Latest / Story Scaling / Capturing Legacy: Building Confidence and Community with Portraits

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Capturing Legacy: Building Confidence and Community with Portraits · Story Scaling

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Storyscaling by Podcastvideos.com, where creators share the truth behind the content, the grind, and the growth.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and family, boys and girls, I am Jeremiah Bang Pickett of Podcastvideos.com.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: You probably knew this already, but this is Storyscaling.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't already, please like and subscribe.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate it, and it goes a long way.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now that that's out the way.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Today, not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today we have a very special guest in the studio, my brother Brandon Watts.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: What up, my guy?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm doing great.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Man, B Watts, thank you for being here, bro.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, no problem.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I got your bio already written up.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is I asked the streets, who is B.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Watts?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what the streets said.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So only the truth.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna read this.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: You let me know.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, man, this is spot on.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know if you need to add something, whatever the case may be.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's go.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Says today's guest is Brandon Watts, a fine art portrait artist, community builder, and creative with real heart.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Brandon is based in Northwest Arkansas.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Brendan doesn't just take pictures, he crafts portrait art meant to be printed, displayed, and passed down through generations.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: When he's not behind the camera, you will find him leading his nonprofit efforts to invest in young creatives, helping them see their own worth and possibility through art.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: His work is deeply rooted in legacy service and belief that every person, no matter their background, deserves to be seen and remembered.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Brandon's approach to photography is intentional.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Each session is curated from concept to final print with care, put into every detail from wardrobe and posing to creative direction.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just photography, it's an experience.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: In a world of fleeting content, Brandon reminds us that stories are more than pixels.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: They are more than memories, legacies, and emotional imprints on our lives.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to dive into this journey and see how we can discuss Brandon Wise photography.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Is that it?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good with that.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm good with that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's you, bro.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's me.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's me.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: The streets like me.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, when you hear a bio like that, what what sticks out?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like knowing you, you know, for the years that I've known you, you do a little bit of everything.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're kind of in a lot of different buckets.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so when you think about B Watts and when you hear a bio like this, what what first comes to your mind?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: What stands out?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: I say, I say with this bio, it's the it's the emphasis that everybody deserves great photos.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think this bio speaks more about my portrait work with personal clients and stuff like that.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have a lot of people just come to me sometimes.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: I most of my clientele, I would say, is primarily women.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I have certain people come to me whether they got a like an abusive relationship, or maybe they just didn't feel good about themselves, or maybe they're just getting older and they just want to document their selves where they feel like they're the most beautiful.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's definitely like a a confidence builder.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And some people, the thing people always tell me is like, I don't take great photos, or something like this.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh no, you take great photos, you just had the wrong photography.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, everybody can take a great photo.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and then I worked at Bedford Camera and Video when I first got started.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So um can we go like take me to the beginning?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even before photo, like go back to childhood, be watching.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about what you were interested in, what you were doing, how did you get into photo?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's this is really your show, so let's talk all about it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: All right, the world back get it, because yeah, I got more comfortable talking about all my past stuff.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go ahead and get into it.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm from Fort Smith, first off, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um grew up there.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you've been in Fort Smith, you know it's not that much to do, but whatever.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I love Fort Smith, I love the people there.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, came up here for college in 2005.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my parents were strict.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like I told all my high school friends, I was like, you think about all our high school memories, I was like, it was school-related activities.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like anything outside where people was like, oh, we set the party.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: We was here and there.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have them.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have them.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, we only had that.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: So when I came up here at college, uh I I I got a little wild.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: I got wild up here.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about that.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: BYF what do you mean?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, RJ.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, I got wild, but no, I made a lot of mistakes too.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like mistakes that like forever changed my life.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I got in trouble uh when I was up here for college, uh ended up messing up my record.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: So then it's hard for me to get jobs and stuff like that.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: But I still end up finishing college and stuff like that.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: But that's the thing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I finished college, I got my degree in information systems, I got a minor supply chain, but because of my record, I wasn't able to pass HR for certain jobs and stuff like that.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I also never knew that, bro.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that was your background.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: We get some exclusive right.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so yeah, so that happened.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: So then like the places I were working were like more like family-owned, sure, where I can really go in.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because I had like people at Walmart who wanted to hire me and hiring managers like, hey, before we even continue with the next part of the interview, let's just do your background just to see if I can so we don't waste nobody's time.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Cause that's like I like you, and I like I like how you come on.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: You seem like a good candidate, but couldn't get past the ARPS.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: So then it just became me working jobs, but no matter what job I worked, I just made sure I worked my way up, all of that stuff.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, moving forward, uh I ended up uh hired a photographer one time, um, got what I paid for.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't even that great.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I think the first idea came in my head.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you know what?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: They still made$800 in one day.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think I could do better than this.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get a camera because I want to side hustle.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: I was on tired of working with the people I'm working with.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, I'm gonna just pick up a camera, I'm gonna do this.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I really started.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's the real life.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the reason it was photography, I still always somewhat had an interest in photos and stuff like that.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it was more like I'm gonna do like landscape and architecture because I like the screenshavers on computers.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I'm gonna photograph people for the money.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then I started photographing people and actually felt in love with it, yeah, yeah.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: With the storytelling, I also kind of made it related to um like my dad's dad, my granddad.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: I never got a chance to meet him.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I always loved going through those old photo albums where you know you got the plastic that rips up.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like yeah, yeah.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, but I see all these like older photos of my granddad, and it wasn't too many of them either, but that mixed with the stories my dad told me, it's like, oh, I got to imagine the person.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: I got to actually feel like I met the person and stuff like that.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: So more that I felt in love with photography and photographing people, more I started understanding that people need to tell their stories.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: They need to be photographed because when a person passed, that's really all you left with.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like the materialistic things, like you would actually forget what a person looks like have a picture.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: So going back to Bedford camera and video, when I first got my camera, I took like some, I took like a class up there that just taught me what aperture, so to speak.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I so well, it's like the basic.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: That for Smith?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, in Fairville.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: So then um, yeah, it taught me the basic and stuff like that.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then from there I'm just pretty much self-taught.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I ended up getting a job there because I was like, let me go in here and work here.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm getting into this photography job there.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: But that also helped me realize people would come in because they lost a little boy, and then they come in with wallet-sized pictures, or maybe just pictures on their phone, and they're trying to blow up a big picture for the memorial, and they like this is the only picture I have of my mom or my sister or just whatever.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like we can't blow it up bigger, you can't can't create what's not there.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: How long ago was this?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: This was I say 2015, because 2015 is when I got my first camera.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: They got AI and stuff now, but back then, it definitely was done for you.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was, but even but even then, just like having that good quality or whatever, even on the phones, like you can blow it up, but let's let's like really talk about like how big you're trying to blow it up and stuff like that.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: So people realize that, oh, they didn't have any other photographs of their people, or they only had one.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, that's crazy.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you only have one photograph of your mom and stuff like that, but that's just the reality of it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where uh it kind of helped me build the story of seeing the importance that everybody needs to be photographed.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you don't like being photographed, if you have people who love you or people that you care about, like take pictures of yourself, take pictures of yourself with them.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care if it's professional or not professional, just document those moments, get some video in there.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I take when my daughter was born in 09, so when she was born, um, I took crazy pictures.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like I got so many pictures of my daughter, and to this day, I still take a lot of pictures.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: And back then I wasn't even into photography.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: I just wanted pictures of my daughter.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then I take a lot of pictures of of myself with her and stuff like that.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because if something happens to me, I want her to have memories.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: I want her to have videos, I want her to have those things to be able just to remember me and that because yeah, I want to I want to leave her.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I leave, like, yeah, I got life insurance.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: I got all the things I set up stuff for her so she can be taken care of, but at the same time, like I want her to remember me, not just the materialistic things that I leave behind.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sheesh.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well said, B Watts.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go back because I think it's dope that you can pinpoint that moment to where you decided I'm gonna do photography.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: You was like, Yeah, I broke them off$800, like I can do this.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're making it, they're making a lick off me.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that's hilarious.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to that person.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know you probably take better photos now, whoever you were, but we ain't gonna say your name.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: I saw I be I be looking at, you know.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: They better now?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they better now.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, definitely better now.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know that stuff.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, they definitely approve.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I get it.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm I'm curious.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Before photo, so when you were growing up, you said you had strict parents, school oriented, and all that stuff.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: What did you think you would be doing?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, did you were you one of those kids?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: When I was growing up, I had no idea.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: So honestly, I didn't have no idea.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: The reason I did information systems, I actually started out computer science programming, but then I was like, you know what, this is hard.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I also realized when I got in college, I was like everybody that's over there programmer, they've been programming since like the third grade.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Their schools taught it.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I also didn't realize like growing up, I didn't realize like I went I I love my high school, but I didn't realize we didn't have all the things until like getting with my wife now.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: See, it's like you didn't have to be a little bit more than a little bit.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: I said, What?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, nah, we didn't do nothing.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Can't compare, but um, yeah, definitely can.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, I ended up doing like information systems and stuff like that just because my oldest brother, uh great programmer, uh great job.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he went to college, he got he at the college, he got married, he got duplex, he got another one, then he got a house.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like he goes A U basketball.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Every other Friday he was off work.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, yeah, I was like, oh, he got all the fun things at his house, especially back then.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, everybody had DVDs.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, he buying the new release DVD.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was like, everybody ain't going every every week going to buy$25 DVDs.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, yeah, we need to have like a little check-in, checkout list at his house like it was blockbuster.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's hilarious.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, but then he just had all the fun things, the swimming pool, all of that stuff.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, in my mind, my brother was I was like, he was that person, like he was living a life, he made good money, his his wife, um pharmacist, all of that stuff.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then they had kids, and then nephew in the NBA, okay.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, man, shout out to the thunder, he did.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um, but yeah, so that's kind of why I chose that route.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: I just chose it because I just saw money.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I ain't know a lot when I seen college going through, I was like, man, I do not want to do this.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I was also so close to graduate.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'm not switching my degree.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I could go back, maybe I would go back, do like a minor in photography, do like a uh get the bachelor's in marketing, or just do business.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's what I said they did.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like anybody who didn't know what they wanted to do in college, just like, oh, I'm doing business.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and then you just go, you just go from there.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: But uh I still like love my college experience.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was great.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh shout out Five Beta Shipman, greatest fraternity in the world.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um But yeah, so nah, um made a lot of Knessets in college too.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I wouldn't give that up just because college taught me a lot, even though I don't use my degree or anything like that.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I probably could just save money if I knew I I like photography.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you know, everything happens for a reason, right?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: I hear you, I agree with that.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: I hear you speak a little bit on it.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever just sat and thought what would what would you be doing if it wasn't photography?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like right now, what what so it's more of what I would be doing if I would have never got in trouble because I got my degree in information system minor supply chains.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: I remember interviewing for this company called RHI that had a contract with Matt Steele and um for it smill.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now that's a job that I really, really wanted.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember um applying for it.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: I remember interviewing.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: They had the um CEOs and stuff were in St.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Louis, so they flew me up.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And everything for their interview is between me and another person.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the other person got it.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I don't know if my background kind of stopped them from that or or or if it was just the other person was a better better candidate.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: I really don't know, but that's probably like one of the few jobs that I was sad I didn't get.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because I was I was really looking forward to it.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually kind of liked supply chain.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I actually did something in my degree, it'd definitely be supply chain.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: So because I I just kind of liked it.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it can't easy to me.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's the thing.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think I picked things where when I was in school, I was like, oh, I started taking the supply chain classes.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, this is so easy.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's an ECA for me.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like I get it, I understand it.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like when I get stuff and I understand it, then that's what I like.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not, it's not a struggle, it's not anything like that.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: So explain supply chain to the listeners out there.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: How how would you break that?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's a very complex and broadcast.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Supply chain could be as far as like logistics when it comes to moving trucks or supply chain, like for the RSI company working with Matt Steele at the time, they were making sure that all the um the product was staying in stock and stuff like that.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: So anything that they use, they would order and then make sure that you don't have too much, because you have too much, then you have leftovers and it's messing up the numbers.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: But you also can't run out because if you run out, New York Factory got to shut down.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, now you in trouble.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: So um it was just kind of that.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I just kind of I like that role.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Also at that time, I know they only had like three people with that company down there at Matt Still, but it's a$10 million contract.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, oh yeah, they're paying those three people good.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like that.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, that's like, oh yeah, we're gonna give you a laptop, we're gonna get you a phone, we're gonna get you all like, oh, now it gives me all the amenities, all of this stuff, and it seemed cool.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then also just if you ain't never toured like a steel factory, like it's cool.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's really cool just seeing it all.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like I like uh just getting inside of places and just seeing stuff that no the normal person don't see every day.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Stuff like that.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's another reason like I love my photography.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like I do a lot, most of my money comes from like I do the portraits, but most of the money comes from commercial.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: So like commercial branding, events, head size, product photography.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: But me doing photography and being in a commercial world, like it opens up doors.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: When did you realize you were getting good?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like you start taking photos because somebody that you see isn't that good spawned you.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: So now you start to take photos.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: When did you realize, like, oh man, I could be getting pretty good at this?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think I know my very first photo shoot that I did was somebody seen me doing photos.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a mom and daughter suit.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: That joke was terrible.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I knew it was terrible from the get-go.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: How did you know?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to me about that first photo shoot.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Man, it just looked bad.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was always taking like a thousand photos, like they in one post.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm over here click, click, click, click, click.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Also, the girl was like looking around everywhere and stuff like that.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I realized like at one time the best photo ended up being a red truck with an ugly trailer come in the background.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't even know it because I'm just focused on them.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it taught me to like pay attention to your surroundings, just not the people taking pictures of because that's in the background.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then at that time, I didn't even have the type of editing skills to remove that.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it just was what it was.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is what you getting.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people confuse that with photography too.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, they always assume that anybody who does photography, they they have this excellent, proficient skill level on editing, even till today.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's I still have limitations.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Every photographer has limitations to what they can do with this.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh, I want you to do this.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if the photographer, if that photographer can't do that, even have that skill set.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, but anybody who books a photographer feels like, oh, you can do anything.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: But that's the thing about growing.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: You also realize sometimes you it just don't need to be you.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: You can have a team.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody really if a commercial client needs something done or to a photo or something like that, if I can't do it, then I'm gonna hire somebody who can.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's just a learning curve.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, I think I realized I started getting good.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um wait a second.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember their reaction when you gave them the photos?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, they loved it because they haven't had photos.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so a photographer is always gonna be worse on their city than that, but they were terrible.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do you still have those photos?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, of course I do.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: I saw them to the kids sometimes where I reteas it.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, look.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, I I don't think there's a particular time where I well, no, I take that back.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think the time I thought, like, oh, I killed it.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, um Eric Jones, the Dr.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Dapper.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: We doing photo shoots and stuff like that.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, shout out to Eric Jones.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to my boy.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but he um we did a photo shoot on On a jet or whatever with his shoes at the time.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember we took that photo off.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, this is fire.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: This level, like put this in a magazine, all of this stuff.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: We killed it like that.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: This is it.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I also say, as my skills get better, and then I look back on that photo, I'm like, nah, that ain't it.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I think, I think I was, I think in my mind, like anybody else, pretty much, I felt like I was already good.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like I knew where I could approve on, but I always felt like I was good.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think the time that I realized like it's no longer thinking, like, am I good?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just myself.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's when everybody else starts realizing that you're good.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: I also, I'm very much a money person.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very much a money person.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I rank- What does that mean?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: I rate my success on money.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: When it comes to me doing photography or business, I rate my success on money.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like as an entrepreneur, your first goal, look, your smallest goal as an entrepreneur is do as good as somebody's doing in the corporate world with their salary, with benefits, all of that stuff.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: The 401k max, all that stuff.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's the most, that's the minimum goal of an entrepreneur to me.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's very personal.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um if I'm not making at least what they're doing, then I haven't made it yet.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't scratched the surface, like, because some people have been like, oh, you got freedom and all that stuff.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: But also I was like, my my past made me an entrepreneur.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know what I'm saying?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: But people be like, everybody felt like it's a choice.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have a choice.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, I think about if I didn't get in trouble, how much money I could be making now at my age and all of this stuff.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: But luckily, I found something that I love where I don't think about that and stuff like that.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, I'm actually doing what I love and stuff like so.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's that it makes it all okay for me.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, I think me seeing my success is like on the commercial world, like what clients are booking me?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how much am I uh, what is my worth, and what do people value me as?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because what I feel like my worth is somebody might not value it.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm also like, some people say I'm expensive.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: While they some people starting out, you know, if I charge$700 for a photo suit, oh, you're expensive.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, your kid got the new iPhone and they get the new one every two years.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever, every year you get them the new iPhone.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's more than my photo suit that's gonna last forever and give you memories.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not know your worth, but also the ones who don't value it, that's okay.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: You just find the people who do value what you're worth because they value it's not that you're expensive, they just don't value.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: They just don't value your work.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they value other things.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that's how that's how I look at it.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same people who even when I first started,$300 to some people was a lot of money.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I was like, but then you brag because you went out to the bar and you spent$200 at the bar.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that's I I think people gotta to realize that, and now um my last photo suit, the person brought$3,000 worth of photos.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: But some people is like, I told one photographer that's like, oh my God, I can't wait to get there.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm looking at another photographer in Beatonville that I hear makes 10, 15 grand a photo suit.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, what's am I expensive or am I not expensive?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like it depends on what skill you're on.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's not even that other photographers are better, they can just be better at marketing and stuff like that.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of times, it's not that somebody has a better product, they're just better at business.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: And that that makes a big difference in how it goes so I know like with me, a lot of my clients come from word of mouth.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm a great networker.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: I like, I get out there, I put myself out there, stuff like that.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: I would say my weak point would be um not advertising us on social media or marketing on that type of scale.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it's crazy because I help a lot of other people with the content for their marketing and all that stuff.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: But then once when it comes to me doing my own stuff, I slap.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's also because when I'm doing my own stuff, it's a it's a bad thought process.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know it is.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm working on it.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: But when I do my own stuff, I was like, I'm not initially getting paid.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like mine's just like, oh, do this so you can get more clients, so you can make more money compared to oh, a client hire me to do their stuff and I instantly get paid.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it's that um like uh uh almost the instant gratification of it.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Also why I like to I do photos and video, but it's also why I like doing photos more than video, because photos, instant gratification.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: As soon as you take the picture, you know you got a great site.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, you do depending on how much editing you're doing to the photo or what it's for.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, maybe 15 minutes, maybe 30 minutes of photo.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: It just depends, but you have finished product.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: When it comes to video, you can be like, oh, yeah, I got some good sights, but you don't put that video together right, it's trash.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's trash.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: You got a lot of great sites put together.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's not anything.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta spend hours upon hours, and then you gotta have your headphones on or the speakers up because you got the music with it, or the sound, and all of this stuff.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: So now you can't even multitask.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: At least when I edit photos, I'm at a coffee shop.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: I got my phone out.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm over here editing photos.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: I can sit there for eight hours edit photos all day.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Drop my daughter off at school in the morning, hit a coffee shop and just work or whatever.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I also got my Netflix score and stuff like this.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it don't seem like I've been there six, eight hours editing because I can multitask, I can do other things.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: But video, oh, you gotta lock in.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it makes it makes that harder.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get better?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get better?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's the continuous practice.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um always working on your skills.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's the creative stuff that you do that makes you better.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's the stuff that takes you out of doing the norm.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh, I think I've been slackened a little bit with the creativity just because I do so much commercial where I'm doing events and headshots and um product photography, white background, stuff like that.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: So um for me to stay creative, I gotta put together my own stuff sometimes.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: I can't just wait for somebody to book, book it for me.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta keep doing things and keep owning techniques or learning something new because when you start slacking, that's when that person you need to be better of take off on you and stuff like that.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then you be like, oh wow, like they need to look up to me.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm looking up to them.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, that definitely done happen.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's definitely some people where I'm like, oh man, they killing it with the creativity and the portraits and stuff like that.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I was like, I'm more commercial and stuff, but I really I like my commercial too.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I love photographing events.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm um talking to somebody right now for an event for next year, and one of the things that they like about me, and the reason they really are trying to get me approved to be hired um to do their event is because I'm more than just like a photographer, videographer.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Since I do so many events, they they trying something new with the event.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: And they pretty much, I'm pretty much consulting them because I like I do so many events.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know how things run.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, so you do this or sit down.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do that.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh, oh, you need help with this.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I got a person for you.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm connecting you.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you need this, oh, I got a person for you, I'm connecting you, or whatever.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: So when I know like I got a good gig and I I like the people I work with, because that's the one benefit of being successful, and it I can pick and choose my clients just like they can pick and choose me.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: So when I'm working with people, like I try to make their event the very best that I can because they value that beyond just like, oh, he just came and did the photos and video.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no, it's my job to understand what what you're trying to get across.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: What do you want your story to tell when I'm photographing this event?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: What what's your market?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Who are you trying to reach and stuff like that?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, just where it comes to events and you got sponsors.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I already know that you need to advertise each sponsor.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: You need to make sure that when I do the event, that I'm getting videos and photos of anything sponsored, branded, anything like that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: So in the good line, like get it where there ain't people there, and then get it when there is people there.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: If they have a some kind of sponsor activation, then you need to get people interacting with and stuff like that.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you gotta understand.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just like the candid size, like you gotta understand because sometimes you might have to like smaller events.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I like I gotta be creative.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm open to be like, oh, hey, can I get you interacting with this?
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm a I'ma showcasing in the best way because I want this event to continue and I want to keep doing the event.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I'm doing everything in my power to work with them and make it the best that it can be.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I think just with me doing all the events, working with all these corporate clients, it really just builds my knowledge.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: In this same way, like I do photograph internal meetings and stuff like that.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just got back from Mexico where I had one of my clients start an insurance company.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm inside their meetings photographing them.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: So then and then also like Walmart.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I do their internal meetings and sometimes they have guest speakers, and I pay attention.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not just photographing and doing this, like I'm paying, I'm paying attention because everybody around you dropped knowledge.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are you listening so you can hear it?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Or are you just are you just there just photographing doing this?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no, I'm paying attention always.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, like when I do events and these commercial things and they got guest speakers or something like this, like, oh, I'm listening to what they're talking about at the same time.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm working, but I'm listening because it's free knowledge everywhere and it just gets dropped.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same way, like how I network and I hang out with people.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: I hang out in places where I need to have a tense of networking.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: If I don't feel like there's a tense of networking, then I'm in the wrong environment.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't have to network there.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to know that it's a possibility.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then a lot of times the people I find myself hanging around, especially super successful people that are entrepreneurs, and they just drop knowledge all the time.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: They just start talking about business and they just drop knowledge.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even necessarily that they're booking me.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: They might not have a need for my services.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that since I'm in that place, like you get value from the information.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: I had somebody, I had somebody tell me to read the um psychology of money or whatever.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: So they told me to read it.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: They said it to me once.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: They said, Oh, you should read this book, The Psychology of Money.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think you will like it.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: Ready unless they're a week.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Next time I saw that, hey, thank you.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: What's the book?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Helpful?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the book was helpful.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: But also, if you a successful person say, hey, you should read this book, read it.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's also a way of building a relationship because now that I read it, now they're like, oh, he listens.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: He pays attention.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I know when I tell him something, he's gonna take it seriously.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's that building a relationship and stuff like that.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: I had somebody else have me read um Atlas Shrugged or whatever.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's definitely one of them books where people be like, oh, that's kind of like a heavy book to like read and stuff like that.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: But I finished that book in like a week and a half.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like 1300, 1400 pages or something, or whatever.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: And when I and dude said, Hey, when you finish this book, he's like, Let's talk about it.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: We go out for state dinner or something like that.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: So when I hit him up and told her, like I finished it, he was like, You finished that book already?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because he said he needs to hand the book out to people.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: But he realized people wasn't reading the book, and it's like a$50,$60 book.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why he was like, it's my first time offering a state dinner at somebody.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: I went to eat with his family and stuff, and we talked about the book.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the book makes me think it got a lot of different viewpoints and stuff like that.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would say it's definitely like a kind of like a capitalist book in a way or whatever, but it got all these little different stories, and it's pretty much this talk about what happens if, you know, all the bigger people like disappear.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, say if you took like a Bill Gates and an Elon Musk, people rent running this, running all these things, and then they just decide, like, oh, we out, or whatever.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: And this is back in the day of steel and railroad.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if somebody disappears on there, well, he's that's the only person who knew how to do this, and stuff like this, stuff starts failing.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it just gave it from that different type of viewpoint.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Some things you agree with, some things you disagree with, but yeah, it's just if it's a good read.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Man, bro, you said a lot there.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you talk about needing to be better at social media.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: What's some of the, or putting yourself out there rather, what's some of the things that you advise other people to do that you still learning to do yourself, or you trying to figure out how to incorporate for, you know, when it comes to putting yourself out there?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because I realize that for most creators, specifically when it comes to their own content, we have a hard time posting ourselves, you know.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so, A, I'm curious as to why do you think that is, but B, what's your insight for somebody who's wanting to put themselves out there?
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think I'm an 80s baby.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: I know I look young, but I'm an 80s special.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: But uh keeping your wife.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but uh I would say, um, I I would say like everybody just didn't grow up with how important it is.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I grew up like, oh, don't play games or don't go to college and not gonna get a good job.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now people are not going to college and they're getting paid for playing video games.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's big money too.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right, big buddy.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a different, it's a different type world.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: I say I slack on actually posting and stuff like that because honestly, I can get lost in social media.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: I can be the person who just starts scrolling and just looking at things.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I really be trying to work on just putting myself away from it.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: So that also makes it harder for me to actually be posting consistently and doing that.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um I also think it's another, it's another way of making money for people too, as well, within their business.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because people tell me that's like, bro, you do photography all the time.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: You just need to like set up cameras and you know, record stuff behind the scenes, talk about it, pretty much do what I'm doing now, but then make it into the sort reels and stuff like that.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm also just like, I'm always working on something.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always planning on other stuff, and I just stay so busy um doing it that it's it's really like it's getting to that point where I'm like, I feel like I should hire somebody just to do it.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's just certain things I just don't want to do.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right on.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: However, I'm just be honest.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's just certain things that I was like, I don't enjoy doing this.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then if I'm not getting paid to do it instantly, then it's just I don't care for it.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's still very important for everybody to post and do that.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then it just depends where your clientele is, too.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel like with me, most of my business comes from word of mouth and just being out there and being involved in the community and going into places like I would say when it like my clients and stuff like that, there some of them they're not really on the Instagram or looking for people like that.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: It comes for me, like actually just meeting them in person in their environment.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a all right, I'm gonna tell one of my little secrets, y'all.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: Tell one of my little secrets.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh, lock in.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: If you ain't paying attention now, lock in.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell one of my secrets.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm an extrovert because, like I said, parents are a little stricter.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I so I feel like when I got out the house, I just okay extrovert.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like being inside.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: I can be out every day.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I love me a good old fashioned.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: So uh going to upscale bars.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: Going to upscale bars, you meet people or whatever.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because like I said, I like me a good small old-fashioned with wool for reserve.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I know I know my taste.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: If I ain't doing that, give me a good espresso martini, not vodka, tequila.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, but in these bars, I was like, you meet people in their environments and stuff like that.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I meet a lot of people just going to bars, just upscale bars and this meeting people and stuff like that.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also I'm so extroverted that I meet everybody.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I got bars where I know the owners, I know the general managers, I know the raiders, the raitresses, all of that stuff.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then when they see me, I was like, they and they they like seeing me.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm a reversion.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: We enjoy each other.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, we come in.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Brent and all of this stuff.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then don't let me be dressed up, don't let me be in the suit.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because now I was like, oh, now everybody's like, oh, Brent, he looked nice.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that stuff.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I walk in.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm also like my dad did psychology and sociology, so I feel like I got that honorary degree.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like he taught he taught it at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, but my mom was a uh uh professor too at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like with odd mind games, my dad used to play with me.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I I got an honorary degree in there.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but um I know that when you dress up super nice and you walked into a place, you can get attention or whatever.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: So uh me walking into a place, everybody knows me, I'm dressed up nice, it gets people attention, it makes people curious.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, our people are very curious individuals and stuff like that.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I get curious too.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: I see certain people, I was like, oh, I want to go talk to them.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if I'm coming in and I already piqued their curiosity, now it's easier for me to go up and have a conversation.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because just like how I'm curious about who they are, they might be curious about who I am, so then they're more willing to have a conversation or speak and stuff like that.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Also, when I go out, since I know so many people, and um, and I know I also like just a lot of successful people um up here, um, just me knowing them, and then next thing you know, I see them, and then they introduce me to the people that they're with.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then a lot of times I only gotta say what I do because they say it for me or whatever.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah and like one of the best ones was I went out to eat with the wife one time, saw some.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody, I was like, oh, anybody who's sitting with this person definitely is substance because I like super successful.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: He don't he doesn't waste time, he's gonna be around other successful people.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew him and then he introduced me to the table.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it's funny because there's another guy who is just like me.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: He's sitting at the table, and since I knew him, and uh he saw how he reacted to me, like, oh, he likes him, oh, all of this stuff.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to know what he do.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: So he's just like, hey, what do you do?
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes with certain people, you can't just sit here and ask what do they do, or whatever, just because it can be rude.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or something like that.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: But me, I like when people ask, or whatever, because now we can cut through and we can maybe network and stuff like that.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you just let stuff come up organically, maybe it don't come up at all, and stuff like that.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I like that he asked me because now that he asked me, now I can sit here and ask him, oh, what do you do?
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: Or whatever.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he had he owns a company, he does like the um redoing the vans and all of that stuff and sell like the vans where it's all death doubt for.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and like and just everything.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, put the beds in there, the ladders, if you wouldn't need a work van or all of that, like he he does that, then he was talking about starting a restaurant, stuff like that.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I was like, I appreciated that because I was just like, oh, now we know what we do because people got a network, and I feel like Northwest Arkansas is small, but it's growing so fast that you really want to build up all the connections you can now.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because you can go meet with certain CEOs and have a sit-down and go grab coffee and stuff like this, but you know, a million people get up here, everybody knocking on that door.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: That door's just gonna start closing.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna start closing faster and faster.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: Where it's it's not them being rude.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't have time for everybody.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so now we got to put more strict regulations on how easily you can access these people.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: So build those relationships now because that's the best thing about this area.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Small, it's growing.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: Build the relationships now while you can.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: So when it does get bigger up here, you're already in the know.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: You already have the right type of connections that keeps you around and all that stuff.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because I just had a conversation with somebody I like some a lot of people don't talk about, but it's a lot of politics up here.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's all it's a lot of politics and stuff like that, and it's about who you know sometimes, and just everything.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, so I feel like you you just gotta, it's just how it is.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's like, oh, that kind of sucks.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's so much politics, but it's also its own blessing because you can actually get out here and meet the the right people to make the right connections.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: But honestly, every place is politics.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's just how it is.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's just about you know, being yourself, but whatever you put out there, yeah, like that's what you get back in return.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, like my brother would say, don't do no shady stuff.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: His number one motto, don't do sadie stuff.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's real.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Man, bro.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us, tell us what we can follow you, keep up with you, support what you got going on, and uh come along for the journey.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, hold up.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, do I got like five more minutes before I say that?
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, real quick, because we didn't we didn't get into it.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I also have my nonprofit.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about it.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my nonprofit kids and cameras.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I teach kids how to use cameras, how to express ourselves emotionally through photography.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the main reasons that I started this is because of my background, stuff like that.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know I liked photography.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: I got a degree, even though I really didn't feel like college was really for me.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just one of those things that you do.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I always just think about like, oh man, if I would have known I like photography way before then, where would I be at in my photography journey?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like you asked me earlier, if it wasn't photography, what would I be doing?
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: I more usually think like, oh, if I would have been introduced to photography sooner, where would I be at with my photography?
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: So um I think like just giving that to kids sawing down that, hey, there's other routes that you can take that you might not think of.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: But also not even just like making other photographers, just getting kids to be able to express themselves.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like maybe if I express myself a little bit more, well, I'm maybe I would have never got in trouble.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I could tell people how I felt.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, you know, it would have just been a better thing instead of me holding a lot of stuff in on my own insecurities within myself.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like kids who don't know how to express themselves, it can leave it, lead to trouble at home, trouble at schools, worse chances with the law.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe they sight, introverted, got social anxiety.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: So just being able to have kids given a way to express themselves.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's big.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it can make a big difference.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because I did I did um my first summer council, I was partnering with Crystal Bridges, and I had a kid in there where I was like, hey, bring items from home that you feel close to and take photographs of those items around Crystal Bridges, use like the composition that I taught, but show me what the emotion that you feel, why you chose to bring it.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, one girl brought a little stuffed animal, she had it on the on the bench by herself, and um she said it's lonely or whatever.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I realized like during these summer counts, a lot of the emotion she felt was lonely.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's something like if her brother wasn't there, she felt lonely or not seen, or whatever.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_01: But her being able to express it and get it out, where you know maybe that's something she wasn't expressing before, or whatever, but just be able to vent it and get it out.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: But then after that, like I printed out words.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: So now you actually have something that you can hold, you can see your emotions and touch it, and it be physical for you.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a real, just like a really big thing and stuff like that.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: I had another kid who did my photo contest that won camera and he loved he he loves photography, but he's just like, I just don't think, you know, I can't see myself like doing it for real.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, can you really make money with photography?
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, well, I made six figures last year.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, really?
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was like a lot of these kids, I was like, some kids like skateboarding.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: Some kids want to be a professional athlete, but they might not make it be a professional athlete.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: But if you love that world and you're doing photography, guess what?
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: You can photograph these athletes.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: Photograph these games.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: You can photograph these skateboarders.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like everything that somebody wants is because it has uh emotion to it and they saw a picture or a video of it.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's how our world works.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: If you want it that car, if you want it that hat, you know, if I wanted that bang, yeah, boy, yeah.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's why that's yeah.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's advertising stuff motion.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: So even when I'm photographing events or photographing people, like I gotta make sure it's emotion.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: If I do a concert, my ideal is I gotta show the hikeness, I gotta do this.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: So the people who didn't make it to the concert would see him be like, oh, I missed that, but I ain't gonna miss that.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it's banging the friends.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, banging again.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's all good.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's how it goes.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: So just getting kids to be able to express themselves.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I do I do summer counts, I do workshops.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: I had the first photo contest this year.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: I had 70 submissions.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: Did the award ceremony at Crystal Bridges, had 150 people in attendance.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's for third through the 12th grade, had it from third through the sixth, seventh through the ninth, and then 10th through the 12th.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I broke it down.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's about emotions and nature and route life.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: So they had to take a picture of nature, route life, landscape.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: Fire.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: Made them write an artist statement with it to talk about the emotions in the photograph, because that's what the nonprofit's about.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's fire.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: And to the first place winners, I gave them uh gave out three mirrorless cameras.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's like, Brennan, you giving away some bits prices.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, why not?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: Why not?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then I raised that money.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: I raised$2,500 during my birthday in January this year at Hardwater.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't hardwater, it's one of my favorite bars.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I did my um birthday celebration there because that's one of the bars where I talk about, like, oh, I know the owners and I know everybody.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I told them, I was like, hey, I want to do my birthday celebration over here.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: They said, oh yeah, we can do that.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: I said, but I want to do it for the nonprofit, and I want now to throw 10% of the proceeds that night to the nonprofit.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's like, oh yeah, brother, we love you and we love supporting nonprofits.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: We can definitely do that.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I end up having like 60, 80 people come.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: We end up making like$472.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then the owner code matched it, threw in$500.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: His wife threw in$300 with her business.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: I had Lee Scarlet Celtic Construction come and uh wrote me a$1,000 check.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I ended up raising like$2,500, and that paid for the cameras and stuff.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: The contest.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: And the contest was completely free.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is my first time doing this, so I didn't charge a missing, I didn't charge anything.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's just a free thing.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it was it was dope too.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, a lot of those kids, the kids, the parents, everybody felt like it's truly helpful and really like that they had this nonprofit actually getting kids to express themselves.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful, man.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: And shout out to kids and cameras.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: I matter when over five means.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: Nah, you do.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to kids and cameras, shout out to everything you got going.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, thank you for sitting down with us, man.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: So insightful.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you put some gems in here too, just about getting better at your craft, building a relationship, showing up, not being shaken.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's so many things you said, bro.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's just, I mean, it's something that we could all resonate with.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: Where can people find you, support you, and the whole nine?
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you can go to my real site for my commercial work, it's bewatchcollective.com.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: For the personal portraits, it's bewatch.photography.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: And for the nonprofit, it's kidsandcameras.org.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's k I d z, the letter N, and then cameras.org.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then you can just find it all on Instagram too as well.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_01: Where can we follow you on the ground?
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, this b watch collective, be watch photography, kids and cameras.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know I got so many Instagrams.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: I got another one I'm working on, and another real site I'm working on.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: So stay tuned.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for your time, bro.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, definitely, man.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.