Max Cote hikes Beacon Rock in Washington state.
Courtesy | Max Cote

If you’ve recently seen drone footage of campus covered in golden foliage, or videography of Chargers football or The Harry James Orchestra, you’ve seen the work of junior and art major Max Cote. 

Cote has taken photography classes at Hillsdale College since he was a freshman, along with the design and drawing classes required for his art major. But his interest in photography began at a young age.

“I would say that most of my interest in this area comes from my mom, because she’s a very creative person,” Cote said. “She’s super talented in what she does, and I’ve grown up in that culture my whole life, watching her do graphic design and photography.”

Max Cote’s mother, Shanna Cote, is the executive director of digital experience design for the college. Shanna Cote said her son has always been creative. 

“He was always drawing and redesigning covers for books and DVDs, and he could spend hours inventing things — like cardboard vending machines,” Shanna Cote said. “He’d often gather his siblings to make ‘movie trailers’ at home. Every week there was a new project or idea he was excited about.”

After spending the summer of 2025 working on the media team at Damascus Summer Camp in Centerburg, Ohio, Max Cote was hired by Hillsdale College Admissions to film campus events in the fall of ‘25. Cote said Associate Director of Admissions Ben Strickland was the first person at Hillsdale to give him an opportunity to show off his abilities. 

“I hired Max because he fit the vibe I was going for in our Instagram — high quality production and fun, aesthetic ideas — these were perfectly exemplified by his football reel,” Strickland said. 

Cote now works for the sports marketing team filming men’s and women’s basketball. He also works for the college’s marketing department, where he’s been surprised with important work such as editing a video of President Donald Trump. 

“I called my brother, Jack, when I was editing the video and I told him, ‘This might be the craziest thing I’ll ever have to edit,’” Cote said. “I don’t think I’m gonna edit a video of the president ever again.” 

Jack Cote ’25 said he’s impressed with his brother’s work. 

“I think he does a great job of pushing boundaries and experimenting specifically when it comes to color,” Jack Cote said. “It’s very obvious he’s progressed a lot in editing and color grading when you compare his early work to the work he’s producing now.” 

Outside of campus jobs, Max Cote has been hired by Cana Wedding Co. to create a few reels a week to help grow their company. Cote also has an Instagram account, @maxcotevisuals, for his own creative portfolio. 

“It gets to show a more creative side of myself that you wouldn’t normally get to see as much in the marketing side of digital media,” Cote said. 

The most recent personal video he put together was from a trip he took to Washington state with junior Henry Webster.

“We went on a couple hikes. I took videos and photos there,” Cote said. “I posted some photos that were from Beacon Rock, which is beautiful. Then we took a day trip to Seattle, and I took different videos of the city that day.”

According to Webster, Cote brought multiple cameras with him when they went sightseeing, and would often get sidetracked. 

“He was taking shots of pretty much everything he thought could be good content. He would kind of go off on his own. We left him behind in a few instances,” Webster said. 

Webster said Cote has a special eye for composition. 

“I think he has a really good eye for what he wants to film,” Webster said. “Walking around in a public space he’ll just look at something that he wants to go to, then film from there. I think he’s really good at having a vision for what he wants the video to look like.” 

Cote said he wanted to capture a city scene similar to videos he’d seen on Instagram of Chicago and San Francisco. But beyond that initial plan he didn’t know what the video was going to look like. He wanted to tell a story through his film. 

“I had this song I started editing with. I hated it,” Cote said. “So I trashed that song, and I ended up choosing one that was more chill. I found that with the stillness I had in my shots, and focus on the angles and beauty of the city, I should choose something that’s slow.” 

Cote said he loves the process of editing and especially enjoys matching his work with the right music.

“I have a whole playlist right now of songs that I want to make content with,” Cote said. 

After he finally finished editing his video “A Day In Seattle” — shots of city skylines, a Ferris Wheel, and bustling common places — Cote said he felt pleased with what he created. 

“I was celebrating in my room a little bit. I was very proud of my work,” Cote said. 

Cote said the joy he gets from capturing special moments and reproducing those moments through his art comes from the joy of sharing it with others.

“I think I try to tell a very human story,” Cote said. “I’m kind of putting beauty on a pedestal for people to see.”