Meet William Karstens | Husband, Father, Veteran, Photographer.

We had the good fortune of connecting with William Karstens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi William, how do you define success?
Incremental progress towards new goals. Sometimes making it through just the moment. Shoot, there’s enough people out here with hashtag inspirational meme worthy sayings vying for counts on a Social Media account. My main photography account is Mundane Skirmish. You know, Mundane, that day to day life. Skirmish, the little battle at the edge of things.

Success is not giving up, not giving in to much, it’s brushing your shoulders off, surviving, sticking with it when it’s hard, being decent to yourself and others when it’s hard.

Success is perhaps doing 1% better. Maybe 2.

Success is when someone notices you and says they like what you do.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have a day job. Actually, a day job that I like. One, that’s almost a career vice a day job, really. And one that doesn’t involve photography. It’s not an easy job, and it has its ups and downs, but I like the people and the work.

But when you talk about photography, it’s a big part of that Ikigai factor. I think part of enjoying my ‘day job’ is that photography gives me a chance to focus intently on something with variable outcomes and drivers. You just don’t know what you’ll see in street photography, and that drives value in the effort and the work. And that secondarily makes me more motivated at the day job. I can come in, shift perspectives, try to remain fungible, but push to completion. I had to learn to balance both. At one point I completely hid photography from most I worked with, nearly all. That was, in retrospect, kind of dumb.

My brand, my story – I’m not rooted to money, style or social purpose with photography. I just capture moments, those mundane moments of the day to day fight to live.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
So, my idea of fun, is a bit different. But getting out in San Diego? CounterPoint up in Golden Hill is a legit food / drink spot. Is near downtown, but not in the mix. People wise, people watching, 5th street in gaslamp ALWAYS has something going on. The waterfront is a great place to run, walk and be close to ocean water. Hit the Little Italy Farmers Market on a Saturday. Grab a drink at Mete on 4th, it’s the newest of the new, super good vibe, cool crew running it. Grab coffee at Invigitorium in the morning, it’s coffee, but nothing normal and very fun.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There’s always someone new I meet in photography that inspires me. Always. People just do things that make you look at things a different way, that’s enticing and you want to run towards that for a while. So there’s always someone.

I’ve always had want to do more with photography. But, key players would be David Munson, Rachel Belinsky, David Binnick, and Ralph Starkweather. David Munson and Rachel Belinsky were dedicated photography people that really drew my attention to taking photos in unique ways, and telling stories in ways that most don’t. later on David Binnick and Ralph Starkweather both showed me what an involved dedication spanning long time periods meant with photography. That is, how it can be a part of life, a valuable part.

Website: mundaneskirmish.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mundaneskirmish/?hl=en

Image Credits
All credit @mundaneskirmish