Esteban Jimenez (Copter Pilot)

The Creative Freelancer

Hollywood motion picture pilot, Esteban Jimenez (@copterpilot on Instgram) has over 70k followers and doing amazing things in LA. He's flown Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York & San Fransisco. Recently, he's opened the doors of aerial photography to famous Instagram photographers. Additionally, he is helping local youth and photographers explore a career in aerial photography with goals to help improve surrounding community and unite people of diverse backgrounds to find common ground in the sky. Esteban has flown @VanStyles, @Nikk.LA, @ErwnChow, @GilbrtOrtiz among dozens of other Instgrammers. We met at Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum, an amazing non-proft that is a " living classroom in South Los Angeles bringing aviation history to life and empowering the dreams of youth to take flight." After having Robin Petgrave take us up for an amazing flight, we snagged some breakfast and sat down to chat about Esteban's story, discuss how Instagram is a huge game changer for his business and what effect he thinks drones will have on the helicopter business. Behind the scenes with CopterPilot Timestamp 3:30 On how Estban got hooked on Helicopters8:29 Why amazing photographers on the ground don’t always make amazing photographers in the sky11:25 On Flying Van Styles12:31 Donating a seat to Instagramers13:28 What you learned from Erwin Chow on Instagram . Dropped Google Adwords17:35 Main income isn’t Instagram, it’s commercial work.20:00 Generating Commercial Work from working with famous instgrammers21:20 What kind of flight to expect as an Instgrammer23:12 What is the size of the completion24:54 What kind of video gear people use on his copter24:15 Low budget v low budget rates27:03 Relationships vs camera gear31:45 Creating opportunity for minorities to learn aerial photographer33:24 Young iPhone only Instagrammers35:08 How he got to 70k followers36:34 Would you pay if Instagram charged?36:54 Conversation between photographer and pilot on a shoot39:54 Vanstyles wanting to do something different41:50 @CopterPilot's Instagram photos45:30 Inspiring local youth46:30 Flying in different cities49:30 DJI Drones51:34 Will drones replace helicopters?52:50 Leaving a legacy55:00 Non-Profit Flight School57:00 Bumping into Mark Cuban Contact Esteban Jimenez [e-mail] @CopterPilot @CopterPilotLA Clients Lamborghini Playboy Disney TruTv Bbc AZTECA America Univision Telemundo NBC CBS MundoFox Quotes We are all afraid of what we don’t know You are getting a professional hollywood production pilot helping you on your Instagram. @CopterPilot Instagram Feed @Erwnchow Instagram @GilbrtOrtiz Instagram