When COVID hit, many of us did a reset of our goals and priorities. Tyler Aguilar, 22, a Reed High School graduate, set his sights on becoming a traveling drone photographer and videographer.
Several years later, he’s put the building blocks in place, getting his FAA certification, starting to get paid for his photos and videos, getting to become an expert at drone photography and setting his sights on more aerial videography.
He’s still keeping a full-time job as a tax assessor, but gets off early to be able to document sunsets, and beautiful surrounding scenic areas on weekdays and keeps time for weekend trips, while working for realtors, commercial clients and individuals. Time management seems to be another of his skills, as he’s about to start studying business finance and management at TMCC as well, and he makes music and videos on the side for his own social media.
“I started photography back in 2020 right in the middle of lockdown when everybody was kind of picking new stuff up,” Aguilar said. “And this was kind of that thing for me. I kind of just bought [a camera] one day with the last, you know, pennies in my bank account because I had just lost my job about two weeks prior. I kind of just went for it and I never looked back. And now I'm expanding that into drone work and, you know, doing more and more. And I love it. It's probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.”
One of his signature nighttime Reno shots.
Aguilar started getting paid for portrait photography with a handheld camera, and then got into landscape photography, to which he’s now added aerial video and real estate photography.
He got is FAA Part 107 certificate in February to be able to fly drones, which he says “was honestly the hardest exam that I've ever had to take. It took me about six weeks of studying for a couple hours a day. I was super nervous about it, but it has paid off more than I could have ever imagined. What it allows me to do is basically make income using my drone.”
He started with the Mini 2 DJI, “it's super small and light and just easy to kind of pick up and learn,” he says, and then upgraded to a DJI Air 2S.
To get more into drone videography, he wants to upgrade again.
One of his favorite aerial scenic photos.
Aguilar has gotten some negative comments on social media about possible invasion of privacy which he wanted to address.
“With the drones, there's a lot of people that don't seem to understand regulations with flying around people or houses,” he said. “I've gotten a lot of grief online from people saying, ‘Hey, you can't fly, you know, around my house or something like that’ but what people don't understand or often don't think about is that they don't actually regulate airspace. You can't do that as an individual. Now if you were sitting there outside someone's window, you know, hovering your drone, then I could see somebody saying something. But I don't do that. But I have had a lot of people, you know, come after me online saying, ‘Hey, you can't fly there,’ or ‘Did you get proper authorization for that?’ and it's always, yes, I did, you know, I do everything by the book and I'm never going to take chances with the FAA.”
Aguilar can also do product photography.
One of his role models is Peter McKinnon, a YouTuber with a massive following of over five million with a net worth of over $3 million.
“He’s been a huge inspiration to me,” Aguilar said. “I love what he does, and if I could do even half of what he does one day, that would be huge for me.” Locally he admires John Rodgers who has an Instagram under the handle j.rod.photo.
“He takes some of the most beautiful photos of Tahoe and Reno,” Aguilar said. “Every time I scroll through his Instagram, it's a treat and I love it.”
His mom and stepdad are very supportive he says, so he can still live with them in south Reno, which allows him to save up and get needed equipment to build towards his dream career.
“They're the best,” he said. “I don't think I'd be anywhere close to where I am today without them. So I do everything in my bedroom, about two feet from my bed. I have a brand new MacBook Pro that I just picked up. It's a beast. I love it. It’s opened so many more doors for me, creatively, I can now do video again. I doYouTube music covers as well, I do play some instruments and get my creativity out that way as well, and then I also kind of dabble in audio recording as well. I do it all in a little corner in my room.”
And then he already travels to different parts of Northern Nevada, which with windy conditions, can be tricky for drone flying, but Aguilar is not one to be grounded for long, as he keeps at it, one photo and project at a time, building up his career on his own terms and already impressive portfolio.