9 / Kevin Neilson / Photographer + Writer
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Kevin Neilson is a professional photographer and creative visual artist in the San Francisco Bay Area - and hopefully soon, a member of Headshots Matter.
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Daydreaming about my next road trip or camping trip or backpacking trip.
2. What is your greatest fear or challenge?
Dying. I’ve fretted about mortality since the first grade.
3. What trait do you most value in yourself?
Relentless curiosity.
4. What is the trait that you most value in others?
The ability to listen deeply to others even when you despise them or their ideas.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
Either Chomsky or Jay Bhattacharya for their moral courage.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
A $1,000 bottle of bourbon I found under my friend’s house. Delicious.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Happy yet dissatisfied, always.
8. What do you consider to be the most underrated virtue?
Languor—a combination of slowness, flirting with boredom, and staying aplomb in the midst of irrational affairs.
9. On what occasion do you break the rules?
When they’re useless or morally offensive.
10. What do you most like about your life?
Being anchored in my family, my wife and kids. So important!
11. What quality do you most enjoy in someone you work with?
Allergic to bullshit.
12. Which words, phrases, or gestures do you most overuse?
“Beautiful,” “awesome,” and “where’s my chocolate?”
13. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
The trinity of my family: wife, son, and daughter. One divine thing.
14. When and where are you happiest?
First in college (pure possibility!) and last year in 2024 when photography clicked for me, and I felt like I was back in college again. Pure, unadulterated excitement.
15. Which talent would you most like to have?
Musicality, either as a vocalist or a guitar player.
16. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Worry less, participate in life more.
17. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Freeing myself from the corporate world because I never really did quite fit.
18. Where would you most like to live?
Montana, which is odd, because I haven’t been there yet.
19. What is your most treasured possession?
My teardrop trailer camper!
20. What is your favourite way to spend your time?
Working my way through a day that has one or two things I absolutely have to do and a bunch of things I might do.
21. Who are your heroes in real life?
This goes back to moral courage: Chomsky, Bhattacharya, Jeffrey Sachs, Snowden, etc. Anyone who challenges orthodoxy at great risk.
22. What is your ultimate dealbreaker?
If you use the word “thingy,” it’s over between us.
23. What is your greatest regret?
Not going to Sadie Hopkins with Aya Peard. Hurts me still.
24. What has been your favourite journey?
Rafting down the Grand Canyon with my mom and grandpa when I was a kid.
25. What kind of legacy would you like to leave?
When my children are in their late 90s, I hope they say, “My dad loved me.” That, and I want people to remember me as a noticer of things.
For more information about Kevin Neilson and his photography you can find him at: kevinneilson.com and also view his work on social at: Instagram and LinkedIn
