As a child, Canaan Kagay loved watching his grandfather shoot pictures. “My grandfather was a photographer and I learned a lot from him while working in the darkroom and developing my own film,” he says. Canaan took that love, and along with a group of five close friends, turned it into a thriving business.
“We were all working in the industry and we would get together and talk about how cool it would be to own our own company and be able to work together as friends under one roof,” says Canaan. “And with a well thought-out business strategy, we decided to pull the trigger on a dream and see what happened. A decade later, Details Nashville is still doing awesome.”
Details has a full-spectrum media team. In addition to photography, it also offers videography services and all editing is done in-house. “We run the gamut as far as what we cover since we have the diversity within our team. We do commercial, branding, editorial, weddings and other events," he says.
“I think this diversity helps with our creativity in that we bring a wide knowledge base to every shoot we take on. It gives us a fun edge because we’re not just shooting from the same perspective -- bringing in a base of experience lends itself to capturing creatively every time.”
Capturing special moments always has been the driving force behind Canaan’s passion for taking pictures. He says, “Even as a kid, what was always the most interesting to shoot were people. I loved capturing moments in time, and then getting into the darkroom and developing them and seeing how those moments were captured. And so to this day, what keeps me excited about photography is that you can stop a moment in time and hold onto it.”
Photographs, he explains, become a part of families’ histories and they also help trigger memories. “You can tell stories based off of a memory from a photo, and it’s one you may have forgotten until you see that memory again.”
Details Nashville was not created, he says, to fulfill their own egos. Instead, it’s really always been about capturing their clients in the best ways possible while also creating an environment where the team can continue to love what they’re doing.
“If our egos ever get in the way of us serving our clients, well, then we will have lost sight of the big picture,” says Canaan. “I think that’s kept everything in perspective for us and has helped us stand apart.”
Being in business for a decade has allowed him and his colleagues to share in their clients’ many unforgettable moments. “There’s been so many families that we’ve grown with over the years as they have continued to expand and change,” he says. “It’s been very special to be able to see couples that we photographed getting married in their early 20s and who now have three or four kids and here we are doing their family photos.”
Canaan and his team are all about capturing who their clients are in real ways.
“The photos are going to be something they can connect with years from now because they’re going to remember that moment and not the pose we put them in or the filter that we put over it. They are going to remember how they felt when they were laughing. That real response is what we’re looking to capture. Those emotions are the things that will last,” he concludes.