He studied photography at the University of Texas at the Austin and Arlington campuses as well as at Stanford University. Kirk has received multiple national and international awards for his work, including the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize from the National Portrait Gallery in London and Honored Guest Artist at the Pingyao International Photo Festival in Pingyao, China. He was also the Artist-In-Residence at Rayko Photo Center in San Francisco and the Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, Oregon. Kirk’s works have been spotlighted in numerous solo and group exhibitions all over the world. Kirk talks to atlas this week about how the financial crisis in 2009 inspired him to create his powerful “The Great Recession” series and how the series impacted him personally.