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

Chris, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I got to where I am today by making mistakes, I made a lot of mistakes but I made them. I tried to accomplish a vision and learned more from the action of the attempt rather than learning how to do something the right way from a book or a class. I had peers I came up with that were too afraid to fail or afraid of being perceived as unskilled that they wouldn’t even attempt to create at all until they felt the time was right. The most important thing to me was to try, was to create. In my mind there was only two things that could have sped up my learning process. 1. Creating more, just the act of going out and creating more, making more mistakes would have helped me progress quicker. 2. aligning myself with other creatives that weren’t afraid to fail. sometimes its nice to bounce ideas off of other creatives and get varying perspectives during your creative process. you can share your techniques you’ve learned and receive theirs. Its going to sound Cliche but fundamentals are the most important skills to understand during any creative endeavor. knowing what a J-cut is during film-making, knowing how to properly frame a photo using the rule of thirds, and more. Just knowing fundamentals can take a creative project and make it that much better. Personally what obstacles stood in my way of learning more was myself. I had a family at a young age and I felt that I needed to step away from being creative for a time to care for them (rightfully so). I had it in my head that I couldn’t balance their needs while pursuing this career. sometimes we are our own worst enemies, we get in the way of ourselves and our careers for any reason, self-doubt, feelings of inadequacy, and more. I took time off of creating and came back to it later in my life as a form of self healing after tragedy only to realize I was the best version of myself when I create, I could balance this life and fatherhood better than any career I ever had before. It brought me closer to my kids and now they are involved in my creative processes.

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.

My name is Chris Riley, I am the owner of Alpha Creative Studios and I also create Original artwork under the name of Codenamecoyote. I have been creating photos and videos since I can remember. Doing news casts in Grade school, filming skateboarding and graffiti videos of me and my friends growing up. My family immigrated from Greece and settled in Chicago where I was born. My heritage and my city shaped me into who I am today. I grew up in a predominately Mexican American neighborhood which I became enamored in the culture. I saw such beauty in the colors and flavors of my Mexican brothers and sisters that helped guide my style of exaggerating color at times from my graffiti days to my current work. The ruggedness and beauty of Chicago helped me in other ways in my work and in life as well. I have had the opportunity of working with amazing creatives and love collaborative work, it insipires me and I learn from every creative I’ve worked with. I have also had the pleasure of traveling a bit for work and take a little piece of where I’ve been to help push me further in my creative process. Learning and growing is not just a one and done thing it is a lifelong journey, its about the adventure and not the destination. My first brush with the industry came during my high school years where I was getting paid to film some amateur skateboarders I knew from Chicago. I was also fortunate enough to create my own feature films and sell them out of local skate shops in the Chicagoland area. I eventually signed to a local brand and was their chief creative, helping design graphics, photograph their team, and create promotional videos. To this day I use what I learned from those times and from my upbringing and incorporate it into my everyday. One of the most important things Ive learned during those times was to always be prepared to pivot or be adaptive because situations can change in a heartbeat. My client work varies from event photography and videography for weddings, birthday parties, corporate events to headshots and portraits to product photography and graphic design work, marketing strategy, branding, and social media stategy/content. I also create my own original art, products and features as well. I think what sets me apart from others is my ability to create a relationship with my clients. I worked in sales for some time before coming back into the creative field and my time in sales helped me learn to cultivate lasting relationships with clients. I learned so much about running a business that helps guide me today. I care about my clients and I want to do anything in my power to help bring their vision to reality. Their guidance and input is used throughout the process along with regular touch points helps foster a bond with clients that I feel can be lacking at times in the industry. When the client feels like part of the process as opposed to just a quick buck they will come back time and time again. I am most proud of inspiring my children to pursue their creative dreams, My oldest daughter is currently in a High school art academy for film and digital media arts and is an inspiring future Director. We’ve been working on her college applications along with me teaching her everything I know to help her to become the next great in the industry. My middle child loves to cook and to me that is art as well, I help her in the kitchen as much as I can teaching her everything I know about cooking. My son is younger but he has such a big imagination that I also encourage him to use it as much as possible whether its during our lego building adventures or during his drawing time I’ll sit there with him and encourage him along the way. My current clients know I try to have a great turn around time, while maintaining a solid budget and including them in every step along the way. My team and I try to go above and beyond for any client we get because we are thankful for them all from major corporate clients to the single mom wanting 1st birthday photos. You will feel taken care of no matter who you are.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was on a hiatus from any creative work for over ten years. I recently graduated from college during the most turbulent time of my existence, having suffered traumatic heartbreak, losing my grandfather whom I was primary caregiver and outside of my children was the most important person in my life, living in a house that was literally falling apart, navigating COVID as a single father of three school aged children. I was given the opportunity to follow my second career dream one I learned to love over the years being a general manager in Retail. I moved with my employer to corporate to work in Human Resources. I loved the idea of helping people the best way I knew how. I began to create art again as a form of therapy and realized I lost a huge part of who I was when I stopped creating. as time went on I started getting acknowledgement from peers and others that I started a side hustle shooting photos and videos for anyone that liked my style and wanted me to create for them. I was living in Seattle at the time and my kids were living back in Chicago with their mom. It was a hard transition them no longer living with me full-time and only seeing me every other month, or during summer break. it took a negative toll on all of our mental health’s that I made the ultimate decision to leave my well paid, stable job in a career I loved to move back to Chicago. I found another HR job that was a total contrast from my last position. I hated working for this new employer but I was still building a client base for my then side hustle. Eventually that employer was purchased by a private equity firm and a few months later I was laid off. Initially I was stressed and worried about how I would pay the bills. I dug deep inside myself and decided I no longer want to work for anyone else nor want to end up at another employer like my last that I decided to push hard and go full-time in my creative endeavors.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist to me is being a mentor or Inspiring others. I want to be an inspiration to others to follow their dreams or creative outlets. I have creatives reaching out to me for advice, guidance, or just to ask for critique of their work now and It fills me with so much joy knowing they put my work to such a high regard. I never turn down the opportunity to answer a question or lend a hand when asked.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.codenamecoyote.com/
• Instagram: @codenamecoyote
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-riley-827b79102/
• Youtube: @codenamecoyote
• Other: TikTok: @codenamecoyote

Image Credits

All Images are owned and created by Chris Riley (Codenamecoyote).