Kayla, Kbillions, and Kayla James are all my known aliases. I am a self-taught film photographer living to tell human stories through my lens. I recently started the biggest chapter of my life – I moved to Los Angeles from Florida.
What I thought was the beginning of the best year of my life, ended up being rudely abrupted by COVID-19. I went into this move with the healthiest mind set ever, thinking to myself “I totally got this, what’s the worst that could happen?”.
That first month was one of the lowest points of my life, basically dealing with the unpredictable and uncertain future. I came into Los Angeles with a great head start, I landed a full-time internship at Fox Studios and I was booking shoots from left to right. Covid took all of that away from me, I was laid off from the studio and wasn’t able to shoot people because of the stay at home requirements. So not having any funds coming in and also trying to cope with not being with my family during the pandemic was the perfect recipe for a depression disaster.
I am what you would call a “type a” person – one who HAS to plan and organize e v e r y s i n g l e thing, every single day. Not being able to do this really screwed with my mental health and had me feeling very alone. I made the risky decision to fly back home for a couple weeks to be with my family and get myself back into the right headspace until the pandemic cooled down a bit. This decision saved my sanity, I did not realize how big of an influence my family and peers have on my mental health. They saved me from what could have been an atrocious breakdown. I am currently back in Los Angeles, existing in a superb and healthy mental state. IT FEELS FUCKING GOOD. Just taking it all in one day at a time, slowly doing shoots again while abiding by social distancing rules. I am ok and content with life. I have accepted that the life before us is very different and probably will be for a long time. I will now leave you with my favorite life quote
“the only time progress comes before struggle, is in the dictionary”
Bringing Midsommar Energy to Florida. 2019 
Melted Desert. Utah 2019 
“Horses in the back”. 2019 
Facing Reality “If you talk about those of whom we do not speak… have you not spoken of that about which we do not talk? Do not speak of that of about which we talk of not speaking… about.” 2018 
Ten pints of Truth, Eugene Snowden. 2018 
Embracing every version of yourself, Steph. 2020 
Flowers in the sky. 2019 
Glitter Queen, Genna. 2020
follow Kayla James on instagram @kbillions
snapshot series relives moments in life via words and photos.
REALLY NICE™️ 
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