I love how both art forms challenge the concept of moments. In dance, hundreds of hours of practice go into perfecting movements that are often seen for less than a second. In photography, under the right circumstances, you can capture a fleeting moment and make it last forever.

It’s in this space—playing with emotions and time—that I find my passion. How is it that an art form that flashes by can leave such a lasting impression? How can I create a frozen moment that resonates for a lifetime? These are the questions I explore through my work.

Even in posed settings, I believe there’s a way to capture a person’s essence—something that makes a photograph resonate deeply with them for years to come.