We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniel Willard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniel below.

Daniel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

The best way to learn steadicam is to use a steadicam. Unfortunately, when I was starting, I did not have a dime to my name. As many people know, there is a rather large buy in for the gear even for the “lighter” rigs. I resorted to selling what I could and buying the cheapest, least functioning steadicam system I possibly could (I will not name the company but the entire setup was under $2k). From there, I learned with the build and how to be relatively decent with it – practicing whenever I got the chance. With help from friends and the steadicam community, I slowly replaced the rig piece by piece until I had a regularly functioning steadicam. Learning on the cheaper option definitely helped me integrate into gear that worked properly as it taught me how to operate well even when the gear is working against you.
The only thing I wish I did differently was rush to get better gear vs researching what would actually be the best fit for me. This led me to buy gear along the way that I didn’t need- or soon after buying – didn’t like.
The most essential skills I learned are actually people skills. More times than I can count, my attitude alone convinced people to hire me and take a chance on my operating. This granted me my start in building workplace relationships and maintaining them for future work.

I still face obstacles every day with learning the industry and steadicam. Since every operator is different and the technology is very niche, there are not that many resources that are researchable from a google search. Much information and techniques that you’ll learn comes from other operators, a handful of specific training schools, or the steadicam forum. These cannot develop your eye as an operator though, as that is developed through on set experience.

Daniel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As I do not like talking about myself that much, I will have to keep this brief. I got into my industry by being at the right place at the right time. A camera man for some local news station was covering a football event. As me and my family were walking by, he saw I showed interest and let me hold his camera for a bit and even grab a slice of b-roll for the edit. From then on I got the bug to be in this industry. The greatest accident that happened was bumping into a friend from high school that would later become my steadicam mentor and close friend. I would say the work I am most proud of is the friends and connections I have made along the way. There truly are some amazing people out there that want to help you out of pure kindness, and I hope everyone gets that at some point in their life.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The end goal is to work on projects I can go to a theater and watch myself. Aside from that, to retire on a yacht I can sail the world in.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I had to sell a lot of personal items knowing the gear I was about to buy would be horrible. The only thing that kept me moving forward were my friends and family encouraging me along the way. From the initial purchase, I put everything I made right back into my gear for the first 2 years. I still do that to some extent – but I try to save when I can.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.steadimandan.com
• Instagram: @steadimandan
• Facebook: Daniel Willard