We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Annie Bovitz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Annie below.
Annie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
My interest in photography began at a very young age, doing photo shoots with my friends in the city we grew up in. At the age 18, I had the opportunity to study abroad in France for a year; and I invested in my first DSLR before that season to document my travels. I learned a lot about photography during my time abroad, mainly architectural photography, but also in portraiture and culinary photography. My segue-way into the film world was an unplanned, happy accident. I had just moved to the Raleigh-Durham area, and a friend of my mom needed some help for her business. While assisting her with some general work, I asked her if she wanted to do a small video about her business to give people a broader understanding of her brand and she was open to it. Upon delivering the final video, she called me and enthusiastically told me that she felt like I had somehow perfectly captured the essence of “her” and her brand. With this exciting feedback, I understood immediately that I had the raw creative skill to be able to tell stories through video. Now, I needed to learn the technical skills to make this fun hobby into a career. This began a years-long process of self-teaching, online tutorial scouring, and getting mentored by friends in the film world who were kind enough to share their knowledge.
Although there’s so much free information about videography and film through YouTube and the internet as a whole, I think I would have benefitted from finding a mentor earlier, or taking a small course on film specifically. If you don’t know technical jargon and base knowledge, you can miss out on important little details that take your film work from good to great.
I think the most essential skill for me in this learning process was patience and perseverance. Although there is plenty of information to teach yourself the art of film, it is a slow journey at times and it is easy to get frustrated when you aren’t seeing your vision come to life on the screen. Through lots of perseverance, practice and being patient with myself, I slowly learned the technical skills needed to be able to make the visions in my head come to life on the screen. It Is the most rewarding feeling.
I began this learning journey when I still held a full-time marketing position with a restaurant group in the area, so I dedicated as much time as I could to the craft while still needing to commit time to my other career path. Sometimes, you have to learn a skill in chunks instead of all at once. That was my experience, at least. It’s a slower road, but you still get there eventually, with patience.
Annie, 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?
Currently, I run BOVARA, a full-time, two-fold business: Bovara Studios is wedding and elopement film business, and Bovara Media, which is a commercial film and photography business, providing aerial services, real estate media, and business branding media.
I began my company, Bovara Studios, back in 2018 as a part-time business. Names have always held importance for me, and I love things with a good backstory. I named my business “BOVARA” after both my parents’ last names: Bovitz from my father’s side, Arabanos from my mother’s side: Bov + Ara. Our heritage in the United States is relatively new compared to some families, my Arabanos grandpa emigrated here from Greece, and my Bovitz grandparents were first generation Americans from Slovenia. I wanted my business to represent not only me, but also my heritage from my family. Since its inception in 2018, Bovara Studios expanded from wedding films and family photography to the two-fold business described above.
I’m really proud to be a female entrepreneur in the film and media business. Although we’ve seen a rise in female filmmaking, I believe there’s still so much room for women in the film industry and so many stories to be told and shared. Being an FAA certified drone pilot is also a huge accomplishment for me, and I recently learned that less than 10% of certified drone pilots are female! I hope to encourage more women to enter this field, as it is an incredibly valuable and profitable skill to have.
I think what sets me apart from other businesses is my story, who I am, and what I have to offer. I am really an experience-driven human. I took my late teens and early twenties to capture every opportunity to travel and have unique experiences. From studying abroad in France and Croatia, to volunteering after college in Thailand, to backpacking Europe alongside new friends, to hiking Machu Picchu with old friends, visiting Australia to attend a wedding celebration, and then moving to Vail, Colorado with the sole purpose of mastering the art of skiing. I’ve learned the art of observation, adaptability and problem solving from years of travel, and I take that with me into this career. When providing for wedding and elopement clients, I call myself a “cinematic documentarian”. I listen and observe, documenting meaningful moments, and then piece together a film that authentically feels like the couple. When providing services for businesses and brands, I take time to listen to their story, who they are, and what they want to portray. Then, I make my film, photography, and media the bridge to connect what they want to portray to the public eye. The simple art of listening and observing is powerful, and I believe it makes me stand apart.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think there is a misconception about creatives: that the creative life is easier, or simpler, in comparison to a different, more traditional career journey. I think many people see the final cut of the film, the artwork, or the beautiful landscape photography and think that the creative path is a slow, easy and glamorous life. And perhaps this is true a small sliver of the time. But 90% of the time is behind-the-scenes work and grit and long hours. You aren’t just the “creative” working in your medium, you’re the accountant, the assistant, the social media manager, and the list goes on and on. The creative life isn’t just a job, it is an all-consuming lifestyle and it requires an immense amount of sacrifice. I believe that the flexibility and freedom you gain being your own boss is worth the hard work, but it is not the path for everyone.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Back in 2020, I had the choice to either enter a different career or take BOVARA full-time and I stumbled upon a book called “Making a Living Living: Being Successful Doing What You Love”. This book was a compilation of case studies about entrepreneurs who make a full-time living doing really unique things: a chocolatier, a dinner party host, an ethical fashion designer, to name a few. It changed my philosophy about life and brought me back to a truer place in my mind about life, balance, goals, and importance. While I hope to be financially successful in this business, it is about so much more than that for me. It is about sustaining a life in which I can be free to do what I love, support myself, and create beautiful work for others that I can be proud of. This book helped ground that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bovarastudios.com/ /// https://bovaramedia.com/ /// https://anniebovitz.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovarastudios/ ///https://www.instagram.com/bovaramedia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovarastudios
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-bovitz-667373107/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/bovarastudios
- Other: https://vimeo.com/bovarastudiosfilms
Image Credits
Rachel Tate Photography Raven Shutley Studios Rose Trail Images