This photographer has become Hollywood’s latest muse. As his electrifying mind continues to break boundaries and fortify the creative world, [Aidan Cullen’s](https://www.instagram.com/aidancullen1/) name may not yet be in your repertoire of vocabulary. Though, that won’t last for long. Sprung from sunny Santa Monica, Aidan is the creative mastermind behind a plethora of projects. Working with artists such as Halsey, Trippie Redd, ASAP Rocky and Omar Apollo. Photographing for the publications Vogue and ID Magazine. Partnering with commercial brands such as Prada and Adidas - to name a few. At 20 years old, he has the world wondering, permanently perplexed, just how he has and continues to do it all.
Photo by [Nate Guenther](https://www.instagram.com/guenth_/) wearing [ZASK](https://www.instagram.com/_zask/) by [Jax Kinsey](https://www.instagram.com/jaxkinsey/)
On an unusually warm January afternoon, Aidan told me about his emergence into the creative world and his vision-turned-reality of developing his very own production company [_Clocked Inc_](https://www.instagram.com/clockedinc/) at his new home in the east of Hollywood. Natural sunlight enveloped the barren white walls of his living room. Coming down from the aftermath of throwing a New Year’s Eve party with a 400 person guest list, decor was safely still stowed away.
2019 vanished into the dusk as Hummer Limos pulled up to his pad. His home, flooded with close friends and glorified strangers, rang in the new decade with a glittering bang. “I just want to create cool memories for people, just fun nights for people that aren’t a normal party, that people can remember,” said Aidan. Or, like the alluring, ethereal party pictured in my head, a night for the many who had taken one too many tequila shots and chugs of champaign, remnants still lingering on his ceiling, won’t remember. However, that is not the case for Aidan. And, just when I think I have him figured out, he reveals another layer to his vibrant, complex persona: he doesn’t drink. He alludes to his sober-by-choice decision, “I for sure saw some bad stuff. Just because of the world I’m in - music. I just got super turned off by it growing up. I was also an athlete and I didn’t see the point of drinking or smoking weed.” Unphased by the sweet seduction and music world mystique, deeply eager and innately motivated, Aidan is wholeheartedly fuelled passion.
Photo by [Nate Guenther](https://www.instagram.com/guenth_/)
Though, the road to success is jagged and jaded. And the “new beginnings are often times disguised as painful endings” credo aptly applies to Aidan’s life. Blindsighted by illness, Aidan’s track to become a professional athlete vanished in the blink of an eye. “I got super sick and had some severe health issues,” he explained. “I was super sad about life and then \[my dad\] got me a camera. It was definitely a cheer up tool and I didn’t know what it was going to turn into.”
And, what exactly did it turn into? An individual learning as he goes, Aidan manifested a world of vast possibilities within the five years since he received his first camera.
With parents in the creative realm, Aidan’s family have been vital in keeping him grounded. “I’m appreciative for how I grew up and my artistic family. It’s the most discouraging thing if your family has no idea what you’re doing and doesn’t give a shit.” Though, his unquenchable thirst for knowledge is one that cannot be taught.
Subverting societies power structures. Fired by a fierce fervor. Aidan’s secret desire to leave the world a better place than he found it ultimately landed him an internship at the ripe age of 14. “I just walked in the shoe store that I always went to and was like, ‘Yo, let me work for you.’ I would always talk to the manager because I lived down the street. I was just the kid who was trying to learn.” His desire to holistically understand the world around him is precisely how skateboarding naturally progressed into documenting the live action at hand. Now, the kid always trying to learn has metamorphosed into the one we want to learn from.
Photo by [Nate Guenther](https://www.instagram.com/guenth_/) wearing [ZASK](https://www.instagram.com/_zask/) by [Jax Kinsey](https://www.instagram.com/jaxkinsey/)
Aidan elucidated his ultimate mission with _Clocked Inc_. “My goal with the production company is to create a cool, open space for myself and my friends to create in.” The freedom to create bleeds in and out of his work.
Aidan gives elusive insight on how _Clocked Inc_ transformed into a tangible reality.“Well, this guy on the couch over there, my friend [Jimmy Regular](https://www.instagram.com/jimmyregular/) - we had known each other for a few months online. We finally met in person because we worked with some of the same people. He was like, ‘Dude, I want to start producing,’ and I wanted to start directing more videos. Cause at the time, probably a year and a half ago when we talked about it, I was really just taking photos. I thought lets do it, there’s no reason not to. Our first project together was for Omar Apollo, whose one of my best friends. Omar’s management were like, ‘We need a music video, we want you to do it.’ I had never done a bigger budget music video. That was Jimmy and I’s first time working together. He produced it. I directed it. And then we had a lot of friends work on the project. Of course there are hurdles, but it went super well. We kept the conversation going and were like, ‘Lets make a production company out of this.’ Jimmy just kept being very encouraging. Fast forward a month later, I got reached out to by a bunch of people and we just kind of hit the ground running. Everything that I was directing, we were producing as a company.”
Photo by [Nate Guenther](https://www.instagram.com/guenth_/)
Leaving NYU the spring of his sophomore year to actively accomplish what most get their degrees in, Aidan set off to navigate the waters of a shark infested industry. “It’s a respect thing. Like, I’m still in the rooms, but sometimes people talk to me a certain way and don’t believe I can do certain things because of my age.” Though his affinity to collaborate and all around humble demeanor is what allows him to tread on the oceanic blue waters of the music industry. “My team has done some cool stuff that’s hard to argue with. We get to work with people we love all the time. That’s definitely one of the coolest parts, developing a team.”
In the age of Instagram and online clout, real, lasting relationships, such as Aidan and his production partner Jimmy Regular’s can be fortified online. That, plus being from sunny Los Angeles, equals a recipe for success. “I mean, it’s very natural, being from LA and being creative. I met Omar through my friend Dylan whose his manager. So, I met Omar right when he started putting out music seriously. Then we took photos together and became super close. It was a snowball effect. A couple months later he was like, ‘do you want to be my creative director and do everything?’ I said absolutely yes.”
Photo by [Nate Guenther](https://www.instagram.com/guenth_/) wearing [ZASK](https://www.instagram.com/_zask/) by [Jax Kinsey](https://www.instagram.com/jaxkinsey/)
Like a breath of fresh air, Aidan’s work brings unparalleled visual elements to this new movement of music. At the center of it all, he gets to watch his friends kill it while he does what he loves. “I definitely love working with artists early. Being one of the first people to work with them and being part of forming their visual image is super cool to me. I love always taking the chance of working with new people and just trying it out. Also, I love meeting people first and being friends with them before we work together.”
Photo by [Nate Guenther](https://www.instagram.com/guenth_/) wearing [ZASK](https://www.instagram.com/_zask/) by [Jax Kinsey](https://www.instagram.com/jaxkinsey/)
With the decade culminating and the smell of sweet nostalgia lingering throughout the air, I inquire as to what his favorite projects have been since starting _Clocked Inc_. “I think two that I’m super proud of are the Phone Numbers video for Dominic Fike and Kenny Beats, and then I did all the creative direction for the Trippie Redd rollout. I was super happy with how that came out. We got a number one album and it was definitely a really cool achievement because it was his first number one album and the first one for his label.”
And, his ultimate goal for _Clocked Inc?_ “A dream of mine is something on the A24 level, where there’s a bunch of different directors creating things under this production company, but you just know that everything that comes from that company is beautiful.”
Aidan most likely won’t sleep in the next decade, he’s just getting started. He’s clear and clever minded. And, when I inquired as to what next, there’s no hesitation, “narrative filmmaking.”
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