Check Out Allen Baligad-Cayetano’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Allen Baligad-Cayetano.

Hi Allen, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was gaining interest in videography in late 2016 because at the time, I was just watching a lot of car videos on Youtube and was saying to myself, “man, I want to be able to what these people are doing right now.” I couldn’t afford an actual camera and decided to buy a DJI Osmo Mobile (1st Generation) and use my Google Pixel XL to record video and get some photos as well.

Being a mobile videographer and photographer was a very interesting time for me because it taught me that it’s not always about the gear, it’s how the creator uses the gear and how to create certain shots and content. One of my friends actually had a Canon DSLR and one of his friends needed help in creating a dance video and I mentioned that I had a gimbal, but it can only hold a phone. The dancer friend was totally fine with us using my phone for his dance video and grabbed the shots he needed in different parts of LA.

My friend that had the DSLR, he let me actually test it out because he wanted me to invest in a DSLR and I was uncertain to obtain one. So glad he let me use his DSLR, the quality of the photos I was getting and ability to shoot manually was just game-changing for me at the time. I ended up saving up and bought a Nikon D5600 kit on sale and was using it for some shoots with some friends to help me practice my skills. Unfortunately, I was working two jobs and going to community college full time and kinda stopped doing photography.

Fast forward to 2019, I was working at a new job and one of the managers was trying to get to know me and I mentioned I had a camera and wanted to get back to doing photography. The manager mentioned to me that they had a friend in the photo community and that they had like hangout and editing sessions every other Monday. I ended up going to one of these hangouts and the photographers I met were friendly and even told me there was a photo meetup that same weekend and I ended up going. Got to get back into photography because of that photo meet and was attending most of them throughout 2019. I learned so much from that group of photographers I met and I even switched from my Nikon D5600 to a Fujifilm XT10 that my friend sold to me and eventually upgrading to a Fujifilm XT30. I was also learning to get better in editing in Lightroom and how to use Photoshop.

Around September 2019, I decided to take a step back because I was stressing out with keeping with school, trying to keep working to up with my essentials like rent, food, etc. When I say step back, I mean I deactivated my Instagram just so I don’t have the urge to go out to do photoshoots or to have the feeling of “I wish I was good enough to shoot with so-and-so” or “my editing is just so bad compared to so-and-so creator”. Just needed to focus on myself, get my mind cleared up and taking that break did help out a lot.

In January 2020, I decided to go to this photo meetup called “Subtle Asian Photomeet” for two reasons: 1) I wanted to treat myself as a birthday gift to go back out and shoot again and 2) to create a bigger network to shoot with more models, photographers, and content creators. I was able to connect with a few people from this photo meetup and made plans to shoot with some of them again at a later part of the year. Then quarantine protocol went into effect and we all know the rest of this story. Once quarantine protocol was slowly being less restrictive and I was able to return to work, started to schedule some shoots with some of the people from the photo meetup and some people that were recommended for me to work with.

Fast forward to now, 2021, I am still continuing in increasing my network with people to work with but at a slower pace because I do not want to burn myself out again.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wish it was a smooth road, but I am also happy it isn’t. One of the biggest struggles I’ve dealt with and still dealing with, it is comparing my work with a lot of creators and photographers. In doing so, it makes me feel stressed out and not enjoy the very thing I love to do to help relieve my stress. It got to the point where I just couldn’t enjoy it at all and had to just go on a social media hiatus. During my hiatus, I was actually still going on YouTube and reading articles on ways to keep improving my craft; for example how to shoot in certain lighting scenarios and how to edit in different situations. Also, when I was on my hiatus, I just felt so free in not being on social media but I did miss talking to most of my friends on Instagram because that was my only way in talking to them.

Another one of my struggles was just having the feeling of not feeling like I’m not good enough as a photographer, as a videographer, as a content creator. This just adds more to me comparing myself to others and I have to keep reminding myself that everyone is on their own journey, on their on path. I need to keep my focus on my path and to stop trying to get on someone’s path.

There’s just a good handful of struggles on this not so smooth road, but I will mention one more and it is to keep having the motivation in general. There are time, and I will admit it, I just don’t want to edit any more photos or videos and that mindset keeps on going and going to the point I am backlogged a decent amount and I just added more stress I didn’t need. And sometimes I want to do some concepts, but either the concept idea is just out of budget, or the idea is just over used and oversaturated, I just don’t want to shoot it anymore.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I honestly can say I am still looking at what I specialize in because I like and want to keep learning a lot of different types of photography like night photography, landscapes, street photography, astrophotography, automotive photography, a little bit of sensual work (which is interesting but I just want to have experience in shooting it), and streetwear photography. Majority of my work that is posted on my Instagram are portraits.

In the beginning of my journey, a good amount of people have mentioned that my work tended to have a more moody, vintage style to it and others noticed I edited with a bit more faded blacks/shadows as well. I was editing more like that because I am not a big fan of editing a lot of colors or shooting concepts with too much color. Reason to that is because I am colorblind, to be specific it’s deuteranomaly (red and green color blindness). I noticed I don’t struggle too much when certain shots are darker-toned compared to when it’s lighter-toned shots. I have noticed that I been getting better and editing lighter-toned and more colorful shots and that is a win in my books because I am starting to be okay with something I am not usually okay with. I just want to be able to edit dark and moody shots to light and airy shots and everything in between. I also, specifically portraits, to keep the subject looking natural with minimal retouching to their skin.

I also have been known with some of my friends to shoot and create a good montage of behind the scenes of shoots and getting the candid moments of shoots and hangouts.

My videography has been slowly getting better. Still trying to get more experience in using my gimbal and shooting cars on the move and getting used to getting certain details on cars with the gear I currently have. Have shot a few video portraits and planning to shoot more due to some people have messaged me to shoot more video.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
A characteristic I feel that has been important to my own success is the want, the need to keep learning. I enjoy learning; to me, learning more subjects means gaining more knowledge to apply to not just my craft but to everything that I set in life. The more I learn, the more I can keep improving myself to be better for myself, and hopefully that mentality can spread to those around me.

Contact Info:

• Email: ajaaaayephotography@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajaaaayephotography/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajaaaaye
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6fN0ASOK9dxsQkJxCMECZA

Image Credits:
Yoon IG: yooniana, Jess IG: ogphamtf, Cynthina IG: cynthinamaii, Suzy IG: suz.owo, Carla IG: crybabyd0llllll, Amanda IG: amandaa.shi, Nancy IG: hahahnancy, Nancy IG: n.ncyy_ , DJ IG: visualsbydvniel