All is fair in love and war.

TheAfterHourMag || The Love and War Issue

Click HERE to download the ebook version.

Click HERE to purchase the hard copy magazine.

Last month, I stopped by Citrus Room Seattle to chat social media, life hacks, “Backpack Drake,” and the 2 quotes that have helped me navigate my creative journey. 

Listen to the full podcast HERE.

Check out a few snippets below:

2 Quotes

On Free Advice

On The “After Hour” Name

On “Backpack Drake”

-Amir

If all art is metaphor, then all art begins with memory.

TheAfterHourMag || The Nostalgia Issue.

Click HERE to download the digital ebook.

Click HERE to purchase the hard copy magazine.

Step 1:

Download Google’s Nik Collection HERE

Step 2:

Install. Launch. And follow the steps in the video below.

My Workflow:

And that’s it!

Feel free to tag me on social media on images you’ve editing using this workflow. I’d love to check them out.

Happy shooting.

-Amir

Many people are surprised when I tell them that the majority of my videos on my website were shot on an 8 year-old Canon DSLR. The truth is, you don’t need the latest and greatest gear to create cinematic video. You just need to tweak a few picture settings and know how to leverage free editing software that will allow you to manually adjust and color grade your dslr footage. Yes, for free.

Here’s how:

Step 1:

Download the free version of Davinci Resolve Lite.

Step 2:

Download Technicolor Cinestyle or VisionLOGraw (or use your camera’s NEUTRAL picture setting and turn contrast all the way down).

Step 3:

Install Technicolor Cinestyle or VisionLog to your camera. [VIDEO]

Step 4:

Color Correct your footage [as shown in the video tutorial above].

Step 5:

Color Grade your footage [as shown in the video tutorial above].

Step 6:

Export your footage / save to your computer / open in linear editing suite or imovie.

Questions about camera settings? Send me a message and I’ll share you what I use.

Happy shooting.

-Amir

This project reminded me of 2 important things. First, always bring power chargers for your equipment. The Ronin I was using that day died just as we wrapped our main shoot. I was hoping to shoot this impromptu freestyle on that rig with my blackmagic production cam. But the Ronin died. And the blackmagic was stuck on that. Which leads to number 2: it’s not always about your equipment. Equipment DOES matter, but you can make up for it by focusing on storytelling. In the end, I had 2 pieces of dance footage shot handheld with a 5D Mark II. And this is what I came up with. All credit to Robin who destroyed. This is just my interpretation. 

LINKS

Robin Rojas | @xProtoman

EQUIPMENT

Canon 5D Mark II

17-40 F4.L

Davinci Resolve 10, Premiere, After Effects

-Amir

I’m really excited to share a string of collaborations I’ve been working on this past month. My friend Alley Calkins hit me up and asked if I wanted to film her in action. I’ve always wanted to work with her so I jumped on the opportunity. We shot at Point Defiance park and around the Tacoma area. Make sure to check out her work. I’ve linked her info and our models’ info at the bottom of this post. I’ve also listed the equipment I used for this project.

14k | A Fashion Film

Behind the Scenes

Links:

Alley Calkins

Mackenzie Altig

Cassidy Cannon

Emily Aleinikoff

Equipment:

Canon 5D Mark II + 50mm 1.4

Canon 7D + 17-40 F4.L

Glidecam HD 4000

6 Videos coming this month! Stay tuned.

-Amir

Last week I received this question in my inbox:

This is a great question. The journey from hobbyist to sort of professional to full business is tricky to navigate. Artists create because it feels good. Running a business exists on the other end of the spectrum. It’s a weird paradox.

I’m going to answer this by explaining how I did it, what kinds of jobs I started doing, and what helped me go from shooting friends for free to shooting ads for magazines and big fortune 500 companies…. sometimes still for free.

The Beginning: Everything is Free

Let me begin with the most important part of this whole thing. Work trumps all. Your ideas, visions, plans for success aren’t worth anything on their own. When you start shooting, no one owes you a penny. All you should be worried about is shooting. A lot. Use your friends, use your family. Ask your school. And do it for free.

That’s what I did. For the first 2 years, all I did was shoot my friends. Some were conceptual shoots with limited production, but most were me texting them to put on pants and meeting me somewhere to shoot for 20 minutes. Then I reached out to organizations on my college campus. I shot sorority fundraisers and open mic events. I also did a short run with nightclubs. These were paid jobs but it paid shit. At the time I thought this was the most valuable gig for me. I shot celebrities and made some money. Oddly enough, this turned out to be the worst investment for me in terms of the big picture.

The Value in Free Work

As a photographer, you are playing for the end game. The long haul. Your first job is to get your name out there and build a portfolio. Everyone with a phone is a photographer now. What makes YOU different?

Doing free work is valuable for a few reasons.

I would say that 90% of my paid jobs are a result of free work I did either directly from a returning client or by referral. My sorority photos turned into 4 years (and counting) of recruitment videos and business work for alumni. My campus work and open mic photos introduced me to producers and recording artists and creatives who have ties to large music festivals and influential blogs and start up’s in Seattle, LA, and New York. A friend I shot was dating a dancer who happened to dance for Macklemore. I ended up touring with Macklemore in 2010 and 2011 and helped produce and shoot And We Danced. The Macklorettes are a huge part of my story to this day. The start up’s I invest in and our micro successes with PR, marketing and getting our product on networks like ABC can all be linked back to people I’ve met and befriended through FREE work.

The 80/20 Rule

80% of your money/success will come from 20% of your clientele. Focus on customer loyalty and over delivery with these jobs. Email, inform, follow up, and engage, GIVE GIVE GIVE with these clients and within this market and word of mouth will take care of future referrals (as long as your product is good). Try to make these jobs the ones you enjoy the most! Spend the most time doing important work that you love. Of course, sometimes the jobs in your 20% find YOU. Even if they aren’t exactly the most creative or “sexy,” they are loyal customers! Don’t blow it. These people are giving you money, don’t be stupid.

The other 80% is what helps pay the bills. These are the odd jobs, the referrals that came to you without seeing your work, maybe your schedule was open and you had time to squeeze in a quick project. I’ve done carpet commercials, weddings, events but I’ll never post them. But I will do them. I have bills.

If you are going to do free/ reduced cost work, do it for the 20% clients. They have a higher lifetime customer value than the one- off’s. There is a higher probability that your work will pay for itself many times over. Try not to do free work for the 80% clients. Here’s why:

• This work isn’t your bread and butter/ style/ target market. That is more reason to charge money because you probably won’t be able to use it in your portfolio, marketing/ brand content. Don’t sell yourself short. YOUR TIME IS MORE VALUABLE for jobs outside of your market. It’s also okay to say no to these jobs if it’s really outside of your strengths or beliefs.

The assumption that you will make a bunch of money right off the bat is just not a reality. You might find a few jobs here and there solely on the fact that someone knew you were a photographer, but some things to consider:

If they found you via word-of-mouth alone, they may not even know what kind of work you do / your style. This can make the process very difficult. Make sure you know how your performance will be measured before you accept.

Lack of research done on the client’s end might mean a lack of importance in the project. Make sure your work will be valuable to both parties.

Final Words

Be on your game. Free work is not an excuse to lack professionalism. Send timely emails, communicate, prepare for the shoot from top to bottom, and deliver the products FAST!

When you start, you are a nobody. No one owes you anything and without a portfolio, no one is going to pay you what you think your competition/ local industry standard is charging.

Shoot, shoot, shoot. Find your style. Find your recipe and replicate it. That is what people will pay for over and over again.

If you have a question, DM me on Instagram with the hashtag #AskAmir.

-Amir

Back in January, I was asked by the ladies of Alpha Phi to shoot a promo video for their spring philanthropy, “Phifa,” a week-long soccer tournament that raises money for women’s heart health and cardiac care.

I didn’t make them a video.

Here’s what we did instead, and why it worked.

The Objective

The key here was identifying the real task at hand, the actual problem in it’s simplest form. Most people would ask, “How do we tell people about our soccer tournament” and then make a video showing a bunch of girls playing soccer and explaining where the money would be donated.

Most college promos follow this playbook. That’s fine…but it’s not effective. It’s boring. It’s too broad. You have to ask the right questions.

The Basics:

• Who participates in this tournament? Frat guys.
• How do we convince a frat guy, (anyone) to participate in an event? Personal benefit (ie: a challenge, brotherhood, winning ).
• How do we market to them?

This is where people blow it. They get so caught up in complex marketing schemes they’ve read about but never tested, lame incentives, or being “shocking” that they ignore the idea that all successful companies have been leveraging for years to market their products.

How people think. And how our minds learn to like something.

The question is not “how do I convince someone to do (X)?” It should be “how do I teach someone to like (X)?”

The answer… Repetition.
 
Execution

I didn’t make them a video. I made them a campaign. 4 videos, 15-20 seconds each, showing girls in various competitive scenarios with the same text popping across the screen. “March 30th, You Better Bring Your A-Game….. PHIFA 15.”

Here’s why:

• Creating Context: 1 video of a girl working out in neon spandex is strange. But 4 videos of girls preparing for a week of competition is “Oh, they are Bringing Their A-Game.” It somehow makes sense.
• Repetition: Date, Message, Title. That’s it. 4 separate times. That’s what we want to stick. Keep it simple.
• Attention Span: THEY ARE SHORT. No one is going to watch your 6 minute fundraiser video. Would you?
• Shareability: 15 seconds is easy to share. Assuming your content is entertaining, people are going to watch it more than once.
• Call to Action: “Bring Your A-Game” not only creates context, it is a call-to-action. This is what most promos lack. A challenge. Guys don’t like being shown up. These girls are ready… are you? Bruh.

If you strip the videos down to its elements we basically have 3 things. Text, visuals, and music. All we actually care about is the text. The visuals and music are simply there to stimulate.

Pleasing visuals + repeating message = Pleasing message.

 
Production/ Lighting

Cameras: Canon 5d Mark II + Canon T2i

Lenses: 50mm 1.4 + 17-40L F.4

Lights: 2 x Kino Flo Divas

Support: Kessler Slider

Here are the light setups for the 2 videos that required them

If you are interested in seeing the original video treatments and project checklist, I am happy to send it to you. Just email me at TheAfterHourPhoto@gmail.com with the subject line “Video Treatment” and you can use the templates however you want for your own work.

The Finished Product 

Final Thoughts

So did the campaign work? It sure did. 27 frats paid to participate in the tournament. That’s a huge chunk of money going to a really important cause.

People like things that are familiar. Have you ever caught yourself singing a song on the radio you hated? You might not like the song, but your brain does. Why? Because it recognizes it. It’s that simple. Modern skulls hold stone-age minds. We learn through repeated exposure.

-Amir

A decade earlier, a century earlier, a millennium earlier, someone just like you stood right where you are and felt a very similar thing, struggling with the very same thoughts. They had no idea that you would exist, but you know that they did. And a century from now, someone will be in your exact same position once more. Embrace this power, this sense of being a part of a larger whole. It is an exhilarating thought. Let it envelope you. We’re all just humans doing the best we can. We’re all just trying to survive, and in the process, inch the world forward a little bit.

– Ryan Holiday | The Obstacle is the Way