Meet Alexander Gilkes – CanvasRebel Magazine
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Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexander Gilkes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alexander, appreciate you joining us today. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?
One of my most important goals and current endeavors has been to build and develop a team to help manage aspects of my photography business. This has been monumental in allowing me to maintain the quality that my work is known for while expanding my business into different markets. At one point I tasked myself with managing all aspects of my business but came to the realization that a team of like-minded, talented, and driven individuals could manage the smaller details while I focused on creating incredible images and it’s been a game-changer for me. Quality over quantity is most important to me and I believe that in the age of “content” I would prefer to take my time creating art so that my business and work can be more than something to feed an algorithm, but something that can be a lasting legacy.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Alexander Gilkes and I’m a Professional Portrait Photographer, Cinematographer, and Graphic Designer. My first experience in this industry was when I was younger helping my older sister in the early days of her modeling career. She would have editorial shoots at her home and I’d help the photographers on set with lighting and other camera equipment. In that experience, I wanted to delve deeper into the process and understand how the images were actually created. I got my first camera and started taking photos of the world around me. Fast forward years later and I was out and about and a music artist saw me with my camera and asked me how much I charged for photos. Photography wasn’t a business for me at that point so I didn’t have any rates to speak of. I went online and found starting rates and charged him $35. After the shoot was finished, he showed friends and family and I began getting emails and messages on social media and from there my name got around. I began collaborating with professional models to gain some real industry experience and soon after I was sought after all over San Diego and even outside of California. From there it became not only my passion but a full-fledged business that continues to this day.
The most important aspect of my work is quality over quantity. That’s what separates me from others is that I’m dedicated to my craft and that it’s about more than just money, likes, or some algorithm. I care deeply for the art of photography and cinematography and I believe that comes through in my work ethic and shows in the images that I create. My clients come to me with a wide array of concepts and Ideas and it’s my job to take these ideas from concept to reality. There hasn’t been a vision of my clients that I haven’t been able to bring to life and that’s something I’m extremely proud of.
What I’m most proud of in my work is the rate at which I’ve improved over a short period of time. It’s proof that dedication to your craft can yield incredible results if you learn the fundamentals and apply yourself to those lessons as you take on the more advanced aspects of your craft. I’m also proud of the fact that I’m still passionate about photography 10 years later and that it has become not only something that I love to do but something that I can do for a living as well.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for me has been using ads on Facebook and Instagram. The ads are inexpensive and have truly helped my business become even more sustainable than my personal website and standard social media accounts. It’s allowed to me reach more people than I could have thought possible and the opportunity to do photoshoots with so many talented models has been both a humbling and fun experience. They even helped me land a photoshoot with the incredibly talented Dijonai Carrington of the WNBA’s Connecticut Suns!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to bring your concepts and ideas into reality. There’s nothing quite like it. You’re only limited by your own imagination and when you bring on other creatives in a team effort, you can create some truly incredible art. Another rewarding aspect is when you’re creating for a client and you send over the final piece and they send you a long heartfelt message of thanks or a video message tearing up as the vision they had was executed exactly as they had envisioned it. It makes all the work worth it.
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Alexander Gilkes Photography
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