On Company Time: Art Inspo with Aidan Haley

At Lucky Day, we love exploring what inspires the people behind the edit. For editor Aidan Haley, that spark began with photography. In this piece, and in his own words, he reflects on how photojournalism – and the work of Sebastião Salgado in particular – shaped his eye for storytelling on screen.

I am such a visual person, and before editing, photography was the creative pull in my life. After college, I lived in Paris working for the photo agency VII and learned so much about the art of photo journalism and the visual storytelling it influenced. I think I started to more intellectually understand something I had subconsciously known when I saw a "good" photo – it had so much to tell.

Sebastião Salgado was a photographer who seemed to capture my imagination and a sense of humanity more so than anyone I had seen to that point in my life. He felt like the John Steinbeck of the visual medium.

Salgado's ability to capture the universal tension between light and dark, good and evil, but also build so much nuance and exploration of the human condition into a frame. Frames like a doctor visit, or children's games, or this famous capture in the mines of Brazil all feel like a feature film to me. Composition, pace, story behind character, and – the key ingredient to any film, whether it's a :30 spot or a feature film – tension, all exist when he takes a photo.

In my storytelling, I am always drawn to whatever human condition is present and how we can best capture and express it in our films. 

Sebastião Salgado is a genius and a master of immersion and patience with and in a story. A true inspiration. 

We sure feel inspired, how about you? Check out Aidan's work here!