We recently connected with Omari Harris and have shared our conversation below.
Omari, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s go back in time to when you were an intern or apprentice – what’s an interesting story you can share from that stage of your career?
Wow, thinking back to my apprenticeship days has me a little emotional. So I am not a learned Cinematographer, I trained under a good friend of mine and a Cinematographer himself, David Johnson, owner of Boncrek Films here in Jamaica. I started as a grip, lifting bags, and carrying equipment, and occasionally he’d bring me behind the camera to see what I could do because I had just started doing YouTube on my own. He likes my “eye” for different shots and took the time to cultivate that. Did I mention that this apprenticeship BEGAN during Covid? It was in August of 2020 that I started my apprenticeship, and started YouTube in February of that year and did my first solo project as a Director/DP in December of 2020.
So the apprenticeship lasted about 6 months but we would continue working together as I was now a freelancer. In January of 2022, I was brought on by David to work as the Director/Director of Photography for a major project for a client of his that was a major player in the financial sector in Jamaica. This project took me to Trinidad and Colombia in 6 days. I highlight this feat because to me, I as able to produce a similar level of quality of content comparable to someone who has been in the game for 10+ years.
Lessons from this that I always share are:
1) God will allow for your growth to be exponential, even during a pandemic.
2) You must put in the extra hours to progress your craft. You are as good as your last piece of content and try to aim for creating 1000 videos as a part of your progression
3) Your youth or inexperience is not a permanent limiting factor to your growth.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
“Yo wah gwan! It’s OmariJ!”
That’s usually the tagline I say when you see my content pop up on IG or TikTok. Hi, my name is Omari Harris and I am a Cinematographer, Content Creator, and Video Marketing Consultant, based in Jamaica. I first started as a content creator but became a trained cinematographer during the pandemic, being a part of many projects in the industry but focusing on content for the financial and medical sector, and most notably being a Social Impact Creator with the Bredren Life (formerly known as Black Kings Rising) collective.
I am a Director and co-founder of Koined Digital, a Social Media Marketing and Creative Agency. At Koined Digital we offer Social Media Management packages, Content Production Packages, Event Coverage, and Branding Packages. We primarily focus on helping you, our clients, in building your community through social. Over the past four (4) years, my skills and experience as a cinematographer and content creator whilst growing in the marketing field, I have decided to step into the role of becoming a Video Marketing Consultant so that I may be able to best serve those who need guidance in navigating the ever-changing social landscape without compromising on quality and gives them back their time to focus on what they do best.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I started with what I had! I had an iPhone 6s, which had a cracked screen and only 64 GB of storage. When I had started my paid apprenticeship I had an agreement with my mentor that I would use 30% of my pay for 5 months to put down on his old camera kit (a Panasonic GH4) that he didn’t use as much anymore. That kit I still have to this day but it got me through 70% of all the projects I’ve ever worked on over the last 4 years.
I know I am to tell you about how I put together capital to start my business, but for me, it was the other way around. I essentially started my business before having the capital. I took the risk on myself and invested aggressively in my skills and that churned out more profit for me than I could imagine. After about 2 or 3 years, that is when I decided to take a business loan to build out my business (branding, website, equipment, etc) after building enough savings and credit with my business (things are a little bit different here in Jamaica as it pertains to credits and loans).
So for me, use what you have, invest in yourself (time, resources, capital), and THEN look to loans, grants, sponsorships, and investors when you have something of value to bring forward.
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?
The one thing that I experience as a creative from non-creatives is the need to do absolutely nothing regularly. I know this is a contradiction to being a business owner, however, for me to be able to constantly churn out creative ideas and produce content I NEED a cool-down period where I do not engage in any “productive” activity to rebuild my creative reserves.
This may look like taking a day off weekly, or during a hectic week, I may dedicate up to 2 hours a day to walking away from all work and “go out and touch some grass” to reconnect with myself. The thing is that creativity is not only a business but it is the giving of myself, even if it is only a small part of me, and that part of me needs to be refueled and fed every now and then.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omarijharris/
Image Credits
All photos taken by Jayson Tucker (@tuckerjayson18 on IG)