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

Arpit, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

The biggest problem about the educational system is that it paints a rosy image that doesn’t exist. We simply can’t have it all. If someone says that they do, they’re either lying or they’re an influencer… and hence lying.

Having been in business for 16 years now, I can say with confidence that there are times life takes the backseat to make way for career advancement, and vice versa. Trying to find a consistent balance is a fool’s errand. It’s better to flow with the stream than thinking you can straighten out its path. Supporting a family without a career is impossible, as is ignoring your family to advance your career. Fight for what’s worth fighting for in the season you need to fight for it.

The second biggest problem is the complete lack of financial education. Even college graduates would be hard pressed to explain the debt and credit system; and even worse, taxation. This leads to making terrible life decisions, including overpaying for college or choosing a major with no viable income streams outside of education. I’ve known graduates of prestigious colleges working retail for years after school, and I’ve known dropouts who’ve found amazing careers.

And finally, I feel like trade schools are often looked down on, compared to traditional 4-year colleges… which is a big mistake. Trade schools are well-equipped to connect students with endless employment opportunities. Keeping educational costs low and making money sooner allows for people to save, invest, and get ahead. It also allows to make career shifts or starting new businesses far more viable.

Arpit, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

INDUSTRY I’m a photographer, graphic designer, videographer, and, to a lesser extent, a writer. I’ve also recently been building my AI / generative art skills on the visual side.

HISTORY
I wanted to get into the music industry on the A&R side back in the mid-2000s. To that end, I started up a music blog during that seemingly ephemeral golden age of blogging. As it started picking up traction, I ended up getting press passes from indie bands. I soon realized, though, that every indie band had maybe 5 marketing images that every blogger was using. To set myself apart, I started taking my dad’s camera and taking concert photos to use instead. As I started showing people and started sharing on social media, people started asking me to take photos for them. Within six months of just learning how to use a DSLR camera, I was making money in a new career that I never expected for myself.

Fast forward to the pandemic, and event photography (that had become 80% of my business) all but disappeared. But clients started asking for video. While I had done some video work, over the last couple years, it’s become 20% of my business. That’s included doing commercial video with low-level audio recording and production. Simultaneously, graphic design work (like book covers, layout design, marketing materials, etc.) also started picking up. Just last year, I also started playing with MidJourney, an AI engine for generative art or synthography, as it’s now starting to be labeled. I have already sold some prints, and am working on putting together a website to start selling those later this year.

On the writing side, I’ve self-published some poetry, I’ve had op-eds printed in a few magazines (one of which won an award in the Bay Area for my article), and I’ve also done some script writing for short videos.

STANDING OUT
While a lot of creatives tend to get caught up in one specific service or industry (like weddings, for example), I prefer a wide variety. Photo-wise, I’ve done (and still do) weddings, social and corporate events, products, portraits, headshots, fashion and editorial, marketing materials, and more. I learn things from one that I take to the other, and so on. Similarly, I learn across disciplines, taking photo principles to video, design principles to photo, storytelling to layout, etc. This is why I often ask questions of my clients that a lot of my colleagues don’t. It also helps that I’m equally left and right brained, so I try to get the ‘why’ rather than the ‘how’ out of clients… and people in general.

WHAT I LOVE
I love people. To be able to create for and with people is what brings me absolute joy.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice

NFTs in their current form are but a reflection of what the blockchain has to offer. I first got excited about Bitcoin and the Blockchain in 2012 or so. In those early days I had some ideas on replacing the flawed copyright system with blockchain-signed images / content. Current NFTs are an underutilized version of that. But the problem is with a lack of vision. I imagine a system where purchased movies, for example, could be assigned to on the blockchain, no matter what platform you buy it on. Now, if you bought it on Apple, but move to Google, the “NFT” could simply be transferred between the two services without having to repurchase. I’m not a tech guy, so I couldn’t lay out the details, but there are plenty of smart people out there who could.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve been knocked down plenty of times for plenty of reasons in my career. Surviving the pandemic-related industry closure here in California is just the most recent one, but I think there’s a better one to share.

From 2011 to 2016, I tried to get consistent wedding work in Orange County, where I live. But it’s one of the most oversaturated market that undercuts constantly. After pouring good money into advertising and marketing the last couple years in that timeframe, I started realizing that my style and aesthetic weren’t what OC wanted. I focus on color and culture, and while there is a lot of that here, I decided to pivot and focus on LA instead. Working with a talented beauty vendor, we put together a styled wedding shoot at OUE Skyspace, the tallest skyscraper in the city. We were very specific and very strategic, which led to that shoot getting picked up by Grace Ormonde. That one shoot led to opening up endless opportunities all over LA, and the residuals continue.

If I had let failure in OC defeat me, I would’ve missed out on some of the most amazing projects, events, and clients I could’ve ever asked for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://arpitmehtaphotography.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/arpitmehta
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrarpitmehta/
• Other: https://visualsbyarpit.com

Image Credits
Headshot by Mike Villa