A world traveling, picture-taking, music loving, business dude.
Adrean Indolos is a Dallas-Fort Worth based photographer, filmmaker and director. Adrean's areas of expertise are in high-end portraits and weddings, as well as commercial-advertising videos for local businesses. He has also formed an elite team of other photographers, videographers, hair stylists and makeup artists to produce award-winning and internationally-published works in big-budget weddings, senior portraits and fashion-editorials.
EARLY YEARS
Adrean Indolos was born in Cebu, Philippines in 1990. His parents immigrated to the US, leaving Adrean with his grandparents for a few years, to begin building their new American lives. He eventually joined them in San Antonio, TX in 1995. After moving a few times dependent on where their jobs took them, he and his family eventually settled in Fort Worth, TX.
Adrean's love for photography began at an early age when he was always using the family's film camera during vacations or parties. He would always ask for disposable cameras whenever he would go on school field trips and dances; documenting everything in his life through photos. This eventually led to his involvement with his school's yearbook team and photographing various sporting events and school functions. He eventually bought his first professional grade camera while attending college.
As a product of traditional immigrant values, Adrean fell into the stereotypes of an honor-roll student and photography was never allowed to be more than a hobby. He went on to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences with a double minor in Chemistry and Psychology from Oklahoma City University in 2012. As fate would have it, OCU is a liberal arts university where the majority of the undergrad population are fine arts majors. From one friend asking for new audition headshots, Adrean inadvertently built a small photography business amidst his studies through his portrait work.
BUSINESS BEGINNINGS
CUTCO & Vector Marketing
In the summer of 2009, Adrean received a letter in the mail regarding a job that had flexible schedules and scholarship opportunities from a company called Vector Marketing, which is the sales and marketing side of CUTCO Cutlery. This was when Adrean began learning the fundamentals of direct sales and marketing. Quickly jumping through the promotional ranks, he had achieved his first $10,000 in sales within the first month. By the end of that summer he was promoted into management and assisted various offices as a top sales rep and assistant manager in the north Texas and Oklahoma territories. In 2013, as the Sales Manager for the Arlington, TX office, Adrean assisted that office to become the 3rd best in sales and 2nd largest recruiting office in the area.
The strength in Adrean's business came from his larger than average sales, higher closing percentages and qualified customer referrals. He believed that, "If you just talk to your customers like normal humans and provide solutions to their already established lifestyles, then it's no longer a sale but a service." A sentiment he uses as the foundation to all of his future businesses.
In 2014, Adrean decided to run his own district office in Fort Worth, TX. Launching in May of that year, Adrean led his team to be the second best new-office in his division within the first 90 days, and pushed over $250,000+ in office sales in the first year as a brand new office.
Throughout his success with CUTCO, Adrean still continued to do photography on the side. But after seven years with the company and two years as District Manager, Adrean felt as though he needed to pursue his true passion in photography.
THE JOURNEY TO FULL-TIME PHOTOGRAPHY
In 2016, Adrean applied to the New York Film Academy. He traveled to New York City and had the opportunity to sit in on a photography class at the Academy and meet with the dean of the photography school. This meeting would forever change the direction in which Adrean's career in photography would take. Upon showing his first (and what he thought was very amateur level) portfolio to the dean, he was advised to not attend the program. According to the dean, the photos in Adrean's first portfolio showed a complete understanding in the fundamentals of photography and controlling light. Rather, the dean advised Adrean to take business classes if making a living as a photographer was the ultimate goal.
This was a pleasant surprise as Adrean had been self-taught with the help of YouTube in order to put together the portfolio that he showcased.
Armed with all his years of sales and marketing success, Adrean's first big break in the world of professional photography was when he received a call from the North Texas Catholic Newsmagazine to be a freelancer for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth. His Christian faith has always been a grounding force in his life and for his big break to be a faith-based organization, Adrean took this to be a sign of not just a career choice but a vocational calling. It was at this point that Adrean placed all bets on his career as a professional photographer and would spend the next few years diligently building his portfolio as the reputation of Adrean Indolos Photography began to spread.
In January of 2017, Adrean won his first national award as a photographer with WeddingWire's Couples' Choice.
THE BIRTH OF AN EMPIRE
By the end of 2018, Adrean had tripled his business every year consecutively for the last 2 years. It had gotten to the point that he was having to turn away clients due to already being booked on the same date. But with the help of his friend and business partner at the time, Michael Volosen, Adrean began hiring other photographers to help with the work load. This forced the name change of Adrean Indolos Photography to AI Photography; "AI" being short for "Aperture Innovations". Doing so allowed Adrean to build a team of photographers and the business broke through its initial revenue ceiling to continue on its path of rapid growth.
But that name change was short-lived as the addition of filmmakers to the team forced the rebranding of the company in order to incorporate video services. This was when AI Media was born.
Then in March of 2019, just before the one year anniversary of AI Media, an opportunity fell on to Adrean's lap. The owner of LUCE Photography, a renowned high-end photography studio, was looking to retire and sell the business. After several negotiations and an enormous amount of prayer, Adrean purchased and acquired LUCE Photography. AI Media now has a place to call home.
At the same time, Adrean officially partnered up with his elite team of makeup artist and hair stylist: Victoria Jameson Krath with Lippy Lovers and Rachel Magaro with Rachel's Runway. These three would become one of the premiere "glam squads" in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Each took their positions as department heads in their respective fields within AI Media.
Identifying that one of the biggest problems in the creative industry is not just insufficient technical education but also a severe lack in business education as well. To answer this problem, Adrean and his partners began the AI Apprenticeship program. A three part program that takes an amateur/hobbyist creative and teach them the technical skills to be professional-grade, the business skills to sell their services, and the marketing skills to build their brands.
This quadrupled AI's work force and allowed for the creation of a corporate administration. One of his first photography apprentices, Ana Gallegos, began with Adrean in 2018 and her photography work with a dental office has been used in multiple print and digital advertisements.
In less than two years, what was once a solo venture has evolved into the beginnings of an empire.
POST-PANDEMIC & TODAY
2020 was a fateful year in Adrean Indolos' career, as was with many people at that time. Having invested every last penny earned back into AI Media, the company was on track at the end of the first quarter of 2020 to generate over a quarter-million in revenue. That was when the world had shut down and unfortunately, in the months following, AI Media and LUCE Photography along with it. The aftermath of fighting off bankruptcy is still felt today.
However, the few things that didn't shut down was Adrean's passion for creating beautiful photos and the relationships that were built during the time of AI Media. Fast-forward to 2022, the ultimate redemption came when clients and associates alike voted Adrean Indolos, "Best in Dallas-Fort Worth" by the Dallas Morning News.
This was the light at the end of the tunnel.
Today, Adrean continuous his work along side those who used to be part of AI Media but as business partnerships rather than a singular corporate umbrella. One of the greatest lessons that Adrean learned during those years was that he still strongly preferred to be behind the camera rather than behind the desk or constantly in meetings. His current focus is back to his roots of solo business ownership and individual client relationships. There are, however, telltale signs of rebuilding an official team looming over the horizon. Is this the rebirth of AI Media? Only time will tell.
