We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Aaron Anderson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Aaron below.

Aaron , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

If I’m remembered as a guy who loved his wife and was present and involved in his kids life, I think that would be enough. Sure, I’d love to make images that impact people, and work with incredible brands to inspire human beings to become everything they can be in this life, but that’s pretty low on my priorities compared to being here for my family. I guess I want to be like John Wick, except I’d want to add “devoted father” next to “loving husband”.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a commercial photographer who specializes in story driven portrait, lifestyle and sport imagery. I am also a director, helping craft vision and feel for motion. I started my journey in San Francisco at the Academy of Art, after that I took a deep dive into retouching at Sugar Digital, and then became a fulltime freelancer about 10 years ago.

I believe my ability to connect with talent, and tell stories in a cinematic and visually stunning way, is what sets my work apart. There’s so many incredible photographers in the game today, and I think personal connection is what can really distinguish one creative from another. I never claim to be the best, but I will always be myself, that’s what I have that’s truly unique.

It’s been such an incredible journey in photography, most days I’m just proud that I still get to wake up and do this for a living every day! If I had to pick something though I think it would be that I’ve been blessed to tell so many incredible stories across the country. Every time I get to sit down with another human hear their story, then get the chance to tell it through photography, I am honored and proud.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

About 3 and half years ago we decided to sell our home, and most of the things we owned, so we could buy an RV and travel as a family. There were a lot of reasons why we decided to do this, but one of the major reasons was because I was working around 100 hrs a week and never got to see my family. At the beginning of this article I talked about my legacy as a husband and dad, sadly I wasn’t really paying much attention to that legacy. In order for us to keep going in this career and still allow me to be with my family we took drastic measures, prioritizing the things that are truly important to us. This was an incredibly hard pivot, but it was necessary for us if we wanted to create the type of environment that not only says our family is important, but communicates that through our actions. Now I see my family every day, we travel all over the country, and don’t have debt looming over our heads that creates added pressure for a freelance photographer. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no cake walk, but it’s been incredible to see the change it’s made in the way our family operates.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Team is family. Make sure you don’t let your ego get in the way of other people feeling like they matter. My best advice is to remember that you are only as good as the team you surround yourself with, just because you click a button or hold a camera doesn’t make you any better than them. Many times I remind myself that without the many people on set I wouldn’t be able to create the images that I do. There’s nothing worse than being on a set where the “leader” degrades and demoralizes the people that they work with. Don’t be that person, don’t be a dick. That’s pretty much all you need to remember.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.andersonvisuals.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronandersonvisuals/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronandersonvisuals/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/a2foto

Image Credits
Photo Credit to my daughter Trin for my portrait.