How Posting Instagram Reels led to Photo Campaigns for Converse & Vogue

What's up Rock Nation, today we welcome Josh Aikan to the show! Josh is a fashion and portrait photographer, who's love of shooting film started from a young age. Josh originally moved out to LA for acting, but once the pandemic hit, he decided to completely change career paths and go all-in with photography. Over the last few years, Josh has really found his style as a photographer, and is now shooting massive campaigns for brands like Converse and Tilly's. Josh's laid back and humorous personality leads to a episode filled with great vibes.

Check out Josh here:
  / joshaikin  
https://www.joshaikin.com/

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Timestamps:
0:00 - Trailer
1:28 - Intro
3:00 - One Handed Crack
4:13 - Shooting Thomas Rhett’s Album Cover
5:48 - Why Josh loves shooting film
6:43 - How much film josh shoots on set
7:09 - Large set hierarchy
7:56 - How Josh builds report quickly on set
10:57 - Forming relationships on large sets
12:02 - Navigating between the photo and video team
14:55 - Going with the flow on set
16:18 - How Josh landed the Thomas Rhett album cover shoot
18:04 - Talking rates as a photographer
20:03 - How to raise your rates as a photographer
21:52 - Increase your value by working with a team
24:20 - How important lighting is in Photography
28:55 - Planning out shots before getting to set
30:40 - Still having a run and gun approach on set
32:29 - Gaining 140k followers in 2 months on Instagram
37:22 - Manifesting the work Josh is shooting today
38:54 - Working with Converse
40:32 - Your one post away
41:41 - Josh’s outreach strategy
44:03 - How to shoot what you want to shoot
47:08 - Become known for art you actually like to make
48:07 - Josh’s decision to take his camera everywhere changed everything
50:29 - Licensing Photos
53:01 - Josh’s go-to gear setup
55:18 - Lighting film photography
56:11 - Film Photography nightmare
58:01 - Differences in shooting Artists vs Clothing Brands
1:00:28 - Dealing with Imposter Syndrome
1:03:09 - Being competitive as a photographer
1:04:14 - Switching schools every year growing up
1:05:55 - It’s never too late to try something new
1:10:39 - Going all in with Photography
1:12:56 - Finding your style as a Photographer and niching down
1:16:34 - Shooting Stephon Diggs clothing brand
1:20:12 - Getting featured in Vogue America
1:21:07 - The notoriety a Vogue feature brings
1:22:43 - Shooting NYFW
1:26:06 - Getting international opportunities
1:28:47 - Shooting Tillys x NASCAR collab
1:30:47 - Brayden’s gambling addiction
1:32:20 - Kostas gives Josh his flowers
1:32:52 - What Josh hopes to improve on in the next 6-12 months
1:35:23 - Advice to your 18 year old self

If you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on.

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