Where our free time goes
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This is Jack's own work, not a stock library — the actual portfolio that convinced him to start Aera in the first place. Client galleries will replace it bit by bit; for now, this is genuinely what you'd be booking.
It started as a habit. Friends, cars, nights out — and a few hundred frames that missed.
Brands wanted the whole thing: posters, campaign design, a feed that looked considered.
Aera didn't start with a business plan. It started with a camera, a lot of frames that missed, and a stubborn belief that good media shouldn't be reserved for the brands that can afford an agency.
"Be there early, stay calm, and shoot the thing as it actually happened."
The method is simple to say and hard to do. No stage-managing a room. No disappearing for an hour of set-up shots. If the day felt a certain way, the gallery should feel that way too.
Everything after that is craft: grading with one consistent eye, cutting for the feed as carefully as for the frame, and giving a small booking the same seriousness as a large one.
"I want Aera to be the studio I'd have wanted to hire at eighteen. Quick to reply, calm on the day, honest about what it costs, and quietly better than it needs to be."
A year of sets, gigs and launches, cut down to under a minute. Keep scrolling — it plays right here, full screen, sound included.
The overhead is a laptop, a hard drive, and a mild caffeine dependency. What that buys you isn't only a smaller invoice — it's someone who has time to sit with your edit until it's actually right.
Yes — honestly, it's where most of the actual bookings come from right now. Small brands who want a feed that doesn't look like it was posted by whoever was free that day.
Leeds and all of Yorkshire without blinking. Further afield's fine too — we might just ask you to cover a train ticket.
Properly, September 2026. Unofficially, we've been taking bookings the whole time — the "launch" is mostly us tidying up and getting a website that matches the ambition.
No studio rent, no account managers, no one taking a cut before the person holding the camera sees a penny. Being this small also means we're taking on a handful of projects at a time rather than forty, so yours gets properly sat with instead of squeezed between two others. The low price and the attention come from the same place.
Describe your project in a line — an event, a brand shoot, your socials — and Aera points you to the right service, real work, and honest pricing. No sales pitch waiting on the other end.
What’s up on socials
Behind the scenes, half-finished edits and the odd genuinely good frame — mostly on Instagram.