Investing In Relationships, Checklists to Show Your Improving, and Filming Runners Professionally with Brady Keegan

In this podcast episode, we talk with Brady Keegan (@bradykeegs), a videographer and photographer specializing in documenting athlete runners and helping to create, edit, and publish their content. 

Brady, a dedicated listener of the podcast since its inception, brought a great energy as he joined us to share his journey. We were thrilled to hear how his commitment to nurturing meaningful connections, combined with his continually improving  skillset, has propelled him to the heights of success he is currently enjoying.

Brady takes us through the process of leaving behind the comfort of a corporate position and embracing the world of freelance photography and videography head on. We delve deep into what it takes to take that leap of faith. Moreover, Brady shares his exciting collaborations with running influencers such as Matt Choi, Jeremy Miller, and Pierce Showe. From conception to completion, we gain invaluable insights into the intricate process of creating compelling content for these individuals, both on the front and back end.

You can find links to Brady's work by clicking this link:  https://bio.site/bradykeegs

If you're listening on Spotify you can now interact with us directly by typing your thoughts, opinions, or questions in the Q & A section. We read them and publish them. It's a great way to make these episodes more of a two way conversation so be sure to add your two cents after each episode!

Thanks to Tamron Americas for being our lead sponsor this episode! You can check out their website below to see their full lineup of camera lenses or visit your nearest photo retailer to purchase their products:
https://tamron-americas.com/

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Thanks for listening!
Go get shooting, go get editing, and stay focused.

@sethmacey
@mantis_photography
@thephotographermindset

Transcript

INTRO:

00:00.00
smacey
Welcome back to another episode of the photographer mindset podcast I'm your co-host Seth Macey what do we do on the show Aaron if it's your first time listening?

00:06.71
aaronmannes
Um, and I'm your co-host Aaron Manis what do we do on the wow you're putting me on the spot once again, no prep nothing but I should know right now or by now. Ah. What do we do on the show we you know we talk photography we talk videoography videoography fix that Dax we talk videoography. Ah but more than that we talk about the mindset of a creator. We talk about the mindset of anyone trying to I think better. Life in any aspect that they they wish to we use photography as the the vehicle in that as the analogy as the example often, but we get into a lot of different things. So if you're looking to better your photography skills. Your. Video skills or even any aspect of your life. This podcast could be very much for you.

01:01.29
smacey
Yeah, absolutely and if you believe that building a better attitude and more resilient mind plays into becoming a better videographer photographer or whatever hint it does in my humble opinion then you're definitely definitely in the right place and today we had on. Brady Keegan who we originally I think I mentioned this in the intro Brady and I connected because he started off as a listener of the show and made the jump into a full-time ah creator photographer videographer which is very cool. We talk a bit about making that leap of faith in this episode. And flash forward to Today. He is filming Youtube content for a lot of big running influencers. You know in the running community and working on a full-length ultra marathon documentary. So very cool stuff. We talk in this episode about the importance of networking you know how. People are going to hire. Not necessarily the best person they're going to hire the person that they they get along with who's personable who happens to be great at what they do I think we talk about you know following opportunity and we talk about following your passions when you're queue in when you're when you're nerding out to something or when you're becoming obsessed with something because. You know if you follow that that topic or that sport or whatever it happens to be that you're obsessed with you're going to. You're going to really love it and I think we we also talked about um our measuring stick to to show that we're progressing you know and whether that's.

02:31.44
smacey
On paper sort of in our head and you you even brought up ah queuing in on when we're maybe going backwards and not being our best self and it's it's important to catch that before it gets out of hands.  So let's not talk too much longer about the episode. Let's just get right into it but first and and it that out but first a message from our sponsor.

INTERVIEW:

00:00.00
aaronmannes
The person that hates the cat is the person that the cat goes straight to right? Yeah I'm allergic. Yeah a cat never likes people. Yeah how it does.

00:03.12
Brady
Oh yeah, 10 times out 10

00:04.49
smacey
Um, always yeah and puffy eyes.

00:08.80
Brady
Yeah done for.

00:14.65
smacey
Amazing. That's Aaron did you get your? um you get your anti-cat statements out of the way.

00:21.51
aaronmannes
Um, listen I'm all 4 cats I'm just saying they're they're interesting creatures.

00:24.53
smacey
Brady what's going on man.

00:38.43
Brady
Hey how's it going guys.

00:41.91
smacey
It's ah it's good to I Guess would you call it a reconnect.

00:46.10
Brady
I would say So yeah, it's ah it's been a while since we talked lass is super cool to actually be on the other side of ah the show.

00:53.21
smacey
Right? It was one of those things where you I think we first got connected when you had your old Instagram handle Mountain Trail coffee if I recall I think that's what it was ah, you're listening.

00:58.61
Brady
Yes.

01:05.18
smacey
To the show early on and we sort of chatted through there and then there was one of those instances where like 1 or 2 wo years goes by and then you reconnect with someone. We've all had that experience and you know what you're up, you started popping up on my newsfeed. You've been working with a lot of Would you call them running influencers. What would be the proper terminology. What like? Okay, what's a better word. Can we think of a better 1 running advocates lifestyle advocates.

01:22.54
Brady
Yeah, yeah I hate hate that I word. But yeah influencers. I Mean that there honestly isn't ats Yeah, that's that sounds more professional like if it's on resume. So Yeah there we go.

01:38.32
aaronmannes
Um, that's nice. Ah, that's a pretty way of saying it.

01:39.68
smacey
You know I mean all right there we go running lifestyle advocates so that so you know we got reconnected that was showing up on my my newsfeed Instagram knew what to feed me I'm big into running Aaron is too and I think would. Be a great episode today to sort of hear about how you went from where you were at 2 three years ago into what you're up to now you were talking about a lot of cool stuff off the record and we always tell tell our guests to refrain in the in the briefing before we press record to get too much into what we're going to talk about today because. Always sounds best the first time through. So I appreciate you not not flying off the handles and going right into the story but where would be a good place to start maybe back when we were first connecting where was life at for you. It was just after the pandemic. Ah, you know what were you up to family wise career wise and then let's kind of roll into present day. What do you think the beginning a flash of light Brady Kagan was born that far back.

02:36.91
Brady
Yeah, you know it's sold. Do you and better I'm going to start from the beginning. Um, yeah, so boom he he was bored with a camera in his hand. No um, no, but I do want to touch on that. So.

02:37.95
aaronmannes
Um, yes, do me.

02:50.45
Brady
You know I always like to talk about like how I got into photography um literally as long as I could remember as early is you know as young as I was my parents would always give me disposable cameras. You know the old like Kodak or fuji film disposable cameras like I grew up just like.

03:03.47
smacey
Right.

03:05.27
aaronmannes
Um.

03:08.60
Brady
Running through those and my parents would go and get those developed and you know that's kind of like what sparked my passion so throughout growing up in my early adult years I always had a camera with me but I never like took it seriously I just looked at it as something fun to do. So when Covid hit that's when um, you know I started taking photos of products around my house and I'm like Wow this is pretty cool. This would be fun if I could actually do this for a job one day I was posting the products online and tagging a bunch of brands and then.

03:37.46
smacey
And.

03:44.37
Brady
Very quickly on brands that were starting to contact me to either license of photos or have me actually shoot new products I haven't had before and that just like snowballed into the point where somehow I felt confident enough to apply for a corporate product photography gig with no. Real experience somehow? Um, and I got a job very quickly on and I was doing corporate product photography for I guess about ten months and oh my god I learned so much doing that just in terms of lighting technique. Um, how to shape the light around products how to actually photograph different products that might be like cylindrical where light kind of falls off and makes it blurry. So I just fell in love with that. What I didn't fall in love was working for a corporation and i.

04:28.45
smacey
Right.

04:39.79
Brady
Found out pretty quickly that it kind of sucked all the creativity out of being a photographer while I was grateful to actually be using my camera every single day for a living I just kind of hit a wall pretty quickly where it was just kind of. Click a button Click a button move the product click a button so it it wasn't like the lifestyle side of photography. It was all the catalog stuff. So if it was more on the lifestyle that might have been different but because it was ah just catalog shoots every day It just got old quickly and I decided to take a leap of faith.

05:09.28
smacey
A.

05:15.20
Brady
Go full-time freelance. Um, at that point I lasted maybe um, maybe three or four months full-time freelance um and it was a little bit of a struggle because at that point it was going into the holidays. So the market was hot. There was lots of people looking for freelance photographers and then I hit the first of the year and then it was just steep fall off and nobody was looking for for work. So um.

05:47.48
Brady
I ended up getting connected with a good friend of mine and he's a tech youtuber John Redinger not sure if you guys know who he is but um, he saw what I was doing on the photo and video side and actually offered me to talk with his team and ah see if I want to position on the the Youtube team.

06:04.90
smacey
A.

06:06.79
Brady
Um I ended up getting the position and I've been working with ah Jfl and John Redinger for the past I guess I'm going on 2 years with them now. Um, so with them I'm doing scripting I'm you know doing some Youtube filming doing a lot of the social short form stuff. Um, just kind of a mix of everything which is super cool. Um, but the great thing about this job is they're very encouraging of flexing your creative wings even outside the company. So honestly like I have.

06:39.72
Brady
So much time outside the company which I'm very grateful for to allow me to expand my personal side and see what I want to create on my own and that's kind of what led me to the opportunity to making running content. Um. So story with that is my best friend Chris out here in la and he's kind of like pseudo businessiness partner. He decided to take a leap and move to Austin Texas two years ago Austin is very notorious for their fitness communities. A lot of fitness influencers are based out of Austin. And he got linked up with the one and only Matt Choi so Chris started a film for Matt Choi and um Chris is very yeah so Matt is at the time he was an up and coming running influencer. He was making a bunch of content about.

07:19.78
smacey
And who is Matt joy for people who don't know.

07:31.68
Brady
Health wellness running how to get started doing marathons and it was pretty early on when I met him. Um he did have about I think Ninety Thousand subscribers when I met him on Youtube and I don't know maybe probably about the same in terms of Instagram following. And he was just kind of trying to figure out his direction with content especially on Youtube so I hopped in and I started doing all the video editing format so Chris would film the footage send it to me I would edit it. Um, since then over the the past I guess close to 2 years um, I've kind of taken over those reigns Chris has since Left Matt and has been just filming on per project basis. But I've been actually going around um to marathons with Matt Filming and I'm pretty much in charge of his entire Youtube channel so I'm not talking like thumbnail creation seo. Title caption and then the the Youtube video itself even down to like project planning and analytics like literally everything that you could think for Youtube kind of touching. So yes, it's kind of cool being in that like creative director in you know.

08:37.58
smacey
Right.

08:47.41
Brady
Account manager position with Matt it's led me to a whole bunch of different opportunities I've shown my face in a few of the videos before just like being being involved in it and it's actually led me to meet other creators such as Jeremy Miller so

09:03.15
smacey
Um, right.

09:05.80
Brady
Yeah, so I followed Jeremy once I discovered him he followed me back right away because he recognized me from Matt and he's like hey I see you're from Southern California I'm going to be in Southern California next week running the orange County Marathon do you want to come out and film. It. So it's just like perfect serendipity of. You know we got connected the week before he was out here in California and then that led to um, a pretty good relationship in terms of editing videos from there. Um, one of the more notable videos he did was he paced the tahoo 200 for this guy Pierce Shao so I edited that video for Jeremy and it was just a v lot. Yeah, the tahoe 200 so it is um, one of the triple crown races is a 240 mile foot race which is mind blowing to me.

09:43.34
smacey
Interrupting you? What's that before? what's that for people who don't know as well. Yeah.

09:57.58
Brady
Remember before I got into before I got into running I thought running a marathon was crazy and then somehow now the standard is hundred mile races two hundred mile races it is just maddening how yeah so.

10:07.46
smacey
Wild.

10:09.57
aaronmannes
And what's pacing I assume it's it's just running people want to you're going so far you want to run at a certain clip and you need people to just run that 6 minute a 7 minute mile whatever it is in front of you.

10:16.87
Brady
Yeah.

10:24.50
Brady
Well so not even that fast. So once you get over you know the fifty mile range so if you're talking hundred to two hundred mile races like most of these these runs are a run hike so you're looking at.

10:34.29
aaronmannes
Um, mother.

10:36.72
aaronmannes
Um, you are.

10:40.26
Brady
12 to 20 minute miles honestly, so the goal of the pacer is honestly to help your runner get to the finish because after so many miles you you actually start to hallucinate from what I've been told. So these pacers are here literally to push you over to the edge because there's so much. Solitude, there's so much going on in terms of your brain nutrition just hitting that peak of exhaustion. So yeah, the pacers are there literally to push you to the end and make sure you get there alive which is wild.

10:55.81
smacey
Ah.

11:01.72
aaronmannes
Are.

11:11.23
aaronmannes
Um, Wow So are they doing the whole are they doing the whole race or is it broken up for them in sections.

11:13.37
Brady
Um.

11:13.46
smacey
Um, okay.

11:18.13
Brady
Yeah, yeah, they they kind of break it up into sections so on this project I did with Pierce which I'll talk about um he had I think a total of 8 different pacers over the course of two hundred and forty miles so yeah they did they just kind of rotate in There's a whole lot of logistics I go into it. It's honestly kind of crazy. Yeah, so um, so I edited the tahoe 200 video for Jeremy where he was pacing Pierce and Pierce ended up liking it so much watching it back that he hit me up.

11:37.89
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

11:48.50
aaronmannes
Um, well.

11:54.17
Brady
He said hey um, that video you did for Jeremy where I ran the tahoe 200 that was actually the first of 3 that I'm doing and I'm I'm on track to be the youngest to complete what's called the triple crown of two hundred s it's the tahoe 200 bigfoot 200 and then it culminates with the Moab Utah 240 mile race and he said I want to create a documentary for this completion if I complete it whether I do or don't like I want it to be documented so we ended up coming up with a game plan. And yeah I went out to Moab. Ah. But a week and a half ago in finish up that project and saw pierce through the end for his 240 mile race where he became the youngest person in history to complete the triple crown of 200 so it was quite an experience. 22 years old.

12:44.19
smacey
Um, how young.

12:46.37
aaronmannes
Wow.

12:46.85
smacey
Most Ultra runners are in their forty s fifty s just because it takes that long to build up the mental resilience from what I've heard.

12:48.70
Brady
Yeah, yes, yes, most everybody out there was 40 plus which was very wild to see everyone was blown away that pierce was out there doing at at that age.

13:04.57
smacey
Incredible. So that's from you, you really did do us 1 extra from beginning to now and I have so many questions and I don't know where to begin. Ah I think first question because I make mental notes as we're as we're going along here.

13:05.29
Brady
Yeah.

13:13.56
Brady
Ah, we better choose.

13:20.20
smacey
Ah, you mentioned you left the the corporate job I always my ears always perk up when someone says leap of faith because I think it's really true. Some individuals are much they find it much easier to. So I'm going to do that leap of faith while others freeze and can't seem to make it what's going through your head in a leap of faith moment I mean did you have young kids at this point did you have a family to support. You know what do you? You know? What are you thinking? What's allowing you to. Have forward center of mass as Andrew Huberman would call it. You know, moving forward looking forward.

13:57.58
Brady
Love it. Yeah so I did have my daughter my oldest daughter at the time she was I believe 3 years old and she's six now. So this is about three years ago and yeah it it was definitely hard because.

14:09.10
smacey
A.

14:16.55
Brady
Had a concrete job with you know, steady paycheck and I kind of had to just take that risk and jump straight into it. Um, the 1 thing I did have going for me I was previously in the military so I did have va benefits as kind of like a.

14:34.58
Brady
Ah, cushion as a justesting case like if I fail for a month um I at least have something to rely on so I'm I'm grateful for that and that was definitely a selling factor for me making the jump but more so it was just I had to believe in myself and had to do it because if.

14:42.15
smacey
Um, right.

14:53.21
Brady
I wasn't 100% for myself then no one else would be so I just I had to just do it. You know.

15:01.70
smacey
Um, totally totally Aaron you want to jump in or can I keep going all right dex you can edit that out. Um, another question I would have is so it's not really a question but rather it seems that well you know what? maybe it is a question.

15:05.50
aaronmannes
Um, ah, keep going keep going.

15:18.98
smacey
You know it seems like 1 thing is leading to another right throughout this story. You've just told are you? what's the balance between actively seeking out opportunity like hey I'm going to knock down some I'm gonna go knocking on doors breaking through barriers versus I'm just going to kind of follow my nose does that question make sense.

15:35.28
Brady
Yeah, totally um, another thing that I'm very grateful for is I haven't had to actively seek out too many opportunities. Um, in part of that I might say I'm lucky right? place right? time. But I think a lot of it has to do with networking. Um. I'm just not afraid to talk to everybody I meet when out on gigs or even online on social media. So. It's kind of granted me the opportunity to I guess be in that right place right time just because I'm connecting with the right people so um if anybody's listening it. My. Biggest takeaway from this entire journey is do not be afraid to get out there and just talk to people talk to people that are you know bigger than you in terms of what you're doing people in the niche for where you're trying to move into even people that are you know quote unquote lower than you in the industry. Just. Talking with everybody and just networking you don't know where that's going to propel you and that I think is the biggest factor for me, kind of jumping from spot to spot to spot because you know if you look at historically like my biggest clients like I got connected with Matt because i.

16:41.26
smacey
And.

16:49.50
Brady
Had my buddy Chris that moved out there and he knew my skill set I then got connected with Jeremy because Jeremy knew me from Matt I then got connected with pierce for the documentary because of Jeremy and granted there was a lot of like smaller gigs in between that but those are like the larger scale ones and the more notable ones. So I mean it's all just from networking. So.

17:00.52
smacey
Here.

17:06.83
smacey
Right? But no, it does and and and I love hearing you talk about that because there will be hopefully not too many people listening just.

17:08.98
Brady
Yeah I I don't know if any of that made sense. But that yeah.

17:22.13
smacey
Based on the principles we preach on this show but maybe a lot of other individuals who would say oh you got lucky all he knows somebody who are you know and what people forget and what I constantly love to drive home is people hire people that they like and how to.

17:40.28
aaronmannes
Um, must.

17:41.10
smacey
How does that come to be It's through building Rapport. It's through having authentic genuine relationships asking for advice asking questions commenting virtually or in person on on things and. I Just I always bring this up because I really if there's anybody still listening who has that mentality. Oh okay, well he just knew somebody. It's like well yeah, he knew somebody because he put he realized the value in the effort in getting to know people and not even because you necessarily wanted something. It's just you never. Really know where life can take you based on a single conversation digitally or in person.

18:17.68
aaronmannes
Yeah, you have to you have to you have to meet people you have to go out and meet people that's part of it like I always think about this like there's there's I know there's one of the greatest singer-songwriters that hasn't put out 1 thing like in the world I always think about that like.

18:17.80
Brady
Yeah, hundred percent and

18:36.70
aaronmannes
Ah, guy that just knows guitar or piano and can sing and he writes songs in his bedroom and and that's as far as it goes and it's it's kind of like you have to take you have to be good enough number 1 and then you have to know people or meet people or put yourself out there to meet people. And that's where the magic can happen. That's where like maybe a little bit of the luck might come in that feeling of like oh I happened to meet this person at the right time and um I had a product to show them and it all was serendipously like worked out really nicely. Um. But you have to do those 2 aspects. You can't just be a great filmmaker and and do it privately and just look at them yourself and expect that you're going to take that to the next step right? Yeah yeah, you just have to be aligned with it like you could do it for fun.

19:16.66
smacey
Right? I was going to say you can but you must you You have to have realistic expectations then.

19:26.67
aaronmannes
That Singer-songwriter might just love it for himself. Doesn't need any yeah and that's fine. Um, but to to get it out to the world. There has to be that second component of meeting people or knowing someone or having connections where you can connect through and then having the goods to back it up.

19:27.18
smacey
And fair enough right.

19:44.23
smacey
Yeah, and I think that's exactly what Brady was saying it said you know I got to know this person and then they could vouch for my skill set which is which is so important because I know like for me, um you know, hopefully as like our business grows Aaron and we've already made a couple like.

19:46.61
aaronmannes
Um.

19:52.20
aaronmannes
Um, present.

19:59.58
smacey
Small hires just for contract work right? Like we want to work with people who aren't necessarily superstars people who are great and people who are personable and people who are dependable and people who are reliable and friendly and all those fun adjectives what I'm saying.

20:13.70
aaronmannes
Yeah I think potential is a good one like you want to see potential in someone where it's kind of like putting you know if I go and I want to put a ton of stock into Apple right now like yeah, it's but it's probably a decent move over the long term. But the real move would have been in 1988 or whatever it was. You know when they're they're starting up and they have this vision and and maybe they're not as big as they could be and you you kind of invest in and in that. So I think that's the same with people like.

20:47.65
smacey
Um, yeah.

20:48.71
aaronmannes
Hey this person has a lot of potential to grow and they're showing a skill set already and they seem eager. Let's let's get them now.

20:56.66
smacey
Um, well that's a good point investing in people and I mean and there's so many ways to get returns on that there is good feelings from good conversation. There's career opportunity. There's you learn something you know I think that's I think you've.

21:09.77
aaronmannes
Um.

21:11.23
smacey
You spark the creative thought they're investing in relationships is is I think something that should be at the forefront of people's minds. We've talked a lot brady. What do you think here.

21:17.74
Brady
Yeah, honestly, that last thing you just said I Love the way you put it investing in relationships I couldn't agree more because and then you know like you said like it's not that you're going up meeting these people for you know for a reason but you're making genuine interactions and. You know, making friends along the way like I've met some of my closest friends networking where it might have been just talking business or talking cameras you know and geeking out about gear or something or talking about art and then these people some of them became clients some of them became clients and close Friends. You Know. Just never know where it's going to lead but I'm grateful for for all the relationships I've built you know the friendships The the clientele like it doesn't matter like just being surrounded by like-minded individuals is just I think in the most the most powerful thing you can do um, not only is it creative but as a person you know you want you want to Grow. So. The only way to grow is to be in the same room with people that are ahead of you so to speak.

22:22.95
smacey
Yeah, and I think an important element of that as well is letting go of some ego right? Ah I yeah this is for for our runners out there and Brady. You'll know what I'm talking about we were actually messaging about recently about.

22:24.75
Brady
Yeah.

22:36.83
smacey
Getting frustrated when your heart rate elevates when you're trying to stay in a certain heart rate zone during a run and you feel like you can go faster that your heart reach your heart rate should be lower based on the speed you're going and I've found it always slows down when I let go of the ego and I'm like whatever I don't care I'm not a superstar. Let's just kind of. You know, let go of the ego here and I bring that up too just for a bigger point and I want to maybe get into this because recently you've been hanging around you know, a lot of ultra runners marathon runners and I've said it before before and I'll say it again. I mean runners have at the like elite level sub elite level have. Ah, mindset that I think is valuable for people of all walks of life whether you want to run races or not. You know there's dealing with setbacks. There's training. Working towards tangible gains. There's Triumph. There's catastrophe. There's listening to your body There's so many so many different things. So I guess my question for you here is what common denominator. Do you see mindset-wise around these. These individuals. That's that's positive and how does that impact how you go about practicing your own photography business or your own life.

23:54.76
Brady
Yeah, so 2 things come to mind at first. So. The first thing is I'm sure everyone's always heard that old saying you're playing chess not checkers. Essentially if you don't know what that means that means you're playing the long game. So a lot of these runners. What I see is. They aren't trying to get to that next level or hit that pr overnight. It's impossible. You can't um and in my own personal running journey because I'm fairly new at running I was chatting with Jeremy Miller you know my my client who happens to be a good friend of mine now. Um, and. I was expressing my frustrations about heart rate to him because I remember he posted a photo of his watch and he's like oh I ran an easy eight mile or 8 minute per mile run for eight miles and my heart rate was like one thirty two and I can't run anywhere at that heart rate and I was like dude like.

24:48.69
smacey
Right? right.

24:52.32
Brady
I don't understand how do you do that and he's like okay hold on and he sent me a strava post of his heart rate and run from like three or four years ago where his heart rate was about the same as mine. He's like dude it just takes time persistence and patience and that kind of just hit me. Um.

25:12.98
Brady
You don't have to get to your end goal right? away. Um, you take the active steps that you need to take to get there eventually. You know it doesn't have to happen for you overnight. But if you make a conscious effort to continue to push. That boundary one percent every day you're going to get there eventually and you're going to probably be in a better position because you're not going to be forcing anything. You're not going to be skipping over the little details so that's where that transcends just from running because. If you're just making that decision every single day I'm going to work a little bit harder to to up my skillset to get a little bit better in business. You're going to become a professional photographer you know in no time it's going to happen but it does take time. Um, the other thing is mental resiliency. Um, so especially in in the Ultra world watching these runners go ninety ish hours with no sleep to about 5 hours 5 hours of sleep over the course of two hundred and forty miles it's not something that's. Natural for your body by any means. Um it is probably 1 of the most not not just physically, but mentally enduring things that a human could do and the the thing is is these runners they they just know that.

26:34.94
Brady
Alright, if I chip it away and get to the next aid station rest up there for 10 minutes fuel up there I'm gonna make it to the next one and it's just setting those little goals and they're making their way to the the larger scale goal but it's never a breaking point like all these runners just. Have it in their mind just to keep pushing. They know the boundaries of their body in their mind are further than what you actually think because most people you know you hit a little bit of pain or you know for photography your business. You hit a little bit of a setback and it's so easy to just say ah I'm gonna quit. But.

27:09.75
smacey
Um, right.

27:12.60
Brady
If you just push through it and just continue to go through the grind and go through the hard times or the painful times you're going to get to the other side and you're you're going to get to your goal better and stronger than you were before so those are the 2 takeaways I see from ah the running community.

27:27.56
aaronmannes
Yeah I think it's it's good to remember like in the in the rocky movies the training periods 2 minutes long in the in the movie. Well in reality like I think but that's the narrative that we get like oh that was fast now he's a professional fighter.

27:36.89
Brady
Yeah.

27:45.87
aaronmannes
You know, like the that narrative that that lotto effect. We talk about wanting it overnight. Um and the actual work it takes to be great at anything or even be good at anything is enormous and and that's what separates it I think anyone could like you know anyone almost anyone. Course can can run or play guitar or be good at photography if you put in the the effort and the time like the time behind the practice like yeah, we can talk about sports and like what's it take to be pro in sports you look at like tiger woods. Is practice routines and getting up at 4 running five miles hitting the range playing 9 short game work lunch play 18 range hit waits like every day you know it's like oh if you did that you'd be very good like anyone like if you did that.

28:36.53
smacey
If you did a fraction of that. You'd be very good.

28:40.49
aaronmannes
Yeah, if you did that every day you'd be very good. It's the same with photography like how many tutorials are you how many books have you read how much how many photos have you edited today and it's got to be like an enormous amount over a long period of time to to make growth. To the place where you want and it's easy to be like oh I'm not good enough or oh I don't have the talent. Um, but I think a lot of that is like the the effort and the perseverance and perspiration like sweat you know and and like putting in the work and not getting ahead of yourself with like I need. I need results right now just keep doing it keep as long as the process is like I'm doing the best I can I'm doing like as much much much as I possibly can and I'm I'm working like the process will work out.

29:28.62
smacey
Um, I think what's important.

29:28.98
Brady
I Think another one of the ah the biggest things to at least on my side and I'm not saying goes as extreme as I do because like my wife will like literally heckle me about my what I do but like I become obsessed with things like very quickly and that's probably a person.

29:44.35
aaronmannes
Um.

29:46.90
Brady
Personality trait and but it works out for for the best but you know like when it came to running once I finally like got into it on my own like aside from filming people running like once I personally started running now. All I do is watch running videos on Youtube. On like how to improve myself and I'll watch hours on Youtube just in my free time or listen to podcast and it was the same thing with photography when I started and honestly till this day like my free time I spend researching you know, new new ways to shoot I watch videos on. On gear. Um different ways to light things and I just like nerd out about it and I'm just obsessed about it and I make it passion driven because when it's passion drivenve then you have something more to fight for in a sense so that I'm not saying you know, spend hours and you know.

30:26.84
aaronmannes
Um.

30:32.97
smacey
Are.

30:40.92
Brady
Very obsessive like I am but like that's that's just kind of my personality trait with it like once I decide I want to do something or I like something. It's just like all or nothing. Um, so you know that's just I think passion is a big thing that plays into you know, making what you want and you know.

30:51.10
smacey
Um, right.

30:56.00
aaronmannes
Um.

30:59.61
Brady
It might not even be making a career in photography. But if you're passionate about it. You're going to go out and actually shoot and enjoy shooting for the active photography not just I got my camera you know I got to do this for Instagram because no, it's not about that Instagram doesn't matter. It's it's about actually. Going out there and creating art or creating a business with your art or whatever you want to do with it. But as long as it's passion-d driven then you know nothing else. Matters.

31:24.89
smacey
Right? We actually mentioned to you I told you brady a couple episodes back when we were on the topic of putting on your egg like how how potentially the theory that there's been a lot of photographers drop off and potentially those individuals had all their eggs in the social media basket and when that.

31:28.43
Brady
I heard it.

31:43.70
smacey
Goose stopped giving people went away and you know we used you as an example for it. It doesn't really doesn't have to be the be all and end all it doesn't have to matter social media I'm referring to it can play a vital role in whatever you're trying to do and that's you know, different for each individual but it doesn't have to be. So just wanted to make the connection between that statement 2 episodes ago and the fact that the person we were referencing is here right now I think also what's important too is if you find yourself watching hours and hours of video on a topic. That's not necessarily photography. Dig into that because if you're nerding out and you're obsessed it means that you really you truly do love it and I find at least personally that when I nerd out to those other things that are separate from photography I become more creative. It takes a little bit of pressure away and some time away from from. Photography and videography I know eron just use the example of tiger woods range waits long game playing 9 and that's great networks for some people for me I find often less is more you know if I am chipping away grinding eight ten hours a day at the same topic. I I become unproductive I become less creative. My brain is kind of fry. But then when I go to that. Go do that thing that activity that I'm interested in whether it's you know, gardening I know I'm like 90 years old but I love gardening videos on Youtube I love growing stuff I love things that provide utility if that makes sense. Um.

33:16.77
smacey
If it's running if I go and I do those things then when I come back to edit photos or might come back to write an email that's going to potentially generate me an opportunity It's so much its success rate is so much higher. However, you're measuring that success rate whether that's an email back or just your overall happiness with a photo or video edit. And so you know I really liked hearing you say that what I do want to chat about I made a note of this was you know we were talking about get 1% better every day and that's that's great for people to hear and I hope it's super motivating but I think I want to dive into. Okay, well, what's the checklist to make sure that we're we're hitting that small goal and this is a question for both of you I mean I have mine. Maybe we've covered it in other episodes. But I think similar topics spoken differently throughout the weeks and months and years on this episode are good. I'm just curious so like how are you measuring that you're moving forward Brady I'll ask you first whether that's you know meant a mental note or actual actually documented somewhere.

34:26.88
Brady
Yeah, um I guess I don't physically document it. But there's like little things that I can go back and look at um I guess as progress. Um for a lot of what I do now it's you know.

34:43.32
Brady
Photography is my first love but videos what's paying the bills. So I've been doing a ton of video the past two years and I I don't want to say I hit the peak of my photography but I feel like I've just kind of reached. You know my style. But with video. It's constantly evolving. So if I go back and watch last week's video I produced. It'll look about the same as this week's video but I've went back and watched a video for example for for Matt Choi I filmed the la marathon for him in March of this year and I went back and watched that video and I was like hm I would have filmed this a little bit different I would have edited this maybe a little bit different. So it's not necessarily like a a number or data or anything for me but like I go back and look at the stuff I create and I'm like I learned from this. On. Whether is my shooting technique my editing technique maybe lighting and that's how I kind of see how I'm making progress. Um, and then the way to actively do that is like I said I just you know, nerd out and I'm constantly researching new ways to to shoot edit you know. Absorb other people's work and art and kind of dissect how they make their videos and how they shoot their videos so that's how I'm actively getting you know that 1% every day but the metric that I'm using is going back and looking at my old work.

36:10.66
smacey
It's right? So it's not necessarily I watched 1 Youtube video today or this post got 300 more likes than the last one I mean because some people do work that way and that's fine I just wanted to make that point of it can be loose how you just described or it can be maybe a bit more meticulous.

36:15.94
Brady
Yeah.

36:21.88
Brady
Um, yeah.

36:30.10
smacey
In the latter example Aaron Hubble yourself

36:35.46
aaronmannes
It's a good question and I I want to go back to um the filming of a marathon because I have a bunch of questions which I'm sure we will it just boggles my minds like it's over a twenty six mile thing like what are you I'll stop I'll stop I'll stop I'll stop.

36:39.60
smacey
Yeah, we're going to get into that. Yeah.

36:48.24
smacey
Don't jump the gun Aaron.

36:51.81
aaronmannes
Ah, for for me a couple of things. Um, ah I'm I'm a little bit older I have a secure career that allows me to do a lot of this other stuff too. So I've talked about it ah many times where there's there's not a lot of pressure to make bills or get jobs or that sort of thing it is I get to pick and choose with that I'm allowed to. Ah, really chase, kind of passionate projects or or things that I want to do um in terms of growth. That's a little bit I think that can be a little bit dangerous too in terms of growth because it's like there's not that pressure to. Be good enough to be seen and and get the jobs that you need to get to pay the mortgage. Let's say but for me, my buddy asked me the other day we were at we were at dinner and there was ah the chiefs game was on with Taylor Swift there that I think is the Taylor Swift game I'm not sure what's going on anymore. Um. But I was asking so many questions about players and this and that and he's like you don't watch sports anymore. Do you and it struck me and my answer was kind of snotty like I don't have time for that like and it came across as like ah like. People are wasting their time that watch sports which is not the case and it's it's different for everyone. Um, and I used to watch a lot a good amount of sports. Definitely I was a huge red Sox fan. Whatever but I think to answer your question though. The recognition of where I'm spending my time is.

38:05.82
smacey
Right? right? yeah.

38:22.91
aaronmannes
Is easy to see if I'm doing things in all of life if I'm hitting the gym. The amount of times I want to hit the gym if I'm eating the way I want to eat if I'm if I'm producing if I'm showing up to the podcast if I'm showing up to work I'm showing up for my son. If I'm doing all those things I know I'm progressing and I'm growing I don't think there's any choice not to ah I think where it becomes obvious is when the diet slips and you you find yourself having takeout for it. Wow I I got takeout 5 times this week cool like all right now now I might see like a reverse growth or a reverse sort of you know, increase in terms of some metric there or I watch that whole season of lost like whatever it is um, wow yeah like wow that was ah.

39:09.95
smacey
It's a lot episodes buddy.

39:13.89
aaronmannes
That was 24 sh straight hours of of Tv watching nothing really came from that I didn't take anything from it or I watched football all day Sunday you know like and again there's nothing wrong with that. But it's easy for me to see with where I am if if I'm if i'm.

39:14.16
smacey
So right.

39:31.80
aaronmannes
Putting my focus on certain things or I'm putting my focus on other things and the way life is with the job the the sun the hobbies the whatnot. There's not a lot of time to skew from doing stuff all the time and Seth we talk about it like there's times where I'm like oh. I'm spent like I need a minute because it's just you can be working really hard and that's that's all fine and I think recognizing it's fine. Um, but those are the metrics I use is like where where am I putting my time.

40:04.10
smacey
Um, yeah, it's Interesting. So Basically if if I've heard you correctly if in your opinion you're doing a self analysis and you've decided that you're allocating your time to productive healthy things. You feel that that's automatically going to equate to progress over time. So correct.

40:22.29
aaronmannes
Yeah I do and and if it stalls out like you know if I'm not as talented as I thought I could be or or this skill's not there or takes too much time and it's going to take away from my son. Let's say there's this priority hierarchy where it's like all right? ah.

40:34.18
smacey
Um, right.

40:39.19
aaronmannes
You know I like running but I I like a lot of other things and the time to put into that is going to be difficult for me and I don't have that passion that we talked about in terms of like ah that doesn't matter. That's a higher priority like sun first then running and like then I'll figure out food and like whatever else it is. Um, it's not that high for me, but just in overall sort of there is that hierarchy and I take a look at it and say like where can I put my time where do I need to put my time where do I want to put my time and and then if there's places I'm putting my time where it's like that's that's not resulting in anything. Ah. That I'm going to be on my deathbed with then I kind of can take a look at that easily and be like I don't need to watch season 4 of lost 1 through 3 was good in I've never watched any of lost I assume they got found. Did they get? yeah.

41:24.90
smacey
1 through 3 was good. Yeah I've seen loss of the way through. So I'm triggered but that was like 17 year old me. So it's not so bad. It's not so bad I mean you bring up a good point too and then we'll get into filming a marathon because it's going to be intense.

41:37.27
aaronmannes
So that's good blue.

41:42.77
smacey
But you bring up a good point too of ah indicators of going backwards I think it's easy for for a lot of people to start slipping and not not notice it and then it gets really really bad before youque in I feel like a lot of the population lives in that place and that's not ah, that's not me being judgmental. Just think that that that can be tragic and we see it all the time you know with friends and family and I think if you have a good if you have the ability to say oh I order like you your example I wrote I ordered takeout five seven times in a row. Oh what's going on where else can I look I think.

42:04.39
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

42:17.70
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

42:21.78
smacey
Indicators of progress are equally maybe as important as indicators of ah of going backwards I mean hopefully that's a rare and in-between thing and we all have slumps I get it and progress is in the straight rocket ship up. There's 2 steps forward sometimes there's 2 steps back some days. It's 5 steps forward. So I don't know I just wanted to.

42:30.21
aaronmannes
Um.

42:36.34
aaronmannes
Yeah I thought just another little thought I think there's there's the growth model and then there's a maintaining model and the maintaining model Once you have a reasonable growth is pretty easy in my.

42:40.74
smacey
To comment on that being a good point.

42:55.65
aaronmannes
And my thought or my experience is pretty easy to maintain like once you're let's say a 7 out of 10 in guitar you can play once a week and maintain that 7 out of 10 you're probably not going to get much better. But if you play pick it up once a week maybe same with running if you can run at a certain pace and you're not trying to really improve. Maybe you can run twice a week and kind of stick around that pace without really trying to push yourself. So I think there's different modes to like maintenance mode. Ah you might relate to this the other day I have a film thing coming up thing I'm videoing.

43:21.47
smacey
Um, right.

43:32.96
aaronmannes
And I was thinking about my gimbal which I haven't used in a while because it's a pain in the butt right? like Gimbals gimbless are just annoying like ah can't we figure this out in camera please like let's just get there. Maybe yeah sometimes that's wonky and like anyways anyho.

43:35.84
Brady
Yes.

43:37.56
smacey
Um, it's like a million pounds I hate that thing.

43:44.57
Brady
Yes.

43:45.38
smacey
Um, just image stabilization man. It's fine. Yeah, ah.

43:52.25
aaronmannes
Had the gimbal in my mind I was like I really want a low shot and I remember suitcase mode and there's like this double button Click you can do and you have to unfold it but I couldn't remember exactly and I was like oh I'm slipping like that's a little metric point. But it's like oh I don't even know how to use my gear right now because it's been a while.

44:02.18
smacey
Right.

44:09.51
aaronmannes
Like time to refresh a little bit. Let's get back to that maintenance level of like where I was at least and then like okay now I know that it's back in the it's back in the memory. So.

44:18.80
Brady
Yeah I I relate to that on a visceral level I just me and gimbals just don't there's a time and place and I'll use them when I need to but I just it's just like 1 1 thing that. Has so many different variables I can go wrong and just the act of balancing and for me like traveling with one is just I just I just don't if I don't have to? oh yeah, yeah.

44:43.34
aaronmannes
Um, but do you know how many times I've traveled with one and never used it and it drives me nuts every time I get home and I'm like I and put it on the list.

44:48.17
smacey
I.

44:56.75
aaronmannes
Once again brought my gimbal and did not use it once? yeah.

44:57.38
Brady
Useless yeah.

44:58.51
smacey
I will say I'm shocked to hear that someone documenting marathons and Ultra running is not using gimbal stabilization. What what's going on there. Can you can like can we get in. Can we get into that and and the whole how.

45:03.60
aaronmannes
Yes, me too.

45:10.37
Brady
Not once perfect.

45:17.31
smacey
How to film a marathon from what's start move? Yeah, nice, No no talk about why is that important honestly.

45:20.10
Brady
Well first off I shoot Sony now. Ah, yeah, yeah, honestly, so like I'll get into like the logistics of how I shoot marathons in in the gear and why that matters. But the reason I say Sony is because.

45:23.15
aaronmannes
Um, nice.

45:32.87
smacey
Um, okay.

45:37.97
Brady
Have the fx three is my main camera I have it rigged out which I'll I'll get get to in a second but um, Sony's ibis is pretty decent but they also have active steady shot. So obviously it crops in on the sensor but it's very good. Then if you take that already cropped in image and throw it into Sony's proprietary software called catalyst browse. It uses the gyro data to stabilize it further and it looks really good. So.

46:04.30
aaronmannes
Wow! So we what? So it's time out. Yeah, what's the software catalyst browse. Why have I not heard of this.

46:09.67
smacey
Um, it's the fx three the Cinema camera. Nice.

46:12.22
Brady
It is yes, it's called catalyst browse. It's it's a cheat code honestly, um, not too many people know about it. Surprisingly it's incredible. Um, so. With that being said I do rig out my Fx 3 to be pretty heavy so I got the rails I got the top handle with xlr mic I have a big heavy V Mount battery to to balance a weight and essentially if you don't know anything about like you know. Getting the shake out of your footage if you have a heavier rig. It actually gets rid of all the micro jitters. So when I'm running with it with the top handle. It's actually because it's weighted down my arm isn't shaking I don't have any of that ability to shake so it's only arm movements. So.

46:50.73
aaronmannes
Um, if.

46:50.79
smacey
Um I have.

47:01.43
smacey
Um, right? because it's not light. Yeah.

47:06.40
Brady
Exactly so so I have it rigged I have it rigged out and then then with catalyst sp brows and Sony's stabilization it actually turns out pretty good There's some things where like if I'm not paying attention I'm actually jerky you can see it but it's still. A lot better with all those tools and if I were to just shoot with you know, like Dslr handheld it would be like everywhere. Um, so the logistics of how I shoot marathons though it's it's a lot of planning and there's no one size fits all. Um, each and every marathon is different and it's really dependent on the city. So it takes a lot of hours of prep before going out and shooting. Um, my most recent one was the Chicago marathon which is a world major in. Let me tell you it was electric in Chicago it was probably the most fun I've ever had shooting.

47:59.75
smacey
Nice.

48:02.11
Brady
Um, the cool thing about Chicago is it's essentially a big loop so it starts in downtown goes north comes back down south goes west goes south goes east and it goes back north. It's it's 1 big loop chicago also has a very good. Um. Ebike system and just about every other block. So what I would do is I would rent an ebike ride to one checkpoint track my runner on my phone film him I would run with him about eighth of a mile quarter of a mile jump back on the ebike.

48:21.51
aaronmannes
Um, no.

48:39.34
Brady
Go to the next checkpoint rinse wash repeat until the 26 is done. Um I think I checked my watch when I was done with Chicago marathon and I think I logged like Eight mile Eight eight miles total so I mean it's definitely putting in. No um.

48:51.40
smacey
Um, do you have a race Bib I wasn't sure you said you were running with your runners I wasn't sure if you had to buy a race bib. Ah.

48:57.64
Brady
So um, well we do things a little bit unconventionally so anything for the shot right? There's there's been a few that I've had media passes for but um, Abbott World Majors If you're listening sorry.

49:02.54
aaronmannes
The.

49:07.96
smacey
Right.

49:16.35
smacey
Um, sorry right.

49:16.83
Brady
Um, yeah, but the key is not to infringe with other runners or anything else like I'm with my guy I'm watching out for the crowds I'm watching out for any of the other participants so it's just it's being mindful. Um, if you're getting out there in you know, infringing in the race. Don't do that. Just just be mindful. Um, but yeah, like other marathons like the la marathon or Orange County marathon that I did um, there's no public transit system. There is no ebike system. So. It's like all right? Well you and it's from point to point. So there's no loop. So you just kind of have to all right? tell your runner hey anticipate me at mile thirteen I'll be I'll be there and you track your runner you follow them get in the car and hope you make it to the next checkpoint. So it really depends on the race really depends on the city and the infrastructure. But it's a lot of planning going forward and seeing like. What routes you can cut in a vehicle or with public transit and then filming from there. Um, and then in terms of filming just a classic like get the detail shots get the wides get the tights so you know I'll get like a close up of the shoes while running I'll get. A rear view of the runner I'll get a side view I'll get a profile view of their face and then I'll kind of dash forward and throw my camera backwards and get you know the straight away as if they're running towards the camera. So and then it's just a bunch of those shots and get some interview segments and some voiceover. Um.

50:50.11
Brady
I Mean you have a you have a video so it's.

50:50.39
aaronmannes
Um, how long is the Marathon documentary. Um, like what what are the film lengths for these.

50:59.57
Brady
Yeah, so my marathon videos that I do are anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes um and then the documentary that I'm working on for the moab to 40 that one. Yeah. I'm still in the editing process. But I'm anticipating it being anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes that one's just this that one's going be a full feature length film. Um, but Chicago for example, me and Matt decided to do a do something different for this one. Um. Because of an opportunity we had so we actually split the Chicago marathon video into 2 separate videos. Um, how we would do it in the past is we would have everything including the race in 1 video so we would have the travel we would have the marathon expo where you pick up your bib and get you know all the Merch and stuff. Um, and then the race itself all within one video. Ah, for Chicago we decided to actually split everything up. We decided to go the race video itself and then a runner's experience weekend video so what kind of sparked that is we ended up getting a deal from Adidas. Um, they had the new Adidas adi 0 evo one I believe it's called um, which was um, a new shoe that was hot in the market that broke the world record two weeks earlier at the berlin marathon um, so we decided to.

52:30.14
Brady
Base our Chicago race video around that shoe one in terms of you know engagement, you know because it is hot in the press but also um, it was great storytelling aspect like all right is this $500 supershoe really going to make a difference for your run. So we're able to kind of storytell that with Matt. Then after the race itself we got to sit down for an interview and Matt could talk through his experience with the shoe and if it actually made a difference long story short it did make a little bit of a difference just the way this shoe was engineered so it was a cool way to to just expand upon like. Ran the Chicago marathon we had a lot of storytelling elements. We could bring into it and it went to pay off the video's been live for just under two weeks and it's at 70000 views which is I think our highest view count for a marathon video. Um.

53:15.73
aaronmannes
Wow! awesome.

53:21.20
Brady
Then on the flip side. We just published actually I hit publish before recording this podcast. The marathon experience video. So with that. That's where we kind of did like a 30 minute raw cut video of you know matte content planning um in Chicago. All the meetups he did the shakeout runs um going to the Nike events just all the stuff that you know we would kind of skim through in other marathon videos. We made it a fully fleshed out just raw cut experience pretty experimental. We don't know how that video is going to do I don't even have analytics I can't tell you because I literally just published it. But. Um, but it was a fun project to do and it at least paid off on the race video to to format it this way. So we'll see how that experimentation plays out in this next video. But um, yeah, there's just so many logistics in shooting marathons because it's not just the race itself There's so much that these runners do going into the race that there's just. So many different storytelling aspects in so many ways you can approach it. Um, it's it's pretty endless which I think is appealing for me as the ah the videographer because it's just like a playground of all right? cool. How do I want to approach this and how do I want to film this what creative direction do I want to take and it's it's crazy. It's. Legit crazy. But it's it's fun stuff I honestly love it.

54:42.52
aaronmannes
Now could I just ask 1 more thing and feel free to say you can't talk about it. But you're going into a video project with let's say Matt um are these individually sort of funded and sponsored by the runner as they want this content. Or is it sort of a joint venture with Youtube's um it's kind of like a gamble like hey let's see if we can get this out there for views. We'll split the Youtube kind of kickback and I'm I'm just curious like pay schedule like how how this works and it's beneficial to you to Matt the runner. Or any other runner. Um and kind of the the deal behind that without you don't have to get into specifics but I'm just curious. Um, how that's situated.

55:27.98
Brady
Yeah, so for some my other running clients I just do it on per project basis because it's either. You know one video month every other month. It's not as consistent. Um with Matt though. Um I do have him on contract on a retainer. You know we've been on this retainer for.

55:45.91
Brady
I guess coming up on 2 years I think and um, yeah, so I do mainly video editing for Matt so a lot of his stuff like he'll film on gopro he'll vlog it and he'll send it to me I'll edit it. But for the bigger races. He'll fly me out there that kind of lives outside of the retainer.

55:56.37
aaronmannes
Are.

56:04.20
Brady
So that's a separate cost per project. Um, but the editing for that video I'm flown out for is obviously covered within our retainer. So did that answer your question or yeah, yeah.

56:16.71
aaronmannes
Yeah I was just curious in terms of the entities and like this isn't um, this isn't lebron James in terms of you know, like um, ah in terms of athletes or athletes I don't know what their their salary is or their sponsorships through Adidas or what have you um. It's kind of a very niche sport right? like I don't I don't know if they're getting tackled at if they go out to dinner in public. They're not probably getting harassed by too many fans. There might be the occasional that recognizes so I was just curious in terms of um I heard some podcasts where they were talking about.

56:35.47
Brady
Very.

56:52.63
aaronmannes
Ah, the ultrarunners and it's kind of like the like the climbing community like kind of um I think they use the quote like kind of like the the dirt bag Van like you're an ultra runner like you. You've got a certain way you live and like this is your life. Um, so I was just curious in terms of ah.

56:57.00
Brady
Yeah.

57:12.54
aaronmannes
You know, like the the deal and making it worth your time. You got three kids at home. Um I was just curious.

57:16.62
Brady
Yeah, yeah, you know and ah just continue talking. You know about Matt for example, just because you know he he's the major one I have on retainer. But um, yeah, he's very um.

57:30.82
Brady
He he respects my time. My my pay rate. Um and you know what I have to deal with with family. Um, so it's he's a joy to work with on the business side but also to kind of you know bounce off of one of the other things he said and this's a little bit of a tangent but so I'll make it quick but um.

57:49.69
Brady
In the running space. He is kind of a celebrity which is is nuts going to these events with him because in the Chicago marathon expo it was just every 30 seconds someone oh my gosh can I take a photo with you and it can be overwhelming at times.

57:56.12
aaronmannes
Um.

58:09.68
Brady
I know I guess I've never been in that position I don't know how I'd handle it. But just you know a tip off to Matt and a credit for him. This man takes the time for every single person that approaches him to talk with them hype them up. Take a photo with them. It doesn't matter if it means he is late to events. So for Chicago for example, we're at the expo we're supposed to leave the expo I think at like four forty five and he had dinner with one of his sponsors at 5 so we're on a tight Timeline. We didn't leave the expo until almost six zero pm so he completely missed the dinner with his sponsor because he gave the time to every one of the people that approached him and that was just incredible to witness it just really goes to show you know these are the people that put you in the position where you are in your platform.

58:56.52
aaronmannes
Are.

59:00.80
Brady
So he's very very cognizant of that gives back to his community in terms of his time and giving those conversations and I just thought that was an incredible thing to witness I Know it's a little bit of a tangent of what we're talking about. But yeah.

59:10.49
aaronmannes
No, that's awesome though.

59:12.73
smacey
Then It's a great Point. So this ah this full feature running documentary. Maybe we can end with this.. How do you even begin. Where do you start with a gigantic project like that. We've said it before on this podcast many times people look at something they want to do. And it's like a ginormous wall and people it's easier to just like turn around and walk away due to being overwhelmed where do you?? Where do you begin?? How do you stay on track. What's your vision I Know. Ah. Know you haven't completed it yet. So Maybe it's an odd question but where are you at right now with that and how do you plan to? What do you?? What are your? How do you plan to make it success and and have it come to fruition. Yeah.

01:00:00.24
Brady
Yeah, so this one's definitely an odd project um in a good way of course. So at this point I filmed enough enough marathons you know the twenty six point two miles and you know these races I film are for.

01:00:16.67
Brady
And they wouldn't call themselves elite but you know they're in my mind elite athletes. You know Jeremy Miller Matchoy you know they they run sub three so that's you know, less than 3 hours to complete a marathon which is very fast. Um, so I'm used to like that quick pace like all right 3 hours and we're done with race. You know. Twenty six miles so to hear that all right I'm filming a two hundred and forty mile race it's going to take about 90 hours that means filming in the middle of the night that means filming you know whenever you know driving to these locations that are desolate. Um.

01:00:53.65
Brady
After I signed up for the project I'm not going to lie I was a little bit scared I'm like how the hell am I going to complete this. It was hard like I had a vision in my mind of what I wanted it to look like but the actual actual execution of it started to baffle me. Um. And I mean I prepped everything I could like I storyboarded it I took down notes of the shots I wanted to get the story I wanted to tell so I you know I put down bullet point lists of you know talking points from pierce the runner and his crew members so I had like the gear ready I had the the notes ready. I had you know the approximate you know, aid stations and waypoints I wanted to get to but the only thing I couldn't figure out was how I was actually going to execute it and I honestly didn't know until I got out there just because it was such a grandiose project and in race. Um, so it was kind of like all right I learned as I went and you know after day one I kind of had a lay of the land so to speak and you know through day five you know I just continue to to execute and hone it in. You know you know checkpoint after checkpoint. Ah, in terms of like putting the project together. Um, yeah, it's hard and you know this is like my first major documentary, especially a solo documentary so you know most everything I do is Youtube the story is told in 1520 so 20 minute increments so it's all right? How do I tell the story from you know.

01:02:24.49
Brady
Start to finish and actually make it enticing so I watch a you know a few documentaries to kind of you know, pick apart dissect to see like what these other cinematographers and storytellers are doing and then I took notes of that just whether it's shot list or pacing or you know. Segmentation and I kind of use it as a reference point but then the other thing that I did is I got on several calls that were an hour plus each with my runner because I really wanted to get to know him his history. Why he's doing this his mentalities so that way when I got out to film the interview sections I kind of. Had an idea of his headspace he was in I was able to to ask him the right questions tailor the questions to how he was feeling in the moment bring back things from the past and reference them. Um, so that really aided in flushing out the content and telling the story. So from there though. Um, now that I'm in the editing process I'm still figuring out what exact way to go about it. But I have like a rough idea. So I'm about 2 minutes into the intro and you know I have. You know the opening shots I have some voiceover in the background to continue to you know, add the hook you know within the first few minutes of the dock and then I think what I plan on doing is adding an interview segment to open it up.

01:03:53.33
Brady
I'll get into day one or I guess technically day zero of the race for for the race prep for pierce and then follow it chronologically throughout the end of the race and sprinkle interview segments that are pertinent to the story throughout the spots that they need to be and then ended off with um. You know, obviously the finale of the race and the closing thoughts and pretty much pose. The question at the end. What's next. So that's kind of the way I'm going about it. Um, there's really no linear path for this one from start to finish. It was just trying to prep. Everything that I possibly could and being as prepared as I could and because I knew it was going to be a game of yeah, you're go to figure it out once you get out there. You're going to figure it out once you get an editing Bay Because you haven't done this on this scale yet. So um, yeah, it was just a belief in being as.

01:04:49.24
aaronmannes
Yeah, explains it.

01:04:49.80
Brady
Prepared as I could I guess I don't know.

01:04:52.28
smacey
Yeah, reasonable expectations too. Where can people find ah all this work that we've talked about today and is ah you know what's good to leave in the episode description.

01:05:03.39
Brady
Yeah, so um, I'm very bad at posting. So I'm I'm trying to get better at posting my work. But um, you can? yeah yeah um yeah I don't have 3 kids or anything. Um, so.

01:05:10.60
smacey
You're busy doing other things so you know okay.

01:05:14.51
aaronmannes
Are.

01:05:17.87
Brady
Yeah, but I'm I'm starting to post more actively on Instagram again. So that is Brady Keggs B R A D Y K E E G s I also have a Youtube channel the same handle I haven't posted there in a minute but I do have plans to post quite a bit in the coming months. So I mean if you want to give me a. Subscription. There. Maybe you'll eventually see me. But yeah, the best way to stay connected is definitely Instagram these days.

01:05:41.81
smacey
Cool and I mean people can check out some of the videos of the runners. We've talked about too and and all that fun stuff. Well Brady man. It's been a pleasure having you on. Thank you so much for your for your time and I learned a lot from this I imagine Aaron Denn I'll speak for him and I'm I'm assuming.

01:05:45.98
Brady
Yeah.

01:05:57.40
aaronmannes
The SVersion

01:06:01.50
smacey
Tons of our listeners did and I guess technically you're like our first running videographer photographer. So that's kind of cool I don't want to put you in that box because like who knows where your career goes but definitely an interesting conversation today and just wanted to thank you for your time and.

01:06:06.46
Brady
Sweet.

01:06:16.80
smacey
But you get back to editing or if 3 kids deserve your attention who knows life's crazy I get it.

01:06:23.17
Brady
Life is crazy I appreciate you guys. This was awesome. Very ah, humbling to ah you be on on the show that I've listened to for years so this is a super cool experience.

01:06:31.14
smacey
Awesome till next time gents.

01:06:31.14
aaronmannes
That's cool, well deserved.