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David Aguilar
@davidaguilar_photo
Photographer based in Spain
After many trips in Europe helping in environmental volunteer projects, David realized the importance of expressing his feelings artistically. So when he turned 18 years old, he bought the only professional camera he could afford and began learning photography by watching Youtube tutorials. Landscape photography is an expensive endeavor, so for young talent to make a living in the industry is not always easy. Yet, the content David created with passion led him to his first clients:
1) He started by creating proficient timelapse videos of his trips and sharing them on social media.
2) Then, the first companies began to reach out, and after some negotiation, David managed to sell the clips he filmed while traveling. The companies wanted to use those clips for documentaries, advertisements, and even films. Freelance work can be a good start if you want to build a solid portfolio while doing the things you enjoy the most.
3) Drone videos also helped David earn money, and capturing aerial footage is now a big part of his focus. There is also a significant demand for cinematic videos. Cinematic videos and aerial footage can help you take steps forward.
In addition, David saw an opportunity in education, making his online courses another source of income. It took him four years to develop a solid workflow and realize how every little step of his editing workflow had a reason. “For me, it’s much more important to know the why than the how and this is a powerful idea he shared:
Having an idea in mind about how you want the final image to be is necessary. But the why will give true purpose to your work.
Furthermore, in the interview, David also shared his most recurrent tools to achieve great photographs. We included a before and after and an in-depth explanation, step by step.
We hope you learn from those tips and his strategies to build a career as a landscape photographer.
“Creativity is a state of mind and needs a stage without inspiration to come back later with more strength and better results.” So if you are after some inspiration today, we recommend reading the full interview with @davidaguilar_photo!
Interview
Welcome David!
One year after you acquired your first camera in 2016, you won the Vamos/Latam III contest which provoked a radical evolution. Could you tell us a little more about your progression as an artist? What have been some major challenges and what have been some highlights that boosted your growth?
Hello, thank you so much for having me here!
That’s right, in my case my interest in photography started when I began to travel when I turned 18th. I’ve always had a passion for adventure, traveling, nature, and exploring the world. And after many trips in Europe helping with some environmental volunteer projects I realized I needed something to express what I feel in nature and my adventures.
In the beginning, I was into adventure photography more than anything else, and after winning the Vamos/Latam III contest I was fortunate enough to solo travel for 3 months through the most amazing landscapes of South America. This trip marked a huge before and after on my artistic vision of the natural world and gradually I was more interested in landscape photography.
Then, I quickly learned all the aspects which are super important in a landscape image: composition, colors, atmosphere, light, etc. And of course, another major point where I noticed a big change was with the editing. After learning Photoshop, I could enhance some relevant elements of the image to convey emotions and feelings of that place to the viewer. The rest was just about practicing and improving myself trip after trip.
"Probably one of my biggest challenges has been growing with a very small budget. Photography is a really expensive world, and at the beginning, I could only afford a Nikon D5300 and learn on YouTube and other free platforms."
What actions did you take in the beginning to work with clients and earn some money, and how has this changed over time? What do you currently do mostly to capture the attention of clients and obtain paid projects?
In the beginning, it all started as a hobby, but after sharing timelapse videos of my trips on YouTube, some companies contacted me to buy clips for documentaries, advertisements, or even films. Then, the same happened with the drone videos I uploaded. So I focused a big part of my trips on making cinematic videos to earn some money. I also tried to sell my photographs and clips on Stock, but it required a lot of content and plenty of time to earn something decent from it.
After several years in the photography game, I leaped and decided to try my best at giving private online lessons in editing, composition, color, or whatever the student wanted to learn about my workflow. It worked out much better than I expected, so I kept promoting my online lessons until I decided to make a post-processing course about my workflow, which people can buy directly here and have lifetime access to my instructional videos. Since then, teaching photography has been my main income.
One of your passions is also to help other creators improve their crafts. At what moment did you feel you could pass on your knowledge and skills to others? And how did you approach starting to create content for others to learn from it?
It took me around 4 years to develop a solid workflow after watching hundreds if not thousands of videos about editing.
I found a way to edit my pictures that was relatively fast, tidy, personal, and most important, that I can apply to all my RAW files. I started to polish it until I found my style: the more I edited following these steps, the more similar the photos were to each other.
That development of my style gave me enough confidence to jump into teaching others all the techniques and skills I’ve learned during those 4 years, and also to reveal that workflow from start to finish step by step. That’s why I decided to make my ‘Moody Landscapes Editing Course’, which I’m sure won’t be the only course I’ll record.
One of the things you do is guide workshops in different countries popular for landscape photography. What are the most valuable aspects you get out of these workshops as a landscape photographer? Where are you running them?
That’s my new challenge this year. I’ve joined the Capture the Atlas team so I’m very excited to start leading workshops and photo tours for the first time and that’s a huge step for my career. They involve not only the ability to teach all the techniques and skills I’ve learned over the past years but also a great deal of responsibility, discipline, and knowledge about the places we are visiting. In my case, sharing my passion and my knowledge is what I love the most. Seeing others achieve their dreams, smiling, and crying with emotion is what fills me the most. Besides the amazing images people can take in these photo tours, the experiences they live and the friendships they make are what they will remember forever. And I couldn’t be happier to be the one to take care of that, no matter how much effort it takes.
I’m currently leading these workshops in Iceland, Dolomites, Switzerland & French Alps, the Faroe Islands, and Patagonia. These are some of the most breathtaking destinations in the world and a paradise for landscape photographers. It’s true that in these places you can easily get great photos, but it’s also important to know the places and their meteorology well.
Could you show one or more photographs that you think represent you as a person and an artist? What are the stories behind these photos and what makes them so representative?
It’s always hard to choose one single picture as all of them represent something to me, they are part of me. But my picture “Renascence” is one that I am still very proud of and every time I see it, it encourages me to continue on this path. It was taken in October 2020 in the French Alps and it has all I love: a river that leads the view surrounded by a colorful autumnal forest that disappears in the fog, followed by a perfectly shaped mountain covered by fresh snow, and the rising sun behind to give that extra depth. There are not too many magical moments in nature, but sometimes when the stars align the moment looks unreal. It’s still one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever photographed. It reminds me that our natural world is incredible, and we need to act to preserve it. Also, this picture represents to me a before and after of my workflow, since with this image I built up the workflow I’m still using today.
Another image that represents me as an artist is “Writhe”, taken in Torres del Paine (Chile) in 2022. Like many of my works, it introduces you to a frightening, mystical, and kind of creepy landscape that at the same time is gorgeous. Because there’s also beauty in death. To put you in context, in 2011 Torres del Paine National Park suffered one of the biggest fires of Chile’s history, human-caused. During 3 long months, up to 18 thousand hectares were burned in the heart of the park, of which 6 thousand were native forests. Now, there is a dead forest with many “ñirres” writhing in pain. With this image, I wanted to represent the pain and damage that we are constantly causing to mother nature. This damage also affects us and future generations.
How do you approach the editing of photos? What are your most needed tools to get the result you want and what helps you to achieve the final result (inspiration, techniques, music, people…)?
As an artist, post-processing is a huge part of my work. It’s what will make the difference and what will mainly make us have a style, among other things. Thanks to the editing I can emphasize certain elements of the photo so the message or feelings I want to convey to the viewer is as clear as possible. For example, I can darken the edges or remove distracting elements to make the viewer look at where I want him/her to look at at first glance. Every little step of my editing workflow has a reason, and for me, it’s much more important to know the ‘why’ than the ‘how’.
The most important thing to achieve the final result is to have an idea in mind about how I want the final image to be. And it usually happens when I press the shutter. Normally right after taking the picture, I have the moment and the idea is very fresh so inspiration comes directly from the place I took the photo. When the place or moment doesn’t give me any idea or concept for the final result, I leave the raw file on the hard drive until something else clicks in my mind.
Another very helpful feature for me is to have a tidy editing workflow, with the same steps so I can follow a direction and can know when the picture is finished. For example, for this picture, I started to work globally in Lightroom with the RAW file, which was very dark and colorless.
After raising the exposure and popping the colors a bit, it was still very flat in terms of light so I started to work in Photoshop. Firstly, I always begin with destructive adjustments: blendings, warping, cleaning, etc. Then, I start adding depth by contrasting the image and darkening it except where the light comes from (in this case the upper part). After working with colors individually and locally, I add some atmosphere and source of light. Later I usually apply the Orton effect and a bit of sharpening and use dodge and burn to give a 3D look. Finally, make some final adjustments and let the photo rest for some hours before deciding it’s finished. These steps used to be always the same, but it’s a completely manual process as every image is different.
What inspires you or how do you seek inspiration when you are struggling with a lack of creativity? And how do you use that in your photography
Maintaining motivation and creativity is a real challenge. But I understand that there are cycles that come and go, we’re not constant. Creativity is a state of mind and needs a stage without inspiration to come back later with more strength and better results. Lack of creativity also comes when we compare our work with other people’s work and when we feel pressure. So, during those days or weeks without inspiration, I try to feed my creativity without pressure, by reading fantasy books, watching fantasy movies or series, looking at the work of other artists, hiking in nature, listening to music, or simply seeing a beautiful sunset. These kinds of activities are inspiring and they little by little feed my creativity. It can take weeks without creating, but that time is essential because the lack of creativity is also part of the creative process. When I break that uninspired wall, it starts the creative period and the more I create, the more inspired I am.
Also, in the field, the inspiration depends a lot on the location. Creativity tends to be boosted when I visit a new place from which I don’t have references or influences. That’s when my mind and body are deeply into a flow state, creating something original and being completely focused on the moment and the art of nature. However, if we are in a place which we have many references or that already have visited several times, creativity is often limited. So my advice is, to explore and visit new places. That’s when you will feel most inspired.
You live in Spain, which is not particularly known by landscape photographers as a special destination to go to. What would you recommend about Spain to fellow photographers? What is the most amazing photograph you have from your home country and why is that one so special?
Despite it’s not a common landscape photography destination, Spain has a large number of natural wonders that would surprise many people. From the amazing northern coast with awesome sea stacks and cliffs to beautiful forests full of magic or the amazing milky way we have in the Canary Islands. There are plenty of possibilities for landscape photography, including great epic mountains in Picos de Europa or Pyrenees. Even in the south of Spain, where I live, we have incredible unique locations, for example, the Río Tinto river which is amazing for abstracts, or the Torcal de Antequera in Málaga with unreal rock formations.
I think my image called “Enchantment” is one of my favorites from Spain. It’s taken in one little hidden gem we have in Andalusia, the last remaining laurel rainforest in continental Europe, which beautifully coexists with the Mediterranean vegetation. This place is so special to me, it has a powerful magic that makes me connect deeply with nature. The wind blows the higher branches and the birds chirp to communicate with each other while the fog enchants the forest. Nobody else is around. The feelings here are always so strong. That’s what this image represents, a spell cast on some old trees, which now watch over this forest and are in charge of protecting it, as it’s extremely fragile and vulnerable.
What has been one of your most remarkable experiences outdoors so far? What did you learn from it?
One of the best experiences I’ve ever done has been the Tour du Mont Blanc back in 2016, the year I started photography. For 10 days I hiked around Mont Blanc, crossing France, Italy, and Switzerland; going up and down 1000 meters of elevation gain per day, with really bad camping gear, lots of weight, without GPS, without experience, and almost no money. A real adventure I will never forget. That was maybe the starting point of my career: I realized I loved trekking, mountains, and shooting landscapes. I learned a lot about adventure, hiking, weather, wild camping, and photography. Since then I became an outdoor enthusiast and, thanks to that, the following year I won the Vamos/Latam III contest I talked about in the first question.
Nowadays we see so many young talented artists pursuing a career as (full-time) travel/landscape photographers. What four pieces of advice would you give them?
1) Explore. Exploration is the soul of a landscape photograph. As I said before, finding new places and scouting new compositions will boost your creativity and inspiration. You will stand out from the rest by showcasing something original and unique. It can be hard but when you do, it’s extremely satisfying and success will come on its own.
2) Try to find a unique workflow to create your style. The development of your style will depend on three important pillars:
2.1) What you find on the field, the kind of stuff you shoot, and the conditions you prefer shooting.
2.2) How you photograph it: how you compose your images, the gear you normally use, and the techniques you usually apply, both in the field and at editing.
2.3) Why you photograph it: the feelings, emotions, and stories you want to tell to the viewers.
In the end, your style will be based on a sum of these three fundamentals and it requires time but also your unique process to develop it.
3) Keep practicing and learning as much as you can. The talent doesn’t come out of anywhere. Invest in training, and learn from other landscape photographers who inspire you. Learn composition, post-processing techniques, and how to control the light, colors, and depth.
4) Spend time getting noticed. Spend time daily on social media, marketing techniques, interactions with other photographers, website, newsletter, etc. Most people will see your work digitally, so it’s part of the job of artists to be active on screens. And maybe, some of these people could be your future clients or students.
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