We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brandon, 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?

I actually never went to school for videography! Photography and videography have always been a passion of mine since I was little. I remember always playing around with my parents’ polaroid and film cameras as a kid but never thought of it as a career. A few years back, my sister-in-law was in the wedding planning process and asked if I would film her wedding. At the time, I only had an entry-level camera and a few lights my wife and I would use for our YouTube channel. I hesitantly agreed and went on to spend the next 2 weeks perusing through possibly every wedding videography educational video on YouTube – learning the ins and out, do’s and don’ts. I really began to love the field and would spend my evenings going downtown Atlanta and filming any and everything to become more comfortable with manipulating my camera. For the next year or so, I went on to shadow a bunch of companies to get more hands-on experience in the wedding videography field and started my own business in late 2019.

However, if I could go back and restart this career again, I would shadow more professionals in the field! Videography is a craft, one that is not always learnable through a Youtube tutorial. This is one of those fields where you really have to put the time in to develop said craft -especially for weddings. This is a high-pressure job. I walk into every shoot, knowing I have one chance to film the day perfectly – but I thrive off that pressure!

The only obstacle I faced, and I feel most in the creative field face when first starting out is lack of gear. This is a very expensive field to get into. When you are starting out, you feel so overwhelmed with everything you need to properly film a wedding day – cameras, lenses, lights, tripods, audio devices, and I could go on and on. You learn to make do with what you have and build your kit over time. For me, the financial struggle for the first year or so makes me appreciate every bit of gear I have to better serve my couples now.

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

My name is Brandon Johnson, Owner of Memory Films. Memory Films is an award-winning wedding videography company based in Atlanta, GA but we travel the country filming weddings in the most beautiful places. At our core, Memory Films is created with the engaged couple in mind. Through years of trial and error, surveying past couples and using my wife and I’s personal experience whilst planning our wedding, Memory Films offers couples a streamlined process to ensure one of the most important days in their lives is professionally captured, thus resulting in a gallery of cinematic videos they can look back on for years to come.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Working to build relationships with people! As a wedding videographer, I meet hundreds of vendors each year. From the vendor side of weddings, it’s easy to slip into the mindset of, “This is just another wedding” and to be honest, it’s easy to get burnt out in this industry. But I work really hard to treat each wedding like it’s my first. Even if it’s my third one for the week, I walk into every wedding and give it my all and work to build solid relationships with the vendors. Most times, I reach out to vendors before the wedding day to just introduce myself and ask if there is anything I can do to make their day on the wedding a bit easier. It’s a small gesture and most times, it’s met with “No, I’m fine”, but in a sea of creatives, sometimes those small gestures can set you aside from the other hundreds of videography companies in Atlanta.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I spent more time becoming comfortable with camera settings in the beginning. That is, without a doubt, one of the biggest barriers for any photographer/videographer starting out. It’s so easy and convenient to just set a camera to “Auto”. I think I speak for every photographer/videographer when I say, you can only use those Automatic settings on your camera for so long before they start to limit your creative freedom. Taking the time to learn the ins and outs of my tool took me from Entry-Level Videographer to Award-Winning Videographer.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.memoryfilmsatl.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/memoryfilmsatl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/memoryfilmsatl/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNRN5Nl9_x5aKp-srsCISRw
• Other: Tiktok – https://www.tiktok.com/@memoryfilmsatl