We were lucky to catch up with Juandarius Kelley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Juandarius thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I’ve been doing photography for almost 4 years now, but before then, I always saw people downplay their physical appearance. I used to do this to myself at times; however, once I opened my eyes to the beauty of everything, as well as in myself, I knew I that this was something I wanted to do. You might not see your beauty looking in the mirror, but I’m definitely going to show you what I see through my camera. We’re all works of art waiting to be presented to the world and we shouldn’t allow anyone to tell us otherwise.

Juandarius, 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?

I started my photography business under the name of “Juan Shot Photography” back in 2019. While going through some tough times of my own, I heard that picking up a hobby would usually help me get through it. I hit up one of my fraternity brothers and he helped me pick out a camera. I had two amazing mentors to help me start off; @jarrod_cuthrell taught me the intimate style of boudoir photography, and @fox_with_a_camera taught me how to photograph events and other portrait styles. A few months of practice and I ended getting my first paid birthday photoshoot in March and the name “Juan Shot Photography” started making more appearances around the campus. I started getting a lot of recommendations from friends to go to Atlanta and Birmingham so most of my clientele came to be in the bigger cities and along with that came more work.

When 2020 came and Covid-19 stopped travel for most of the workers and creatives, I ended up having to stay inside due to mandated quarantine which gave me plenty of time to work on my craft and practice editing. I actually took a ton of self-portraits and had my dogs pose as my models as well. Once quarantine was lifted, I started hanging out with friends around town again and having them model for me along with traveling to Birmingham and Atlanta again to meet new models I could work with. I met more photographers who taught me how to use off camera lighting and natural lighting to get a better outcome in my work. As I got better at photography, I decided to do a little rebranding not just for my business, but for myself as well. I wanted to make sure I kept a little bit of myself in my business, so I took the first three letters of my middle name and created the abbreviation “N.A.V.” and thus “New Age Visuals” was created. It was a new beginning so that’s when I decided to start upgrading my equipment.

2021 is when everything started getting better for the business. I picked up a job while waiting for my clientele to pick back up which happened in little spurts over time. I had made some new friends who were very creative in their own ways and connected me with new clientele in Atlanta which became one of my main places of travel. The best part of all this is that I got to show people how beautiful they were. Most of my clients were either camera shy, felt like they weren’t photogenic or were ashamed of the way they looked. I loved helping them see how beautiful they were as most of them were women and social standards obstructed their view of themselves. It always brings me joy showing people how amazing they look and getting those messages and emails about how they love their photos and would be returning next time they needed more pictures done.

I think what sets me apart from some other photographers is that I like to go for creative look, but I still keep my clients looking realistic in their photos. There’s nothing wrong with having that smooth, barbie doll look, however I do like a little more realism in my portraits unless I’m asked otherwise. For anyone trying to get better or learn photography, just practice and ask to shadow other photographers who already do what you’re setting out to do. It helped me out in the long run, and I got to learn from the best now it’s my passion. I can’t wait to meet and work with more people.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect is when I receive those emails and texts about how much my clients and their families love their photos. It’s honestly the best feeling. It’s almost like when your family member or friends tell you that they’re proud of you. I love hearing good feedback from others especially when it’s from clients about the photos I take for them.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I started with my friends. The more pictures I took of them the more people started hearing about me. I remember how one night I was out at a party and a random girl came up to me and asked if I was Juan the photographer and proceeded to tell me how she loved the pictures I took of her friend. I couldn’t help but laugh a little because I had just started doing photography about two weeks prior to that question. I told her I was and thanked her for compliment and she then asked me if she could get some pictures taken by me. Of course, I said yes and from that point on, the more I took pictures of my friends and people they knew, the more clientele I kept getting. The business was growing, slowly but surely. I of course had to promote myself as well not only using my photography instagram page, but my social page as well along with other social media I use. All in all, my clients hear about me from family, friends, business partners and even coworkers. It’s steadily going up but I’m not rushing anything because I’m happy with the progress I’m making. For anyone trying to build up social media presence, whether you’re a creative, influencer or whatever, I just like to tell you to keep being consistent. Consistency is the key to anything you want to do. The more you stick to it, the better you’ll get and the more you’ll see growth. We all have to start somewhere so just keep moving forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.newagevisuals.net
• Instagram: instagram.com/new__age__visuals