We recently connected with David Hauser and have shared our conversation below.

David , appreciate you joining us today. Day to day the world can seem like a tough place, but there’s also so much kindness in the world and we think talking about that kindness helps spread it and make the world a nicer, kinder place. Can you share a story of a time when someone did something really kind for you?

My cousin Andrew purchased me a drone as well as a custom PC. One day, he asked me to come over to smoke with him. After he finished rolling up, he reached in the back seat of his car. He told me to close my eyes and when I opened them there was a DJI mavic 2 pro drone sitting on my lap. That was one of the first times someone seriously invested in me without asking for anything in return.

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 David Hauser, and I am from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and I am 24 years old. I first started doing videography and photography for fun. I have a lot of friends that make music so I decided to start vlogging our studio sessions. Not only did I vlog studio sessions, I would go to parties and clubs on the east side of Milwaukee and do event recaps. The first time I was paid for my work was by a friend named Rosario. He is a DJ and he hired me to do a recap for a club he was Djing at. OG Maco was performing at the club so this was the first time I experienced recording for someone who is a “celebrity”. This sparked my passion more for videography and photography and I realized that if I continued, I could get even better and maybe even meet more celebrities. One day, my friends Jordan and zae who rap asked me to shoot a music video for them. This was my first time I was asked to shoot a music video and I was nervous at first and discouraged because I never did it before. They confined to ask me until I decided to do it. I was shooting off of a canon rebel t5 with a little square light that attached to the top of it. We went to a local train track and shot the video at 11 PM. It was very dark but we still shot it even though we didn’t know what we were doing. The same night, I took it to Adobe premiere where we sat and editing it. All 3 of us were looking up tutorials on how to do effects and transitions. Mind you, I was working on a dell laptop that could barely run the program but we still managed to make it happen. After this video was finished. I made a YouTube channel named “shot_by_dh” where we posted the music video. It is called “5Aam” it is the first video on my channel. I got a lot of positive feedback on the video and this was the day that sparked my videography and photography journey. Everyday , I would watch YouTube videos about tutorials on how to do effects, color grading, lighting, and other topics I needed to learn to get better. I fell in love with learning and finding new presets that I could use for my next visuals. I continued to practice until I get comfortable actually putting my work out on social media for people to find me. A local videographer named Moosie was selling his Sony A7iii on Instagram. This was my first biggest investment I made that I’m glad that I did. I ended up taking all of my savings which was 3,000 and purchased the camera as well as a stabilizer. After this, I was much more comfortable and confident. Since then, I have shot over 200 music videos and have been to over 7 different states to work. Not only have I took risks financially, but I have traveled to different inner cities to shoot music videos such as Chicago, Flint, Akron, LA, St Louis, Brooklyn, and more. Every time you leave your hometown and travel to a different state it’s a risk. You must be prepared and alert at all times. My proudest investment was 2 years ago. A legendary videographer named Philly Fly Boy sold me his RED Cinema camera. I saved up 8,000$ and purchased it from him. I’m still learning on how to use it properly but I consider it my trophy. Meeting Giannis and having him shout me out was one of the biggest blessings I could ask for. One day while recording a music video, we ran into him while my camera was out. I told him to say “shot By DH” and he did it surprisingly. I use this for all of my intros and many people know me as the guy with the Gianni’s Intro. I have over 7 million videos across YouTube now. I have worked with many artists consistently to continue to grow my channel. I could list them all here but it might take to long but some honorable mentions is SME Tax free, Chicken P, Certified Trapper, MulaMar, and many more. If you go on my YouTube channel you can see some more artists that I worked with. I also make shirts, and hoodies that I sell. Recently, I was able to record some interviews and concert recaps for Tpains Wiscansin Fest at the rave. My friend Bri that works at Truth radio. Inviting me to shoot at the fest while she interviews artists there that were opening up. I got to meet Lil Scrappy, Taylor Bennet, Afroman, DJ Paul, La russle, Bow wow, and Big Frank. That was an amazing experience getting to meet people that I look up to and only dreamed of recording for. In the future, I want to finish college. I am going to get my film and TV degree next year. I want to grow and create a organization / team that works together to create bigger productions instead of your typically run and gun video. I want to sign artists to this organization and try to “blow up” artists. I want to rent out Photo Booths for events as a passive income as well as work with my brother Derrick in getting a studio so I have a controlled environment to work in. We would have a music studio in there, clothing machines, as well as photo booths and green screens and grow it. I could go on longer but this is just a brief summary .

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to learn that you can not make excuses as a business man. Also, you must make a lot of sacrifices to be successful. Long hours of work with no pay, spending thousands of dollars on upgrading equipment, finding the RIGHT People to help you. And more. I had to re wire my brain like a business and think differently. You cannot have a ego in business , you gotta put all feelings to the side.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Working on short deadlines, staying up late nights and continued to edit. Having people call you constantly and being professional. It is tough having to do customer service, camera work, editing, promotion, and more but I still find a way to make it happen. I learned that you cannot beat yourself up or overwork yourself but also, be honest with your self at all times.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://youtube.com/@shotbydh
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/shot_by_dh?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@shotbydh