October 15, 2016

Meet Los Feliz Photographer & Creative Director: Aldo Chacon

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aldo Chacon.

Aldo, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I never thought of myself as a creative or that I would end up doing a creative profession. I was born in Mexico City and when I was 18 I left for college to Texas. I went to business school and after college and a brief year of work, I decided that business and finance was not my forte. I was completely lost with no real path and I decided to take some time off and I started experimenting with painting and mixed media art. I also bought a small camera and like everyone started with street photography and taking photos of things around me. After some months of creative work I built my own website and reached out to different creatives but nothing seemed to work. I found an internship in a fashion photography studio in Barcelona, sold my car and left with one suitcase, I thought I was coming back after 6 months but I ended up staying for 4 years. I worked really hard in learning about photography and suddenly I was shooting my own work, I had ideas for photoshoots and I began polishing my photography.

While I was in Spain I shared a studio with some other great photographers and that allowed me to create a lot of work and experiment and develop some of my own styles. I shot for fashion publications and I started shooting for advertising clients. All of this experience plus my curiosity to experiment with other mediums brought me to Los Angeles one year and a half ago. I started a production company with my brother (wild goats Creative) and I serve as creative director, developing ideas and concepts for advertising, fashion and entertainment clients. It’s been a long journey full of ups and downs and I still have a long way to go, but every day I am closer to developing a more solid style in my work and getting to be a better artist and a better person.

Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t. The artist life is never a smooth road and there are always challenges, starting with getting work to creative crises. People believe that the only struggle of being an artist is the fact that you need to make money of it, and yes it is maybe the biggest one but the reality is that the creative process and creating something truly unique is what for me has been the most challenging part. I question my art and compare it to other artists and that leads to struggles, but we have to realize we are all unique individuals with a unique vision and we should stick to what we believe in and to our own vision, this will eventually pay off. Believing in ourselves and in our art is sometimes the biggest struggle, but when you are talented there’s nothing to worry about. (hahaha)

What is the most difficult part of what you do?
I guess the most challenging part of my job is the innovation process. finding something truly authentic and new can be a real challenge, and we are always compelled to copy other art or follow paths that we see are working, but we really have to understand that what works for others might not work for us, so we have to create our own new ideas and risk it. risking things is the hardest part but in reality, you never loose, the piece might not work but you win experience and knowledge and when you win big then you win a great piece for your portfolio as well. I almost forgot meeting new clients… hehehehe

What are you striving for, what criteria or markers have you set as indicators of success?
Success is being able to do what you want and be happy about what you are doing, be happy in the creation of it, in the journey, I don’t believe success is a destination, we all have expectations about what we want or who we want to become, and having long term goals is a great aid to follow a path. but there’s no need to feel unsuccessful if you don’t realize them, you need to evaluate if these goals are real and pursue them in an objective way. Being successful is about how you are living the journey because there’s no fun when you are already there, then you are at the finish line, A very special person once told me ” it’s the hunt, not the kill, that’s the thrill…”

What are your plans for the future?
I have many plans for the future, I am getting into creating fine art photography pieces, I currently have a collection of over 200 finished pieces, and I am getting into VR and film, I’ve directed some shorts and ads in the past and I want to keep exploring all the mediums possible, and playing with the technology available to bring a new perspective to the art scene. But I am really looking forward to a trip to Japan I have planned for the next weeks.

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