Coming from Montana, a locally-famous TikToker has made his way to Garden City. Chris Kirkman has over 40,000 followers and grows his platform day by day engaging with others by sharing his art.
“I first started using TikTok in early 2021 and I did it reluctantly. My wife was using it a year before me and I just did not see any value, like why would I use that? I then decided to post a video about dipping my drone into a lake on accident. Following that I did not post for another four to five months. I then began to make videos with my wife, she was pregnant with our first kid and we made videos where she would try different pregnancy cravings. That is when we first saw some followers and comments. After she gave birth we took a hiatus and did not really post anything for two to three years,” Kirkman said.
After the hiatus Kirkman began a new challenge and named it the 365 days of photography. In this challenge he gave himself the task of taking and posting a photo onto his TikTok.
“Two years ago I started a photo challenge, where I take a photo everyday and post it and I went for 99 days then I stopped. The reason I failed was because I let everything else get in the way. My wife was pregnant again and I was new at my job. There were all kinds of different things happening and I thought that I did not have time to post a photo,” Kirkman said.
On May 2nd of this year Kirkman decided to go ahead and try his challenge again. However this time, he would not let anything get in the way.
“I just had the urge to make some content and post some videos. I kept pushing it off but I decided to post,” Kirkman said.
He decided to then share a photo alongside a video explaining the picture and the backstory.
“Making these videos became my motivation to keep doing it, and I knew that if people enjoyed watching my videos then it would keep me engaged as well,” Kirkman said.
What Kirkman did not know was that he would create a community on TikTok of other artists and people who are also involved in what he does.
“I think it is so interesting that there is someone exploring and learning more about our history and culture in Kansas and especially here in Garden City,” Hannah Ebert, Arts & Comm. sophomore said.
Kirkman has also faced challenges and obstacles while trying to meet his deadline of a photo per day.
“The biggest challenge is time management, I have a full time job and I am basically always on the clock so finding the time in the day to go get the video is a big obstacle,” Kirkman said.
Gisselle Nei, Freshman, has her own TikTok and posts her own “Freshman Films” about her daily life.
“For me I try to find things that other people might think are interesting. It gets stressful finding enough footage and making sure I have something interesting,” Nei said.
Each day of the challenge has brought ups and downs but also special moments not only to Chris Kirkman but his entire family.
“Funny story: the 100th day was my wife and I’s anniversary, I did not have any intention or plans behind the day I started and Halloween also happens to be the halfway mark of this journey,” Kirkman said.
Traveling through five states during his TikTok challenge, Kirkman hopes to continue and spread the message of not waiting for the “perfect” time to accomplish a dream and to just go out and do it.
“Whether you make a video or not, doing this challenge has helped me appreciate the places I am living in so much more. I am an introvert and a person that does not like to go out, see new people and see new things but doing this challenge has allowed me to see new places and meet new people,” Kirkman said, “so if you have something you want to do, don’t wait to go out and do it. I think it is important to still dream.” Kirkman said.
