Nick Amrhein discovered a passion for photo and video at skate parks while

growing up in Oregon.

The 2006 Clay graduate really delved into that passion after enrolling in a visual communications class at Clay with Nathan Quigg. He did everything he could to learn more.

“I didn’t care if I had to stay after school or help out with a project,” he said. “It was just so new and creative to me.”

Following graduation, Amrhein took his abilities to Toledo where, in addition to photo shoots, he did promotional videos for local bars and clubs such as Eclipse, Sin, Gators, and Chasers, and he shot music videos for local artists such as Emune and Ju Rock. 

He did that for a year or so, while also taking classes at Owens Community College in hopes of going to art school at a bigger university.

“I just started applying everything I learned from high school and started pursuing it as more of a serious thing,” Amrhein said.

Towards the end of his first year at Owens, Amrhein had a near death experience while learning he had become diabetic.

“The doctors told me that I would have died an hour later if I wouldn’t have went to the hospital,” he said.

It was that experience that taught Amrhein life is fragile. He ultimately decided to drive cross country with just over $1,000 in his pocket in his 1996 Honda Civic to Los Angeles to pursue his dream with friend Nico Montez. It took the two of them 11 days to get there, and they stayed in places like Colorado, Chicago and Las Vegas.

“I was crossing my fingers that my car wouldn’t break down,” Amrhein said. “We slept in the car three or four times. Everywhere we wanted to stop we did. If we wanted to stop and take pictures, we would. For me that was unbelievable, not knowing anything outside of Oregon. It was kind of crazy.”

Once he got to L.A., Amrhein’s life became vastly different.

“Being a kid from a small city, being an adult definitely kicked in really fast,” he said. “From the get-go, I had to watch spending. We lived on couches and floors for the first month. I was surviving on peanut butter and bread.”

With a group of friends, he ended up getting a one bedroom apartment for three people. One person lived in the kitchen; the other two split the bedroom – all for $375 apiece.

“It made me mature faster than any kid my age, when most kids are in college or working a solid job. I didn’t know anything about where I was at. I was learning and growing up real fast.”

Amrhein worked jobs at a fashion clothing store, a hotel, and a restaurant to make ends meet. At every chance, he would do a photo shoot or make a music video on the side. He even landed an internship at Loyalty Creative.

At the internship and freelancing, Amrhein did shoot for Modern Home Living (MHL), Vogue, and Dove magazines, Mario Lopez, Malik Yoba, Elijah Woods, Rob Dyrdek, West Coast Customs and Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy, among others.

According to Amrhein, the Dyrdek photo shoot is the pinnacle of his career, thus far. Dyrdek stars in MTVs “Fantasy Factory.”

“That will stick out forever,” Amrhein said. “To this day, when I look at the magazine and see the credits with the photo I took, it tells me that I put my mark on this world and really did something. (Dyrdek) is one of my idols, a pro skateboarder from Ohio. He’s done so much for the skateboard world. It meant so much for me to finally meet him.”

His internship was also the reason he left L.A. He finished his six month term, and they weren’t hiring.

“I was worn out on the fact that I did the internship, saw everything that I wanted to see and did everything that I wanted to do. I felt like I worked different jobs, did the internship, been on movie sets, and did the photo shoots. There was no way I wanted to stick around.

“It was definitely hard because I got so used to living out there. If 20 years from now, I look back and remember something from my life, California is going to stick out like a sore thumb because it will mold me for the rest of my life. At the same time, I realized what I missed – real friends and family that knew who I was.”
 
Thus, Amrhein packed up and moved back to Northwest Ohio.

Since then, he has been getting booked for music promos, photo shoots and weddings. He works at Mr. Emblem designing shirts and he is trying to open a studio of his own. His diabetes is fine now, and his eventual goal is to return to L.A.

“When I came back, I wanted to develop myself here more as a business person – getting my own studio, designing t-shirts, going all out. Basically, learn all my faults here. Once I get all business aspects down, I want to go back out to Cali and apply what I learned here.”

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed