Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tristan Shannon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Tristan, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning to film and learning cinematography just a hobby that I developed a passion for after High School. I didn’t go to film school or take online classes to develop the skills necessary for video work. Instead I took to streaming shows and watching movies that I liked and just thinking what I liked about them. After watching films and shows I already adored, it helped me exercise my mental artistry and then it was just a matter of translating that into practical knowledge. Finding YouTube tutorials on how to create a certain “look” or finding the different styles an artist in cinematography can take on was a tremendous help in learning what I like and don’t like about an image.

With the basic knowledge of photography and having a little real world experience under my belt after working a couple of senior shoots, getting photos & videos for bands during shows, and going on a few trips with my camera I was finally feeling the courage and the confidence to take on bigger projects and bigger gigs.

My learning was forged in real world experience and having the confidence to be okay with failing if it meant I could try.

Knowing what I know now, the biggest thing I could have done to make the learning process more efficient was to just create more. Create more, create more often, create differently, create with people, or just create alone.
To me, nothing beats the real experience and knowledge you can gain from immersing yourself in your craft.
I understand that some people it will look differently, being able to push yourself more into your art can be easier said than done. But you can turn the simple act of watching your favorite comfort show and watching it with an artist’s eye to be a great first step.

Being open for inspiration to come from anywhere works wonders for a creative looking to do more with their art. There’s a certain threshold when it comes to art and doing art where all of the theory can only do so much. Reading, watching, and experiencing art is great! However, the best thing you can when it comes to filming is going out and filming. Finding the balance between what you know looks good about an image and going out and matching that shot or creating something like that image is an integral skill for filming. This is something that, as a cinematographer, is what drives a lot of the motivation behind filmmaking for me. Always finding the next thing that inspires you to go out and create is the bread and butter of what drives me to film!

The only thing that stood between me and doing more for my filmmaking was finding motivation and knowing when I need a break. What I experienced after bouncing back from 2020 was I was so deprived of filming how I used to, the moment I really got back into the swing of things I was just exhausted. There were a lot of weddings that needed to be filmed last year. I was feeling so burnt out that I didn’t make time or even have the mental energy to film the personal projects I was originally sooo excited to film. Once I jumped into filmmaking full time again I gave more than I had. Pushing past my limits truly hindered my ability to create regularly and I really felt a loss of motivation which in turn stopped me from learning more and experimenting on my personal projects. I loved every wedding I was able to film last year and I’m truly grateful for the opportunities I had! But I can’t help but feel like I missed out on growing as a cinematographer because I ignored my limits.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello! My name is Tristan Shannon and I’m a cinematographer currently filming in and around the St. Louis area and beyond. I film mostly weddings, but I also have a passion for music so filming music videos is also a ton of fun. As of late, I have started focusing on corporate filming or branding videos. That ranges from interviews, company product videos, corporate events, and promotional videos for brands or services.

My company and I specialize in promotion and documentation through a creative and client focused mindset. We are proud to provide a professional yet easygoing production environment and dedicate ourselves to provide compelling stories or a stellar promotional videos.

We seek to know the individuals that are behind the brand and behind the narrative to produce a people centric experience.

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

When I think about my art and my journey as a creative individual, nothing as been more rewarding than sharing the stories and the people that I get to capture in filming. When I finish an edit and piece their story together there’s such a fulfilling experience to finally hit send and wait for their response because of what it means for them to see their vision come to life!

If it’s a wedding they’ll remember the good times I was able to bring back to them because the wedding day flew by! They get to share the memories their friends, families, and others that couldn’t be there with them.

If it’s a music artist, they get to see their song be experienced though video and not just audio. Being able to show their story instead of just telling it is so powerful to me. It’s truly a delight to help people feel visually represented.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

During the earlier years of my filmmaking, what I lacked in “work” experience I made up for in my “personal” experience. By that, I mean I was a person first. I made sure I was someone that people truly enjoyed my company, and in turn that helped my build a reputation just being a great person first and then a great filmmaker second.

I would try to strike up meaningful conversations with anyone I might be working with at the time. Having a people focused work environment, in my experience, really means a lot to me and my reputation in the film industry/wedding industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tsvisualarts.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/tsvisualarts.cr2/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/tsvisualarts.cr2
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCigk9RI9_eEjuysCQCoLLag

Image Credits
All images are screen grabs from my personal video portfolio.