We were lucky to catch up with Christopher Nez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Christopher, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us 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?

First off, i went to an art school for filming. I later did an internship at an audio studio that was trying to get their foot in the multimedia. They wanted to produce more video content than photos. While working there I ended up doing some photos for them and didn’t really think too much of it. The owner liked my images and showed them to some of his clients and from there i had a couple ask for shoots. At first I got a little big headed and thinking that my images are amazing, until I showed them to a buddy of mine from school who actually took photography classes and knows what to look for. Well in her one word response “CRINGEY” that ego of mine popped and that was that. I look back and really do thank her for her response, and yes she had more positive inputs on my images and gave me a few pointers for my post work. Since then, I joined the “YouTube academy (learn from youtube)” I would just view and replicate what the you-tuber would teach. I would also reach out to some photographers that I follow on IG and just ask them for some advice and even send them an image and ask them to critic it and give feed back. Some would respond with very helpful tips and then most of the time I would just get ghosted from them. What can you do? So from there i would apply what i have learned and slowly started to develop my own style of editing. I still to this day continue to reach out to those for advice and try to pick up a technique from them.

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

Im originally from Phoenix, AZ and went to school for film and post production. I interned for a small audio studio called “DigiLabs” and then went onto working for Arizona Studios as their cinematographer and editor. While working with Arizona Studios I managed to work as a photographer on the side. It was more of a hobby that blossomed into my small business that i currently own. When I use to work DigiLabs, i was introduced to a lot of small music artist that requested my services. From there i was introduced to a radio personality “Joey Boy” what was part of the “Morning Mess Crew” on 101.5 in Phoenix. I was given the opportunity to be Joey’s cameraman and editor for his YouTube channel. From there on, he has introduced me to other bigger artist and thats when i started to really push from my photography. Every week i would continue to learn new ways on bettering my craft. I then was able to get booked for a shoot by the talented Frankie J. I got to work with him and shoot for his last to recent album covers. From there Ive been introduced to many other artistes and even some CEOs out there. Im sure a few of you are wondering what type of photography do i do and its mostly Portraits and Editorial photography. I have also done some fashion and product photography as well. One of the main things that i want my viewers and potential clients know is that i put 100% into my work. I strongly believe in quality over quantity.
As for my brand, I honestly just used my initials. C.A.N. I’m sure you can make it out and for the diamond around it. It symbols the quality that I put into my work.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There was project that I was working on that just sucked the motivation out of me to finish the project. This project was a mess from the start. and everyday I would dread coming to work and working on this certain project that i will not disclose the title to. Working on that project made me really think about where I was in life. Yes I was working for a studio and doing what I wanted to do but it came at a cost. I would have to film and edit non creative projects majority of the time. I felt that my only outlet for creativity was through my photography and doing so I was having fun learning new things and working with those clients. At that time in my career of working at the studio, I knew I wanted to start doing more photography and start getting paid for what I truly enjoy doing. From that day on I knew it was just a matter of time before my photography work would overlap my normal day job. I ended up getting let go from the studio and from that day on I felt like a weight was lifted from me. I was going to start pushing for my photography business. Since then, i’ve never went back to another 9-5 job and have been my own boss and I have to say, Im loving it.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

Its November of 2019 and I decided to move out to San Diego to be closer to my kids. I knew it was going to be a change and was up for the challenge. Little did I know what was going to happen in few months down the road from then. Thats right Covid hit and lock downs happened and people didn’t want to be around one another. Well my job is to work with people and to be around them when doing photography. I wasn’t getting any bookings and pretty much came close to just packing up and retreating back to Arizona where I had family and would have some support from them but i stuck with it and just kept pushing for different types of work; like video editing or even selling stock footage on sites (didn’t even make much from that). Stressed out and now my car was repo for missed payments. I really felt like I would become homeless and just give up on my business and pick up a job at jack n’ box. I just don’t know how i was able to come up with enough money to cover my expenses but I did it. I had friends and family help me out from time to time but overall it was my video editing that help with my income. Shortly the lockdowns were lifted and I was fortunate to work with clients that needed portraits done for their business websites and some models would need some for their portfolio. Talk about coming close to just giving up on my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nezproduction.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_nezproductionllc_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NezProductionLLC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/73814778/admin/
• Other: Viewbug: https://www.viewbug.com/member/nezproduction