We were lucky to catch up with Chris Goldstein recently and have shared our conversation below.
Chris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
To fully & properly answer, what’s been the most meaningful project I’ve worked on. I would probably start with my grandmother being my influencer in general photography. She would take photos, have them developed and place them in photo albums. Photos from vacations, birthdays and family reunions/events. Without even knowing, my spark for photography had begun.
With that said, around 3pm Friday, December 23rd, 2022, I received a phone call from Stephanie Kegley inquiring about my drone services and what my rates would be for an hour or two of drone coverage. Stephanie (Founder, Director, CEO at Put Me First) works with families to help locate a missing person and fight for victims of violence. She was helping the family of Tanner Hoang, which was a Texas A&M college student that was reported missing on Dec 16th, 2022.
Once I heard all the details and what was being requested, I informed her I would NOT be charging her or the family for my time.
Sadly, the request was to assist Tanner’s family with aerial coverage at Austin’s Pennybacker bridge on 360 on Lake Austin. With the hopes of locating Tanner’s body as his car’s last location was found parked at the bottom of the lookout point days before.
The following morning on Christmas Eve around 8:30am I informed her my gear was charging and I would head to the lookout around 2pm to assist anyway I could with my drone(s). Sadly, around 1:30pm, just as I was about to head out, I received a text from her saying “okay, stop” as the family had in fact located his body.
Not being able to assist with aerial coverage just made the need to help Tanner’s family anyway I could. So, I then asked if I could have the honor to create Tanner’s “Celebration of Life” video. A few days passed, then on Tuesday Dec 27th, Stephanie reached out and said Tanner’s family would love how I could help them. They asked what all I would need to help create this for him & his family.
I then created a Drive Folder that would be accessible to all, so they could share their memories and moments they had with Tanner. Over 350 images and videos were shared/loaded over the next week or so, which I then started to compile and arrange all the content together.
Once all the editing was completed, the final clip was sent to her and Tanner’s family. Little did I know this was going to be used at his service in Flower Mound, TX.
Without ever meeting Stephanie, Tanners family or friends, the family invited me to attend the service. I immediately replied I would be there! So, I traveled from Austin to Dallas/Fort Worth and made plans to stay with a friend that lived close to Flower Mound, TX. The morning of the service, I was running a little behind. When I arrived at the church, Tanner’s service had just begun and I walked into a completely packed church seeing the video I had created playing on the massive monitor they have.
To be honest, my emotions started up as I was looking for a place to sit and watching the video for the first time outside of my office. This was my 4th “Celebration Of Life” style video I had created, but the first one for someone I’ve never met. When you create such a piece like this, you truly get the opportunity to live through that families’ eyes. The moments they’ve shared together, the happiness captured during holidays, or even just random moments at home with your family. Over the next 13mins as all watched the video for the first time aside from his direct family. I would see just how much it touched everyone. Words can’t describe my emotions. Once the service was completed, hundreds of people made their way to the hallways to give Tanner’s family their condolences. I, on the other hand, was by myself and had only seen his family from the images and videos sent to me.
When I finally had the chance in line to speak with his family, words were at a loss as I didn’t know how to properly introduce myself. With tears in my eyes, I greeted them and his mother gave me a huge hug and looked directly at me and said “Thank You”. A thank you I would never forget…
The feelings that rushed over me are something that I was a part of and created made me know I am following my true passion. It might not be the actual act of capturing the photo/video. But doing what I love and having the opportunity to experience something special such as this with complete strangers. Let’s me know I’m on the right path.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Personally, I never took part in photography classes in school or attended any formal photography training outside of school. All my knowledge and growth in the industry has been through trial & error with countless hours of watching Youtube tutorials. “I’m an Youtube Graduate, with a continuing education”.
Before I started my business, I worked as a warehouse supervisor for 20+ years for a local telecommunication business. For vacations, I would have a basic Canon Point & Shoot style camera. Along with a waterproof camera that would never leave my pocket or bag. But I always wanted to have aerial footage of these amazing locations. Those locations being beach destinations like, Curaçao, Roatan Honduras, Jamaica and all along Mexico’s coastline in the state of Quintana Roo.
Once I purchased my first drone, the more I realized I was going to need a decent computer if I wanted to do any editing. I’ve never been an Apple/MAC kind of guy, so next was researching PC’s, RAM, graphics cards and of course memory. Learning about shooting in RAW opposed to JPEG, capturing videos and then adding color grading and of course which software would be the best for a beginner with no experience. With PC purchased, next was the software. I chose to go with the full suite from Adobe. Very pricey and it has it’s buggy moments even still to this day. But I am very happy with what I’ve learned and where it’s taking me over the years.
Next would come the need for my businesses name or brand. Who I am, what it is I do.
On some of my first videos, I would label them with “ATX Drone”. But it didn’t have that wow factor in my opinion. When I started the purchase of my Domain Name, I saw that the name had been taken but was also for sale at $3k! So I added a “Z” to the end. ATX Dronez had the pop I wanted and the domain was available!
From there I created my Facebook/Instagram business pages. Word of mouth has been one of biggest means of my growth over the years. The first paid job request came from a project coordinator at The University of Texas. She was needing aerial footage of UT’s 5k Fun Run they have every year. This will always be a memory I’ll never forget being paid to do what I love in my city I was born and raised in. UT’s board members needed to approve everything and I had to sign quite a bit of paperwork just to be able to fly on campus, Sadly, since it was through the school which has Copyright laws in place and the paperwork I signed. The footage would be the schools use only. Meaning I could never share or post anything I captured that event. However, the experience was more than I needed!
Over the years I’ve had the chance to work on some incredible projects with multiple national and a couple international companies. I’ve had opportunities to work with brands such as Yeti, Indian Motorcycles, Crown Royal, Costco and Arby’s. Not to mention the countless local venues and artists I’ve had the chance to meet, capture and be apart of. I’ve captured projects for Crown Royal at the Dallas Cowboys stadium along with an private event here in Austin for the Black Pumas.
Finally, the decision came to fully invest all of my time and energy into my business back in 2021. Like all new business, the first few months, if not year, were a little slow. I knew this would be a part of getting established and solely relying on my abilities to not only be profitable but have this as a reliable source of living. in 2022, I worked my butt off doing real estate captures for multiple brokerages. My days would start from before dawn and sometimes end just before the following mornings sunrise. This was a non-stop pattern for months and I would have little to no time for anything but driving to the next shoot, capturing and returning home to edit throughout the night. I made $30k+ more than I had doing my fulltime work over the years. So needless to say, the tiredness and lack of free time came with a cost. It would be a learning situation in what I say yes to project wise and customer wise.
Regardless, I was ALL IN!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
From about 2007 to 2021, I worked as a Warehouse Supervisor for a Tele-Communication Company in South Austin. The company I had worked for over 10 years was slowly dissolving back in 2018, and people were being let go. I then worked for another tele-communication company running the warehouse for another year. Sadly, I was salary and being over-worked at that next place. So I spoke with my good friends and Owner of a local pressure washing company that were in need of a Inventory/Warehouse person. This was during COVID, so they switched gears on product due to the nationwide closures. They then ordered Tanks, Drums and pallets of a disinfectant along with the the devices (Mist Guns and Backpacks) to spray the cleaner.
After about a year with them and still doing small real estate shoots for my business “ATX Dronez”, COVID restrictions started to be lifted and the need for the inventory I managed was coming to an end.
This is when I made the ultimate leap and just worked for myself. The first 6-8 months were slow and I would mainly be requested to shoot large plots of land just outside of Austin to the East. Over time, the company that was hiring me to do all of their Videos and Stills would be my main client. The following year in 2022, would be the first full year I worked solely for myself.
I can say that there were countless long days & late nights, as I was shooting 3 sometimes 4 properties a day in Lockhart, Elgin, Bastrop, Seguin and San Marcos. The days were on the road were actually perfect for me. I already enjoy capturing nature and landscapes, now I am being paid to do just that.
By the EOY, it became my best year monetarily wise which was about 30% more than I would have made at my salaried positions.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social Media is one the best tools for anyone getting started! Not only can you follow others with like interest as yourself, but then building cliental from posting your Art, Creation, Ideas, Etc… When I first for my drone in 2017-2018, I would go to Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake on my lunch breaks and capture skyline shots of Austin.
People would see my posts and ask if they could purchase the prints or if I could shoot other projects. This was the start of creating of “ATX Dronez” and my brand. I would run a few Sponsored Ads on Facebook and IG. My advice would be to dive into your passion 110%. How much drive and efforts you put in, will make the end goal that much attainable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.atxdronez.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atx_dronez/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ATXDronez
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@atxdronez
Image Credits
(Wedding) image credit – Steve Miller
All others – ATX Dronez