Today we’d like to introduce you to Julian Smith.
Hi Julian, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Portland Oregon then in 2014, I moved to Texas to pursuit college swimming at Southwestern University up in Georgetown. I ended up only being there for a year before ultimately moving back to Oregon and finishing school there. I decided moved back to Austin in 2019 because I stayed connected with some friends I made at Southwestern and have been here since. I guess to speak more to my creative journey, funny enough I never really considered myself much of a creative individual because I spent most of my life focused on sports. It wasn’t until after college I felt like I had the time and space to explore those areas of myself. That being said, photography was something I got into in HS. I took a couple of B&W film photography classes and I learned how to work in a dark room in the process (shout out to my teacher Cristy). I think those years working in a dark room is one of the reasons I love the process of shooting film photography today, in many ways I think that’s where most of my passion for photography lives. I love having your hands on the entire process and there’s something very satisfying and empowering about that. Post high school, the times I found myself exploring photography the most was while traveling. I had the opportunity to live abroad after college to teach English in France and I spent a lot of time doing street photography. To be real though, after all that time taking photos, I wouldn’t say I ever really took the craft seriously or challenged myself in any real ways until I moved to Austin in 2019. I connected with one of my close friends who I swam with at Southwestern, who is also an artist, Moni’ye. After some conversations post college, we found ourselves aligning creatively and both wanted to commit further to our crafts and agreed we could help each other get there, so that’s what we did. He put out his first mixtape and full-length project and I had the honor of doing a lot of the photography promo for those rollouts as well as the project covers. I think this gave me the opportunity to experiment and learn a lot about my creative process with someone who trusted me. I’d say after these experiences, I started to find a style and in turn, this brought new opportunities to work with other artists and small brands in my community. And now I find myself being a very committed person of my craft. The turning point for me was in 2019, I came up with the name Wellcaptured for my brand and created a logo identity that I now use for all my creative avenues.
Outside of photography, I think I’ve always had a strong love and admiration for music and the music process. I grew up taking piano lessons which I wasn’t always committed to and stopped in HS, but music has always just been there for me. I lean on music for my best days and my not so great days. In college, I really started expanding my music palette and I think it was my Jr. year that I was introduced to Soulection. Soulection really opened my eyes to the craft of music curation and sparked my interest in DJing. Post college, when I moved abroad, I purchased my first controller. I taught myself how to use it, recorded a few mixes and put them up on Soundcloud, but that was the extent of it. Later when I moved to Austin, I would mostly DJ at the house during kickbacks, before Darius (“Thereheis”) and myself, started our radio show as an extension of Hubbledvision called Astrolab. This was all during the pandemic so we would live stream our mixes on Twitch and Instagram live, then put the recordings up on Soundcloud afterwards. When things started opening up, I have been given more opportunities to DJ at local bars, clubs and events. And within the last few months Astrolab got its first residency at Oseyo which we play at every Thursday. Another big piece to my growth was starting Spektrum alongside my homegirl Bambi. Although I still feel very new to the craft of DJing, one of the biggest lasting impacts for me was going to Stefon Osae’s CDJ workshop.
The last piece that has been a large part of my creative journey is Hubbledvision, which we started in June of 2020. We focus on highlighting different creatives and people within our community every month through our different segments. This has been extremely influential on my time here in Austin and is one of the primary reasons I feel connected to this city and the people.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think I would consider my road smooth, but I do feel like I’ve experienced pretty consistent growth and opportunities, so I’m grateful for that. It’s funny to think back to what my challenges looked like two years ago versus today and they do feel drastically different. At first, I was just trying to meet other people, build and foster connections while figuring out who I can and can’t work with. I didn’t have a portfolio or even a website at the time, so it didn’t feel like I had much ground to stand on when I wanted to collaborate with other creatives. Outside of those, I believe a lot of the struggles I’ve faced have been individualized mental barriers.
I kind of think through these past couple of years in phases. Phase 1, was just taking ownership of this, what I believed to be new, part of my identity. It took a lot of me to claim myself as a “creative” or “photographer” and now “DJ”. Today, I feel like I’m in my Phase 2, where I’m working on putting out more passion projects and exercising my voice to tell the stories I believe need to be heard. I’m discovering my purpose for why I create and building a circle of people around me that are equally committed to their crafts and push me to be at my best.
The last thing, which I believe will always be a struggle, no matter what phase I am in, is to not get intimidated by the process and or the craft. I remember so many times where I tried to learn a new thing, then realized that it’s a lot more challenging and time-consuming than the 5-10 minute YouTube video led me onto believe. It’s been a shift mentally coming from sports where if I worked hard and remained disciplined, I saw pretty consistent results. The creative journey to me feels significantly less linear and I’m realizing I have to be a lot more patient and accepting of the process.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I would say I’m primarily known for my photography and DJing, but on a high level, I view myself as a storyteller. I specialize in curating visual or auditory stories through the mediums of photography and music. I really pride myself on my ability to collaborate with others while always maintaining the vision to create timeless and authentic work. Outside of myself, I’m very proud of the work we do as apart of Hubbledvision. We strive really hard to make other creatives feel seen and heard in our community and hope to tell the stories you wouldn’t otherwise know about. That has easily been some of the most fulfilling work I’ve done since being here in Austin because it also feels so much larger than myself. I truly love the process of connecting and supporting other creatives in my community.
On a personal level, all of the work that I feel the most proud of have the collaborative projects both in photography and DJing. I’m extremely proud of the cover art that I’ve made for different artists, I love knowing that those visuals will live as long as the music does. Musically, I’m always proud of the moments that I’ve been able to curate a space where people feel like themselves and danced just because of the music I played.
What I believe sets me apart from others is my deep desire and hunger to learn. I really try to approach every situation and interaction with the mentality that I should remain humble and be a student to the craft. And I’m always working on striking the balance between soaking up game from my peers and being confident in what I bring to the table.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
To be honest, it feels like most of my lessons have come during this time because I had only been living in Austin for about nine months before everything shut down and my priorities shifted quickly when it did. I think this experience has forced me to slow down, look inward and ask myself where I truly want to be investing my time and energy. It has allowed for me to put more time into myself and my interests and removed the social guilt of not going out etc. I feel like I’ve also just had the time and space to think about the bigger picture because this creative stuff is what I want to be doing with my life long term. I think many creative people will agree that your personal struggles can often go hand in hand with your creative ones. As I touched on earlier, pre-pandemic I struggled with being vulnerable and at times with self-confidence, but throughout the last couple years, I’ve had more chances to grow and build a stronger relationship with myself and those close to me.
Some experiences that really stand out are when me and my close friends would regularly sit around our dining room table being creative and sharing our work with each other. We didn’t experience any FOMO because everyone was chillin at the house too. I think this environment created a strong sense of accountability that pushed me to be more committed to my creative pursuits. These round table moments brought consistency to all of our lives and was really the foundation of Hubbledvision. It brought a larger purpose to what we were doing and I attribute this time directly to the reason I’m here today. Now that social events have become a little more common, I realize how important that time was to my creative journey. My routine today consists of leaving my home multiple times a week for an event I’m putting on or to go and support my friends. What I realize is there is always going to be something encouraging you to get you out of the house. But I’ve learned how important it is to allocate proper time to be at home because ultimately where the work gets done. It’s where you perfect your craft.
Contact Info:
- Email: wellcaptured.js@gmail.com
- Website: wellcapturedjs.com
- Instagram: @wellcapturedjs
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/wellcapturedjs
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDMzW_if3MkOtApPH370eIw
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hubbledvision
- Other: https://hubbledvision.com
Image Credits
1. Wellcaptured Logo (Graphic Designer – IG: @ty_palmer_cv), 2. “Motions” Project Cover – Uncommon People (IG: @uncommon.ppl) , 3. “MAAD” Collage – Metallic Forrest and Moni’ye (IG: @metallic_forrest, @sonofyoni), 4. “Gianne” Cover Shoot – Gianne (IG: @darluhh) 5. “Re-Puposed” apart of E(ART)H Exhibit (Model: @breecass, Videographer: @desfordesiree, Stylist: @soyellaella, 2nd Photographer: @Leah.creative) 6. Photocredit – @desfordesiree 7. Produce Portland Lookbook – @produceportland (Models: @kaiyalea, @sajjadalrikabi) 8. Photocredit – @desfordesiree
