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

Hi Trey, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned to do what I do from living life. I’m still learning now. I’m a lifelong student, and I still have a long way to go, Lord willing. Some of my favorite filmmakers are in their 70’s and 80’s. If I love something or someone, I prefer to love forever, and the long learning curve of cinematography was always very attractive to me.

Technically speaking, I enrolled in a summer program at the Maine Media Workshops. It was filmmaking all day and night. More than anything, I learned the work ethic of filmmaking. From there it was all online learning.

Besides living life, there is no way to speed up the process, in my opinion. I think that any form of art and creativity is God-given one day at a time. The more time we spend on relationships with people, the more we have to share through the art we get to do. I think questions and curiosity about your craft are more important than having all the answers. Live life, be patient, and keep going.

One thing that stands in the way of me growing as a cinematographer is too much cinematography. All my times of meaningful growth have come from living life, investing in friends, family, and walking with God daily. Whatever I have left to share overflows from there.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am not an expert, and I never will be. I’m a lifelong cinematography student. I’m a Christian, husband, and father, and I’m very grateful to be on the path I am!

I was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1978 and I have mixed feelings about being born in the 70’s. I made lifelong friends in Texas, some I still have from Kindergarten. Growing up, I didn’t realize that good friends don’t come easy

I enjoy working with people who love what they do, and who want to help others. If you believe God created you to do something, you should do it. You’ll never be better and more fulfilled by any other work. I love what I do, and love collaborating with others who put people and relationships over work and money.

My areas of work are in the commercial, corporate, and narrative space.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Every time I see the letters NFT, I think it’s a typo for NFL. I don’t have a strong view on NFT’s or the NFL. However, when I do think about the NFL, the first thing that comes to mind is that I will never play in the league. One time, I was working at a gym as a personal trainer, and an NFL linemen from the Jaguars told me I looked extra small that day. He was agitated because I made a joke about he and his teammates not re-racking their weights. He said how much do you weigh? I said 160. He said 160? His tone of voice implied that my body weight was pitiful. I thought 160 was great.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Yes! Seek the Lord daily, and invest in relationships! That’s the only journey I want to be on, and if cinematography is a part of that, amen!

Contact Info:

• Website: treyvollmer.com/dp
• Instagram: treyvollmerdp
• Facebook: Trey Vollmer – Director of Photography
• Linkedin: Trey Vollmer
• Youtube: treyvollmerDP