Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Lopez.
Hi Evan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Well… It all started with my upraising. I was homeschooled as a kid which actually translates into.. I was a feral child who spent most of his days in the backyard, running around chasing pigeons and playing with dirt clods. You may be wondering… What does this have to do with video production? Well from a young age I was forced to be creative and tell stories just to entertain myself which has translated into always looking at video production as an outlet to tell a story in a unique way. I have always been a storyteller and have enjoyed making music, doing comedy & creating short films. How I started my production company was I was flying my drone around a pool my buddy was swimming in and someone stopped me and asked me if I did it professionally. With a negative bank account, I responded with “Of course I do.” Somehow that got me into a phone call with a marketing agency that wanted to meet in the morning, so I drove fast and furious style home and created my first website and came up with my business name overnight. The company worked with casinos, so I made a pit stop at Toys-R-us and got a poker kit to take some shots of to add to my “portfolio” that I was conjuring up out of my imagination. Somehow, I convinced this guy to let me work with him and the rest is a history of learning on the job and learning from every mistake to try not to repeat them.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think when ya do anything in the creative field, there is always challenges. You make a lot of mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them and make sure they never happen again. I once filmed a job that I completely underpriced and was at a dance studio for 10 hours taking photos of classes. I ran out of space on my camera’s SD card and still had a couple of hours left. I spent the next two hours nervously pretending to photograph dancers and get more shots. The great thing is I took about 5,000 pictures for this job which was completely overkill since I only quoted 75 final shots. You live and learn.
Struggles are what make the great moments great. They are terrible when they are happening, but you learn the most from them. I mentioned I do standup comedy as well. I once bombed so bad on stage being unprepared and just being new at comedy that I literally did not sleep that night. I spent the whole night cringing and thinking about every person’s face as I sweated and bombed. It was like a sauna in there… I lost at least three pounds of sweat. But from that mistake of not being prepared, I made sure I always was focused and prepared before every gig. This applies to all aspects of my life. I don’t care if it is a video production job, comedy gig or even a barbecue. I’m gonna be ready. Especially if its a bbq
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I like to think that I am a visual storyteller. I love to sit with an individual or business and see what their story is and why they are different from everyone else. I think most businesses that are successful sometimes have an identity problem where they are marketing themselves to appear a certain way. But the truth is they need to just tell their story and showcase the value of what they do, and the authenticity comes through. I am proud that I went against the grain and have always bet on myself. I left nursing school with a bachelor’s degree, and everyone thought I was a fool for walking away from what would be a great career. I just knew whatever I did with my life, I had to be in control of it and get to utilize creativity. I am proud I made it through the rough waters (still is hard) and uncertainty of just starting and have slowly my own ship that can handle the waves of life. (#deep)
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was a bit of a feral child. I was homeschooled and spent most of my time hanging in the backyard playing with pigeons. I would dress up as a cat and try to scare the mailman. That was just my regular Tuesday.
Growing up, I really enjoyed any creative outlet like writing, acting & sports. I remember vividly thinking as a kid when I started hearing about careers, I thought I don’t fit into that box. I remember saying out loud, “I don’t think I could ever have a briefcase.” For some reason, that’s what I thought being an adult with a career is. Young Evan would be happy to know we still have never owned a briefcase.
Contact Info:
- Website: Stellarrootsmedia.com
- Instagram: @IamEvanLopez
Image Credits
Evan Lopez
