Daily Inspiration: Meet Alen Kajtezovic

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alen Kajtezovic.

Hi Alen, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
So about me, I am an immigrant born in Velika Kladusa, a city in a country called Bosnia , most people know the neighboring countries around it like Serbia and Croatia, haha. I came to America when I was about nine months old and my parents were about 22/23 ish years old. I actually grew up in Waterloo, Iowa majority of my life was spent there, growing up I was a kid who always talked a lot but kept to himself as well so I came across as shy and quiet. I didn’t play sports but I did enjoy video games. I actually ended up watching people on Youtube creating montages and edit their own youtube videos of gameplays etc. and so I actually picked up video editing through editing gameplay of me playing the certain video games at that time that were popular. I was in middle school at this time,

I remember one of my day one homies showed me Corridor Digital and FreddieW on Youtube at the time and thats when I started falling in love with short films and creating these action movies because these guys on Youtube were basically making short action movies, skits, etc with their friends but including like muzzle flashes on guns and things like that and the best part was that they had behind the scenes or making of type videos showcasing how they filmed stuff and then even vfx breakdowns to showcase how they did visual effects for it and then I realized it’s just two guys or a couple group of friends making some dope stuff and I got intrigued more and more and transitioned out of editing video game footage to real life footage and then it just started to grow more and more and then I got my dad into it and he was buying me airsoft guns (fake guns) to run around and make short action films with my friends that I would drag into the videos and they weren’t even actors haha this kept going from middle school to high school and I just stuck with the idea of creating video and taking photos. I fell in love with making films and I would start watching more behind the scenes and featurettes videos of big films then actually watching the films themselves and I would walk around Waterloo or outside my house taking stills and shooting random video footage creating this style of content. I first started on an iPod touch 4 and I remember I shot a clip of myself shooting a nerf gun and I put an obnoxiously loud sound of a gunshot and a big nonrealistic looking muzzle flash for when the bullet came out and shot etc. and it just kinda grew more and more from there I shot short films on an iPhone 4 then eventually upgraded and got a canon t3i as my first DSLR camera ever and my love for this creating thing just kept growing.

Fast forward to high school years. I kinda knew I didn’t wanna go to college but I was looking at film schools at the time, but due to life and just financial things I didn’t want to go to college nor did I feel like I needed to go to be honest, I felt like my passion would take me further, but I knew I had to / needed to get out of Iowa and at least move to Los Angeles at some point in my life. I took some classes in high school for video/audio production but most of the time, I was already either light years ahead of everyone and did majority of my projects at home with my own custom built pc haha. (teacher didn’t like that) but I still aced all my classes for those types of electives and I even took a photography and advanced photography class, funny enough I had C’s and D’s or just barely passing all my math, history, science type classes but all my creative electives I was flourishing in. So I told myself around junior to senior year f*ck college I don’t need it ill figure out my own path.

I graduated in 2016 and I was trying to find a job and I still had LA in my mind but a year or so goes by and then I started working for a start up company at the time called Pixel Labs in 2017 till about 2018 but that company is where I learned so much about marketing and shooting and leveling up my own personal skills with the camera that team at the time helped me out a ton with learning and gaining exp with real-world clients, talking to clients and understanding marketing and Facebook ads and just a ton of stuff even understanding the business side because I was always around Zach who was is the ceo of Pixel Labs and I would be like a sponge around him absorbing the convos he had or thoughts he would share, etc. I started as a main editor for their biggest clientele to then shooting and editing and being a valid asset for them! (Shoutout Zach and that whole team fr) I left pixel because I knew I still wanted to get to LA (Los Angeles) I worked at John Deere actually for a little bit building tractors which was a miserable job lol I know going from making content to building tractors but I did it to get more money and save and buy better equipment. I unfortunately got let go from that job as the season went by and then I felt I wasn’t super ready to go to LA yet so then in 2019, I believe I started working for a company called the VGM Group and I was basically a videographer/photographer or (Digital Storyteller) as they would call it and it was cool I worked with a big marketing team with multiple graphic designers and account managers for our clients and all that jazz and I learned a ton but I still was not that happy in Iowa and felt like I needed to go to LA soon and do my own thing so a year goes by and in 2020 on Feb 14 (valentines day) I packed up my things in my car saved up a decent amount of money leveled up all my equipment over the course of all these jobs and said f*ck it time to go full time for myself and do it for me, so it was kind of a 22nd birthday gift to myself.

I literally didn’t know of anyone in LA or did not understand the ecosystem of LA or anything. I just did not know sh*t about it, lol but I knew I had guts to go do what I love for myself so I took the risk for myself. I slept in my car at first for about 2-3 weeks in Walmart parking lots in Rosemead at the time and I would be driving back to Sunset blvd just to be in the area because at the time to me that was all I heard about was Sunset Blvd and Hollywood etc. Showering at the gym changing clothes out of a suitcase from the trunk of my Honda civic and I was living like that for a little bit trying to find some gigs on my laptop using Starbucks internet and things like that I ended getting a dorm like apartment in Glendale and for the first 5-6 months I didn’t really make little to no money but it was nice to have my own little spot to sleep, shower eat etc wasn’t until I met this dope influencer dude that need someone to shoot his clothing brand and I had came there and it was funny because he had hired another person as well who was the photographer and he ended up having these flashes and the ability to do video etc so he had hit me last minute and said I don’t actually need you anymore but if I need a guy for another project that he would hit me up, so I was leaving the area I remember he calls me and says come back you can shoot some bts video and content and things like that and so I said f*ck it I’m gonna make this guy never forget about me and know that my content and shooting skills is amazing so after that I ended shooting a lot of his content for his clothing and site and personal influencer type content he had about 500k followers and we would end up shooting a bunch of content through out 2020 together and it was my first paid gigs ever and that opened the door to other influencers and people to meet and slowly other things started to align and I met more people that I would work for free or offer really low prices just to again showcase my skill and that led to more gigs and more people recommending me and high paying jobs and more consistency and things like that and mind you this is me pushing through a whole pandemic but it is crazy because it seems like I met a ton of people who had started doing their own endeavors or businesses as well during the pandemic so it was like a perfect time because a ton of people needed content done whether photo or video.

So I survived 2020 and built some clientele and got busier and then 2021 came around and now we are finishing up 2021 which is nuts because I’m still not sure where the year went and I can say December of 2021 has been the busiest month for me where people have been asking me none stop for shoots I booked up literally every day with even some days squeezing in 2 different types of shoots or clients in the same days, and I can truly say I took a risk on my life on my happiness and said f*ck it. I’m gonna go do what I love and what makes me happy and get out of the small-town vibes of Iowa and go attack my dreams and achieve them, and I can confidently say slowly I have been doing just that, it insane to see where I started to watching myself grow and I’m very self-aware on the growth aspect because I definitely see it in my work and even in the people I meet and work with and projects I become apart of its all really just a blessing!

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?
Lots of struggles from being back home dealing with divorced parents, seasonal depression, just tryna figure out as well to actually pulling the plug and saying f*ck it I’m going full on my dreams in LA and being in LA not knowing anything or anyone and living in my car and editing in my car not able to cook meals, etc. like there was a lot of tough moments for sure but that’s how it always is the journey is never a smooth ride and you don’t want it to always be.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a videographer and photographer. I specialize in all types of content to be honest I have slowly been trying to get into more high-end fashion and commercial like content, but you will definitely see a lot of fashion and fitness types of content the even some brand type commercials or promos and fashion stills of various models for various projects. I think I am most known for, for having a cinematic look or feel to my photos and esp to my videos. I think that’s the biggest thing that sets me apart at least for my work is that cinematic vibe, and I think it stems from my filmmaking background of trying to actually make short films and things like that because I try to shoot commercials and promos as if they really are a big budget type commercial or I will always try to push to my clients whether its an influencer showcasing their brand new supplement line of products I try to think how can I make this look like a super bowl commercial or a Nike commercial or any type of real movie like commercial or promo I’ve seen and I think that’s what I’m most proud of as well for being able to create some meaningful, stunning looking images in my content )photo and video-wise) I also think my hard work and honesty sets me apart as well. I work hard as f*ck and people can see that and people know I am 100% genuinely me around them. I don’t view people as a money sign or a check or clout or meaningless things like that for me art and creativity is first it cool to get paid for it too because we all gotta survive but if money wasn’t an object, this would be still the thing I would be doing, creating always.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
If people wanna work with me, they can contact me through my website and find my email or even a simple Instagram DM! I always answer both! There we can always talk about what your tryna do or get done in terms of work or collaboration!

In terms of support honestly a simple like, reshare, comment, resharing my works if you think they look cool or are dope and even mentioning me to others if they need someone to do work for them, all of it goes a long way for real as simple as a like on a post or something. Support comes in all types of formats and I appreciate all!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: alenkajtezovic.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/alenkajtezovic
• Twitter: twitter.com/alenkajtezovic
• Youtube: youtube.com/alenkajtezovic

Image Credits:
Some of the model names in the photos i uploaded @kristopherdavis_ @shredlikeharrell @itsobinwankwo @jahndonperignon @chris.quartuccio