Aaron Haxton

I went to art school and have never had a job — and I mean that in the best way possible. Through thickness and thin, I have managed to claw my way through adult life freelancing with an art degree. And no, I’m not a trust fund kid, and yes, I have a mountain of student loans that seem to linger at the same number no matter how many years go by.

You must manifest your own destiny. It sounds a bit more simple than it feels, but you simply must do what you want to be doing. We all need make ends meet one way or another, but it is important to carve out that space to point yourself in the direction that you want to go. I spent a long time early on, scraping by from job to pointless job — feeling completely depleted. I wasn’t in the place to decline work, but it was taking everything I had and wasn’t going in the direction I wanted to go. By the end of the day, I had nothing left in me to put energy toward the dream. Toward what I wanted to be doing. This went on and on. It wasn’t until I was fed up. Fed up with work. Fed up with myself. Fed up with spinning around in my own mind and doing nothing about it. I decided to turn the tables — put the dream first. Give the first few energetic hours of the day to the dream, then get to th...

Brooks Institute of Photography