We recently connected with DeAndré Holmes and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, DeAndré thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My most meaningful project was a full circle moment. Before I became a camera operator, I was an Inbound Sales Rep for Spectrum. For three years I sold cable tv, internet, landlines and cell phones. In February of 2025, I had the opportunity to operate on a Spectrum, Black History Month commercial, titled: We Built This. This was confirmation from God. He let me know that I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am from a small town in Pike County, GA. , called Concord. The entire county has one stop light and one high school. After graduating from Pike County High School in 2012, God Blessed me with the opportunity to play collegiate basketball for and graduate from South Georgia State College and University of Missouri – St. Louis. I received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from UMSL, which led to me being an Inbound Sales Rep at Spectrum in St. Louis.

In hindsight, my time at Spectrum was Ordained by God. Prior to my employment, my work history consisted of being a scorekeeper for a recreational department. One could only imagine what my resume looked like. A manager by the name of Ira Isley, tailored my interview questions to sports and hired me.

After holding my position as an ISR for three years, I began to look for a change. The thought of coming to the same place and working from a cubicle for the rest of my life didn’t appease me. By the Grace of God, my friend since childhood, Xavier Thompson, told me I could join him and become a steadicam operator without any formal education. After turning him down a couple of years prior, I jumped at the opportunity in the year 2020. He assisted me with the process of purchasing my M-2 Tiffen Steadicam Sled, G70x arm, GPI Pro vest, American stand, custom cases and accessories. To do so, I took out a $30k loan from Wells Fargo that had a 13.5% interest rate. With an additional $30k that I had saved, I put my Faith in God and Zay’s word. During the pandemic in June of 2020, I moved from St. Louis, MO. to Los Angeles, CA.

After moving to LA, I was experiencing familiar emotions that I felt during the commencement of my tenure at Spectrum. Due to my lack of knowledge and experience, my self-esteem, pride and self worth were low! My first job opportunity came within a month of me being an operator. Rightfully so, I did terribly, but luckily Zay had gone with me and salvaged the shoot. Every growing pain I experienced pushed me to get better, which has been the story of my life. I’ve endured 2 torn ACL’s and a car wreck that probably should’ve killed me. Yet I’ve achieved my goal of being a collegiate athlete and became an operator. Shout out to God!

As an steadicam op, I turned my pain into progress by spending a lot of time practicing with other operators and gaining knowledge from retired operator, Greg Smith who spent 30 years in the business. Due to me having zero knowledge about film, I had to not only learn how to operate, but I also had to learn the terminology, set etiquette, departments, how to read a call sheet, and the business side of film. My journey has taken a lot of discipline and Faith. Many times I wandered whether I had bitten off more than I could chew. Through it all God has Favored me and I’ve never given up. Thankfully, that $30k loan with the 13.5% interest rate was paid off within a year’s time.

As time progressed, not only was I getting job opportunities in LA, but I began to travel as well. Which is what lead to me moving back to Georgia. In addition to my name and brand catching traction in Atlanta, I joined the union, Local 600. Although things were trending in an upward direction, I didn’t feel that I had a solid network so, I experienced similar emotions from STL and LA. Once again, I didn’t give up. I began reaching out to established operators and Director of Photography with hopes of building a network. I set practice sessions with operators and even took them to lunch.

Throughout the various sets I’ve had the opportunity to grace, I’ve learned a lot. On top of me being a student, I’m my biggest critic. I show up to set prepared and ready to give all that I have to make sure a product of quality and value is produced. My steadicam sled can fly any camera. I have all the tools I need to support different forms of operating such as: handheld, wheels, fluid head and hard mounts. God has Blessed me with the character to be developed, the Conviction to be different, the courage to be disliked and capacity to handle discomfort.

Here I stand in the year 2025 and God has Blessed me with the opportunity to have operated on feature films, commercials, music videos and live concerts. I’m grateful for everything that I’ve endured on my journey because I know I needed all of it. Life happens for you not to you, so everything works out for the greater good. I’m most proud of who I’ve become. Not a single job opportunity can amount to the growth I’ve experienced. I understand that through my experiences God has been molding and shaping me into who He needs me to be to fulfill the Purpose He has for me during my time here in the Land of the Living. I’m here to spread Love and Light, Serve the people, and to please God. #DreInTheA 🤷🏾‍♂️

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I was hired as a camera operator for a two day metaverse commercial. Due to it being in the metaverse, the world that the commercial would live in was being projected onto the monitor I was operating from. There was a lag within the feed so, the footage I was seeing was behind. On top of that, I was green and didn’t know how to protect myself. I did a terrible job on the shoot. In hindsight, a simple conversation with the director and DP would’ve helped. Needless to say, I got let go at wrap of the first day. Despite the feeling of being fired, I didn’t allow that to stop me. I learned from my mistakes, got better and applied the knowledge to future experiences.

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

Putting time into my craft, networking with others within the film business and being true to who I am helped me build my reputation. Earlier in my career I was only saying what I had heard because I didn’t have any prior knowledge. I was faking it until I made it. Once I found myself, I found Peace. I came to the understanding that God didn’t represent with any opportunity to go and prove anything. All I needed to do was show up as my authentic self. My best is more than enough.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.steadiholmes.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dreholmes_2/
• Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13917859/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

  Reel: https://vimeo.com/1077180071

Image Credits

Lance Asper