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

Alright, Aaron thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think one of the biggest things it takes to be successful is to take care of people and provide a genuine experience in whatever it is that you do. In my experience, both in past roles and my current business, these two things do more for your reputation and growth than any other things I have seen. People tend to get so wrapped up in being the best or being the most unique that they tend to forget the most rudimentary process of taking care of their client.

In recent years I have donated a lot of time to various causes and organizations to help cover special events and promote their causes. For me, this is a major “take care of people” offering because I do not charge anything for my time or services because it just feels like the right thing to do and feel that sometimes it’s just good to give back in any way you are able to. One thing that tends to happen at a lot of these types of events is I get a lot of questions from people about “do you cover ____?” or “have you ever done ____?” which leads to some great impromptu conversations as well as new businesses and relationships.

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 photography because a friend of mine was upgrading his equipment and gave me his old body. I started out just kind of shooting anything and everything I could before starting to get referrals from friends. As I slowly learned and got better with the camera, I started to cover a lot of sports and was getting multiple requests from friends and friends of friends who had seen my work. I spent a good 5 years or so doing mainly sports and larger events, but felt like I wanted more. I dipped my toe in the water with portrait work in late 2019 when I did some fall mini sessions for free to get some content for my portfolio, which would turn out to be one of my best gambles I’d take early on in my photography career. These few sessions would prove to be the start of many referrals for family sessions in my area as well as a few engagements here and there. In late 2020 I began working with a company offering a unique approach to mini sessions in the Minneapolis area that would prove to be not only an increase in work but also opportunities to learn and grow in my craft. As my work volume has increase, so have my experiences quality of my delivered product to my clients which has lead to a large amount of repeat customers and organizations. Over the last year and a half I have seen a large uptick in the amount of sports work I have been asked to do and even partnered with a local high school to cover a large portion of their athletic teams.

I think one of the biggest things that sets me apart from other photographers in the area is I treat every opportunity I’m given as a new way of approaching a problem and seeing how I can provide a new twist on the end results the customer receives. One of the best examples of this recently is my work with Farmington High School in which most of my work has been directly for the athletic director. In his short tenure there, he’s made huge strides in presenting their athletic achievements both as teams and individuals but has been lacking in the media department and was looking for help. I’ve spent the last school year helping him solve multiple problems such as buying new equipment, generating new and high quality content and drafting plans for students to better help with his big picture goals. While the main goal is for both he and the teams to be getting great photos of their games, I don’t just leave it at that. Not only does it help the school, but it also helps me in meeting and networking with more boosters and programs to secure more work in the future.

In my current business, I am essentially split 50/50 with youth and high school sports and portrait work. For portrait work I will cover just about anything, but I’ve really made a name for myself in families, seniors and engagements. In the sports realm I have done a lot of work with youth football and lacrosse programs as well as a plethora of varsity and junior varsity sports from football and soccer to lacrosse and baseball. I have my eyes on breaking into collegiate level athletics and documentary style business profiles and helping businesses reach new customers.

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

I think one of the biggest things I wish I would have known about sooner is resources like Creative Live and niche photography Facebook groups. Companies like Creative Live offer courses that focus on specific topics, for instance I have used them for getting more familiar with speed lights and finding more creative ways to pose my clients. Also finding niche Facebook groups has been another thing I wish I had been aware of sooner as it’s helped me ask questions and get answers from those that have faced the same issues I’m having as well as offering a different point of view in tackling the problem from beginning to end. What’s been truly beneficial for me in both of these examples is the different types of learning that occur from both individuals recognized as the best in the game as well as those I would consider to be my peers.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My first camera and lens were gifted to me as mentioned earlier. From there it’s been a lot of saving money from various gigs, trading old paintball equipment and help from my wife since I’ve been a stay-at-home dad for the last three years. I think like most people I would love to have some person that just hand me a blank check and saying “here, go get whatever you want”, there’s a certain level of pride knowing I’ve earned every piece of equipment I own and remembering what it took to get it. It’s been a long road to get to this point, but outside of some newer lights I may purchase for some sports portrait work I can truly say I am content and happy with all the equipment I own and don’t see the need for anything in the near future.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.afrayphoto.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afray_photo/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afrayphoto/
• Linkedin: aaron-fraher-afrayphoto