Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Howard.
Aaron, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
This is how I started my photography business without any photo training and was published in some of the biggest magazines in the world within just a few years.
While taking undergraduate business classes, I needed money to pay for my room & board. I was making $12 o $13 an hour working a job which primarily consisted of manual labor. Upon completing an entrepreneurship class, I decided to work for myself.
I had a camera but didn’t know how to use it for photography. With advice from my friend Noah Wilson, I wrote 50 watch companies a day to shoot their watches for free – in exchange, I got to keep the watches. I then sold the watches on eBay. Within a couple of months, I was charging for the images. I got better and better each day. It was tough because I don’t believe I even had $1000 to my name.
I learned the applications: photoshop, lightroom, & Capture One from YouTube. I watched hundreds and hundreds of photography tutorials and became an expert over time. The problem became that the best photographers in the world didn’t put tutorials on YouTube. But they did have behind the scenes videos – I studied their setups and equipment. I then purchased their equipment and took inspiration from their lighting setups.
I did not have enough money to afford lights at the time and was shooting out of a cluttered one car garage in Colorado my first year (half-filled with my roommates junk). It was absolutely freezing in the winter. I had to bundle up in snow gear to shoot. It had one hanging light from the ceiling. I made very little money that first year, but enough to get by. After the first year, I moved back to Dallas for friends and family.
I didn’t know it at the time, but within the first year, I had a watch image published in Maxim for the company MVMT!
I successful grew revenue in a short amount of time. While on 100% commission, I sold to multiple C-Suite executives and Forbes 30 under 30 CEOs. I secured international contracts and worked with the clients’ U.S. and international teams.
I built relationships with clients including Galderma, The Bellagio, Seiko, MVMT, Pura Vida Bracelets, Wyndham & L’Occitane, and sold media that was published in GQ, Maxim, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Bloomberg, and Business Insider.
I also delivered services as a project team leader and always completed initiatives on-time and within budget. I fostered recruitment of international franchisees for La Quinta by Wyndham by developing and directing a promotional video that outlined the value proposition of owning a La Quinta Inn. I also drove sales for MVMT by developing a photoshoot for Stone Opar which garnered 195K website visits.
Has it been a smooth road?
I didn’t have a mentor for the first three years. I self-taught myself photography on YouTube, I listened to business podcasts. I faked it till I made it 🙂
Not having capital to buy lighting equipment or a studio. Not knowing even what to buy!
Isolation!! This one is huge! And it is one of the reasons I am looking to make a change so that I can be around people more. I didn’t realize how much I needed human interaction.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Aaron Howard Media – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Aaron Howard Media (www.aaronhowardmedia.com) is a content creation company. I work directly with companies and with ad agencies to create digital content.
I am most known for creating the cutting edge MVMT watch product image style that helped skyrocket their brand and helped them sell for 200 million. I shot remote for them for 3+ years and really helped developed their style.
I’m most proud of the final images. I’m most proud that I can go to Maxim.com and find images of mine on their site that I took in my backyard before I could afford to buy cheap $100 lights. I’m proud that I was smart enough and adaptable enough to forge my own way and be self-sufficient. And who I have become as a person throughout the journey.
Some of it is skill (although I didn’t know much before starting). It would also be my narrow focus to complete a task – regardless of the cost. No matter what. This is both a good thing – and also a hindrance. I started a business in a field I knew nothing about! And made it work from day 1!
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I like the people. They are friendly and tough. Texas is known for this.
Dislike – I wish it was sunny more and warm 🙂
Pricing:
- Shoots in my world vary wildly. They are priced to the project. I started shooting for free (in exchange for watches). I then started charging $30 an image. Today I sell images for 1,000+. The industry is changing very rapidly now a days. With companies needing to post daily on social media and with iPhones getting better and better, pricing will fall (in my opinion). Simple supply and demand.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1457 Rider Circle
- Website: aaronhowardmedia.com
- Phone: 239-298-6050
- Email: aaron@aaronhowardmedia.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/aaronhowardmedia/
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