Chris Hill is an Army Veteran turned menswear photographer living in NYC! With a passion for travel, the influencer uses Instagram, @lifebyhill, to document his trips as well as highlight his portfolio of work. Chris took some time to answer our questions about his life both in front of and behind the camera.
When I made the jump to being a full-time influencer, it wasn’t a move I had planned on making for a long time. I was working the 9-5 here in NYC and slowly began realizing that all I wanted to do when I got to work was photography. So when I left my job, I struggled to find work in the exact field I was looking at which was Content Creation for brands and photography. After a couple weeks went by, I began working with more and more brands, more influencers, and shooting photos at events to the point where it started becoming more sustainable. I kind of took this as a sign to really go forward with my passion and haven’t looked back since!
I truly believe that the number of followers someone has doesn’t necessarily mean influence, so not my number of followers ha! But I would say by the number of engagements I was receiving on my posts was one way and definitely when more and more brands started emailing me with collaborations.
It’s something that I’ve been more open with over the last couple of months, but probably being a U.S Army Veteran and having served for 6 years in the Army Infantry (2 more years left!)
Definitely my camera! Although it can be a pain to carry my camera and equipment with me everywhere, I’ve gotten pretty used to it. The fun thing about photography is that you never really know when your next photo opportunity is going to pop up, especially in NYC. Photo moments always present themselves at times you never expect it!
Network, network, network. I can’t stress this enough. Making connections is everything in the industry, and it would never hurt to have them. It helps to be extroverted of course, but not necessary to make positive connections with brands and agencies! You never know what potential opportunities would arise in the future from solid networking.
My dream would be to collaborate with a tourism board for a country or an airline. I’m a huge traveler and love everything about traveling, so anything related to the industry would totally be a dream!
Learn more about Chris and his passions in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Watch his episode of SocialLIVE HERE!