So, This is not your Typical Photographer Website...
I do things a little differently than a lot of photographers who provide services for the general public; largely because I have a salaried job in photography/videography for a company called Ice Castles (which is incidentally the greatest company in the world). Together with my brother-in-law, we run the visual media content department.
The reason this makes things different, is because I don't need to charge an arm and a leg to put food on the table. However, it also means that I am not available for non Ice Castles related projects all the time.
I work on personal projects during the months of (around) March- August, on a case by case basis. If you are thinking about booking a shoot, please take them time to look through galleries to get a feel for my style, then contact me at aj@ajmellor.com, and we can talk about what you are looking for. During the consultation, I will let you know if I think I would be a good fit for what you want, and I will quote you a price. I have discovered, because of the way I work it's hard to just have flat rates because each project varies so greatly.
About me
I grew up in St. George, UT in a very artistic family and went to school for Photography and Art History.
I am married with two beautiful boys (check out the instagram feed page).
I started my career primarily doing work for commercial clients and print media (magazines and newspapers, etc.).
I mainly started in on the family photo business and such when we moved to the island of Kauai, and and I started my own destination family portraiture company.
Eventually I was offered a job at Ice Castles, and I loved the company and job so much, we decided to relocate back to Utah.
Sounds crazy, but it's really great.
My style of shooting typically is fairly different from mainstream family and kid photos. My finished products have a fairly recognizable and distinct look, and it's not something that everyone appreciates. I would recommend you look through the galleries, and decide if it's a good fit for you. If not, no worries! Utah is over saturated with photographers, so you are bound to find someone that you like.
My Real Job
The company Ice Castles is exactly what the name says it is.
They are giant 1 acre to 1.5 acre sized structures of ice that have slides, light shows, tunnels, caves, and more.
We have locations across the colder parts of The United States an one in Canada.
My job is to go around to each site and gather as much visual media content as I possibly can during the season, and also oversee our souvenir photo operations.
It's been a wild ride and I have had my videos and photos published in the Smithsonian, Huffington post, Canadian Geographic, the Today Show, CNN, and countless other major media publications.
A lot of people say it, but I don't think they mean it as much as I do, when I say "I have the greatest job in the world." You can check our our visual media work for Ice Castles by clicking on the "Learn More" button below
So why do this?
When I started my own business, In order to actually make money, I found myself having to engage in projects that were of no interest to me, and at one point almost made me start hating photography.
I always wished that one day I would be in a position that I could just accept the jobs that I wanted to do. Because when I do photography, I like to do my absolute best, and it's hard to feel like you are doing your best when you are doing a shoot that is boring you to death.
In short, my regular job is structured in a way that allows me to take on side projects in the "off-season" that I actually like.