We were lucky to catch up with Aaron Fairooz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Aaron, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission the drives your brand?

My mission to become a film maker started as a child. At 28 years old, I began pursuing commercial photography. I kinda fell into photography as a necessity and realized that I loved lighting, the art of lighting and how lighting effects the image.

For the last 10 years I’ve tried to learn as much as I can about lighting and one thing I’ve realized is, if you can master lighting you can shoot just about anything. As a production company owner I’ve worn many hats while building a brand. Because of the skill sets I’ve learned, I’m able to take on just about any job, for any client and get it done well.

Now I’m finally at a point in my career where back to my original passion, films. Commercial work just paid the bills during the journey. Now that film is becoming part of my day to day I’m realizing I need to get better at story telling. My entire career up to this point has been focused on making images look good, now I have an additional role, make the film look good but also tell a compelling story.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I got into the industry wanting to do fashion photography. I started taking photos of my girl friend in college then went on to learn photoshop. I discovered I loved photoshop, naturally being somewhat OCD. Fashion photography slowly turned into, product photography, then interiors, music videos etc. Before I knew it I was photographing just about everything. But my main passion was video, films to be exact. Photography was just financially a little bit more affordable to get into…but by no means was it affordable. 10 years later I’m still buying equipment. It never ends.

About 5 years into my career I finally started making clients through video and that’s when things really got fun, expensive and exciting. I realized I had so much to learn not only in techniques but with technology.

What sets me apart is my wide range of skills within the photography field. I was always trying to learn and I hated the feeling of not knowing what I’m doing. So I set out to learn as much as I could and whenever I could. Youtube makes it easy to do that.

I’m most proud of my body of work. Sometimes I have a glass of wine and jus peruse through my website almost like a scrapbook of memories. Occasionally I’ll find something I want to change, or some area that could be better. The process of looking back and admiring ones work is important. It helps you remember that you’re doing a good job.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I had discovered Shutter Stock Custom (Flash Stock) sooner. This website is great for up and coming commercial photographers and videographers to make a buck and learn how to deliver based on shot lists.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I learned that was passed down to me from an older photographer was this…Treat every shoot like its a million dollar client because you never know who they will refer you to. Clients come and go but the goal is to keep every client to the best of your ability. That’s how you build a business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artvialight.com
• Instagram: art_via_light