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

Steven, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The biggest risk I took was towards the beginning of my journey making videos when I put all of my money into my camera and lighting equipment. At the time I was a senior in highschool and I had an old Cannon rebel T5 as my only camera and no lights. I wasn’t making any money off videos at the time, so I knew that doing this could backfire, but I also knew that I wanted to take my craft to the next level and that the only way to do that was to upgrade and to actually invest into myself. I ended up doing some research and bought a sony A600 as my second camera and 3 RGB lights to go along with it. I didn’t know it at the time, but this would end up being the best decision I had made up to that point because shortly after I started seeing profit off of my videos and would end going a lot further than I originally thought.

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 am an 18 year old cinematographer/ photographer from Detroit, MI that specialize in music videos and sports. I got started making music videos around 2 years ago with local artist around the city and I feel like my creative use of effects along with my unique style is what sets me apart from other directors in Detroit. I’m very proud of the brand and reputation that I’ve built not only in Detroit but across the country. The main thing I want people to know about me is that I try my best to make every video unique and interesting in it’s own right and I strive to improve with every video I put out.

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

For me, the most rewarding part of being a creative is having an idea in your head and seeing that idea actually manifest into something physical that you can share with the world. It’s still crazy to see myself actually make videos that I enjoy and that other people like. The entire process is fun to me no doubt, but seeing that final product and being able to share that with the others is always going to be the most rewarding part to me.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Honestly, building an audience on social media may be one of the hardest aspects of being a creative in my opinion. I say that because it’s not always about how good your work is; sometimes the algorithm just does not work in your favor. I’ve put out plenty of videos that I felt like were great but that never got the recognition it deserves. For me, it was just about staying consistent and trying to be in peoples feed as much as possible. Obviously don’t post too much, but I truly believe that if someone is seeing you in their feed consistently they will have no choice but to interact with your page at some point.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenvisualz/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVKPmucELdfdtBVcV5KC7qQ

Image Credits
Tflickss Adé