Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Araujo.
Hi Jonathan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing up I was always passionate about creating. I was always writing, making videos, or finding other ways to explore my creativity. I never realized that my initiative to execute on my friends or my creative ideas would set the foundation for my professional future. I worked in sales management and sales training for nearly 10 years while creating various, mostly random, personal projects in my free time. After I felt my focus broaden and my ability to focus on my daily tasks at work fade, I knew it was time for a change. I left my previous role just before Summer 2019 and decided to pursue creating content as a profession. Equipped with nothing but a borrowed camera that I didn’t know how to really use and an empty notepad to brainstorm ideas on, I began spiraling into various photo and video projects for friends and local businesses in hopes of sharpening my skills while building a quality portfolio to attach to my name. After a few months of growing pains while navigating my successes and opportunities, I started to receive inquiries for my work through social media and referrals. When I left my previous job, I never imagined that within a year I would have published work in magazines and advertising videos featured as the centerpiece of business websites.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I think the idea of “smooth” depends on interpretation and if you consider the “bumps” in the road as obstacles or not. I fully expected to put myself out there and fail some, which I did. However, I have never been known to put myself into situations without being as prepared as I can be. I remember my first referral job that I was hired for was to creative some social media videos for a local business that included some testimonials. After spending the day shooting what I thought was good stuff, I was mortified to see that when I got home and began editing the footage that it was all but worthless. I remember feeling really embarrassed at first, not knowing exactly what the end product expectation was for the client compared to my own expectations. All I knew was that I didn’t execute to the degree that I thought was acceptable. I had to reach out to the client and just be honest about the situation and give them the opportunity to move forward with or without me as the creator of the content they needed. I obviously didn’t ask for any money from them because of what happened. The experience really helped me grow not only as a creator, but as a person as well. I’m happy to say, I have not relived this same experience since, however I’m sure as the difficulty of my work grows it will inevitably happen again at some point.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a creator. I capture and edit photo and video content for various businesses, influencers, and myself. I would say that I am most known for my landscape photography that I capture locally here in Oceanside. Sunset photography quickly became my passion project when developing my own social media presence over the last few years. Not only did I love capturing the natural beauty, but taking photos of sunsets gave me the time I needed to destress and connect with nature on a regular basis. One of the things I am most proud of, is capturing Oceanside in ways that allows people who have visited or lived here the opportunity to reconnect with their memories through my photos. I am proud to say that my photos have been featured in magazines and are on the walls of dozens of people across the country and even some in Canada and Germany. Though sunset photography is seemingly a dime a dozen here in southern California, I would say what sets me apart is my love for color and my ability to edit my photos to pop without stretching them too far from reality.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
The pandemic completely derailed not only my list of clients, but my drive to create as well. Though I am back now, nearly two years later, in the right headspace to create effectively, I am thankful that the pandemic allowed me time to lose myself and get back in touch with myself again. The mental ups and downs that came with all of the uncertainty and change allowed me to grow as a person and realign my beliefs and priorities on what is important to me. This reattachment created a recent surge in my creativity and surprising growth in my execution professionally.
Contact Info:
- Email: jonathan.araujo.productions@gmail.com
- Website: https://jonathanaraujo.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsjonathanaraujo
