Slide #5
“It wasn’t about the love of photography or partying in the beginning. It was the love of marketing and branding side of it. I just viewed it as a giant experiment. I had no idea it would grow this big this fast.” Kirill admits. The site initially got about 30 visitors a day, it now averages 1.5 million hits a month.
He credits Facebook and Twitter for helping grow the brand so quickly. Anyone who follows him on these social networks knows that his tweets and updates vary from funny takes on nightlife to extremely dirty and misogynist jokes. “In the beginning I just said I don’t give a fuck. I don’t have to take myself seriously. I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want, because I really didn’t care. This wasn’t a job. I had a job” He says. He credits his dark sense of humor from the time he spent in the comedy scene “I’ll be vulgar. I realized that it will sometimes turn people off, but it makes other people more loyal. It’s not for everyone, but I’m just going to be me.”
Initially, he ran the site and still had his day job, which at this time was graphic designer for the now defunct “Comix.” “In the beginning I’d go out until 4am and come to work hung over, but they didn’t care. I was a great graphic designer and because the job came easy to me I could get away with it.” Eventually Comix closed and he decided to put all his efforts into photography. “It was scary for a little bit, but I was at the point of my photo career where it could be my only source of income.”
It was a bumpy ride at first. He was an outsider to the scene and most of the high end venues are selective as to who they will allow to shoot their parties. Others have strict “No Photo” policies. In the beginning most people didn’t know who he was. “I remember a time I got booked to shoot a girl’s birthday party at The Eldrige. I show up, start shooting and Matt Levine told me ‘Get out. I don’t want any photos in here.’ Which is funny to me because were such good friends now.” Even Yoni Goldberg of DGI management (who now represents him) refused to let him shoot Mel DeBarge’s birthday party.