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

Alright, Lesa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

So, I attended film school with a concentration in editing. I took all the post production classes there were to take, and I learned other tricks and things through my own practice. Editing will always be my first love when it comes to film and video because I just enjoy being able to see everything come together. As far as being behind the camera, well, that was just fate, I guess. I ended up replacing somebody who was supposed to film an independent project, and it just went from there. I decided to buy a camera and began practicing more with capturing video and taking pictures. I’m pretty thankful for all of that though because being behind the camera has actually made me a better editor in the process. Now that I work in these fields full time, it’s just a matter of taking time out to continue to learn more and better my craft.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I actually began as a pre-med student in college, but then I quickly realized that it really wasn’t what I wanted to do in life. I withdrew from the program after just a couple of months and dabbled in different digital art forms until I finally settled on video production. I was always interested in how movies and videos and such were put together, and from the moment I started messing around with video editing software, I was hooked on the editing process. I ended up going to film school, and it took off from there. I majored in editing and made my way behind the camera thereafter.

I’m mainly a documentary style filmmaker and photographer because I just love capturing the world around me and interpreting the stories from it. My hope is that it will inspire others to tell their stories in their own creative ways. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy educating my community’s youth in the arts. I love to see them create and think differently about things around them. I also want them to see that you can indeed make a career out of art. I mean, everyone has a streaming account these days, right? Somebody has to create the content for it. Also, everyone needs baby pictures. (lol)

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

There are many ways to support your local artists, but first and foremost, PAY THEM. Pay for their services, Pay for their products, pay for their shows and exhibitions, etc. Artists can’t continue to create without the resources to do so, as we can all see with most products and services. If you can’t support an artist financially, We’ll always take a shout out and recommendation, And speaking of shout outs, PLEASE tag the creators on your social media posts, people. Lastly, don’t forget about art students. I know some may feel that students don’t do good work because they’re students, but they can be just as talented as the pros. They just need the opportunity to show and prove.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing I really had to unlearn in this career is the idea of not being good enough. A lot of that comes from comparing yourself with other artists and/or chasing trends. I really had to learn how to just go with my gut on creative choices. It was tough trying to break in somewhere at the beginning with my own creativity because my style was different from others who were getting all the work, but once I found my audience and the one’s who really supported the work and praised me for it, I became more confident in my work and in myself in general. I would suggest everyone to just create how you want to create.

Contact Info:

• Website: leedowdyvisuals.com
• Instagram: @leedowdy

Image Credits
Lesa Dowdy_Cumberland River – taken by Lesa Dowdy Lesa Dowdy_Neighborhood Dog – taken by Lesa Dowdy Lesa Dowdy_People Places Things Film Still – taken by Lesa Dowdy Lesa Dowdy_Script to Screen Workshop – taken Corner to Corner Lesa Dowdy_WOMAN – taken by Lesa Dowdy Lesa Dowdy_Headshot – taken by Mo Christo