We were lucky to catch up with Adam Davis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Adam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you manage your own social media?

Being an independent photographer and videographer, I am managing my own social media. I am a one man team, so it’s relatively not as structured as it should be, but there is no reason for me to hire a manager at this point in my career. However, managing social media alone does get tricky. There are so many factors to adhere to such as post frequency, content, message, and if it fits in to my personal brand. There’s also the other side of growing on socials…being social. That is perhaps the most difficult part to keep up with and takes the most effort; but, potentially has the most impact on your brand. I was fortunate to grow my instagram to around 20k followers a few years ago. Posting high quality content every day and engaging with other photographers and videographers skyrocketed my account in about a year or so, but came with a downfall. A constant need to want to be on social media crept into my daily life. Always worrying about what others thought of my content and how many likes or comments I got on each post is not a healthy way to go about things. So, eventually, I became burnt out and quit posting regularly and putting in the time. My account has fell pretty drastically over the past 5 years. I do go through phases still of posting tons of content and attempting to get my engagement back up, but social media does a funny thing of forcing you to be on it more and more in order to have any growth. Today, I still occasionally post, but I only post content that I want to post, not what others want. I think developing that healthy relationship with social media is a must if you’re going about things on your own to develop your personal brand.

Adam, 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?

My name is Adam Davis and I’m an adventure and lifestyle photographer and videographer from Iowa. I specialize in travel photography but have developed other categories of content creation throughout my 8 years in the field. I have been grateful to work with some world-class brands including Smartwater, Jackery, Jimmy Johns, Rumpl, Verizon, KAYAK, and countless adventure and lifestyle companies.

Growing up in Iowa, it was challenging to fuel my constant desire to be anywhere else. At a young age, I fell in love with the Western U.S., and wanted nothing more than to continually be surrounded by mountains and deserts. In Iowa, that is not the case. Don’t get me wrong, Iowa is great and has beauty if you know where to look. But I was craving more.

I found photography in high school after a family trip to Yosemite National Park. I fell in love with travel and wanting to document the magnificent places that most people don’t get to see. A few years later, I got my first branded content deal (a product exchange of course), and realized that there was a possibility of being able to get paid to do what I love in my future. I went to college for Digital Media Production and Marketing at the University of Northern Iowa to try to develop other skills that I had not yet improved on. Today, two years after graduating, I’m trying to make my way in this world. I work for a video production company and do freelance photography and videography on the side.

I think an important part of what I do is helping brands tell their story through imagery. It is crucial of any brand to be true to who they are and portray that in their socials, products, and marketing. It is my job to assist in that manner by creating content that closely relates to their brand as a whole.

Having the opportunity to grow my social media over the years and work with amazing brands has helped me develop my portfolio to to then be seen by thousands from all over the world. I am proud to be featured in 5 magazines and have work featured on countless travel websites and social medias.

For as many incredible photographers as there are, I am humbled by the love that I have received from my photography. I have tons of work to do to get where I want to be, but am ecstatic for where I’ve come.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Starting to get into photography and videography at the age of 14, I began developing necessary skills that would benefit me in the future. I was able to create a side hustle at a young age and have plenty of time for that side hustle to grow. Today, however, it is still a side hustle and I think that is perfectly fine. Of course, I wish that I could travel and take pictures full time, but I’m still young and have a lot of work to put in in order to make that dream come true. I get so caught up in looking at where other’s businesses have gone and wishing that upon myself that I forget that I actually need to put in the work to get there. I compare where my side hustle currently is to people I don’t even know on social media. But when I take a step back, I realize I am still 5 years younger than most of the people I look up to. I have time to develop my business further and create the legacy I want to leave behind someday.

I have, however, had plenty of key milestones that have influenced and drove me to go further with my business. First, my first unpaid brand deal left me feeling ecstatic. I could get cool products for free if I take a couple pictures of them!? This, of course, was in high school when money didn’t matter and bills didn’t exist. The worthy milestone was my first paid brand deal. Brands wanted my photos of their products for their socials and websites…and they’d pay me to do it! This is perhaps the start of all the growth I have had to this date. This drove me to want to create more and reach out to more brands.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I’ll keep this one relatively brief. The biggest resource that you could possibly have (behind youtube) is your network of like-minded individuals in your niche. Developing relationships with people who are doing the same thing as you will open up doors you didn’t know existed. These friendships and mentorships will add such incredible value to your skills and business.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.davisadam.com
• Instagram: @adamdavphotos
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daviscadam/