We were lucky to catch up with Bianca Jay recently and have shared our conversation below.

Bianca, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?

‘Hero’ may not be the best word, but my definitely biggest inspiration as a creative would have to be Gibson Hazard. As a young creative specializing in 3-D video, he totally did video differently. I was super drawn to his style not only in terms of 3-D, but also his ability to take a saturated market and make something new out of it. In high school, I picked up After Effects and 3-D modeling in video in an attempt to also follow this new path. Though Hazard has had a big influence on me as a creative, I still strive to find new niches within the broad field. In each project, I try to implement something different. Throughout high school, my background was focused in short-films. By the end of my senior year, I was recruited to work at Georgia Tech Football in creative media. Working in sports video for Georgia Tech Football has been a completely different experience from working strictly in short films. As I am still in my first year of working in sports, I often felt behind compared to other creatives in the field. Though these fields in video take different approaches, I aimed to bring in aspects of making short films into sports. Hazard’s unique approach to music videos has pushed me to find a unique path within sports video — combining short film techniques and eventually 3-D renders into my projects.

Bianca, 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?

I’m Bianca Jayaraman and I’m currently 19 years old. I’m a freshman at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and am a Mathematics major, but one of my biggest passions is photography and videography. I began my journey into the creative field when I was 14 and had stumbled upon Sam Kolder’s travel videos. I’ve always been drawn to the arts, but had no experience with digital forms. That night I grabbed my dad’s old camera and filmed around my backyard, in a ‘cinematic’ manner. Though far from anything reminiscent of Kolder’s work, this was the start of my journey with cameras and the beginnings of what became BiancaJayMedia. As I got to high school, I joined a class called “Intro to Digital Media”. Here, we pushed for further education in film, and helped my teachers establish the Audio Video and Technology pathway at my high school. Like many photographers/ videographers, my work began completely personal: making videos of my friends for social media and taking pictures of them after events. It was when people asked me for a photoshoot that I realized the potential in expanding photography and film to be a business. As many early photographers, I felt like I did not have the credibility as a photographer to charge people. I started charging $15 for a photoshoot— which is crazy to think about now. Though prices increased with experience, I took senior photos of college and high school seniors throughout high school. Alongside gaining experience in photography, I competed in various video-oriented competitions. By the end of my high school experience, my proudest moments were being named the Audio Video and Technology Student of the Year for Forsyth County and being awarded 1st place in a Nationwide Short Film Competition.
Though I had spent most of my time making short films, I aspired to specialize in more short-form content. My senior year of high school, I was unclear of where I was going to continue my education, and also unclear about what I was going to do with BiancaJayMedia. On a whim, I reached out to Jeremy Paredes, another student creative at Georgia Tech Football. This Instagram DM led to my eventual recruitment to the creative media team.
I was completely new to sports video, unfamiliar with just how different filming the spontaneity of sports was from the meticulously set-up short film. Here, I not only faced talented athletes, but exceptional creatives. Though I was met with unfamiliarity, I recognized how saturated the field is. Sports media is filled with exceptionally talented individuals; I realized since I was so new to the field, I had to do sports video differently. Blending elements of short films with my experience with 3-D/ After Effects, I hoped to bring something different to sports video and photo.
I have now expanded my brand BiancaJayMedia from creating short films to working in sports media and taking senior/graduation photos. I directly offer many services in photography on my website ranging from family photos, graduation photos, and headshots. My services also expand to wedding and sports photo/video upon inquiry. My brand hopes to always bring a new element to any service, whether that be the integration of 3-d renders to video or unconventional techniques within photography. As a student, I am constantly learning and hope to embed new techniques into each of my projects.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There is something so beautiful about showcasing individuality, talent, and connection that, for me, sets photography and videography apart from most other fields. Being a creative allows beauty to present itself everywhere, whether that be conventionally or not. For senior photos, a wide array of personalities present themselves: shy, outgoing, or somewhere in between. But, something about asking someone to “run towards me and start twirling” or to “walk like their legs are jello” that brings out people’s most genuine moments. For sports, being a creative allows for a unique showcase of athleticism. Though personal creative expression is fulfilling in these moments, seeing athletes be proud of themselves and have media propel their engagement is instantly more rewarding.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I think one of the biggest things that drives many people away from filmmaking and photography is the capital that you need to invest in equipment. A lot of people say that “anyone with a smartphone can take part in videography or photography”, but I found a lot of frustration with that statement as I entered the field. Though a phone can be an amazing tool for camera work, it’s hard to sell your services or even be taken seriously with no other equipment. As I started my brand pretty young, I totally understood not having any capital to start the journey as a creative. Though at the time I was fortunate to find a 15 year old DSLR in my house, its shortcomings, and age, quickly presented itself. Pooling together whatever birthday/ Christmas money a 14 year old had, I bought my first camera, a Canon EOS Rebel T6. The roughly $380 camera, like for many other beginner photographers, was my first camera. Though a notoriously rudimentary camera, it was my only piece of equipment that I owned for the first two years of my brand. With this camera, I served 30+ clients in both videography and photography. Using a camera such as the EOS Rebel T6 enabled me to expand my usage of techniques in photo editing softwares such as Lightroom to make my images appear of higher quality than they ‘truly’ were. By understanding curves and masking within Lightroom, I started uploading these images to Instagram. It was through this that I realized most people don’t judge your brand based on what camera you use, but rather what images you produce; a client is not looking at your camera, but rather is looking forward to a promising result. It was at this point that confidence presented itself as the biggest initial capital that I needed to expand my business and therefore profitability. It was through this that I pushed advertisements through social media. This allowed me to serve enough clients to be able to afford my next pieces of equipment, and self-fund my business as a high schooler.

Contact Info:

• Website: biancajaymedia.com
• Instagram: @biancajaymedia