Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Aidan Hicks. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Aidan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

The short of it is everything but it’s so much more than that. “Everything” to me is years of constant work & growth even if it makes next to no profit, sleepless nights of how admiring your creative peers art & progress to both learn from and motivate, and maintaining your worth to yourself as it’s so easy to get caught up in the stress you have to remember how if you don’t believe in yourself, what makes you think others will?

A defining period for me was these last two years of juggling jobs nonstop that was rewarding yet exhausting creatively and mentally. I had three jobs for most of it and last winter four jobs (three creative & one dayjob) to keep the bills paid but build the foundation of keeping my creativity my priority. It was weeks of nonstop work & travel with little rest all before I can even legally buy a drink. I admired how far I came from a bedroom to shooting stadium shows but had to keep reminding myself how much more ahead I have in store instead of getting overwhelmed in the now especially losing out on big opportunities. I know when you give me high stake chances, with time I always exceed expectations the issues just getting said windows.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was always interested in cameras, taking families camera’s to shoot whatever got my eye. Never thought much of it ’til I joined my high school’s yearbook where we were given a cameras to shoot student life. I initially just saw it as an interest to put myself in environments a socially awkward autistic guy would otherwise never be in. That mentality grew to motivate me to start my business, Aidan Hicks Productions at 15! Eight year later that company’s since grown to become AIDANS VISION, the name & tagline “Capturing Life, Creating Art” represents all you see rooted in one’s motivation for life in seeking discomfort and love for art that embedded to who I am. Trusting the vision has become nothing short of a roller-costar of capturing concerts, weddings, portraits, and sports all while winning national and state photography awards and hanging banners from making the most out of whatever card’s I’ve been dealt.

Truthfully I’m the most proud of all the art I’ve shared up to now. Despite a lifetime of dealing with doubt and negativity from living in the grey area of being on the spectrum but not enough to be easily understood that’s created a world of depression I’ve almost been consumed in, I’m very proud of the outlet I’ve built from the urge to break that mold and to see the progress I’ve made to now with my art, the reach I’ve had with it and with how much more ahead is in store. I just hope people can trust the vision and make the most of it!

Have you ever had to pivot?

My near death experience was what ultimately got me to start honing in on photography. My sophomore year of high school, I was casually shooting for just a year and wanted to do more in life but was unsure of how. It was September 2016 when I got into a serious car accident with my older brother on the way home that we luckily walked out but had just dropped off a friend that put me in the back, saving my life from enduring worse if I had been in the front passenger seat.

I remember coming home that night from the hospital with all this replaying in my head, feelingif I would’ve died that day I would’ve had nothing to show of my life outside of being remembered as an example of untapped potential I knew from that point forward I wasn’t gonna start any new life chapters without knowing I personally made the most of it and that’s the spark that motivated me to make photography my career!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Every creative knows there’s nothing easier now than getting caught up in the numbers of social media and “clout” especially with TikTok giving everyone the chance now to experience that. It’s something I have a deep love/hate relationship with social media as maintaining all that alone you’re eager to have the biggest reach possible yet rather just focus on the art as you find yourself prioritizing statistics over what you wanna creatively put out.

I’m still learning to accept that I may not have the most eyes on me as most platforms are prioritizing video content over photos but I would rather build a small audience off the work I’m eager to put out and am truly proud of than building a big audience over a hollow version of what people want my art to be over what it can be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aidansvision.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidansvision
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aidanhicksproductions
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidan-hicks-012201201/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/aidansvison
• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/aidanhicksphotos

Image Credits
All concert photos are in partnership to Frequency Press, Prelude Press, and Post Concert Depression publications All copyright is owned by Aidan Hicks Productions