We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Paul Elliott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Paul, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents both exposed me to a lot of great art, film, literature, and especially music. They showed me that art is not just for entertainment, but that it can truly move you and allow you to see truth and beauty in the world. Because of my parents, and I have a deep love and reverence for how powerful and valuable art can be, especially when it is done with great skill and care.

I grew up with great music being played constantly. Both of my parents are musicians, and they showed me a huge variety of music. My dad loves music more than anyone I’ve ever met, and I would spend hours listening to music with him almost every day. My mom is an incredibly talented pianist, and she also has a great love for literature and film. At a young age, she showed me films like A Streetcar Named Desire and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and these films gave me a glimpse into the power of film as a medium.

Most importantly, my parents taught me to treat others with kindness, respect, and empathy. They taught me always to consider what other people are going through and not to pass judgement. This is the most valuable thing they imparted to me both for my life and for my art and business. There are many facets to what I do, but the ultimate goal is always to bring joy to others, and you can only do this if your work comes from a place of love and empathy and the desire to make someone’s life better.

Paul, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a photographer and filmmaker based in Chicago, Illinois. I primarily work in portrait photography and as a producer, director, and editor of music videos, short films, and commercial/promotional content. I am also the co-founder of the creative group thankyou.inc, which I run with my business partner, goood.dylan.

I’ve always loved movies, pictures, and music, so I think I had a natural path into this industry. The arts were always an escape for me, and felt like a way of connecting to the world in an emotional and spiritual way. Although I was not a great student in school, I’ve always enjoyed working, and since I was a kid I knew that whatever I pursued, I would have to pursue with my entire being. I’ve also always been interested in people, personalities, and psychology, and this interest led me to portraits. I love all the different work I get to do, but portrait photography will always be closest to my heart. A great portrait will give you an insight into a person that allows you to know them intimately, and conveys a deeper truth about who they are beyond their physical appearance.

When I started, I took any job that came to me, which allowed me a wide variety of experience. I shot weddings and corporate videos, took headshots, worked as a production assistant, did tons of editing work, shot and edited hundreds of music videos and took hundreds of portraits. This range of work has allowed me to become experienced in a wide array of different styles of shooting and editing, and allowed me to experiment with many different forms of media. I believe this is one of the main things that sets me apart from others – I have done a little of everything, so I have a good degree of versatility in my style of shooting and editing. This means that when a client comes to me with a project, I am able to approach the project with an arsenal of different techniques and figure out what will fit the project best. Since I have had pretty much equal experience in photography and film, I am able to pull things from each skill set on any given project, which is often a huge advantage in delivering what a client needs from a project.

I am most proud of all the different people I have been able to work with over the years. Many have become very close friends, and I can’t think of a single person I’ve worked with who I would not be happy to hear from. On most shoots, I feel like me, the client, and the crew are all working together to create something we will all be proud of.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The best resource for anybody is always other people. Although I was always aware of other people in this industry, I did not realize how important it is to reach out, collaborate, seek help, and just talk to other people who are doing the same things you are doing. Early on I was very shy, and also very competitive and protective of my work. I saw others as a threat to my own business, which I realize now was not only inaccurate but highly detrimental to my growth. Gradually, I let go of my ego and my fear and began to collaborate with others, and I realized that this is one of the best parts of being in this industry. There are so many people to learn from, so many people who want to help you, and so many people who can be helped by you. Nowadays, I am constantly reaching out to others with questions, or sharing something new I learned, or inviting people to collaborate on projects I’m working on. Many of the projects that have been the most valuable for me were not my own, but projects where I was helping someone else and was able to learn a lot from them. Collaborating is one of my favorite parts of what I do, and I owe everything I’ve done to the people I’ve gotten to work with over the years.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Early on, I learned that the only way to succeed was to work as hard as possible for as long as possible, and to put work above everything else in your life. I operated in this mentality for years, and it took a huge toll on my health. I developed very bad habits in order to keep myself working. When you work yourself into the ground, not only will you be miserable, but your work will be suffer and the energy you give off to others will be very negative. I remember a particular time when I was in pre-production for a music video and I had gotten very little sleep for several days in a row. I showed up to a meeting, clearly exhausted, with an energy drink I was downing just to be able to get through it. I was barely coherent during the meeting, and I remember popping aspirins because I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Afterwards, the producer of the music video pulled me aside and told me he was worried about me and that I had to take better care of myself. I didn’t listen, and eventually I pushed myself so far that I had to take a break for almost a year in order to get my health back.
Nowadays, I prioritize my health. I make sure to stay active and to get enough sleep and to eat properly. I don’t work with the same desperation and intensity I used to, but the quality of the work is far better because I’m able to give 100% during my working hours. This has allowed me to get far more done than I used to, and allows me to stay in love with my work and give the best of myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.paularakielliott.com/
• Instagram: @araki_img