Meet Kevin Kwan, Creator of Kevin Hart’s #DopePic

As one of the most followed persons on Instagram, Kevin Hart is looked upon as a social media icon. His Instagram strategy is a mirror of his lifestyle: rapid, in your face and dynamic. The quality of his candid shots, in which he always refers to them as #DopePics, is always A1, and you can thank Kevin for that. No, not Chocolate Drop; but Kevin Kwan, the man behind all of Hart’s lifestyle photography. We sat down with Kwan to discuss working with Hart, the development of his technology and equipment over the years and what makes the ideal #DopePic.

George Kiel: What makes the perfect #DopePic in your eyes?

Kevin Kwan: First of all, as a photographer, you should always have your eyes on the composition of the photo – what to put where, subject-wise and background-wise, in your lens. You definitely must have good lighting. To me, lighting is the pane to a photograph. You also must have the eye, and then you let the composition and your creativity take over.

Kiel: How do you go about choosing your backgrounds for Kevin Hart’s photos?

Kwan: With Kevin, it’s usually a super quick shot. We handle it within a minute, tops. I usually spot a background that, I think, would be dope, I then snap a photo, first, without him in the lens to get my settings right as far as exposure. Then, I’ll tell him, ‘Hey, right here, look at this background.’ With him being such a good actor, he really makes my job easy because he knows how to pose according to the background. I am a big believer in certain poses for certain backgrounds. For example, the one I took of him in front of a fireplace had a very intimate setting, and he gave me a very “cool guy” pose, which was perfect for the setup. Sometimes, he’s very playful, so he’ll give me a big smile for a really, high-energy background. For the background, it’s all about us walking, looking and scouring until that one, perfect setting shows up. And then it’s like ‘Bam, here it is. Let’s do it.’ It’s all about the spontaneity.

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It might be hard to believe, but we have never had an official setup photo shoot. Our photos just randomly happen.

Kiel: Is that more so you choosing the background or is that Kevin sometimes saying, ‘Yo, this might be a good shot?’

Kwan: It’s about a 9-1 ratio of me choosing the backdrop. You know, he’s always on the phone, always doing something, so it’s my job to put him in the best light; no pun intended. He trusts me with his candid shots. It might be hard to believe, but we have never had an official setup photo shoot. Our photos just randomly happen.

Kiel: What’s your two favorite #DopePics that you shot of Kevin?

Kwan: The most recent was a pic during his honeymoon. It’s a photo of him in the water with a hat on. It was really a very organic moment, and I love the back lighting on that one. There’s another one with him and his wife, Eniko, when we were in Cannes, France. As a photographer, you have to make it work even when you don’t have good lighting, and sometimes, you have to creatively turn the bad lighting into a good thing. So on that shot, I made it more of a silhouette with the backlight. Those two come to mind, but there’s so many though. I have about a thousand photos of Kevin.

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Kiel: How long have you been working with Kevin?

Kwan: This winter marks 10 years. I met him in 2006 when he hired me to do photography for his daughter’s birthday. From there, he was just a welcoming person to me. He’d invite me over for Thanksgiving dinner; he asked me to come watch football games with him at the house while he and his friends would be barbecuing. And this was all before he was who he is now. This was when he was just ‘Kevin’ trying to make it. Then, I began shooting portraits for his family, birthdays for his daughter and son in addition to a lot of other things.

Kiel: How has your technology and equipment developed over the years in regards to shooting Kevin?

Kwan: Originally, when I would go out to shoot Kevin, I had a 5D1 – the original one. I have been shooting since a teenager, so for portraits, I would use a mixture of the Kodak Portra 400 and the Portra 100s – the ones with vivid colors and all that. I still have my Mamiya 220 that I used to shoot a lot with as well. Then, I upgraded to the Nikon N 90s 35 mm. Oh, and my very first digital camera was a Pentax that my brother-n-law gave me. I was in love with it. I went through the whole line of Canons before switching to Sony. I still have a Canon though. The canon just has that great speed. Sony has really good quality though.

Kiel: Where do you find the most joy in shooting Kevin? Vacations? Run with Hart tour? Movie Premieres?

Kwan: Of course, vacations. There’s no stress there. On vacations, I feel like a family photographer, taking photos on my own camera. I’m his lifestyle photographer, so I get to see it all.

Kiel: What does the term #DopePic mean to you?

Kwan: A #DopePic, to me, signifies a memory. Every time you look at a photo, you should think of a memory. A #DopePic also means natural; not adding a ton of filters. But the memory is the most important thing for the pic. There should always be a story behind each pic. But now with the phone craze and the Instagram filters, built-in iPhone filters and the moving photos on the iPhone, it’s hard to pinpoint that one #DopePic.

Follow Kevin Kwan on Instagram: @kevinkwan327.

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