We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ray Roman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ray, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

I came up with the idea to expand my video production services to include aerial drone photography and videography when business dried up a bit. Being a full-time video creator isn’t as fun or easy as some might assume. You’re always networking, and searching for your next gig. Expanding my business to include drone services wasn’t necessarily an original idea — in fact, it was a must do. When it comes to real estate photography, you can’t just be the photographer… you have to be the full package which includes photographer, videographer, and also drone photographer, and videographer. There’s a lot that goes into it but I’ve always managed to learn a skill and add it to my arsenal, whether it be drone photo/video, 360º photo/video or your standard photo/video services.

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

I began my journey into the video production industry in the year 2000. At first it was a learning process, I was a student. Early on I captured family/friends weddings, and events. By the year 2005 I was hired to shoot a short film for local film director Earl Hamilton Jr. This led me to have a conversation with actor/comedian Faizon Love regarding a commercial/promotional video about a product. Unfortunately, I was not hired on as a cinematographer for that project but this taught me a valuable lesson regarding business. Although I didn’t get the job, I learned early on about pre-production meetings, and how planning/scheduling is apart of the creative process too.

As the years went on I perfected my craft as a video editor and began to edit various types of content such as commercials, interviews, and documentaries. In 2013 I teamed up with David Kano, the host of The Hollywood MMA Show as a producer, editor, and videographer working cageside at various MMA promotions. Years later we worked on a film documentary covering concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy in sports. It was during this time circa 2017 where I began to learn how to fly a drone.

For me the most exciting thing about being a video creator is learning new tools and how to incorporate them in future projects with new clients. Learning how to fly a drone took some years of experimenting how to capture a good shot, or film a video worth using. In 2019 I got my FAA Part 107 drone license and began my journey as a drone operator.

In the real estate business, brokerage companies, brokers, and agents are looking for a jack of all trades when it comes to digital media. You must be the photographer, videographer, drone operator, and of course editor — in order to keep the jobs coming!

As the full saying goes, “a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Full credit to whomever said that!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When filming the documentary “Concussed: The American Dream” — we filmed over 75+ interviews, many times within the same day, across 30+ states in just a few weeks time. It definitely took resilience and a passion to travel, setup, and capture the life stories of various athletes, doctors, and others whom were affected by chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It’s something I put my all into and hope one day others can hear all those stories we captured once the documentary is distributed.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

At least for the first 10 years a video creator I was on my own learning every aspect of filmmaking. I wish there were resources such as the YouTube channel Film Courage way back in the early 2000s when I began learning video production. Thankfully the up and coming video creators have a handful of resources to learn from across the internet. I encourage those who want to create to just do it (simply said) with whatever tools you’ve got. You only learn by doing and that’s something I’ve been working on for 22 years now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rayromandrones.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/rayromandrones
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/rayromanmedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayroman
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rayromanmedia
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/rayromanmedia
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4203056/