This was an awesome Aspiring Photographer Session. It’s always a compliment when someone chooses me to take their photos. It’s even more complimentary when an aspiring photographer asks you to take their photos!

I got to work with Gunnison before when I took his family’s photos a couple years back. It was a really fun session and I began to follow his work on social media. Gunnison specializes in aviation photography. Which, is an extremely cool niche! Head over to his IG and give him a follow. His captures of planes, jets, and even racecars is fantastic. Gunnison is also slowly breaking into more portrait photography and asked if we could meet up sometime over coffee for some business questions he had. We met and had some great conversations about the industry, technical camera and shooting details, and the not-so-fun business side of things.

During that meeting, we spoke about doing some branding photos, soon after we put something on the schedule. We chose early fall and drove up Davewood Rd, stopping at multiple locations along the way. Gunnison had different outfits and was going for a 1950’s film, classic style for some of them. They came out really cool, and I think we grabbed the vibe he was hoping for. We didn’t have much fall color yet, but the greens of the aspens, and the sunset made for some fantastic images.

I gave Gunnison the advice I’ve given to many aspiring photographers and just entrepreneurs in general. Learn your trade. Learn it inside and out so well that you could teach it. Don’t rush out and buy the latest and greatest equipment. And definitely, don’t go into debt singing up for every platform available. Practice, practice, practice. Offer free sessions and get better every time. Invest in education. There is a wealth of free resources available before you invest your money. Know where you need to improve and start there. Master it. Move to the next thing. And then go back and remaster it again and again. Never stop learning. Well, thats the short version of what I suggested to him. I recently wrote a blog: Things I didn’t expect as a photographer, check that out for some ironic and funny things that surprised me when I started out.

We had a blast adventuring, laughing, and swapping photography stories on our session. Check out some of my favorites from this Aspiring Photographer Session.