The first time I picked up a video camera was the summer after senior year. My friend, Alex, was starting to watch travel videos with cinematic b-roll and transitions. as soon as he showed me some of the videos he was watching, I was hooked. I immediately bought a go pro and started filming.
the first thing I realized was that I didn’t know anything about videography. I also had no clue how to edit anything I shot with my go pro. this was a problem. I started researching the different editing platforms such as adobe premiere pro and final cut pro. these platforms were hundreds of dollars to purchase, and I didn’t even have a computer to edit my videos on. even though I had almost none of the required equipment to properly shoot and edit videos, I did it anyway.
I found a free app on my phone called, iMovie. it was literally just used to cut your clips to music with very minimal transition or cinematic features. even without the added features, it still took me over an hour to edit a video I took of my family boating on the lake. Even though I barely could create a 20 second video, I knew this was going to be something I loved.
After starting college, I met a ton of new people who loved videography and creating as much as I did…and they had actual equipment. another blessing was the free adobe premiere pro account that came with being a college student. the downside was that the accounts were only available on the library’s computers. needless to say, I lived in the library my freshman year. computer Lb324 became my best friend. I continued shooting with my extremely outdated go pro and learning how to edit my videos through YouTube videos.
I started getting serious with videography when people started noticing my work. businesses started contacting me to shoot promotional videos for them. honestly, I still didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I realized I had to either jump into a crazy adventure or get out while I still could. I jumped.
I immediately realized I needed a new camera. to spare the details, the go pro just wasn’t powerful enough to shoot what I needed it to shoot. so, I upgraded to my first dslr. it was a canon rebel sl2. cheap, easy to use, and best of all, made for video. I started using the sl2 instead of my go pro and my video skills exploded. I didn’t realize how important it was to have a powerful camera. it opened doors to advance my editing skills…and people started noticing. I began shooting for universities, businesses, and just random people who were willing to pay for me to shoot something for them.
after freelancing for a few months, Bemidji state university’s marketing team contacted me and offered me a position as their videographer. since I was a student, I was only able to accept a work study position. however, it was amazing to work on a team that had access to more resources than just my own bank account.
through the incredible journey videography has taken me on, I never stopped thinking about one thing: I love to create. it was never about making money or even doing the actual filming and editing. it was always about creating something that came from me. my brain. my ideas. my creation. videography has always been about expressing myself. I can show people what I am feeling, and I can make them feel the same way in the way I present my creation. I can connect myself with that person through the film I made. even though I exceled at school, I was never really good at writing, drawing, or anything you might consider an art.
but for me, video is different.
