We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cj And Leah Rivera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

CJ and Leah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?

The best investment you can make as a photographer is undoubtedly in education and hiring a business coach. During the pandemic, we found ourselves with ample time to practice various aspects of our craft—be it composition, editing, or workflow. In those early days, we experimented with simple subjects, like a soda can, trying out different techniques until we discovered the style that truly resonated with us. After countless attempts, we finally honed our aesthetic and built upon what we felt looked best. Photography and videography evolve rapidly, which is why ongoing education is essential for mastering our craft. Another invaluable investment has been working with our business coach, Dr. Lori Baker-Schena. She consistently checks in on both our personal and professional growth, holding us accountable to our goals and ensuring we remain on track. Having someone who not only believes in our potential but also provides that crucial accountability has been instrumental in helping us stay focused and motivated.

CJ and Leah, 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?

AIRN Media is a photography and videography company that was founded by a husband and wife duo, CJ and Leah. We learned photography at first as a hobby to help us with our mental health while we healed from our individual health struggles. However, as we practiced, friends and family continued to ask us to capture their special moments, ranging from family portraits to birthday parties and more.

Our first fully paid shoot was a family who was planning a trip to Disneyland and hired us to capture their Disney memories together. After that shoot, we sat in front of the fireplace of the Grand Californian Hotel to edit their photos and thought to ourselves, “Wow, we really could make this into something.” From then on, we accepted family portrait shoots and some of those families still book with us today, years later!

Our photography style revolves around fashion inspired lighting and photojournalism to create bright, vibrant and magical portraitures. When learning photography, we knew we didn’t want to be limited by certain lighting conditions or only shoot during the one hour of golden hour. So in order to stand out from our peers, CJ learned how to manipulate light in certain ways or even learned to create new light depending on the environment. This allowed us to be more creative with what we capture and to shoot at any time of the day. Our style continues to evolve over the years, especially when we receive input and feedback from our past and current clients. When new clients come to us with their inspiration photos, we always find a way to add our “AIRN Media” twist to it.

Our videography style revolves around story telling. We understand that various trends come and go as time goes by. However, we want to focus on creating films that are timeless and evoke emotions, such as a hearty laugh and tears of joy through all the feel good moments of your event or wedding. All our films, from milestone parties to extravagant weddings, are very different from each other because we work with every client to make their final film unique to them and their life or love story. We don’t want our films to become predictable and most especially, we don’t want our clients to feel like their film looks very similar to the next bride or the client before them. However, the one thing all our films have in common is the story telling aspect of the films that we create.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

It all started with the idea of a birthday gift. Initially, we thought about getting a new car to celebrate our jobs as nurses and upgrade from our old Toyota Prius. After visiting several dealerships though, none of the cars really excited us. Each time we thought we found “the one,” there was a nagging feeling that we should keep looking. So, we went home and started browsing gift ideas, and many websites suggested getting a camera. That’s when the lightbulb went off! We decided to invest in a camera, a lens, and a flash instead. We took random photos of everything—trees, cars, you name it. The total cost of our camera gear almost matched what we would’ve put down on a car, but surprisingly, we didn’t feel any buyer’s remorse at all! Now, we get to enjoy capturing special moments and continuing to be a part of our friends’ and clients’ lives. It turns out, this unexpected gift has given us so much joy!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

We believe that authenticity is the most effective strategy in everything we do. With nursing as our past and present careers, we’ve always put our patients and clients first, genuinely prioritizing their interests, goals, and everything in between. People can easily sense when someone has ulterior motives or is being taken advantage of, and we want to create a space that feels safe and sincere. That’s why we go above and beyond to ensure our clients feel valued and appreciated in every interaction. We create an environment where they can express themselves freely, which not only builds trust, but also allows us to have lasting connections. Many of our past clients have become close friends, godparents, and referring to us as family while also having same interests, hobbies and experiences.. For us, authenticity is about more than just business; it’s about cultivating genuine relationships. We truly enjoy being with people and learning from each other, and it’s this commitment to authenticity that sets us apart and makes our work so fulfilling. Ultimately, we believe that when we are authentic, we create a positive impact that resonates far beyond any transaction.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.airnmedia.com
• Instagram: @airn.media
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@airnmedia441

Image Credits

All photos taken by CJ and Leah of AIRN Media