116. 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:

https://www.instagram.com/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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