We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Langston Ewing. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Langston below.
Hi Langston, thanks for joining 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?
I guess you could say I learned to do what I do all through trial & error. I started from the young age of 10-11 honing my skills of video editing & photography. Believe me I’m not going to sit here & say I was was the absolute best or a prodigy at my craft. I was more like the only person in my family at the time interested in cameras & computers & I guess cinematic/behind the scene production work at the time. I would buy throw away cameras & just snap pictures of trees or things around my childhood home get them developed & they were just terrible thinking back now from hindsight. It wasn’t until I joined a program during elementary school called “St. Louis WizKids” that I really got the opportunity to express my creativity. A group of students from different schools were chosen to be apart of this program giving us the opportunity to learn how to be more proficient with our keyboard skills on computers, video & photo editing, the dangers of the internet/how to protect you & your information, time management & other academic aspects to help us improve in school. Once fulfilling a certain amount of time being in the program every student was gifted a digital camera only for projects, a Dell computer with printer & one year free internet service. I guess from then on I was completely hooked in photography & cinematography. Around this time I found myself filming almost anything then editing small films on Windows Movie Maker. In my eyes I could do no wrong & a lot of my contemporaries praised me adulation telling me my work was cool & always asking me if I could teach them how to take photos & edit videos. Knowing what I know now though to speed everything up I probably would have went to a website that had just been conceived during the time more often for tutorials, that website being YouTube. I found myself watching wrestling & movies more often than trying to perfect my craft. It wasn’t until the tail end of middle school & beginning of high school that I took things serious as far as learning to sharpen my skills. During the time the only skills I thought were the most essential was anything that had to do with video editing. I’d bought other disposable/digital cameras at the time but had little to no interest in taking pictures. I was full on Spike Lee/John Singleton mode at this time believing I could be a director of short films always rounding up friends to record videos thinking we could be the next internet sensation. I know now though while editing is very much important the most essential thing is angles, having a concept, scripting, having a team, & following through. Not to sound cliche but the obstacles that stood in my way from learning more was myself. During the midst of high school I was just getting straight A’s unaware of what is was I really wanted to do. I’d gain interest in video games & believed I wanted to be a game designer or computer engineer “what ever that is.” I saw little future in my graphic designing, video work, & photography. I even leaned more into writing poetry during this time in secret having never to share anything with anyone or even recite a single line. During middle school I’d also developed a deep voice which is odd for someone especially of my stature, but I never saw much of a future no matter how many adults told me I could be on the radio someday or be a voice actor. It wasn’t until my senior year that I had a instructor that acknowledged my video editing/storytelling skills in a throwaway media class I signed up for that sort of reignited a desire to get into the field of media. I spent so much time believing there was no future in all that fun stuff I was doing as a kid that I didn’t realize I have a talent I should be exploring more of. During my first year of college that’s when I knew I was going to be a media studies major buy equipment & dive head first into this endeavor.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello I’m Langston Car’Michael Ewing freelance photographer, graphic designer, cinematographer, poet & voice actor of the local St. Louis area. I got into my many fields through the passion I had for it as a child & desire built up for it during the last of my high school years. Photography, graphic design, & cinematography has always been a constant in my life, although I’ve had a few obstacles that had deterred me from moving forward with these crafts it’s always been an outlet to express myself creatively. I guess voice acting wasn’t always in the cards or my first choice in the field of media but if you could hear my voice now it’ll be a no-brainer as to why I push forward with this craft whether I’m on KDHX 88.1 FM or my talent agent is hooking me up with auditions for gigs doing voice over work. While I consider all of these things a hobby at heart poetry is something I could see myself doing for free forever & be satisfied. I got into poetry during elementary school after reading a book by author Shel Silverstein entitled “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” To be honest I only ever read that book because it was the easiest thing to get through to write a book report about. In the end I found myself falling in love with the odd illustrations & just the subject matter in general, there wasn’t any really. It was just a collage of weird random simple poetry all in one book. This inspired me to write my own collage of poetry (book still in progress) but not of just random things. Poetry about things happening in my life: the good, the bad, love, depression, & anything else from short stories to haiku’s you name it. I am a college graduate having attended University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) from 2012-2016 receiving my bachelors in Media Studies & Webster University 2018-2020 receiving my masters in New Media Production. I provide a plethora of services from wedding photography, head shots, maternity shoots, graduation, child photography, family portraits, birthday events, boudoir, sporting/concert events & etc. You name it I’ve probably done it including designing logos for small businesses, album covers for musicians, YouTube banners, event flyers & obituaries. I’ve yet to create music videos but always open to work with artists to bring their vision to life, though I’ve created a few short films & produced my own web series entitled “For The Burbs.” One thing that sets me apart from other creatives is my drive & need to satisfy my client. I’ve seen other people that do what I do here just shoot, edit & move on to the next client without building any type of rapport unless it has any type of benefit for them. When you work with me I guarantee you will be satisfied with the final product, I will actually let you pick photos you would like to be edited after a shoot, & I don’t charge clients for time spent during a shoot. Unlike others I don’t charge by the hour & as good as I am at what I do my services are affordable. The thing I’m most proud of is how “Ewing Media” is growing as a freelancing business. What once was just a little college project is now something being taken serious by some of the community of St. Louis. It’s been a long time coming since 2016 that I started all this from my basement & now I’m even getting people from outside of St. Louis to book with me. I would like for all my fans, followers, & clients to know I appreciate every single one of you & that if you decide to book me for whatever event, something you need designed or even a video edited I’m you’re media swiss army knife at your service, Unlike all the other creatives I won’t stop working with you until your satisfied with the final product. I’m affordable & still provide high quality service.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
For those getting into building your business I for one can tell you from experience there is nothing more frustrating than knowing your good at what you do but having no one hiring you for your craft. It can be demoralizing going on social media reading statuses of people looking for a photographer, graphic designer, or cinematographer & not a single person tagging you or even the person themselves posting that status knowing what you do not even asking you for your service. Honestly the best advice which may sound counterintuitive but unfortunately there will be a period when you will be doing anything you provide as a service for free. I spent years creating logos, doing photo-shoots, & making many parody commercials for free. Whether it was for my friends or even clients I even work with now I did have a couple of years when I had to build my portfolio, design a website & create a separate Instagram page for my business. Rome wasn’t built in a day & you can be the Michelangelo of your craft but until you build an impressive amount of work to showcase & get enough people to pass around name word of mouth you’ll never being able to grow that clientele you do desperately desire. I remember there was days I’d get one client & be so thankful then the next day crickets & I would be so shocked no one was hitting me up for months at a time. That’s not to say I’m getting a knock on my door now every single day but as time went on now I can proudly admit I’m a contender in my community. People know who to call on when they need a service. Don’t be too big headed either all work is good work even if it’s not the Cinco De Mayo concert event & just a mother wanting her dogs pictures taken do it. Also business cards can go a long way too.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The goal driving this creative journey use to be wanting to be acknowledged as the best in my state but now it’s more so just wanting to become more of a house hold name. I just want people to take a moment to take notice that I’m here too. St. Louis is a small place but trust me there are a lot of creatives here bumping heads & taking the spotlight from others. I guess in the end I just want a piece of the spotlight to shine on me for once. I feel like compared to the rest of my peers I’m more of the underground independent creative if that makes sense. Not saying everyone I know is commercial but they’ve got publications in magazines, I design mock magazine covers for my clients, they’ve done work for established publications in my state, & I’ve done work for small businesses that get a little notoriety on social media. We are not the same to an extent & I just can’t wait til I get Ewing Media to the forefront with the rest of my fellow creatives or even perhaps become well known in other states besides Missouri.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://ewingmedia.weebly.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lildreadhead1993/ https://www.instagram.com/ewingmedia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cartmanha/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/langstonewing/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lildreadhead93
- Youtube: youtube.com/langstonewing
- Other: Instagram: @lildreadhead1993 Instagram: @ewingmedia Facebook: Langston Car’Michael Ewing
Image Credits
Langston Ewing