Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to William Stukes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi William, 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.
I started off taking photos as a hobby back when film was the standard, something I picked up from my father. Later on in the adult years I seen the direction photography was going in and was eager to learn so , I brought me a more up to date DSLR camera and began practicing on my friends and anything I thought would make a great photograph. Once I thought I was good enough and started booking gigs that’s when i stated my business AT YOUR SERVICE MEDIA. From there I really wanted to get into film making because of my love for film. After talking with a good friend of mine about my plan he suggested I get some professional education so I looked up a few schools online and decided to attend The Los Angeles Film School. While attending school i got the necessary tools, knowledge, and experience to really expand my business to something greater than I could have imagined. Prior to graduation I was able to offer services that I did not think to offer. After graduation in 2019 with my Bachelors of science in Digital Film and Digital Faking I opened my first photography/ film studio. I started working on different projects in the community with local bands, churches, the city of Florence. The things that got me to the place where I am today is my character, me being humble, education, doing the right thing, having healthy relationships, going above & beyond for clients and keeping myself in front of public so people can recognize who I am what it is that I do.
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.
My name is William Stukes a Queens New York native that has been living in Florence South Carolina for 12 years to date. I got into the business because my love for film & photography. Photography & film was something I picked up from my father, he always stayed one top of the new technology and trend. Because of him is where my love comes from, mainly because I was always around it.Later on in the adult years I seen the direction photography was going in and was eager to learn so , I brought me a more up to date DSLR camera and began practicing on my friends and anything I thought would make a great photograph. Once I thought I was good enough and started booking gigs that’s when i stated my business AT YOUR SERVICE MEDIA. From there I really wanted to get into film making because of my love for film. After talking with a good friend of mine about my plan he suggested I get some professional education so I looked up a few schools online and decided to attend The Los Angeles Film School. While attending school i got the necessary tools, knowledge, and experience to really expand my business to something greater than I could have imagined. Prior to graduation I was able to offer services that I did not think to offer. After graduation in 2019 with my Bachelors of science in Digital Film and Digital Faking I opened my first photography/ film studio. I started working on different projects in the community with local bands, churches, the city of Florence. The things that got me to the place where I am today is my character, me being humble, education, doing the right thing, having healthy relationships, going above & beyond for clients and keeping myself in front of public so people can recognize who I am what it is that I do. The thing i’m most proud is being able to sustain during the pandemic and being to survive in business post covid.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When the pandemic happened my business took a major hit. People were afraid to socialize in person, events were cancelling, clients who had sessions setup were canceling, and I was in frenzy not knowing what direction to go in. During this time one of my cousins had passed away and there was no service for him because NewYork City was locked down, this put me in a bad depressive state because I could not get any closure nor say my final farewell. During that week while I was sitting in my office thinking about my cousin I made a decision to not let anyone who could it have the same pain I was going through so I immediately started calling some of the funeral directors I had relationships with and offered live-streaming services that they could offer to the families that were grieving and giving them the option have this loved ones services streamed online so other family members who were out of state, confined to their homes, or could not make the service because of occupancy restraints be able to see their loved ones one last time.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Funding a business is one of the hardest things in my eyes. I had the initial investment by buying a camera while I was on my regular job a year prior. From there I made the camera work for me. I had the tool and a little bit of know how that could give me a pretty decent start. For a year I the money I made with the camera I saved and invested in more tools that could help me be more successful and eventually I stepped on on faith and opened up a photography studio so I could take things to the next level. The biggest part of my success is the fact that i wasn’t afraid to invest the money I was making back into the business to get help get me to that next level
Contact Info:
- Website: www.atyourservicemedia.com
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- Youtube: @atyourservicemedia7771