We recently connected with Phillip Callahan and have shared our conversation below.
Phillip, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
So my journey of becoming full-time started off when I was working at Cashland at the time. And I get a random message from this guy that I call my brother now ShaVazz The Weirdo. He messaged me about wanting to shoot a music video and he felt like I had that look he was wanting. Mind you I didn’t have much videos out and was very nervous about it. So he came up to my job and handed me $200 and I was just in shock because I’ve never had this happen. From there we shot a couple more videos and I instantly felt like I needed to take a risk of becoming full time director because this what I wanna do and knew that I could do anything I put my mind to! It was scary at first because I had no background or knowledge of what I was doing but I let God take me to the direction I needed to go and well here we are! OwlVision became big and I thank God and ShaVazz for that opportunity cause if that never happened I probably wouldn’t be where I am now!
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.
For those that don’t know me my name is Phillip Callahan (Owner of OwlVision). I am a full time music video director and part time photographer. I got into this industry from shooting photos with my iPhone 5s! Something about taking photos was just like a peace thing for me. I was homeless at one point and taking photos was my release of knowing everything is gonna be okay. I always reminded myself I was gonna be bigger than I ever imagined constantly! Talked with God constantly! And now I’m becoming even more and that’s what I’m mostly proud of myself. I never gave up. Even when I felt defeated. I let the path open for me and trusted God and let my vision speak for itself! Been doing music videos for 4+ years now and I’ve enjoyed just about everyone of em! From being ready to sell my camera to ending up on Good Morning America it’s been a wild ride!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think the most rewarding thing of being a creative is to see people’s happiness when you show them your vision. From day one when I was just a photographer shooting photos with my iPhone. The feedback I got every time I posted a photo just made me feel so good and made other people feel good just from the photos! And now being a music video director to see people’s faces when they shoot their first music video or when they see the video they just get so bright and happy!
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
One thing I wished I knew when I started to become a music video director was take your time and enjoy every moment. When I came into the videography career I wanted to be big right off the bat. Literally would try and network into bigger events bigger clientele! Not knowing that I wasn’t enjoying my journey and taking my time. And that time came when I was on the news and just about everywhere in America! I was getting booked left and right and meeting bigger people to work with! I would rush projects and then cringe a day or so later because I felt like I could’ve did something better or this didn’t look right. Obviously ya know some projects had a deadline but overall I wish I would’ve known to take my time and enjoy the journey!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/owlvision/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@OwlVisionPC?si=LTk0TJlNSh9paqan
Image Credits
Doughboy Production Brad Osborn (Bradley Wayne Photography) ShotByShay Arissa Crain Photography Bekka Tracey Photography