Meet Mike O’Hara | Photographer & Content Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mike O’Hara and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Risk is woven into every stage of life. As kids, we tested our limits constantly — could you clear that jump on your BMX? Could you touch the bottom of the deep end? Those early risks don’t fade when we grow up, they just get bigger and more deliberate. As someone who lives for the outdoors, every trip and expedition comes with calculated risk baked in. I’ve come to believe that’s a good thing. Taking risks builds the kind of confidence that carries over into everything else. It’s what gave me the courage to make the biggest decision of my life — walking away from a career in entertainment to build something of my own in photography and content creation.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve been shooting for over a decade. It wasn’t long before a passion for the outdoors followed — and once it did, the two became inseparable. I started documenting everything: High Sierra backpacking trips, desert mountain biking, paddles down the Colorado River. It all just clicked. For a long time, it didn’t occur to me that this could actually be a career. My work in production kept me from fully committing, but the fire never went out. I kept shooting. Eventually, I made the hard pivot and now, slowly but surely, I’m building something real around the craft.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Crowds and I don’t mix but the public land around LA is something else entirely. If you’re coming to town, expect a hike up to Sandstone Peak or a rip down some local singletrack in the Santa Monica Mountains, followed by tacos and a cold beer at Tacos Por Favor. Perfect day in my opinion.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My LinkedIn community deserves a serious shoutout. A handful of people there have shared genuinely invaluable insights on brand photography and helped me hit the ground running — Dalton Johnson, Dan Holtz, and Collin Strachan, just to name a few. Closer to home, watching my brother Chris O’Hara build his own photography business around architecture was its own kind of inspiration. Sometimes the best motivation is right in the family.

Website: https://www.mikeoharastudio.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeoharastudio/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikejohara/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photosurfermike

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MikeOHaraStudio