Follow Kianna’s photography on Instagram!Photo by Meghan Swanson Photography — Follow Kianna’s photography on Instagram!
Photo by Meghan Swanson Photography

If you follow us on Instagram, visit our website, or have shopped with us in person in the past, then you’ve witnessed the work of our team member extraordinaire, Kianna Notermann. Kianna is Minneapolis Craft Market’s social media manager, content creator, and one of our talented photographers. She just has a way with her camera, capturing scenes that speak for themselves, and say so much. The images she produces hold depth, personality, and electricity.

Kianna has been a part of our team since the very beginning and we truly don’t know what we would do without her. For the past year and a half, she has been living and teaching in Madrid, Spain and managing our Instagram from halfway around the world. We love the internet for that!

Emuble Vintage for Minneapolis Vintage MarketPhoto by Kianna Notermann — Emuble Vintage for Minneapolis Vintage Market
Photo by Kianna Notermann

We sat down virtually with Kianna to dig a little deeper into how she got started, what’s on her mind, and what drives her creativity

MCM: What led you down the social/photography/design path? How did you get to where you are with your kickass business?

KN: Both were mostly an accident. When I was in college I really wanted to work in the music industry. I had volunteered and worked as a booking agent at 3 different venues, but after 3 years I knew it wasn't for me. I was working at one venue that I adored, so even though I decided to drop being a booking agent, I asked if there were any other positions available, they told me social media, and the rest is history.

As for photography, that blossomed entirely separate from social media, and later on I was able to merge the two. I had a camera that sat on my dresser, collecting dust for the longest time. I had taken two photo classes, one film and the other digital, but the art didn't captivate me until I took a road trip from Minnesota to California. I learned to love capturing adventures along the way. Then, a few months later, I decided to ditch my kit lens and buy a 35mm, which is when I discovered bokeh (the blurry background everyone likes) and quickly got into creative portraits.

Sometime along my social media journey I realized being able to take fun, candid photos for brands rather than the posed salesy photos we are used to would be my biggest advantage. Once I started to focus on the visual part of social media marketing, my business changed completely. Now I can't shut up about phone photography and Lightroom Mobile, I love it.

MCM: What in the world inspires you (positive or negative)?

KN: I think we're all watching a massive upheaval of our system. Work doesn't look like it used to when my parents were young, and it's continuing to shift. More of us are deciding to take on freelance work and launch our own businesses, using the internet as our vehicle for promo and outreach (and for a lot of us, the work itself). What inspires me is watching my peers throwaway the old notions of "work" and create their own definitions. We're making work into exactly what we want it to be, not just a means to survive that was forced on us.

Minneapolis Vintage MarketPhoto by Kianna Notermann — Minneapolis Vintage Market
Photo by Kianna Notermann

MCM: What's your favorite part of working for MCM/MVM?

KN: These two brands attract the coolest people in the Twin Cities, from the people behind the scenes to the vendors to the shoppers, I have met some glorious people from the two years I've spent working with MCM/MVM. Working with this team has been key to my growth as social media specialist, photographer, and business owner in general.

MCM: What's it like living in Spain during the year 2020?

KN: I moved to Madrid in September 2019. As you've probably heard, it was/continues to be one of the worst places for COVID. We were completely shut down, only able to leave our houses to go for groceries or to the pharmacy. I'd love to tell you that I spent the copious amounts of free time working on myself, exploring old hobbies, finding new ones, etc. Instead I downloaded Tik Tok and stayed awake until 10 am (you read that correctly, 10 o'clock in the morning). It was definitely weird (and sometimes terrifying) living thousands of miles from my family in the middle of a pandemic. It was even weirder trying to be a social media manager during the peak months of quarantine ... what does one even post about when no one can leave the house..the weather!?

MCM: What are you passionate about when you aren't working?

KN: I live to hike, read, and thrift shop.

MCM: Current favorite quote?

KN: “I urge you to please notice when you are happy" - Kurt Vonnegut