Decklan Aegis is a Fitness and Athlete photographer based out of Edmonton, Alberta. I have been in and around photography since I was 12 years old. The ability to capture and freeze moments in time in a beautiful and artistic fashion has always been the root of my passion.

In 2008/2009 in my small hometown, DSLR cameras started to pop up everywhere. Everyone had one and all of a sudden.. everyone was a photographer. At one point probably about 2 out of 5 of every person that I knew was doing Photography. Alot of the work that I started to see popping up everyhere and being posted to Social Media was terrible. I don’t just mean “not good”.. I mean.. Horrendous. Alot of these images my little brother with a disposable camera could have done a better job with. Seeing all of these terrible images being created by “Photographers” made me take a step back and ask myself…. “Am I that guy?”.. “Is my work that terrible as well and I am just blind to it?”.. All of these thoughts kept racing through my head and ended up causing some serious self confidence issues. I became extremely self conscious about my work and this led to lack of motivation, I would not per-sue or accept any new jobs unless they were what I considered “Small” and “Low Impact” jobs for friends that I was very close with. This way, if it was terrible, nobody would know, and nobody would see. Even those jobs, I stopped branding my photos because If they were in fact terrible, I didnt want anyone to know where they came from.

This ultimately led to me selling off all of my equipment at pennies on the dollar so that I wouldn’t consider getting back into it again due to the massive upfront cost of reacquiring all of the equipment that I had just offloaded. I turned around, walked away and never looked back… Until 2022.

My passion for photography was still burning deep inside me, it was a thirst I couldn’t quench.

My good friend Matt (whom you will see in many of my photos) is an Internationally Published Model (just to set the context). We were having a conversation about photography one day as I was looking at some of the shots from his most recent shoot and I mentioned that 100 years ago, I used to be a photographer. He asked to see some of my old work and while I don’t have much from those days, I showed him some of the Fitness Images I have taken when I was younger. The look on his face was.. well.. he was impressed.. which shocked me, because I never thought much of them, even to this day I will not feature or show any of my old work anywhere. He kept telling me that I needed to get back into it, I explained to him why I walked away in the first place and that I wasnt going to get back into it because I wasnt good enough. He refused to believe it and insisted that we do a shoot. I resisted and kept refusing… for a long time. Until one day, I agreed.

Fast forward 5 days and we are 2 days out from the Shoot that I had promised Matt. My guts were turning, I was very uncomfortable in my own skin and kept thinking of realistic ways that I could cancel (by this time I did have some Camera Equipment I mainly used for video - so he knew that I had what i needed to do it). I must confess, when I talked to him 1 day before the shoot I was extremely close to cancelling it altogether. I couldn’t do it. I mean.. this guy.. is an Internationally Published Cover Model.. he works with professionals… I had been out of it for so long that I wouldnt even consider myself a rookie anymore, I barely remembered how to operate my camera. However before I could tell him that I was cancelling, he told me how excited he was for shoot and that he couldnt wait. Told me he had been fasting, cutting carbs etc etc leading upto it.. Well, I couldn’t do that to him.. I couldn’t cancel on someone that had been putting himself through “Model Hell Week” leading upto this shoot. So.. I proceeded.

The day came and I felt like the biggest rookie.. dragging around a ring light and an using an old Cannon SL3.. I couldn’t believe that I had actually gone through with this.

What came from that session, the way that I felt during that session, there are no words. I was comfortable, Calm, Peaceful, Happy.. the turmoil and anxiety had gone away the minute I started into the set. I felt like I was at home, doing what I was meant to do.

The immediate feedback from the shoot was very positive (even though I was incredibly rusty - even with lightroom). So I decided to keep with it, keep improving my craft, keep pushing forward with my passion.. letting that fire inside rage, instead of constantly trying to snuff it out.

The Moral of the Story is, without Matt, My Muse, My Strength and at times, my Confidence.. I wouldnt be here right now, typing this story, doing what I love. I thank you Matt, for your constant support and pushing me through when you knew I needed it.

That.. is Who I am.