Hey Everyone, It's Tiff
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Hey everyone, It's Tiff! This show can be described as the most fascinating people in my life discussing the complexities that come with being human. From interviews with my bikini waxer to father-in-law, episodes span the spectrum of light-hearted and fun, to heavy and thought-provoking.
Life is weird and sometimes hurts. This pod was designed to cultivate a space where we can be honest about this and hopefully feel less alone. I believe it's okay to not have all the answers, to be overwhelmed by all the things, and to be figuring out who you are until the day you die.
If this sounds like something you're down with, you just might be a cherry!
Whether listeners tune in to learn, to laugh, or to ponder - my only goal is to bring some sunshine to their week. Tune in for wild recurring segments, tons of original songs, and all of the TMI. Thank you for listening!
Hey Everyone, It's Tiff
Behind the Lens with Brennan
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People do some weird things in front of the camera, myself included 🤭 And Brennan knows this best, as he's been weaving visual stories for years! Not only can you trust him, but you’ll relish in seeing your adventures come to life through his lens 🎥
Our time here is short, but some footage is forever…when it comes to the most important moments in people’s lives, does he ever feel pressure? How does one even get into this profession? And once they do, how do they set themselves apart in unique and authentic ways⁉️
Join us to hear the remarkable tale of how Brennan taught himself to transform his passion into a thriving career - his expertise now spanning a myriad of contexts and genres.
Don't miss:
- Growing roots on YouTube 📷
- The viral video that changed it all
- Shooting celebrities 🎸
- The best and trickiest parts of the job
- Making room for a personal life when you work every weekend
- Wild moments along the way 💥
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Hey everyone, it's Tiff, and welcome back to another episode. I have been under the weather this past week so I'm finally starting to feel better back to my old usual self. But man, oh man, there is something going around right now that is nasty. She's nasty folks. So I don't know. Hopefully you don't get it, but if you do, take good care and maybe hopefully this podcast will keep you entertained.
Speaker 1So this week we have on Brennan. He is a videographer, he is a photographer, he is an editor. He has all things talented and kind and truly easy to work with. I have known him now for several years. He shot our wedding into a music video and I've always wanted to interview him and kind of learn more about his craft, the way he approaches things, if he ever gets nervous, just all these questions, and so that's what we dive into today. I hope you enjoy. Let's get to it. Hey everyone, it's Tiff and I'm here with my videographer from my wedding, brennan. Hi guys, but you've honestly done much more than that. I'm sorry for like saying that as your disclaiming piece, that's the only thing I do, right?
Speaker 2No, yeah, that's all he's ever done.
Speaker 1That's all he'll ever do. You're welcome. No, I was seriously looking at your website. You have done so much. You're a pro. I feel like I'm honored to even have you sitting here Like, can I touch you?
Speaker 2You can touch me.
Speaker 1No, seriously, how are you? How have you been? I've actually known him for a while before we ever worked together. I knew you because he worked with Julie, who you guys know, and you worked with her several times on both of her wedding receptions, right?
Speaker 2Yeah, so Julie and I actually went to high school together, dude. I don't remember that, probably over a decade ago.
Speaker 1Okay, damn, no way. So you've known each other since then.
Speaker 2Yeah, we haven't kept in touch between high school and now, but she remembered me and she invited me to film her wedding. Yes, this was well before the pandemic. Yes, oh my gosh, we had this big plan, but then it went to something smaller scale 100%, yes, it did.
Speaker 1And then I still feel like I saw you at stuff. Like didn't I see you at a sorority thing? Potentially, yeah, I feel like I've seen you at other things. You're kind of like very popular in this community.
Speaker 2Yeah, some people know me in Sonoma County.
Speaker 1Not a big deal, but everyone knows me, but I just remember we had Julie's wedding being so fun and I was like when I, if I ever get married, you're going to do mine cut to. I remember that moment.
Speaker 2Yeah, it was at her reception. Yes, in the backyard, and everyone was having a good time. You were having a good time.
Speaker 1Yeah, you've seen me turn a lot. Yeah, is it weird to see me here just not now? No, okay, sorry, weird question.
Speaker 2You're still Tiff.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm still exactly folks, I'm still Tiff, but yeah, so welcome. How long have you been in this business?
Speaker 2It's hard to kind of pick like an actual starting point because you always start small, but I would say around 2014, 2015. Okay Is when I started kind of maybe earning a little money from it.
Speaker 1Okay, and before that, how did you originally get into it? Did you always have a camera Like, where was your start?
Speaker 2It was back shortly after high school. Okay, I started a YouTube channel called Brennan's Tech Fight Upsass.
Speaker 1Is it still up there?
Speaker 2It's still up there, but I haven't made a video in maybe five years or so. So I was really into, I guess, technology and at that time YouTube was. You could make content and you could earn money. I thought that was exciting, so I was really into Apple products Got it. Like ever since Steve Jobs announced first iPhone, I'm like wow, this piece of technology. What was that 2006, 2000,.
Speaker 1Somewhere around there. I don't remember the exact date. No, no, no, sorry to put you on the spot. I'm just wondering if it was 90s or that was too far. No, not the 90s, okay.
Speaker 2But, yeah, I got myself a small digital camera yeah, not even a DSLR, oh, okay, and I just recorded myself filming tutorials, unboxings, product reviews. Back in the day, you would have to get a YouTube partnership, okay, and that's when you could start earning money, gotcha, and I probably grew the channel to about a thousand subscribers. Dude, I applied for the program and they accepted my channel.
Speaker 1Legend. Yeah, editing Tiff here, just wanted to jump in and say that I went and looked at this YouTube page. Some of his videos have millions of views. Folks, he really is crushing it and I just what would it be like to have a video with millions of views? Will I ever know, who knows? But great job, brennan. Okay, back to the show. So what do you think about the video you post? Something happens.
Speaker 2What do you mean by something? Happens, people watch and leave comments and things happen and based on that does the monetary thing depend. Yeah, if you have a smaller channel, you don't make much on YouTube.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's what they say about YouTube and TikTok. I've heard too.
Speaker 2Yeah, so because I was filming on YouTube and I had this small little point and shoot camera, of course I wanted to improve the quality of my videos, so I bought a DSLR. Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 1I don't know what that is.
Speaker 2It's the first time you sent it.
Speaker 1Okay, okay.
Speaker 2Yeah, it was a Canon T3i and that camera could shoot really good quality video.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2So I improved my video quality and I self taught myself pretty much everything With YouTube. It's cool because you can search for anything and learn to do anything.
Speaker 1Not just video. It's pretty much how we got a podcast yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, how to podcast, how to build something in your house?
Speaker 1How to change something in your car.
Speaker 2Yeah, fix a tire.
Speaker 1Literally Makeup tutorial.
Speaker 2Yeah, anything, it's amazing yeah.
Speaker 1And even though, like knowing what camera to get and being self taught like I've tried to figure that out, it must be a lot of research. There's so many options Like how do you know what you're even doing, or how to get into the space. Did it feel intimidating at first to breach in there?
Speaker 2Well, just like you can learn anything on YouTube, you can research anything on YouTube as well, true. True, so I would watch a lot of product reviews on different cameras and try to see which one was best, that's smart. And then I landed on that Canon T3i. Okay, so I've started everything.
Speaker 1Really, yeah, the camera that changed it all. Do you still have that camera?
Speaker 2No, I sold it. I had to sell it so I could upgrade to another camera.
Speaker 1Oh damn, how to do what you had to do following those dreams. Okay, so from there, what was it about this camera that kind of showed you? Oh no, we could take this to the next level.
Speaker 2So I self taught myself how to use the camera, how to record video, and because that camera could also shoot photos, I'm like well, I'm not learning how to take photos as well. So one summer I just watched a ton of tutorials on YouTube.
Speaker 1And so there do you start, kind of building a little bit of a portfolio, asking friends to do shoots. How does it become a business and ramp itself up? I have so many questions, yeah.
Speaker 2So it was mainly just like for YouTube and a passion project, okay, okay. And then friends would see my YouTube channel and they're like can you film this, can you photograph these engagement photos?
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2And you just kind of build it little by little.
Speaker 1Organically, yeah, yeah, like a snowball, like photography and videography, different skills inherently that you have to hone in their own lanes, or is it something that kind of goes hand in hand with each other?
Speaker 2They're similar in terms of changing settings on the camera, but as far as the strategy of shooting photos and video, it's different, because photos you're trying to capture still frames of people or candid moments, where video you're capturing more of the motion, the flow. And sometimes the audio.
Speaker 1Okay, so this time you're starting to take pictures of friends, family. They're seeing that you are talented and starting to ask you to do things for them. Are you also working separately from this in another space?
Speaker 2At that time I was probably just a full-time student.
Speaker 1Okay, okay. And so what changes? Where we have Brennan Spark photography. What is it officially called?
Speaker 2It's yeah, brennan, spark Brennan.
Speaker 1Spark.
Speaker 2And then I say in the subtitle Videography, videography and photography, yeah.
Speaker 1Yes, okay, so you've officially become, I guess, an established business. Did you have to get a business license?
Speaker 2Well, the business license probably didn't come until maybe 2018.
Speaker 1Okay, got it Got, it Got it.
Speaker 2So if you want to say when it was official, official.
Speaker 1It would be then Okay 2018.
Speaker 2Got it, but, like in 2014, 2015, I started building it even more Got it.
Speaker 1That's when things ramped up.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Okay, and during that time were you honing kind of your own style, like I noticed, photographers and videographers this is just from Instagram. Being a lay person, I noticed they seemed to have different like vibes I don't know how else to describe it. How were you kind of finding your own during that?
Speaker 2time. Yeah, yeah, I know there's like some photographers or videographers. They have their own look to their photos or videos. Yeah, I also try to create my own look.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think you do too.
Speaker 2When I capture things, whether it's for their videos, I like to capture kind of like the natural candid moment, yes. Or to show interactions among people or people having a good time at an event, or a wedding, or at a music festival.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So what are your favorite events to do? Like, when you see this one coming up on your calendar, you're like yes, I'm jacked.
Speaker 2Well, there's a lot.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2I always enjoy shooting music.
Speaker 1So cool.
Speaker 2It's cool because normally when you go to a show you sit in the 20th row.
Speaker 1Yeah, if you're lucky, nosebleed Right, right, who knows?
Speaker 2And you have to pay a few hundred bucks for the ticket.
Speaker 1Right, you're seeing a tiny human. You can't see their face.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's like okay.
Speaker 2Yeah, but when you shoot music, sometimes you can go all the way up to the front, move around and get your shot.
Speaker 1Yeah, you get to like go backstage, behind, up front. What is that called, that little strip it's called the pit. The pit.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's where they put the photographers and videographers, that's freaking sick dude.
Speaker 1And now, how do you get connected with that? Are you just, in this area, connected to different auditoriums, music stadiums I don't even know what they're called.
Speaker 2Yeah, so I guess if we kind of backtrack. So I eventually went to Sonoma State, go Sea Lions.
Speaker 1Sea Wolves, sea Wolves, that's what it is. That's what it is.
Speaker 2Yep. And then from there, one of my friends invited me to be on a school newspaper because he knew I was doing photography, videography, and at the time he asked if I could help them redesign their website. Love From there, naturally, I moved into taking photos and being the photo editor for the school newspaper.
Speaker 1Sick. What was the newspaper called?
Speaker 2It was called the Sonoma State Star.
Speaker 1I knew it had a fun name.
Speaker 2Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
Speaker 1Side note did you go at the same time as my sister?
Speaker 2I finished around 2018.
Speaker 1So yeah, you were there at the same time. So that's why I think I saw you at a sorority thing, because she would take me to things.
Speaker 2Yeah, I did shoot a couple of those events.
Speaker 1Yeah, it was called Rush, Rush Formals. Well, I didn't get to go to.
Speaker 2Rush, I did a Formal, and did you ever do lip jam?
Speaker 1I did go to lip jam. You did, I wasn't in it.
Speaker 2But I got to watch.
Speaker 1Okay, yeah, what year was that? The one where they did Orange is the New Black. Okay. I don't quite remember I did photograph in a couple of times so we've kind of always been rotating around each other like the sun and Saturn or whatever.
Speaker 2But anyway, sorry, okay. So through that I got to take pictures around campus. I was still doing video for fun as well. Yeah, one year at Sonoma State they had this I guess, spirit rally I think it was called Midnight Madness or something like that where they have a basketball game but they have everyone there, like the cheerleaders, the dance team, lobo, the mascot, they invite all the students, they pass out swag and Swag merch.
Speaker 1We love merch folks yeah.
Speaker 2It's just a fun time.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2So I decided to capture that for fun. I made like a 30 second video, yes, and I shared it on my social media. Yes and I kind of tagged Sonoma State and some other people associated with Sonoma State. That video kind of went viral. Oh Like a lot of people in the campus community saw it Damn, and that kind of further kicked things off for me at Sonoma State.
Speaker 1Okay, first of all, that is so fun. What's it like to go viral?
Speaker 2It didn't get like millions of views.
Speaker 1But still to wake up and be like everyone's seeing my stuff yeah, that's a dream?
Speaker 2Yeah, just like in the comments, like people said like oh, this video is really amazing.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2At the time. I don't think anyone has really created anything like that for Sonoma State.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2Yeah, different people around campus reached out to me At the time. I think the provost asked me to film something for the president, which was pretty cool. I do Kind of leading into how I shot music. Yes Is, on campus. We have a performance venue called the Green Music Center. Beautiful venue, have you been Stunning? Yeah, yeah, it's great, especially during summer, where you can go out on the lawn and oh, I haven't done that. Yeah, and enjoy a picnic dance.
Speaker 1I've only been there in the dark, Like I don't. I haven't seen it in the light.
Speaker 2Uh-huh, oh, I need to do that. Yeah, come back. Yeah, During the fall or during the summer, and yeah, there's some great shows.
Speaker 1Oh, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2But anyways, because I posted that video on my social media and it kind of spread it throughout the Sonoma State community In addition to, I guess, campus administration seeing it, the marketing team at the Green Music Center saw that video. They found me, or they had my email address and they invited me for a meeting to see what we could do together.
Speaker 1Hell yeah. Oh my God, what'd you wear to this meeting?
Speaker 2Probably just jeans and a shirt.
Speaker 1Sorry, I don't know.
Speaker 2I wasn't in suit and tie or anything. Yeah, yeah, that's my first picture, super casual, sorry.
Speaker 1So you went to this meeting and what happened?
Speaker 2This meeting was in the spring and coming up was their summer season, so I think first was 4th of July and then they had a variety of indoor outdoor concerts. So they essentially asked if I could create a similar highlight video for them for 4th of July and some other things for the summer as well.
Speaker 1They can promo it.
Speaker 2Yeah, Just capture the excitement and get people fired up. Yeah to come to shows. Yeah. And then, because they knew I did photography, they're like yeah, can you take some photos for us as well? That was my first gig at Sonoma State and my first time shooting music.
Speaker 1What was it like? Were you immediately into it, or was it scary?
Speaker 2Oh no, it was definitely fun because now I could shoot something different and bigger. So it was exciting From the Green Music Center, from being able to film and photograph performance. It led to filming a couple music festivals, as well as filming with the Transcendence Theater Company.
Photography and Videography at Events
Speaker 1Oh my God, holy shit. Okay, so what were you studying at Sonoma State?
Speaker 2Yeah, so actually I was studying biology.
Speaker 1Okay, okay.
Speaker 2I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with it, but with biology you can do a variety of things, whether it's research. Go into the medical field, teach, seems hard.
Speaker 1You have to take like OK and shit.
Speaker 2Yeah, not only do you have to take biology, but you have to take physics, calculus and chemistry. I understand chemistry, but why physics and calculus?
Speaker 1I don't understand any of it.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, I know 100% that's hard. So you're smart, yeah, and that probably helps with like videography and photography, like are you doing like physics?
Speaker 2No, no, it's a complete different thing. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1I was like maybe you're like calculating the map of like this tree from that tree, Nope Dividing the light by the tree.
Speaker 2No math, no size involved. Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it, cool, cool, cool, cool Cool. I don't even capture plants or animals.
Speaker 1You don't? Oh yeah, I've never thought of that. Okay, so just people for you, yeah.
Speaker 2Well, as a joke, because of biology, humans are technically animals, right? So I guess we do. I do capture animals all the time.
Speaker 1You kind of capture the most feral of them, all you know. And then, when did weddings come into this?
Speaker 2Yeah, I forgot the actual time point, but people see that you're able to create great videos. Totally Capture the moment. When I was at Sonoma State, one of my friends knew I could take photos. Yeah, they asked if I could take photos for their brother's wedding. They didn't have much of a budget and at the same time that was my first wedding. So he said, oh, can you do it for a little less but at the same time you can use these photos for your portfolio.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2So that was my first wedding.
Speaker 1And do you like weddings like compared to music festivals? I'm assuming they're very different. Yeah, definitely Do you even like them.
Speaker 2Well, being there, capturing the moment, capturing all the fun of the reception and everything, that's a great time, but the other side is it's very stressful. Yeah, because you have to always be thinking ahead of where you need to be and what you need to capture, and you also want to make sure that you get all the moments and everything like that.
Speaker 1Right, because they're not going to happen again. Yeah, technically, hopefully, whatever. So, music festivals, do you feel the same Like I got to get everything in because do you have more time?
Speaker 2Well, I'll say for anything I shoot, whether it's as something as simple as portraits, music or wedding or some type of event, at the beginning of all gigs there's some type of stress or nervousness. Are you going to get the shot, even though I've done it 10 million times? Are you going to get the shot Because?
Speaker 1you're just a human. Yeah, and you guys are also paying me to do that Right Right and you want to do a good job. Like you, care about the work you do.
Speaker 2Yeah, but after you kind of get some of the shots going, you kind of settle down. And it's all good yeah.
Speaker 1Have you ever had a nightmare situation happen on a job?
Speaker 2A nightmare situation.
Speaker 1Yeah, like a funny story now, but at the time you were like, oh my God, I can't believe this has happened, like you deleted all the footage from a wedding.
Speaker 2No, I can't do that.
Speaker 1That would be terrifying, wouldn't it?
Speaker 2I can't rate, pinpoint a specific moment, but there would have to be some point during one gig where maybe I had multiple cameras going and one camera wasn't recording or the audio wasn't perfect.
Speaker 1Yeah, that type situation, but I was able to work through it.
Speaker 2So, nothing catastrophic.
Speaker 1Yeah. At the moment, which is this might be a crazy and you couldn't tell me to f right off, but have you ever had someone like flash you and you have to like turn the camera off, Like at a crazy wedding, or like at a music festival.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's happened at a music festival.
Speaker 1Okay, yeah, I can see that, or unintentionally at like a sorority thing.
Speaker 2Yeah things Too much, side boop yay.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2So you just don't include those things.
Speaker 1Okay, so things happen Like funny. Do you ever see like hilarious moments on camera that like are in the background or something that were caught accidentally, that you can't put in the final video, obviously, but like they're hilarious for you to see?
Speaker 2Yeah, just like you have this great shot of these people, and somewhere in the background these people are making a funny face or somewhere. Yeah, yeah it just kills the photo or the video shot.
Speaker 1Totally, and in that case, do you like Photoshop? Is that a part of it, or is it not a thing?
Speaker 2Well, for video it's hard to remove things.
Speaker 1Okay, for photos.
Speaker 2Sometimes you can crop them out or do a little Photoshop, but most of the time you messed up my shot.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now is lighting or sound more important, or both?
Speaker 2Technically they're both important, okay, but for video I would say sound is more important. Why? Because if you're listening to it and there's a bunch of weird background noise, the audio is just like screaming in your ear or breaking up. It could look really good, like the video quality is perfect, right, like oh, this was shot with a cinema camera.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2But then if the audio is terrible, the viewer they can't listen to it because they can't hear it. It's distracting, it's hurting their ears. So make sure your audio is good first Okay, okay, and then video. Use your phone If you can't obtain like a high quality camera.
Speaker 1That's what I heard, too, when I came to podcasting. They were like, if you're not going to buy this camera, which was $900 or above- use your phone. And I try to do not that, and they were right.
Speaker 2And if you know how to actually use the phone, it can be very powerful and you can get content just as good as like a regular camera.
Speaker 1Really, yeah, okay, good to know. Side question what are all these straps you guys are wearing at?
Speaker 2events. These straps?
Speaker 1Yeah, what are these straps called? There are camera straps and now are they like attached to your waist, Like?
Speaker 2Yeah, so the one I have, I think it's actually called the money maker, which is funny.
Speaker 1Dude, no pun intended, or not, yeah.
Speaker 2So the camera strap that goes across your back and around your shoulders, mine can hold two cameras, so when I'm shooting I have like one camera that has a zoom lens so I can get things further away from me. Okay, they have another camera that has a more wide angle lens, so I can get things closer.
Speaker 1Are there ones that can hold more?
Speaker 2Yeah, potentially you could hold a third camera.
Speaker 1Is that necessary? Do you need one?
Speaker 2I don't Okay. But some professionals they have like a zoom lens, a really wide angle lens, and then another camera for kind of a medium.
Speaker 1Where does the third one go?
Speaker 2It kind of just dangles down the middle. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1And now, when you buy, those are those like niche in your community, like so they're just camera straps or harnesses but like, do you buy high quality ones?
Speaker 2I'll say you get what you pay for. Okay, that's true for mostly anything.
Speaker 1Yeah, I've always wondered that when I go to weddings I'm like, oh, that one looks like a nice set. Yeah, that one looks different it's like whoa, I wonder where they get those. Oh, you don't have a moneymaker, bro. Like, what do you even do it? Because, like, if you don't, is it hard to work without one of those.
Speaker 2Yeah, you always need a camera strap, especially if you have two cameras. You can't hold both of them, you simply cannot. Or if you just have one camera, you need to kind of reposition things. You can't just, you're not just going to put your camera down.
Speaker 1You need your hands, yeah, and now what's the deal with a second shooter? Are there situations where you have to hire someone? Is there a situation where they put you with other photographers, like at music festivals?
Speaker 2So typically for music there's a team, okay, hired by someone running marketing or someone who's managing that?
Speaker 1Because one's not enough to get all the things going on.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's a lot, because music festivals are large and you have to walk throughout the venue. Multiple things at once From the front of the stage to the back of the stage, so there they hire a team. Most of the time you don't assemble your team, but smaller music festivals yeah, you can make your own team, Okay.
Speaker 1And when you are on a team, are you like I'm going to get Kelsey Ballerini, Do you like split it up? Or are you guys like nudging each other out of the way to get the best shot?
Speaker 2No, it's all organized. We're deciding who's going to capture what.
Speaker 1Got it. But for weddings do you ever have to have a second shooter.
Speaker 2Like for your wedding. You were just looking for a music video where I captured. Music video yes, I love it, I captured all the fun moments, but I didn't record any audio. No, I didn't need that. But for wedding films that's what I call it where we record the same things, all the highlights of the day, from getting ready to the send off, right, but we're also recording the audio of the speeches and the ceremony.
Speaker 1Layed over the top instead of a song, or like is there still a song? Kind of quietly.
Speaker 2Yeah, so there's still background music and it's like a movie.
Speaker 1Yes, yes, like a movie. And you've seen those videos, Cherries, of like I'll love you forever. I'll love you forever, Always. Shot to her and her mom. Yes.
Speaker 2So for that, whenever we incorporate audio, I need a second shooter, because we also have multiple cameras running during the ceremony and we have multiple cameras running during the speeches and we record audio, and by also having that second videographer or assistant we're also able to get more unique shots.
Speaker 1Totally Okay. When they're talking, do they have a microphone that you're hooked up to? You have that audio track.
Speaker 2Most of the time the couple will hire a DJ and we plug in our audio recorder into the DJ's equipment so we can get a clean feed of the speeches.
Speaker 1the vows the ceremony Right, not the people background wooing on top of it.
Speaker 2But sometimes for backup or maybe for the first look, when the DJ isn't there, we'll put a clip on mic onto the groom. Yeah, sometimes for the bride it's hard to put on a mic onto a wedding dress.
Speaker 1Yeah, like excuse me.
Speaker 2Yeah, and it's just, logistically it's hard to find a place to clip it in.
Speaker 1Got it, got it, got it right. There might not even be a place, yeah.
Speaker 2So we mic the groom for like the first look, and when they come together his mic will still pick up. It'll be close enough.
Speaker 1The bride's audio Ooh, little nips and tricks folks. That's very exciting. And do you pick that second shooter like someone you like?
Speaker 2Yeah, so the second shooter is actually one of my friends. Okay, we shoot all of the weddings together. Love that. He helps me out at Sonoma State sometimes as well as some other gigs.
Speaker 1Very cool. So it's someone you know, someone you like. You're not just going to hire a rando to come with you to a wedding.
Speaker 2No.
Speaker 1Okay, okay.
Speaker 2No, hell, no, that would be bad.
Speaker 1Have you ever had one person at an event just continually ruin your shot Like purposefully, like they're coming around like trying to fuck with you.
Speaker 2No, okay, not necessarily. What a weird thing to do Well sometimes well, not continually, but sometimes when I'm trying to get this nice candid moment or shot like People would come in front of the camera, wave, make faces be, obnoxious and I'm like, yeah, I know you want to be on camera, but hey, I'm trying.
Speaker 1There's something about the camera being pointed at people that makes them do weird shit.
Speaker 2It makes them either very, very shy or very uh what you call me. Lively.
Speaker 1And they're like.
Speaker 2I want to be on this highlight reel 100.
Cocktail Competition and Filming Experience
Speaker 1So I'm just going to be obnoxious. Dude, I was so annoying. You're so right. They did a cocktail competition between different restaurants in Sonoma County and there was a videographer there and he was just filming the food. I'm so annoying. I was trying to like wander around where he was to like be picking up foods when he was filming them, because I wanted to be in the video and he probably hated the fuck out of me.
Speaker 2You know, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1I was like, oh, there's a camera, but it's not about you.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's about the food. I mean sometimes like if they get a nice fun shot of you guys waving or yeah with the camera.
Speaker 1that's cool, but it's like if you're if he's a stalker if he's like focused on the shot and you're just like my head's just popping in so he's probably a little annoying. Yeah, no, I promise it wasn't that bad. Do you ever want to like film movies when it like? Do you want to be like? I don't even know who's a, who's a film that's famous. What's his name?
Speaker 2The evil one, the evil one, oh boy.
Speaker 1The one that did um pulp fiction.
Speaker 2I don't know. Are we talking about directors or cinematographers?
Speaker 1Oh no, what's his name? Oh no, he does like the really graphic ones.
Speaker 2I don't know, sorry.
Speaker 1It'll come to me. Someone in their car is like screaming it. Quentin Tarantino.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1Is he a video?
Speaker 2He's a director.
Speaker 1So are you like a James Cameron, like a director? That's what he is too, I believe so yeah. So what? How come you guys aren't famous, the people who actually film the movie? Yeah?
Speaker 2The director gets most of the credit. That's a hard job In the title sequences I'm sure it lists all the videographers. There's more than just one, there's probably a whole team of them.
Speaker 1Would you like to be in Hollywood?
Speaker 2I've actually never really thought about it, probably because of that it's not really a desire, or goal. I'm happy doing what. I'm doing currently.
Speaker 1Okay, love that. I just have Hollywood dreams. Maybe you can follow me to Hollywood sometime and film it.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'll film your.
Speaker 1Film my live shows.
Speaker 2I'll film your live shows, your vlogs.
Speaker 1Yes, yes, my like launches all these things I'm going to do. Also, is this the first podcast you've ever been on. It is Welcome. Thanks, do you listen to podcasts?
Speaker 2Not too much. Okay, I listen to a lot of music, like when I edit photos or videos, but Right Occasionally I would listen to a podcast and I'm like, oh yeah, this is it's nice.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, it's just not something you think to do.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Totally. I feel like people are either like that or they're like die hard, like oh, it's in the third of your day. You know, like me, no, no no, I'm kind of intense, so are you from this area originally?
Speaker 2Yes, born and raised Nice, did my education here. All of my clients are here. Yep, I love it here. Yes, the weather is great, it's gorgeous, it's done. Then I always tell people you can do so much within like 45 minutes, whether it's the ocean, the redwoods.
Speaker 1You probably know all the spots too.
Speaker 2Yeah, there's a lot of great spots.
Speaker 1How do you know what clips to post on your social media? Owning your own business, Like that's another piece. You have to publish your work on your feed. You have to think about people finding you and reaching out to you. Your website, all of that.
Speaker 2Well, part of it is just putting quality content out there. You definitely want to be unique, differentiating yourself from others.
Speaker 1Even like I'm thinking about for someone like you, do you ever feel like, okay, I should do a post about me? That's like hey, here's me behind the lens, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like do you have to think like that kind of thing?
Speaker 2I mean, I would like to do that, but I don't get the opportunity. You're so busy. Yeah, like it'll be cool if someone could film behind the scenes. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1Teach me, I'll do it for you.
Speaker 2Yeah, hell yeah, even if it's just iPhone content oh my God, I would love to help you.
Speaker 1Yes, that would be sick. Yeah, it's just interesting. Some people it's like all them, all their face. Some people you I don't even know who the person behind the camera is. Other people, they use these presets that, like all their pictures, have this like orange tint to them.
Speaker 2You know, yeah, it has some type of style to it.
Speaker 1Uh-huh yeah. And so I was just wondering about that, like how do you put yourself out there and how do you know what clips to put on your website and stuff? How do you pick?
Speaker 2So on my website it's all my best work.
Speaker 1All your best work Okay.
Speaker 2So I have to pick the best of the best Of the best, whether they're photos or videos.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2And sometimes when you shoot the photo or video, you know that's the shot Like I've got, that that's the shot that the couple's gonna love, or that's the shot the client will love and that shot is going on the website.
Speaker 1Ha yeah, so you know when you know.
Speaker 2Yeah, Because your website is highlighting you and you want to show your work to future clients. You have to show your best stuff.
Speaker 1Yep, do you usually just have a plethora to choose from because you have so many like events and things going on?
Speaker 2Yeah, so each year, like in December and January when I actually have time, I kind of go through the stuff I shot the previous year and pick some of my favorite stuff and put those items onto the website and take out the old stuff. Update, so each year the website evolves.
Speaker 1Refresh. Yeah, dude, it's banging. It's banging right now. And what's it like to shoot celebs? Like do you talk to them? Do you just shoot them? Like give us the tape.
Speaker 2It's pretty formal, like I've shot meeting Greeks, sorry.
Speaker 1I would not be normal in that situation.
Speaker 2You still stay professional. Yeah, how do you do?
Speaker 1that. How do you do that? Do you ever freak out internally? Sorry?
Speaker 2I haven't yet. So basically, they come in to the room, you have your camera set up, you have the backdrop set up, you introduce yourself to them. They say, hi, talk about what's going to happen and how these photos are going to work. Do?
Speaker 1you ever sneak in like a. I love your work.
Speaker 2No.
Speaker 1I haven't said that. Have they ever been rude? You don't say who, but has anyone ever been in stand-up and off-ish or rude?
Speaker 2Not rude, but there's someone I met one time that I thought he has this really great lively stage presence, but then when he came in he was very stiff.
Speaker 1Damn. Okay, that's interesting to know. Is it just for you the same as shooting anyone else, kind of yeah, or is there more pressure?
Speaker 2I wouldn't say there's more pressure, because I know what I'm doing and I know I'll be able to get their meeting. Greek shot.
Speaker 1Yeah, so you're not worried about it. Okay, I just love celebs, I love all things celebs.
Speaker 2So I mean, if it, maybe, if it was a big time celebrity, I would get a little pressure.
Speaker 1No, tino shade. Like who Like who is your favorite celeb?
Speaker 2Before he passed away, it was Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, rip. Okay, fair enough, that's a good answer.
Speaker 2If there is like a musician or actor or athlete that I followed like my whole entire life, then yeah, I would probably. Yeah, like a Jonas brother for me.
Speaker 1Yeah, have you ever shot the Junes brothers?
Speaker 2No, I haven't. Okay, I'm not that big.
Speaker 1If you ever do call me or don't you probably don't want me there I'll run it for you. Just kidding, just kidding, I won't run anything for you. Um, okay, okay. So how do you manage work-life balance? Like you're probably always working weekends, do you have free time? What does your life look like when you're not shooting?
Speaker 2People ask me if I have a work-life balance. Most of the time I say no yeah. Yeah, I work all the time. Literally, I could work 12 hours a day between answering emails, teaching, shooting.
Speaker 1You're still teaching.
Speaker 2I'm still teaching.
Speaker 1Biology things.
Speaker 2Yeah, science.
Speaker 1Oh okay. So sometimes, damn, you're busy dude.
Speaker 2I'll answer emails in the morning, do a little editing, go to the teach in the afternoon, come back home and then edit. Sometimes I wish I had a team.
Talking About Life as a Videographer
Speaker 1Ain't that the truth, brennan? We will one day. We will one day Now. Do you have any siblings? I don't. Okay, only child Love that. Do you plan to live here forever?
Speaker 2I think so. Actually, you don't know this yet, but I just bought a house here. Oh my God, congratulations.
Speaker 1Yes, yay, thank you. That's a huge, huge deal. My God, what's your house like, like? Is it like a bachelor pad? You like wake up, walk downstairs, answer emails, put on your teaching outfit, go teach, come back open a window. I don't know. That pretty much sounds like it, okay.
Speaker 2Yeah, and I recently just bought this really nice wood table.
Speaker 1Love that.
Speaker 2I love Plot myself down there in the morning.
Speaker 1There, give it to him.
Speaker 2I don't have a dog, but I love dogs and you're busy, you're a hell of a.
Speaker 1Yeah, you need a dog that can like come with you. That's like one of those dogs that's like so chill.
Speaker 2Yeah, so well behaved. That's just like stays with you. Yeah.
Speaker 1Just like your buddy.
Speaker 2I would love some type of like Labrador. Yeah, yeah, and also my backyard is currently just a pile of dirt.
Speaker 1Got it, so you got to be. You got to be right. Fair enough, fair enough, sorry, sorry, sorry. Do you feel overwhelmed in your life? Do you feel the need for more free time, or are you like this works for me?
Speaker 2I would say both Okay, like sometimes because I work so much, I'm just used to it.
Speaker 1Yeah, and you probably booked out a while too.
Speaker 2Yeah Well, especially kind of like May through October.
Speaker 1Yeah, fall. It's pretty wild, so are we just coming out of it now for you? Yeah.
Speaker 2It's slowing down.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2But I currently have two wedding videos to edit and a few other projects, so there's still a lot to do.
Speaker 1So there's stuff like once you shoot the event, you still got a hell of work to do.
Speaker 2You're not done.
Speaker 1When a project is finally done and you send off the final edits to people. Are you like? Oh?
Speaker 2Yeah, that's the best part, just checking it off and then hearing like their response.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's hearing the feedback I bet is the best part. When you do need like vacation, do you have to plan it so far ahead because you are so booked out?
Speaker 2Yeah, it has to be booked, maybe a year or 18 months in advance, like, for example, one of my friends had his wedding last year and five months before his wedding he told me oh, I'm getting married. I'm like I already have a wedding job booked that day.
Speaker 1Right, so I can't make it. No. So yeah, for like your personal life too. And like what if you are in a friend's wedding but they also want you to film it because you not do that? Would you prefer like to just be present with them on the day?
Speaker 2If one of my friends has a wedding, I would rather just be a part of it and not worry about capturing all the photos and videos.
Speaker 1I would rather just enjoy it.
Speaker 2But I think at the same time they would probably want me to video it, or photograph it. I know that's tricky. When that comes up, we'll talk.
Speaker 1Right, okay, okay, you heard it here, folks. Okay, and what are the pillars that keep you up? Are there like self-care things that you do, that like keep you going?
Speaker 2So, as you kind of heard, I don't get much downtime, but I really enjoy listening to music. Oh, I like driving too.
Speaker 1It's like driving. That's a new time.
Speaker 2Listening to music? Yeah. So when I'm traveling to a gig, play some music? Yeah. Roll the windows down a little bit and cruise.
Speaker 1Yeah, I see your dog next to you again. Yeah, do you like getting paid to travel? Is it fun to like go somewhere and like have a hotel? Oh, yeah, that's, yeah, that's the best part. That sounds so fun.
Speaker 2Like traveling gigs are fun because in most cases they'll pay for gas, your hotel combinations. I don't go on many vacations, but that's kind of like a mini vacation. One example of that is when I film Country in the Park. It's a two-day music festival, they pay for hotel, they pay me to shoot and it's also a great time. So I'm doing what I love 100%. Do you ever shoot comedy? I think I shot comedy once.
Speaker 1Okay, I'm just curious. I go to see comedy shows a lot Jimmy Taitrell I don't know who that is.
Speaker 2Oh, that's amazing, though yeah, I wasn't that familiar with him too, but he's been in a couple of movies, really Damn damn Editing Tiff here, feel the need to say I'm an idiot.
Speaker 1I do a 100% know who he is and had just literally watched the movie he's in playing Bert Kreischer, called the Machine. Here we go. I'm thinking about starting standup. I don't want to do it prolonged, I just want to try it once.
Speaker 2Okay, just to say I did, I'll photograph your comedy sketch. Oh God.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, I forgot, I also shot a.
Speaker 2Do you know Gabriel Iglesias? Yes, fluffy, yeah, he was at the Green Music Center. Oh my God. I photographed him a couple of times.
Speaker 1Frickin lit dude, you see stuff that people won't see in their lifetime up close, yeah, you know, like your eyes have seen things that, like, quite simply, I'll never see. Yeah, just these different experiences Do you think there will ever be a time where you slow down because this is all a lot, or right now we're moving, we're grooving, we're shaking, we're moving.
Speaker 2So right now it's working, yeah, but eventually, yes, are you single Something we'll have to give? Yeah.
Speaker 1When you do have partners. Is this hard for them, Like you being gone all the time?
Speaker 2Yeah, because these jobs are kind of like set in stone and they can't come. Yeah, both cases they can't come Right, so it's it's hard.
Speaker 1And then you're editing when you're home.
Speaker 2Yeah and then. Oh. Sorry, I can't hang out because I have to get this edit done by this time or this week.
Speaker 1It's almost like maybe you need to date another videographer. That would be fun. You guys can make like sexy edit time and like do it make it or something.
Speaker 2Do you know any videographers? I don't Just you.
Speaker 1But hey, if you're listening, get us up folks.
Speaker 2That would be fun, like another videographer or photographer. Yeah, then we have the shared, the lifestyle Interesting.
Speaker 1Uh-huh, you can like share ideas and tips. It could be your second shooter if needed. Yeah, sorry to kick out your friend.
Speaker 2It's the ultimate partnership.
Speaker 1The ultimate partnership. I love it. Well, we're just manifesting, we're planting seeds. For my last question do you think there are any misconceptions that people have Like? Do people assume things about videography or your work when they message you? Is there anything annoying that you constantly get Like as a question, that you're like this isn't a thing? Stop asking me.
Speaker 2Yeah, I guess one would be the price as well, as most people don't understand the amount of time it takes to edit their photos or video.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2Because they just see me shooting with them that day, right, that's all they see. I'm like oh, he had a good time. He got some great photos. We fed him.
Speaker 1You should be happy yeah.
Speaker 2Can we get our photos tomorrow?
Speaker 1Yeah, right, right, right that to the expectation. And it says upfront in your contract too. Like you're not going to get these for a while, folks.
Speaker 2Yeah, for like four weeks, eight weeks.
Speaker 1I mean, that's fast yeah.
Speaker 2And also it's not like I'm just editing their stuff. There's other people who came before you in the queue, so I have to kind of go through everything in order.
Speaker 1Are people ever rude about that or like about?
Speaker 2your price. They haven't been rude about the price. They just don't do business, right.
Speaker 1Right, right, right, right, right. Okay, well, thank you for being here. You've just been a light, a shining star. Anything you want to say to the cherries? Do you know the cherries? Are you a cherry?
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1You're not a cherry.
Speaker 2What are the cherries? The cherries are my listeners, okay.
Speaker 1I just started, naturally, I knew I needed a fan name. You know, like Selena has the Salonators or the Swifties Swift. Exactly, mine are the cherries. Awesome, yes, thank you for being here. Bye, yay, that was so good. Yeah, all right, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did Definitely one of my favorite episodes of all time. And if you're looking for someone to shoot your next event, look no further. Folks, here he is. Thank you to Brennan for being on and being so open with us. Now let's roll into Yoko. How do we put it? It's time. If you're up up deep, you're up up deep.
Speaker 1Follow my podcast wherever you listen to them so that you never miss an episode. You can do this by hitting the follow or the plus button on my show wherever you listen. Like and follow me on Facebook, instagram, tiktok and YouTube that's where I post all my clips every single week. Great, and leave a review on Facebook, apple Podcast and or Spotify. It's been a hot minute.
Speaker 1Here's a refresh on how to do that. If you're listening through Apple, just open up that purple app, tap library at the bottom, then hit shows, scroll down till you see the beautiful logo of hey, everyone, it's Tiff. It'll open up my show. You'll scroll down past the first seven episodes or so and right there you'll see ratings and reviews, which you can then tap to rate five stars and then, slightly below that hit write a review. This will just open up a tiny window where you can immediately type whatever you need to do. Easy peasy, takes about two seconds and I would be forever grateful. That's how to do it. On Apple Podcast, on Spotify, open up the green app, tap your library, go down to hey everyone, it's Tiff. Scroll up and go to my beautiful logo again and here you will see, right under it, there will be a star rating. You can tap there to rate the stars, and let's get me back up to five stars there.
Speaker 1I really need your help, vix. Thank you so much. If you wanna see great behind the scenes pictures of lots of Brennan's work this week, go ahead and join it. You can join by reaching out to me directly or going to hey everyone, it's Tiffbuzzsproutcom and filling out the form. Share the show with your friends, please, please, please, please. That's all I want for Christmas. Merch, let me know if you'd like anything. It's all in my highlight reel on Instagram. Submit questions for the next Get to Know Me episode. There will be one more this season and finally, subscribe to my show by becoming a Mera Mera She-Know DJ.
Speaker 1Selfish, do it, do it, mera She-Know, mera She-Know. I love you. So, oh, wow, alvin, real, thank you so much for listening to me. I really appreciate you. Then you came in and you took it a step further, something you didn't have to do so well talked Some of my favorite people just help me live my dreams Merisinos, my merisinos. I love you. So Thank you.
Appreciation for Podcast Community
Speaker 1The world, when you become a mericino, you are saying thanks, tiff, so much for your hard work on this pod. We want to show you that in a monetary way, to give you the push that you need to keep going. I really appreciate it, and that is basically what the mericinos are A tip once a month, if you will, and the fact that people want to even spend their hard earned money on this. It means the world, and we do have eight mericinos and counting. So, wow, I'm honored. Thank you genuinely to all of them, the people who are consistently listening and actually get something out of it and enjoy it. That's why I'm even doing a podcast. That's it. I feel so lucky to have this community. So, with all of that said, there is no pressure. You can cancel it anytime. You can set whatever dollar amount you want. The link to join is in my email show notes on my website. Feel free to sign up today if you would like to. With that, I love all my cherries. Have a good week, bye.
