Kristen PARKER

What was your very first job? 

-My first ever job was working at a local grocery store in my hometown.

-My first job in the photo world was being the assistant photo editor at my college newspaper, The Daily Orange

Please describe, in your own words, what your job is and what work it entails.

I’m the Photo Editor at Hearst for the Enthusiast Group, which includes Popular Mechanics, Runner’s World and Bicycling. I produce photo shoots for all three brands across our print, digital and social media platforms for various stories including longer features, training advice, and tips.

How did you discover that the creative world was right for you? Was there a time in your life that you credit to this discovery? Was there a train of events that brought you where you are today?

I’ve always been interested in art, and as a kid I found an old film camera in my house and started playing around with it, learning how it worked and framing images, even though there wasn’t any film in it at the time. From there I became more and more interested in photography, and I knew I wanted to be involved with photography in my career.

In your constantly growing and expanding industry, how do you find inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and relevant?

I like to follow photographers and brands on Instagram to see their recent work, and I like to draw inspiration from things around me like movies, books, and interior design.

If you had to pick one piece of work or project that you are most proud of, more for the creative work and innovation rather than its recognition or industry "success," what would it be?

Runner’s World started a program called Runner’s Alliance, an ongoing series of articles and seminars to help make running safer for everyone which highlights many runners’ personal experiences, safety tips, and people who are working toward changes. I’ve gotten to work with many talented photographers on these projects who have created beautiful images to tell these important stories.  

Which creative disciplines do you commission most, and are most interested in seeing more of and why? Which of these disciplines are you most interested in seeing at CONNECTIONS? (ie photo, film, production, social, experiential, vr, cgi, animation etc)


I mainly commission still photo shoots, but also work with photographer on video elements as well. I love seeing new photography work and meeting people I haven’t worked with before who have different ways of seeing. As we branch more into motion elements for our digital content, its exciting to see new video projects and ways to combine videos with still photography.