We were lucky to catch up with Hunter Lewis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hunter , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

I was sitting in Elementary Greek II in college thinking of cool names that meant something relevant to photography and story telling and just could not think of anything. So I started googling Greek, Hebrew, and Latin words related to story’s and photography and would write down the ones that stuck out on a notecard. For several weeks I would flip through the notecards and remove them one by one until I was left with Verba M; which means “1000 words” in Latin. I loved the name so much in 2017 that I have stuck with it ever since. I feel like I don’t advertise the meaning of the name a whole lot, but at the end of the day Verba M Photography + Film fully encompasses what I do and the end goal. I want each of my photos and videos to tell a story and give my clients and the people that happen upon my work to have a 1000 words to say about it.

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

I always had a creative side that I would tap into in small ways throughout my childhood and teenage years. As I got older, opportunities would continually arise to put those creative desires into action. These opportunities combined with a passion for storytelling would end up becoming the perfect storm to set me on the path that I am on now. After a couple of years in college doing photo shoots for friends I; super randomly got a job as a video producer for a camp I went to as a teenager. After that summer I was asked to film a friends wedding. I had now found myself after fifteen or so years of just dabbling in photography; doing something that was kind of a big deal! Telling the story from the biggest day of two peoples lives. This was in 2018… By 2020 I had taken a leap and gone full time with my photography and cinematography business and grown well beyond my own and probably everyone else’s expectations. In 2020 I filmed or photographed 17 weddings. In 2021 with the help of a few close subcontractors we had shot 65 weddings in a single year. I outgrew the ceiling I had set for myself as a small town Arkansan living in East Tennessee and at the end of 2021 I realized I needed to dream bigger. I moved to Nashville and now alongside photographing and filming weddings I produce music videos and have a good bit of commercial work too.

I think what sets me apart from everyone else that shoots weddings or films music videos specifically is that I value your story more than anything else. I came from a background where I never expected to have a ton of money and honestly never cared about it. Like a grew up wanting to be a youth pastor and was okay with the salary that came with that. I didn’t start my business to make money or have total freedom with my time. I started it because I loved telling other people’s stories. While the perks of being self employed have definitely shown in my life at the end of the day the goals are the same. Tell stories, love people, and make the most of my time here. I think never losing sight of the core reason I started this business is the very reason that I have found success in this field. Anyone who sees my wedding galleries or films will see the day exactly as it happened and be able to live in that moment. Anyone who sees a music video I produce will know that I did everything I could to show the raw emotion that the artist put into the lyrics. I bring to life and make a memory of my clients special moments and their dreams.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of being in a creative industry is that there is no ceiling for you. Especially with photography or cinematography. There is always going to be something more you can learn, something better that you can do, and something that is going to push your limits. I learned the hard way not to set a ceiling for myself and when I broke through that it felt like I was literally breaking chains that I had bound myself in.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Something that is particularly hard about being a creative/ business owner is that my creations are a direct reflection of my whole company and I cannot take that lightly. Sometimes I can get extremely caught up on an edit because I am feeling uninspired or just simply do not love the work I am creating. Unlike some non creative industries I can’t just show up, do my job, and get paid. I have to create something that is going to represent me, my business, and most importantly my clients well. As a photographer and cinematographer I am well aware that even with how far I have come there are still people way better than me and that on particular projects I could have done better than I did. Oftentimes this makes me get into a rut and question myself on edits or whatever because I put myself in this position. Instead of getting a degree and applying for a job I essentially just created things out of the blue and decided one day that I was good enough to do this or good enough to do that. I think the struggle really comes from feeling like you are qualified enough and capable of doing the projects that you have found yourself in.

Contact Info:

• Website: verbamphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_hunterlewis_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/verbamphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunter-lewis-7bb2b5233/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEu2Rv2SWrAOfKdhLUqkfeA