Welcome And Meet Lamar

Vipul Bindra 0:04

Welcome to another episode of Studio V Sessions with me, Bindra, owner of Bindra Productions here in Orlando, Florida. If you've been following us, these are unfiltered, unedited, uh, you know, real conversations with people who are in the photo video industry. And uh just like always, this season, we have Mario here helping us on the producer desk making this happens.

Mario Rangel 0:24

Hi guys, how are you? Welcome back.

Vipul Bindra 0:27

And uh our guest today is Lamar. Yeah, an amazing photo video professional, and now a studio owner, I guess co-owner with Quintin. Yeah. Uh welcome. Thank you. Welcome. Well, uh, tell people. So, what do you do? I guess uh tell us people about the studio, you and what what do you do, I guess? Okay, um, so I know that's a broad question, right?

Lamar Shealey 0:51

It is very broad. So I guess um I'm a photographer, videographer. I've been doing that for a while. I guess I'll get more into the story because you you don't know much about my story. So I started out as a musician at my church when I was 15 years old. I've been playing the piano for when I was a little kid, right? So I got hooked up with the church and started going there. I've been going there since I was 15, I'm 39.

Vipul Bindra 1:17

Wow, that's a long time.

Church Music To Media Skills

Lamar Shealey 1:18

And then as um, so we had some hurricanes came, the building we were in, bad flooding, we ended up moving to a hotel. So then at that point, I started learning how to do sound. Because we're breaking down every Sunday, is me, basically my friends, and the church kind of you know went a little bit down because you know, people don't like going to hotels. And then we started building it up and getting more equipment and doing all that stuff. Um well met my wife, she started coming to the church actually before that, and I actually brought her. So did that, and then as we move into our next building, built that out, we had a young man helping out with video, and he's actually doing it professionally now too. And I just grabbed a camera one day because he wasn't there because I was doing basically the audio, and it started taking pictures, and and I just really liked it and just kept going from there. And we've been streaming at that church probably for 15 years.

Vipul Bindra 2:18

That's a long time.

Lamar Shealey 2:19

Started from not knowing what we're doing and just trying to get better and better and better. And so I just started from there and just kept growing.

Vipul Bindra 2:27

That's awesome. And that's a common, you know, again, thread with a lot of people, especially who do live streaming. A lot of times they start a church or you know, any other place of faith that they go to, place of worship, uh, because it's common for those places who need these services to get to people, you know, that maybe can't come in or whatever. And uh, and and it's such an incredible thing that you're learning this technical thing, a place that you're gonna go. You know, uh, I mean, uh you're a volunteer at, and then even though you wouldn't think you could learn such high technical stuff at a volunteer position, people do after years and years of doing this, you know, uh you're basically an expert at it, right?

Lamar Shealey 3:03

Yeah, I mean, I I from doing the sound, I started doing music, I was singing, I was making music, and then just switched. I moved out of, I moved, came back, couldn't get back in music, just started doing video. And you know, working with things that don't always work half the time teaches you a lot.

Vipul Bindra 3:23

Exactly. That's an important life lesson. Yeah, how to fix things, how to fix things. People are losing that skill. I feel like it's very important to be able to be hands-on. I find like again, I'm not that old, but I'm just saying people don't stop need to like the current culture is you know, if it breaks, you throw away. Yeah, very few people are like, let me try and fix it first. Yeah, yeah.

Lamar Shealey 3:42

It's broke. So what what can I what else can I do to it if it's broke? We're gonna throw it away anyway, so I might as well take it. I was always like that from a kid. I took apart remote control cars when they broke. I just I just love always taking things apart. Most times probably didn't put it together, right? That was me as a kid.

Vipul Bindra 3:58

I'd pull it apart, you know, try to fix it, but usually have no idea how to put it back together. And that's how you learn.

Lamar Shealey 4:04

That's how you learn, and eventually you start being able to put stuff back together. Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 4:08

So that's awesome. Uh, and then how did that lead to, I guess, today where you are, which is like I said, uh building studio, doing it professionally in your studio, photo and video and all that.

Lamar Shealey 4:19

So doing the same thing week in and week out. Um so my team is mostly young young kids, and I'm trying to teach them. And you know, I've had kids go to college. I've had um I have one, she just became a lawyer. Um and she's married, and I have another one. He's married with a kid, and he's doing videography professionally, traveling around the country. I'm like, he hires me for jobs now, you know. So it's it just got like I want to do this more, so I want to expand and do more things. So you know, with uh with working with a church, you have a budget, and sometimes it's a very tight, strict budget, and there's certain things that you can't do. Um, and I just want to be able to do more things. And hey, I want to try something. Okay, I have no restriction of what I can try in this area. Just hey, if I got an extra couple hundred dollars, I want to buy this Ultimat, yeah, go ahead, buy it.

Vipul Bindra 5:17

I can use it. Exactly. And that's this is great freedom though, to have uh being able to, like you said, just make things happen.

Lamar Shealey 5:24

Yes, and expanding it out and trying to get more clients and you know, meet people. This is always the fun thing. That's one thing I like about photography. Um, you get to meet a lot of people. Yeah, um, I like doing the family photography as well because just interacting with people and you know, well, I'm also a teacher and phasing that out a little bit, but you know, being able to connect with the kids and you know, it's having fun. That's all it was about. Like when they come in and say, I don't know how to do this, I was like, Well, we're just gonna have some fun.

Vipul Bindra 5:55

Yeah, that's it. Exactly. Make it easy for them, right? Exactly. Uh so when at what point did you meet Quentin?

Lamar Shealey 6:02

I met Quentin at a at our church conference. Um, a gentleman named Troy brought him in and met him one year, he came in, helped out, and then I guess just throughout the year met him again. He came to the church a few more times to help us out with little one-off things, and then I don't know, we just started talking more and he was we were getting ready for the next conference, which was the one last year, and he was like, Well, I'm going to Africa for a few months, and and Troy, he does this professionally as well on the big stage. And he's like, Well, we need you to learn how to do some use some of this equipment. So I'm like, Well, at my school building, we have a whole side that we're not even using, bring it over there.

Vipul Bindra 6:47

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 6:47

So we brought it over and we just started hooking up stuff and doing things. They left. I worked on it a little bit, and this is just how it came about. And it was sitting empty. We were like, we just start a studio here.

Vipul Bindra 6:57

Yeah, that's such such a I mean, amazing thing if you think about it, right? You had an empty side that you guys weren't using for the school, and obviously you're doing video production through the church. Quentin's working, you know, with the ministry, and and then somehow you two connect, and it's like the perfect mixture of people. You know, I I mean, I like I I think about like I don't too much believe in fate, but I'm like, that has to be fate, right? Like uh, you guys were meant to be, and then obviously I love what you've done with it. Uh, but you know, I it had to start with you two spark building the spark of let's do something here, you know, and and create something together where you know, not only is it it's a nice space, but more importantly, it's a business, it's a place where other people can come and create content, and you guys can create content for other people and stuff like that, you know, right? Uh so uh whose idea was it to build this studio? Was it you or Quentin?

Learning By Fixing Broken Gear

Lamar Shealey 7:53

It's funny, and and when you talk about faith, it's funny how um God puts people in your life because I've always had that. I've for years I wanted to have a photography studio. Now that's not the main thing that it is, but I was like, man, a place where during Christmas time I could bring people in because a lot of the studios closed that were doing photography for um families. Yeah. And I was like, I want to do that. We had an extra space at the at our other building, and I would just do it there, but I was like setting this up and breaking it down every single time and taking a c taking my whole class apart and moving all the chairs around and moving my desk around and then have to put it all back together. It's a lot of work. Yeah, I spend 75% of the time just putting things together and taking it apart, not even shooting or editing. So when it came when he came and just kind of he's like, Man, this would be cool as a studio. I was like, I don't think so. And so it's kind of like he just came in and just like kind of reaffirmed something I already wanted to do.

Vipul Bindra 8:53

That makes sense because you know, you uh you look at that space, it's meant to be, because there's a narrow hallway on one side, big rooms on the other side, you know, kind of that's essentially a good layout for for a good small-size studio where corporate and commercial work can take place, which is kind of I think what you're leaning towards, right? Photo shoots, video shoots, podcasts, things like that. And uh yeah, normally, you know, the way the commercial buildings are designed, they may not work for it, but the way that's designed with a small front lobby, so you have more space, makeup room on the right, like it kind of seems like it was designed. I I don't think it was, but it was designed for yeah, that it was designed probably as a classroom, but it kind of works as a studio very easily. You guys didn't have to like you know, it'd be one thing if you had to do a full remodel. Uh, all you had to really uh do is I'm saying you didn't have to change the layout, it basically worked. You just had to paint, you know, obviously get the equipment in there or the setups in there, but you didn't have to like tear down walls or whatever. It wasn't an extensive project. Uh so that's really awesome. Like I said, I'm so happy that you guys met or whatever. And the way I was introduced to you through was Quentin, because I knew Quentin now for a few years, thanks to Alex. Uh, actually, very long uh quite a few years I've known uh Quentin, at least I would say four or four years minimum. So through Alex is how I met Quentin. All right, and uh obviously uh I think it was his uh meetup where or even before the meetup, he was telling me about his his this you know studio idea or whatever, and then I think it was his meetup where where we met, right? Yes, yeah, so that was incredible. Yeah, so so it was Quentin who kind of met us meet, and then we had a chance to work together. So I think we were doing the Kia Center shoot, and uh he was really pushing for you. He's like, you gotta have Lamar there, and you know, Quentin is one of my guys, so it's like, you know, if you say it, Lamar's gonna be there.

Lamar Shealey 10:42

Yeah, that's one that's one cool thing about Quentin. He's been pushing me to get out there because I think one of the things that I just haven't had with working with churches, just that opportunity to get out past the church. It's not saying I'm leaving the church behind, but just get out past the church and be able to kind of experience other things.

Vipul Bindra 10:58

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 10:59

Um, because I've been put in a lot of different positions, and when I come in, you know, of course, in the church world where I've been working, I was always over it. Right? But I'm like, I it's good to come out and do things and just be able to learn and experience different things. And the funny thing was after that shoot, um, I think about a month later, I got a job working um Thai Tribbit. I don't know if you ever heard of him, he's a gospel artist. Okay. He called me to come shoot him at the same thing for family and faith. I was like, oh, cool. So I can't.

Vipul Bindra 11:33

Now you know every all the alleyways and how to get in there. I know how to get in there. I would have yeah, I would have been lost if I didn't have that stadium. That place is uh I mean, I guess it's all stadiums. They they designed them, I guess, for you to get lost in there. Uh, but that's really cool. I really appreciate it. Like I said, he introduced me to Andrew. That's what it was, basically. I was like, I want to bring Andrew, and I was like, Well, we'll bring him Lamar too. How about that? I told my clients, like, well, we need an extra person, we gotta fit them in. You know, that's how it is. Uh, and to be real, I I I trust Quentin's opinion because like I said, he introduced me to Andrew, and same thing, he knows him from C Fan, and like I said, Andrew is incredible too. Andrew, yeah, he's talented. Yeah, he's he's he's like I say, he likes me in the tech side. I love that. He's like so deep into every little equipment, how to put it together, how to be creative. I mean, he's very creative too. I'm saying so shooting goes. Uh funny enough, I'm gonna have him a shoot tomorrow, so I'm excited. Oh, yeah, that's it. Yeah, so um anyway, so when he's at, I was like, okay, so you're coming. And I told the client, I was like, well, we need extra people this year, it's gonna be more coverage, right? Yeah, anyway, but no, no, I'm so glad you came, man. It was such a good good time having you unset. I think what not only did we have fun, I think we had a lot of fun that night. We did. Uh, even though the singer wasn't a good, I wish you were there last year. Okay. I mean, to be real, I mean, he's a good singer, but his music just isn't danceworthy. Yes. Last year, the singer they had, his music was very, you know, dance worthy. So people were all on the court dancing and having fun. But literally, the security had to be like, no, no, we can't have that many people on the court, right? Because it's gonna I guess damage, whatever. So, no, no, no, back up. But I'm saying it it was uh it was a party, but versus this year I felt like less people want to dance and not because he wasn't singing good or whatever. But that music wasn't dance, but either way, we still had a party, we had a lot of fun. We were able to go up on the lounge and you know had a good meal. Uh, your your member, Mario, what's your memory from that shoot?

Mario Rangel 13:22

From the Kia Center shoot? Yeah. No, I had a lot of fun. We had like uh we could go anywhere. Yeah, we had full access to full access in like in to the core even. Yeah, so that that's great. And then we also had like you were saying the like the VIP access to that like buffet. Yeah, yeah, it was it was really cool shoot.

Vipul Bindra 13:46

Yeah, how about how about the shoot part itself? Did you enjoy actually what the content we were creating? The whole India day thing. Yeah, I know you guys are not Indian. Yeah, I still like so I still like India.

Meeting Quentin And Starting Delta

Lamar Shealey 13:56

I mean, to be honorary Indians because of you know, you know, our next door neighbor um by my parents' house is Indian, and he's um bought the house in 2003, they did. Known him since then, seen his son grow up and everything. And I just like other cultures. I like experiencing that and hearing the music and it's it's fun.

Vipul Bindra 14:15

I mean, to be honest, I I really love it because you know it's a partnership between the IECC and the uh the Orlando Magic. Yes, it's technically just a regular NBA game. They just uh celebrate, I guess, Indian culture on that day. So the the what all the changes, the halftime show, the post-game show, all that is, you know, of somebody somebody Indian, right? They probably usually for halftime have Indian kids who dance and stuff, and then post-game is some Indian singer, you know, celebrity singer or whatever who comes out and sings.

Lamar Shealey 14:44

Yeah, I did want to say uh the funny story from that particular uh shoot when um I was upstairs looking for y'all. Yeah. Oh and then and then they were like, oh yeah, we need to get that. Y'all were all sitting down, we came from outside, oh yeah, we need to get that. I was like, all right, let me go right now. I just go to the first elevator I see and said, Hey, I need to be on the floor right now. They said, Okay, they pressed some buttons and they skipped every single floor. They didn't know who I was. I just some random guy just come up and say, I'm gonna go. But still, they were like, I'll get you there. Yeah, I got on the floor as soon as they finished.

Vipul Bindra 15:20

And I was like, ah that's so good of you to use that power. But no, to be honest, it's on on, I'll take a little bit of blame. So what happened is, and you know, again, we do this every year, but you know, you it's it's a year later. Yes, so what's you don't remember everything. So basically, we did we captured the um the pro the pre-game show, essentially, is the the thing again. There's too many things happening, but anyway, we you guys were still outside, right? I think it was Mario, were you outside too, right? It was the two of you, I believe. Yes, yeah. So the the other three, four of us, either way, however, many of us was there. We had gone in uh to get the the pregame. You guys were outside finishing on the outside thing. So we got the pregame and we're like, awesome, let's go to the buffet. You know, we remember so we're like, we're gonna go uh or I say buffet, it's I think in a lounge or whatever. We're like, we're gonna go there and eat some nice food and have fun while we know now the game's gonna start. Yeah, we completely forgot they gotta do the national anthem next. And I'm like, how can I be so silly? So you guys are now coming in to essentially just chill until you know halftime or whatever, yeah, right? Looking for y'all, yeah, exactly. And I'm like, uh national anthem started. So I'm like, can anyone please get that? Like, we are not gonna make it down, and that's when you were like, no, I I am on it. But unfortunately, I mean, you did your best, yes, you weren't able to make it. Luckily, we were able to go to IECC to go to Orlando Magic and get some footage of the national anthem. Yes, it's just again, these type of oversights happen. Again, I think I got overzealous. I was just like, I should have, I could have waited five minutes, but again, it wasn't no harm done in the final edit. Yeah, but I'm just saying it was kind of a funny situation that you're running.

Lamar Shealey 16:55

They need to go now. They got they got they literally like I felt like a superstar, yeah, because they literally just had me go straight down the elevator, skipped everything. I get I don't even know if they rated on the head because the person at the next gate was like, Come on, yeah, and I just and I ran straight to the floor and got right there.

Vipul Bindra 17:10

I just said, Hey, I'm at Yeah, and then that's that's so cool. I I mean I had your normally I don't have access issues to this either. I did for one segment, I don't know, whoever. The guy wouldn't let me in on the court, and I'm like, dude, I'm supposed to be here, so I had to like go to someone else. He was like, Yeah, yeah, they're supposed to be. I was like, it clearly says C on it. We can and we're not trying to do go during the game. Obviously, I I'm not gonna be unreasonable there, but during the halftime, it's not even I don't I'm pretty sure it's not even televised. That's no, I don't think so. Yeah, so that's just for the people there, and that's why we're allowed to be in court and get whatever angles we need. But yeah, I had some some guy on one of the corners was like, No, you can't be on there. I'm like, Yes, I can be. That's exactly why they hired me. Like, if you don't capture this, then I why am I here anyway?

Lamar Shealey 17:55

Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 17:56

No, but that but that's why I like that gig, because it's like we have certain things we need to capture, but usually in the middle, we have a lot of freedom. I mean, there's some segments where they're behind the scenes or whatever, we gotta capture some sound bites, but a lot of it is we can also get to experience and chill and just enjoy while we capture it. It's it's not the most financial thing, obviously, it's a partnership. Yes, uh, but the advantage uh for me is hey, my name's there, you know, on one of the boards, I guess. Yeah, uh, and then the other thing being is that I get to um have that access and just have that fun because it's not like um you know long-term thing, it's just a one-day uh I don't know. What do you what do you think?

Lamar Shealey 18:36

Did you have fun? Yeah, yeah, I had fun, and I think it's good to be able to bring in people that you don't know because you didn't really know me. So it's like, hey, let me bring a look, bring in this guy that he said is good. All right, bring me up.

Vipul Bindra 18:46

I mean, to be real, I knew you at that time I hadn't met you at the Yeah, you met me, but you didn't really know. Yeah, I never had a chance to get it. Some random guy, you know. Exactly. Uh, but no, I'm so glad I brought you, dude. We had so much fun. And uh it was so fun actually working with you and getting to know you. And I was like, this is awesome, we should do this more often. And uh uh, because like I said, the footage you got was great. We had fun, like I said, and you use your power correctly to get down because you did need to go down there. I mean, it's not your fault, because like I said, by the time we realize they're already singing, it's not like it takes them forever to the national anthem. It does not, yeah. So it's not like the longest time to uh to get there. And uh Kia Center is a maze, essentially.

Lamar Shealey 19:26

Um I don't even I really don't even know how I ended up I ended up right by the right elevator.

Vipul Bindra 19:32

I think I think our issue is the past. So normal people, I think they control you. Like if you go to an elevator, they'll tell you like you can only get off on this floor or whatever. But when you have that core tight access, they essentially just let you go wherever. Yeah. So I think you can end up.

Lamar Shealey 19:45

Yeah, so the next time I went, um, I got a chance to walk around some more because it was only me. I didn't have anybody else. I was trying to bring Quentin on that job, didn't quite work out. So I'm just walking around the place. Actually, no, I had him bring in my wife. Okay. I said, Well, your budget's not there at this particular time for this thing. I said, I bring my wife and have her just hang out.

Vipul Bindra 20:03

They're like, All right.

Lamar Shealey 20:04

They gave her a ticket and everything. It was funny.

Vipul Bindra 20:06

Well, that's pretty good. Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 20:07

So, but we were walking around. I was walking around and let her get in the seat, just trying to figure it out, and I got lost like two, three times. Yeah. So I don't even know how I ended up getting on the floor that day, but that day, that time, it was just perfect. Exactly where I was.

Kia Center Shoot Stories

Vipul Bindra 20:23

Yeah. That's awesome though. Yeah, uh that, you know, and I can say it'll help maybe next time if you remember a little bit. Yeah. Uh, but that you got together twice and that helped. But also, you're uh are you not talking about tickets? I remember, yeah, they gave me four tickets too. I got to have my kids that day, and then we also invited Natalia and Julie. Like they were all there basically. I mean, I'm saying it was fun to just have everyone there and just have fun. Yeah, um, like I said, it's one of those fun gigs that I get to do. It's not a lot, you know, uh, but it's it's it's a good gig, and I'm so glad you you could be part of it. And like I said, the main thing I liked was we had a good time, we had fun, we captured good footage, the video came out great, the client's happy, we're happy, and then and like I said, we got to enjoy an NBA game with full side access. Yeah, we could essentially be wherever. Yeah, I still remember last year, like I was standing somewhere, you know, waiting for the players to exit for halftime. But like, I'm just making some social media real or whatever, but people are just going crazy just for a handshake. And you know, I'm right next to a player, I could have said hi or whatever. I didn't, I'm not a basketball person, but I'm just like, cool, this is just good to be here, you know. Like, sure, I'm not like fans of any of these players or whatever, but I mean, I'll play some 2K, but I don't know each player individually, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, so I was like, oh, this is pretty cool to be here and have this type of access. And I think that's a lot of jobs that make me feel like that, where I'm like, how did I end up here? Exactly. He's like, how?

Lamar Shealey 21:47

I mean, I um I did one job, it was just off the cuff. It was somebody called me and said, Hey, I need you to do a job now. This this guy's name is Donnie McClerkin, right? So he's a Legend when it comes to gospel music. Like legend. So I was just called got called up by a friend and said, Hey, I need you to do this job. I can't make it. I said, Okay, I hooked up with a guy, and he's like, Alright, you're gonna meet with Donnie McClerk. And I'm saying, Alright, cool, I'll go to the place and you know, do all the stuff. I ended up in his hotel room recording him. Just me and him, nobody else.

Vipul Bindra 22:22

Wow, I'm like just for you.

Lamar Shealey 22:24

So I'm like, what is going on? Now, you know, of course, you have to act like you've been there before. And he knows my pastor and everything. So I kind of sparked up that conversation. So he knows, hey, okay, cool. And we talked about um his church, my church, and there's different things. He's from New York. And it was just cool. Like, I can't believe I'm just in the room sitting here with somebody that used to play his music, singing songs when I was like a teenager. It's crazy. So, you know, you get in those places and you're just like, Man, like, how did I get here? Yeah, how did I get it?

Vipul Bindra 22:54

I mean, that's really awesome that you were able to do that. Even the Kia Center one, did you have full access? Were you able to go around the thing, right? Then do whatever some shit.

Lamar Shealey 23:01

I actually stood on the press box with the other um camera people. You know, of course, we can't tape it, yeah, but just sat there and just you know, watched the game from where they are they're recording and doing getting different clips for their um podcasts and stuff. And I'm just able to sit there with them. I had a few conversations with them, they're nice guys. And I mean, literally, if I wanted to, I could have just stayed there the whole time and watched the whole game literally from the floor.

Vipul Bindra 23:25

Wow, that's incredible. Yeah, that's I think one of the best things about it. Obviously, I love because I want to make videos and stuff. Yes, I guess it's a secondary benefit, right? Of us doing photo and video, and then next thing you know, you get access to famous singers, famous celebrities. Like when I had Fernando, we were talking about um what's his name? Oh my goodness, I keep forgetting this guy's name. The commercial Miami that we talked with Fernando, what's the singer's name? Mark Anthony. Oh, yeah, I should just remember that name. So we just had this car, same thing, like how we did the commercial, and we had access to this celebrity right next to us. And you know, it's just one of those bonus something. Not that it affects what we do, we we still do the best to do, but it's nice to have access like that, where you know, you know, it's just nice. You know, it is to be able to go to Kia Center, to be able to, you know, uh have full access to whatever the the luxury uh what do you call it, lounges or whatever, uh be able to record content, have courtside access, you know. Uh essentially be wherever we also got to go to the press room, I believe, for a little bit, right? Yeah, yeah.

Lamar Shealey 24:28

And um, I actually have a um Troy, my other friend, he was like, Man, if you would have told me you were there, I could have talked to my people and got you in the um where they do all the shooting at. Yeah. Where they actually have the whole big board where they do all the multicam shoots. He's like, I could have told you how to get there. I'm like, I should have just called you.

Vipul Bindra 24:45

And guess what? You shouldn't know the year before Quentin just made it there. So we were at Quentin, he said, Yeah, I've been here or whatever, or something like that. So I was like, I'll take you. And then next thing we know, you know, we're going in the elevator. I'm pretty sure we ended up it looked like the control room. I'm like, there's no way we're we're supposed to be here, but we were just there. So again, nobody stopped. The the advantage of at least the past that we have is like nobody stopped us. So it's like, oh, where obviously you have to know how to get there because I have no idea how we went, where we went. It was pretty high up. Uh, but that's pretty cool again, like you said, it's it's just not the most important thing, but it's it's cool to have that access, it's cool to be able to. What's I like about that gig is the freedom that I have. So I wouldn't normally do if it was just like actually just go, go, go type of gang. You know, like I said, I it's a sponsorship, partnership type of thing. But I really do really like that. They do give me freedom. They're like, hey, this is the obviously the requirements, we gotta capture the Indias Day stuff happening there. But outside of that, I like I get full freedom, like what coverage I want, where we want to be, what do we want to do, we want to interview. It's not like anyone's pressuring me to do anything. So it makes the uh the day go by really fast, right? Yeah. Um, anyway, let's switch to to you. I know you also do photography. You say you love doing family photography. Is there any particular uh uh is that your like your favorite thing to do?

Access Pressure And Live Event Lessons

Lamar Shealey 26:02

Um that it's it's fun to do that because I get a chance to like you know talk to families and meet people. I mean, I did a I did a family reunion once. It was like 50 something, 60 people. Yeah, it was it was it was a lot. That was pretty fun. Um, you have to know how to be assertive and nice at the same time. Yeah, because nobody's listening to you.

Vipul Bindra 26:24

Yeah, because that's a lot, that's a big family.

Lamar Shealey 26:27

It's a big family. Um, but I want to get more to small businesses, being able to help people out and you know, grow their business and grow with them.

Vipul Bindra 26:35

Exactly. And that's a good uh partnership to have with Quintin because you know his primary thing is trying to go to businesses and things like that. So I think you guys can that's what I'm saying. It's a good good person to have a studio partnership with. Um now, uh, have you decided like uh how you're gonna promote the studio and thing? I know last time I checked, he was still trying to get things kind of going, you know, getting finalized or whatever.

Lamar Shealey 27:00

Quinn, this is for you. So, you know, my life my life is um busy, especially towards the end of the school year. So I was really, really hands-on in the beginning, January, February, and then you know, end of school year, you know, when you own a business, there's all kinds of stuff you have to fill out because I was I'm running the school, I'm principal, I'm doing the grades, I'm teaching gymnastics season because my son's in gymnastics is that same around that same time um he and he went to um nationals this year, so like every other weekend. Thank you. So every other weekend I'm out of town, or I'm doing this, I'm doing that, and I I I I wasn't going ghost from the business, it was just I had no time.

Vipul Bindra 27:42

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 27:43

And this is the time, you know, this was a very pivotal moment in his in his gymnastics career, getting up to the next level with um, it's called optionals, where they get to do some of the fancier things. So it's like this was the last year of him doing where he had to do certain routines, and it was a hard, hard routines, too. So I'm I'm back more more or less full force trying to go at it. So we've been trying to make content, um, get people in the studio to film content, and um I'm trying to convince Quentin to do his uh his podcast and everything. I need to do it. I mean, you guys have a space now, right? Yeah, we have to space ready to go. So it's it's just getting him to do it, getting me to do it, you know, and we're used to being behind the camera and in front of the camera. Like, you know, yeah, this is tough.

Vipul Bindra 28:28

I get it.

Lamar Shealey 28:29

It's it's tough, you know, and sometimes you have to put yourself out there in order to get your business out. So now it's time to get us out there. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 28:37

Yeah, because uh initially, like I said, like you said, these months have been mostly getting the space ready, right? Because not only, as far as I know, Quinton was uh like and you you like you say you've been running the school, doing your photography, he's also running, you know, his jobs, and then at the same time, anytime you find time, like he was telling me he was there late nights, you know, trying to paint, get the the seamless up or whatever, you know, getting the control room ready. And it's come a long way. I remember being there initially, and I was like, wow, this looks like a lot of work. And then I was there recently when I rented the his FX6, and I was like, wow, this come like this looks like the podcast rooms, like an actual podcast room. There's actually cameras. I have no idea where you're acquiring so much money because there's so much gear here. Because you know, there was like so many, I know, and his obsession black magic. The amount of black magic cameras that you guys uh have now in that studio is crazy.

Lamar Shealey 29:31

Yes, so one cool thing about black magic cameras to get on gear a little bit. Oh, he's got to you too, okay, is well when you're okay. So right now, you know, you're using the using um zona cameras, right? Uh-huh. So with using black magic cameras through the ATEM, you can camera control a lot of things. So it makes it so now, hey, instead of walking to the camera, you can just do it from there. Just get a log on your computer and do all the stuff. So and it puts out a great image. Now, I did my first shoot using the 6Ks, um, and oh my goodness, the footage is massive. Yes. Well, actually, it's my second one. One of them I did, it was almost a terabyte of data.

Vipul Bindra 30:12

What were you recording in? Were you recording B-Raw or something different?

Lamar Shealey 30:15

B-Raw, the first one. I it wasn't my camera, it was another person's camera, and we were shooting a like a gospel concert. And that was the catch-all camera. He didn't fully set it up right now that I know a little bit more about it. Wait, B-Raw, I don't know what codec he used. And I said, okay, give me the footage. I'm gonna take it back. I was editing it, and I dumped that footage. I was like, oh man, I need another hard drive just to keep this footage. It was 900 and something gigs.

Vipul Bindra 30:43

Wow, that's a lot of yeah, and 800 and something gigs. Yeah, and it depends on the con uh the compression. So I think you can select obviously different compressions for 12 to 1 is probably the best one. Probably uh the the most one. And obviously, the more compressed it is, I'm sure it's harder on the computer or whatever to edit. But then it gives you more, you know, reasonable file sizes. And that's my entire thing. You know, raw is amazing, but it does take a lot of data, yeah. Exactly. It has its place. Yeah, if you need it, then absolutely, but then you are gonna deal with the data, the extra workflow and stuff like that. Do you do you do resolve for editing? No.

Lamar Shealey 31:18

No, so you gotta even have Yeah, so that first shoot, and it was around Thanksgiving, so we went to um we went to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house in New Jersey, yes. So I'm sitting at the table while they're, you know, like sleep. My brother's he's in his doctoral to pro program, and he's studying, and I'm over there editing footage.

Vipul Bindra 31:42

Why were you using Premier?

Lamar Shealey 31:43

I was using Premiere at the kitchen table, and he's in the room doing his homework because that's crazy.

Vipul Bindra 31:49

Were you at least using uh M1 style computers so it was faster?

Family Photos To Small Business Goals

Lamar Shealey 31:53

Also, I have an M1, but um it actually doesn't edit too bad. It's just getting over the fact of learning how to take that footage and put it in there and you know using LUTs and all that, getting it transferred over.

Vipul Bindra 32:05

Yeah, and actually being able to take advantage of Raw. I've heard again, I'm not an expert on it.

Lamar Shealey 32:10

They had just created a plug-in for it.

Vipul Bindra 32:12

Yeah, because you want to make sure that's actually changing RAW, not just manipulating whatever you have in there because then you lose the purpose of RAW, right?

Lamar Shealey 32:20

Yeah, so but um yeah, I was like, okay, I need to learn this a little bit more. Then I started that after that, then I got hooked up more with Quentin and I did a shoot with somebody and it was a couple minutes and it was like 200 gigs.

Vipul Bindra 32:35

Yeah, I mean, hey, there's nothing wrong with black magic cameras, they're amazing. Yes, but yeah, he's uh some extra obsessed. Like every time I go there, I'm like, there's more cameras, and they're all black magic cameras cameras, right? Yeah, exactly. That's uh and I'm pretty sure you go another month, it'll be 10. I've at least that's what it feels like to me. Uh but again, that that works for him, you know. That's his workflow. I mean, I know he finally added a Sony camera because he's an FX6.

Lamar Shealey 32:59

Yes, he added that last year. Now I use Sony, I've been using Sony for a while. I bought an uh A7 III, that was my first camera. Well, second camera. I was Nikon before. Okay. Um, so I got an A73 and an A74. I like them. And now it's just then we got a deal on the um Black Magic 6K pros for the studio. Now I'm like, okay, what do I want to go to next for my kit? Yeah. So I don't know.

Vipul Bindra 33:23

I'm looking at the A74s is a pretty good camera. Yeah, FXC could be a good add-on to it too for video, you know. Yes. Yeah, because you you uh I don't know if FXC would be good for just photos. I'd be like, No, no, I wouldn't use it for photos at all. So I'm like, so it may be good to uh add an FX3 or FX30 to it or something like that. Yeah, so which as we were looking, Sony has increased prices on camera, so yeah, bad time to be thinking about buying cameras. Yeah, but you know, as you uh you would think used market wouldn't affect from that, but yes, you know, people are gonna jack up their sale prices.

Lamar Shealey 33:55

Yeah, it's it is what it is, but um I'm I'm not in the market yet for it, but I know most likely an FX3 or FX6 is probably my next go. But hearing um in the group chat that we have with the other filmmakers, and I think the FX3 might be the first place for me to go because then my A7 IV is the sec is the B Cam. And then when I shoot photography, A74 transfers over to my A CAM, and then my you know, so exactly.

Vipul Bindra 34:22

Plus, the other thing, the advantage you would have is uh Quentin has an FX6. Yeah. So if you needed it, you don't have to go far to grab an FX6. Exactly. And it has its uses, like I said, we use it, we create great created great images from his FX6. We had two of mine and one of his there. And uh I really like FX6, like I said, it creates a really nice uh like I said, footage. The roll-off is nice, uh the photo, uh the uh the video's detailed, the load it is nice, but again, if you're doing corporate stuff, then FX3 can work too. It's not like that important too.

Lamar Shealey 34:55

Build it up a little bit just to make it look beefy.

Vipul Bindra 34:57

Yeah, you add an indie filter, you know, functionality. It's not 100% the same, but most corporate people wouldn't notice. Now, if you're trying to fit in other people's workflow, that can be nice. For example, like right here, I had two FX6s, so it made more sense to have an FX3 to match. Exactly. Uh, but so I guess there's users for both, and again, if you have access to both, that'd be the key. Yes. And I know he doesn't have an FX3, so that may make more sense for you to have an FX6.

Lamar Shealey 35:22

And that's why that's one of the reasons why I was thinking about it as well. It's like you have FX6, I have FX3. When you take both of them out, boom, we have both. Instead of you having to buy everything, because you know he has 50 million cameras.

Vipul Bindra 35:34

Yeah, I talk about just cameras, racks and racks and so you know, not that many people can what do you call give me a run? Because I feel like I have most more than anyone in Florida. But Quentin comes close, is what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, he yep. Um, yep. It's a lot of cut man, and stuff that's kind of specialty live stream. So, you know, I do like a lot of live streaming too, this decent chunk of money for us, but I do more corporate stuff. I think he's uh but he's a go-to guy for me. Anytime I'm thinking of coding for a project for a bigger stream than what I would normally handle. Uh, he's a good partner. I always think of him like, oh, if I need racks and racks of equipment, who am I gonna call? Oh, Quentin.

Lamar Shealey 36:16

Yeah, I mean the stuff adds up really quick. Um at my church, we have an A10 mini um extreme. Yeah. ISO, so that's eight cameras, and you know, eight inputs.

Vipul Bindra 36:26

You think that's a lot, it is nothing, as soon as you outputs, because it only gives you two outputs. It only gives you two outputs.

Lamar Shealey 36:32

But even besides that, once you add in uh a presenter rig, a pro presenter rig, and if you really want to do it the right way with lower thirds coming out of it and everything, that's that could be four outputs right there. So, like that's half of it.

Promoting The Studio While Busy

Vipul Bindra 36:45

Yeah, exactly. And those are HDMIs if you want STI, but that doesn't work. So now you're adding a constellation to your kit. Yeah, anyway, yeah. Then you need a video hub, then you're adding that. Yeah, you need to do green screen, you're adding an ultimat. Hey, I mean, people listening to this, if you have no idea what we're talking about, please do not research. You will you will be broke very fast. So we just got an Ultimat, too, because we went to Infocom.

Lamar Shealey 37:09

We've been thinking about doing more green screen work, and of course, the ATMs can do green screen work, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 37:14

Very limited, but yeah, it's not at that high quality. Ultimat, it's a different level of green screen work, yeah.

Lamar Shealey 37:19

Right before we came here, we were working on it, and it's just it's it's it's amazing.

Vipul Bindra 37:24

Yeah. See, uh again, if you're doing basic news style stuff, low-end green screen, then 80 is fine. I like the built-in, you know, chroma key stuff that it has. But Ultimat is like actually usable stuff or like higher end stuff. Like, I wouldn't mind it keying live for I mean, I uh a decent size video is what I'm saying. It's it's very clean, like it's like re-spending time on an NLE trying to clean up the is it yeah, the Mac.

Lamar Shealey 37:52

Uh first day I brought it, I got it off eBay, you know. Gotta get the use price, get the deal to try it out. And then um went to the studio, just hooked it up real quick and did it. I was like, wow, I didn't even really change too many settings on it, and it looks amazing. And it took us hours to get it to look similar to this on the ATEM. I don't even want to go back, I don't even want to use the ATM anymore for green screen.

Vipul Bindra 38:14

No, and once you play with this, I'm pretty sure you can get like again. The thing about green screen is as you know, it's those you know, random hairs that are flowing away, right? It's the detail that gets lost. And I think Ultimat, obviously, once you play with it, can get those back without having to spend hours, you know, keying, masking, whatever.

Lamar Shealey 38:31

If you brought it in here right now, had a green screen, and pressed this um did it or his own settings on it, it would look probably 80, 80, 75, 80% there.

Vipul Bindra 38:42

Look at that, and that's really good. For me, if if you're shooting me, you wouldn't need to do anything else. Probably not, yeah.

Lamar Shealey 38:47

It's only the little bit of you know editing, you know, a little bit of this and that, and but once you really get into it, which we're gonna be getting into in the next couple weeks, um, it's oh man, when we went to the show, they had a lady with uh we went to Infocom. They had a lady with bleach blonde hair. Yeah. She's going like this. Yeah. And when I tell you, like it, there was no fraying on it. And it was just amazing.

Vipul Bindra 39:11

I was like, absolutely cool. How was that? How how was attending Infocom?

Lamar Shealey 39:15

It was it was great. Um, it was great. I had a lot of fun. That was my first time going to one of those. One for technology and uh video technology. So got a chance to see a lot of stuff that uh never seen before and things that I've seen online, and you know, I I do dabble in audio as well, so I got to see some of the um audio consoles that I've like, you know, probably will never touch again. Yeah, and then you just get to touch it and play with it. Yeah, like you know, oh, this is a hundred thousand dollar.

Vipul Bindra 39:43

Yes, and you can just mess with it because they want you to, you know, exactly.

Lamar Shealey 39:47

So yeah, I got to mess with a Digico, uh Digico. Yeah, those things are they're crazy. I was like, yeah, never mind.

Vipul Bindra 39:56

What made you get out of that? So you're you're saying you've left music totally behind?

Lamar Shealey 40:00

Well um, doing music, I still play the piano. Um, I still sing some. I'm kind of like a backup musician, but uh, and the musicians at my church kind of ask me, Hey, hey, we just need to get you for a Sunday every once in a while to come play. I'm like, that's cool, but y'all gotta learn music and the music, yeah. I have to learn it. I have to practice. I don't have to. I mean, yes, you do have to practice and work on your craft when it comes to video, but I don't have to sit home and make sure that it's this exact way to make it for the show. And if I mess up at the show Then yeah, he'll he'll ruin it. Oh man, I went to verse two instead of verse one, and it's totally different chords, and I still I still love music. It's yeah, I'm always gonna love it, and I'm always gonna, you know, do it, but um, I didn't uh it's weird. I don't miss it as much as I thought I would.

Vipul Bindra 40:50

And that's when you know that you know video or photo may be the more passionate thing for you. And you know what's crazy for me, I'm envious of people who can do music because I have no music in me. I can tell you the music works for a video. That's my limit of it. I'm like, I I have no beat in me, quite literally. And I'm like, and this is so funny because I can I can take a video apart, I know exactly when the cut should be or if it's off timed or whatever. I'm fine with that. Like, but talk about music, I'm like, I don't know. I think that's what um I was born with what what's the word for it when you're tone deaf? Yeah, I'm tone.

Blackmagic Workflow And Data Reality

Lamar Shealey 41:25

I have some good friends that are tone deaf with singing, but they know music better than a lot of musicians I know. They know the person who sings, they didn't know all the words. You kind of want them to teach them all that stuff and just say, just don't sing it.

Vipul Bindra 41:38

Yeah, exactly. Maybe that's who I am, because I do know about music.

Lamar Shealey 41:41

I'm just yeah, I am like I'm I'm I don't remember names, I don't remember lyrics anymore. It's crazy. I it's it's it's like who sang that song? I know how it goes.

Vipul Bindra 41:50

Yeah, you would probably sing it, you know, for the little bit of practice.

Lamar Shealey 41:54

Exactly. So, but you know, I still like doing sound. Um, but it I mean it helped me out a lot during church because I was able to do almost every position when it comes to I I let praise and worship for for a while. Um played the piano. Um I started I was starting to learn other instruments, but that kind of went away. And then um I could hop on at any point in time and at least do a little something. Musicians late because it's raining or a car accident in front of them.

Vipul Bindra 42:25

Oh, right. I'll hop on real quick. Yeah, you'll play some some stuff, right? Exactly. That's that's pretty cool. I mean, like I say, it's good to be versatile, and it's good that you did that, which led you to where you are now and what you're doing. Like I said, I think you guys are doing great things. Obviously, I feel like you're spending a lot of money, but that's what you gotta do. You gotta invest to get it back. Because you know, you guys built the studio, like you say, you bought an Ultimat, uh, and obviously Quentin's always acquiring equipment, a lot of black magic cameras. It looks good though. I like the idea that, for example, with podcasts, right? Like when we offer podcasts, we do custom, right? We'll get a nice Airbnb or whatever location for them. We'll set it up, but that's a one-time thing. Yes, when we're done, we gotta rip it up art. So it's a lot of setup time, a lot of breakdown time. But it's really good to have a space where you're like, hey, this is the set, cameras are ready, you go, it's already attached to control room. Like you said, it already controls with the ATEM. So you sit down, we can start, we can cut right there and then. Here's your file, all right? You could probably even upload it for them from there on. Yeah, uh, it makes it easy for the client, right? Because you're like, what do we have to do? Nothing. And I'm sure it's easy on both of your sides because like what do you have to do? Nothing. Because it's already there. I mean, I guess you have to execute it when they sit down. Yes, but you there's no setup time, there's no teardown time, there's no figuring it out because it's already been figured out once.

Lamar Shealey 43:43

Yeah, I mean, there's a little bit of setup time 'cause sometimes people want to, you know, sit like this. They might want to sit in tall boys, so little stuff here and there, but you know, figuring out how dare they be tall.

Vipul Bindra 43:54

Yeah. Anyway. Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 43:56

So but figuring, you know, is it it is fairly Simple, yeah. What we're trying to do. And I think you know, once we get this started and get it going, you know, the other side, we're probably gonna be moving over there soon and possibly building out another set just to have some options and then you know, it's it I think it fits a lot of people, it's just finding those people that are ready.

Vipul Bindra 44:20

Yeah. What about the school then? If you start taking over the other side too, because obviously you have one side, right? And you have the school on the other side. So are you gonna move school somewhere or what we leave at school?

Lamar Shealey 44:31

So a little back history, my mother started at daycare when I was in elementary middle school.

Vipul Bindra 44:37

Okay.

Lamar Shealey 44:38

So she used to take care of old people when we're in California, then she moved here and started taking care of kids. So she had that going and then she bought a building. So that building is still there. It's just we grew out of that building, and you know, through you know, the C-word, we kind of had to restrict it back down and kind of took a lot of students away. Some graduated and we couldn't go out and recruit like we used to recruit. We used to you know, oh man, my mom used to be out there every other weekend recruiting, but a lot of the live stuff that happened in person went away. Florida virtual school, a lot of kids started doing that as well.

Vipul Bindra 45:12

Yeah, I think that time was just a reset for everything. Yeah, right.

Lamar Shealey 45:15

So and interestingly enough, one of our teachers on toward the last semester, she moved to Tanzania in Africa. So she was teaching our kids, my son actually from Tanzania, because she's like she could do it remotely. So it was kind of cool. So we still actually have another building to work in. Okay. So now everything is moving back there to kind of rebuild that.

Vipul Bindra 45:36

So that's where the school's gonna then run out of. Makes sense. Uh, and then this area, this location's gonna be just a studio, right?

Lamar Shealey 45:43

Yeah, just a studio. We're gonna be probably renting it out for some other things as well on the other side. Yeah. But you know, it's uh it's it's an undertaking.

Vipul Bindra 45:50

Yeah, it's it's a lot. Like I said, uh uh just the little that I watch you guys do, it's a lot. And I was like, because I know what how much what it took to make this space happen, right? And this is just uh, like I said, just a garage that I made into a studio and and it's beautiful, yeah. Well, thank you. But yeah, I mean at the end of the day, yeah, just doing like I said, all we did was floor, some paint, some panels, you know, air conditioning, insulating. You know, it's it's not the I'm saying a lot of construction, yeah, but just like yours, it was it sounds like oh, just they painted it, put some scene. No, it's when you think about yeah, how much you you actually put in and it it's a it's a lot, it takes a lot of time. Like we were, like I said, hands and knees, and plus continue to run a business. Because like I said, I I was like I said, going to shoots, coming back, you know, hammer this, hammer that, and then you know, plus learning, because I'm like I'm not a construction worker, so it's like, oh, what's the best way to mount these? Oh, uh, you know, how do we how do we hide the nails, for example, right? Oh, we gotta figure it out and everything, you know, it's a step. It's a step. And then uh yeah, but uh ultimately, like I said, I love the result. Now that it's been done, we've been using it uh for what I wanted to get out of the space. This is perfect. And like I said, already look at that. We're having this conversation right here because we built this space.

Lamar Shealey 47:01

Sometimes I hey, what did they say? If you build it, they will come.

Vipul Bindra 47:04

Yeah, there you go. I built it.

Lamar Shealey 47:06

Yep, or if you build it, you will use it.

Vipul Bindra 47:08

Yeah, I will yeah, because this is more like yeah, obviously, our hangout space. I don't get clients here or anything. I mean, we did do one shoot here and it went incredible, but that's not the goal, obviously, this dislocation. This was just place to house gear, place to have a workspace, place to do the podcast, you know, or maybe some YouTube or whatever, just basic stuff. And I think for that, this is more than enough. Plus, it is there's no cost to this. I don't have any rent. I mean, I have a mortgage, but I was always gonna have the mortgage. Exactly. So this doesn't add to the AC unit. That's like yeah, there you go. Yeah, that which takes up. I I didn't realize how much uh electricity costs when you're running an AC 24-7. Yeah, somehow I I cooled the whole house there, and that costs less than cooling this space, even after insulating it. By the way, most places, you know, the garage is insulated, right? We made sure the ceiling is insulated, the floor is insulated, the door is insulated, and it's still like my bill almost doubled, you know. Wow, because it's 24-7, it's Florida, you know. Yeah, obviously it's fine. It was fine January because it wasn't the hottest, but yeah, man, after that, you know how it's Florida, yeah. It's so hot, like it's just running 24-7. Imagine running those racks. Oh, wow, yeah.

Lamar Shealey 48:18

The AC at the studio, even if we're not there, I just keep it at a constant temperature. It actually works pretty good. The AC, the I it's not a good thing. Yeah, you probably have a commercial there though. That's why, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 48:29

Because that's why if you notice, my rack is not in here. That's why my rack is in there that you were mentioning. Because yeah, I don't want that to be in here than it would be. Oh my goodness.

Lamar Shealey 48:36

You get in that room and it really starts working, it and the AC is at full blast, and you're like, is the AC on? Exactly. No, yes, it is on, it's been on all day.

Vipul Bindra 48:46

Yeah, so I'm guessing Quentin's a more technical out of the two of you. Um or you think you're technical too?

Lamar Shealey 48:52

Um, he has more experience with the equipment that we have. I'm very technical too. Um it's you know, meeting somebody that's more technical than me was interesting because that doesn't always happen. I was always the technical one. I was always the one tinkering with stuff. It's like, hey, Quentin loves tinker up with stuff too. So I was sitting in the I was sitting in the studio the other day, just lent hearing him explain some of the stuff. Yeah, of course I understand I understand it now. Yeah, um, and I was like, Quentin, do you know that you're a genius? Yeah, don't let anybody tell you anything different.

Ultimatte Keys And Infocom Takeaways

Vipul Bindra 49:21

No, he's he's a great guy. My issue with Quentin is the opposite. Believe it or not, I love talking about what we do, right? Video Yes, uh, you know, video production, just tech gear in general. Problem I have with Quentin, Quentin's just like me. So he and I, if I start talking, I'll get no work done. We'll be there hours talking, and I'm like, holy moly. And we can and and it's not a bad, I'm saying I love that, but I'm like, if I start doing that, my business will shut down if Quentin and I got become business partners because uh so there was a while we were thinking about it, and I was like, because I wanted to run like an A V company. There was a debate between for me, because you know that's his thing, right? I do live streaming, but it's to help brands, that's the the limit of how what we do. He obviously can go deeper, you know. I'm saying doing a whole whole A V thing. So we were thinking about it, and I was like, I genuinely was like, this guy's so like me and so gearhead and so tech that if I he and I became partners, we would just sit and talk and talk for hours, nothing's actually going to happen. And then go and be an H and buy. Yeah, exactly, and buy, yeah, right. I I don't need somebody who would be the opposite, who tell me do not buy. Believe it or not, I literally was like, This year I'm gonna buy less gear. $40,000, $50,000 later, in the last 30 days. I mean, you saw walking in, I'm like, what am I doing? I mean, to be real, again, everything had a reason, but still, yes, I don't need a Quentin in my life as well. I always find a reason. Yeah, right, which is why I don't need another Quentin to find me more reasons to buy. We're both married, we know.

Lamar Shealey 50:52

Yeah, we know, yeah, exactly. They can say, hey, yeah, oh, I could buy these other shoes, I could buy this other outfit, and yeah, we can buy another camera.

Vipul Bindra 51:00

Yeah, so like right there, I was justifying, you know, I was like, Oh, I gotta acquire an FX2, you know, because I need a photography camera, you know, but also needed to be video, you know. That's just yeah, that that's just a constant thing. Um, I also want to talk about. So we I have a client that I've been helping through my chamber, uh, Austin Arthur. He runs like a management company, we can call it, right? Like an agency, advertising agency. So, anyway, he'll call me sporadically. It's just one of those clients that I've known for a few years. I'm happy to help him, uh, but nothing you know, major or whatever. Anyway, so he calls me for this shoot earlier this year, and it was for and they he with his uh brother co-ones the gymnastics location. And I've been always wanting to film that because you know, again, high I like most of the stuff he does a little boring, right? So anytime uh people I'm sure people have heard this by now. Anytime an exciting thing comes up, I'm all for it. Yeah, so he calls me and he's like, Hey, yeah, we're gonna do a shoot for our gymnastics, and I was like, Let's go. I even call him annual, like he wasn't part of the shoot. I was like, No, you're coming, we're gonna go have a good time. I thought it would be like a b-roll, you know, because he didn't tell me a script or anything. So uh, so anyway, I was I'm really excited, and and plus, this is the first time he's seen the van because all the stuff I've done is for more for his agency stuff, not for his gymnastics location. And so me and Mario show, first of all, the van was the coolest thing ever, right? But then they're like, Oh, here's the shoe, here's the script for a commercial. I'm like, oh, we're shooting a commercial. Uh it would be nice to have the script before because I could have prepared better, but you know, corporate shoot, like we'll roll with the punches. And uh what's crazy to me is so now we're shooting a commercial, right? Me and Mario, I'm like so glad you're here, Mario. And uh, but it obviously they they know marketing, they understand, so the script was very tight, you know, like they know what they want to do, where they want to do it. So it makes it makes it a lot easier on us to be able to execute that. So, anyway, it was a fun day for us. Uh, you know, we got to see a lot of cool stuff, uh, a lot of talented gymnastics people, and plus, I was surprised how big that location is huge. Like, we only saw first the first half, and then there's like, oh, this is like a whole another this is where the ninjas go. This is where they they had the ribbons. This is for the pros, right? Anyway, and then the anyway, Mario, what do you think about that shoot? Do you remember?

Mario Rangel 53:16

Yes, I do. Yeah, uh, it was really fun. I uh uh what I like is the um they really know what they wanted, right? Like uh Austin with all his team, they were okay. Yeah, they had a whole script never a script that you already know, okay. Let's do this outside, then we go inside, or let's just go to a ninja section and then to this this section. So yeah, I think it was great, and we just saw a video, and yeah, it turned out great.

Vipul Bindra 53:42

Yeah, so before we started, we saw the video. So so anyway, I didn't know this. So anyway, obviously obviously we did this, we had a good time, it's just a shoot for us, right? Uh, and I was like, this is pretty cool. The kids are telling obviously they had different ranges, right? There's smaller kids, younger kids, and then pros on the other side doing crazy stuff, obviously. And so it was really good. It was good to get a little bit of everything, and we had a good time. But then I didn't know this until later when we were on the pro side, we were actually filming your son because he goes there.

Lamar Shealey 54:09

He goes there, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 54:10

And uh tell tell about that. Like, how did that you you so essentially again from my side, I guess, is we were I was visiting, I guess, Quentin the day I rented his FX6, and you were telling me about it about uh the gymnastics place, yeah, and uh and I was like, that was me, and I don't think you knew that, right? Like nope, no, so so go ahead.

Lamar Shealey 54:30

I mean uh so um my son does gymnastics and he loves it. He started out just by flipping off of everything, and we were like, we gotta get you into gymnastics. It was the big C-word, COVID time, and couldn't do anything, and then finally it eased up. We're like, we're taking you to gymnastics, and we took them and it just took off. And he loves it, he loves doing it. And um, I mean, and you didn't really get to see the really cool stuff. So, one thing that that gym does, I I love that gym by the way, what they've done for my son, the structure that they've put in place for him because we had to move to there. And um they're just really cool people. It's a it's a good um It's a good group of parents as well. You know, after after meets we go and eat together as a team with the coaches. I was like, what?

Vipul Bindra 55:20

What we're eating with the coaches? It's so crazy, right?

Lamar Shealey 55:23

Him and his wife, yeah, this lovely people, but um they they really train those kids really hard. And and my son loves it. The first day he went to that gym, he said, Daddy, I'm sore. Oh wow, and he was so worked him out, yeah. Yes, and he's like, Yes, I just love this place. So and um but the really cool thing, it would have been nice for y'all to come was when they do their actual Olympics, the Mako Olympics for the pre-team. Oh man, they had kids, they had my son in the ceiling tiles. Yeah, wow crazy, and his kid came on the zip line as Spider-Man, and it was yeah, so they do a lot of stuff for the kids, and you know, the the commercial really did turn out great. I saw my son's head in it.

School Logistics And Studio Expansion

Vipul Bindra 56:08

Yeah, I know it was like the you know, and obviously we we didn't edit that, so they edited that. That was one of those where you know we handled the footage, so I had no idea how they're gonna edit it. Obviously, it came out great. We watched it, like I said, right before we started, and it was incredible. Uh, but what's crazy to me is like you said, it's one of the largest facilities, I think, for gymnastics in Florida. Yes, and then on top of that, you know, like I said, I know Austin for a while, and I think his brother, and I think it's his wife, who's running this, and they're they're doing great jobs. It's good too. I've obviously met Alexander at Austin's office, had never met his wife, but I think they're doing great. We also got to film, I think, Austin's children there for part of that. Yeah, uh, but again, at the time I didn't know. I knew you, because we had met and done the Kia thing, that your son goes there. So I'm filming, and I think you were talking about, and so it's crazy. So we've shot this thing, we've we we moved on, right? And then you were telling me about it. And I was like, What? Your son goes there, so I filmed him, and obviously there's way more footage of him that we did. Uh obviously, they used what they used, but like it's just such a small world, like you know that we didn't know people between common, and your son's going there, and he's also gonna be um uh like he's you know, like you said, he was in the nationals or whatever, he's he's doing really amazing. And uh, I think the way I found out was something about you posted about how it was good the coaches, right? Alexander, but and I was like, huh, you know him? And I was like, then that's what I think I asked you about.

Lamar Shealey 57:30

Yes, you asked me about that. Yes, uh, you know, sometimes you just gotta let people know that you appreciate them and put it out there. So I just wanted to make sure, you know, maybe he saw it, maybe he didn't. I don't know. Actually, no, he did see it because he mentioned something. He's like, Yeah, I didn't know you did this. I was like, Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 57:44

Yeah, I mean, because they're helping your son, and like you said, what what we talked about, like they're genuinely wanting to, you know, help him and help him grow in his skill and succeed. Because, you know, it's again, it's just like us when people do what they like for a living, what they love, it just makes it better, right? And then you it's it's nothing but something you want to appreciate. Because at the end of the day, you want your son to do his best, and if they want the same thing, then everyone wins, you know, because that's their job. But then if they love their job, then your son's gonna do their best and see that and feel that, you know. And like I said, I felt it. I was only there one day though, so I I my experience is limited, but I think both of us had a great time. We're like, this is an awesome place. You know, I was there, I was like from both sides, from people who are in experience to who are who are doing the pro side. I was like, wow, like everyone is just having a good time. And if it was I wish I wasn't in that side, I would send love to send my kids there. Yeah. Um, you know, because uh I genuinely felt like it was a good place, and again, I'm so glad that we have that connect in the yeah, you know, and and that's what I'm talking about. You never know who you know where you never know. And networking is so huge in what we do. You gotta always be go out there, you know, say hello to everyone, try to network. Uh, cause uh because again, like I said, the world is very small, yeah. And integrity.

Lamar Shealey 59:00

Yeah, integrity. Integrity is a big thing. Um, I can't tell you how many um when I go on a church shoot, now my my pastor, he's he used to preach all around the country a lot. Now he's kind of not stepped away from the role, but kind of stepped back um and took back over the church. And I'll go to some places and they'll know who I am and where I came from. I didn't tell them.

Vipul Bindra 59:23

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 59:23

Um, one time I was I was in Tennessee doing a church conference, just doing photography and some video work for them, recap videos every day. And it was like, Yeah, I know exactly who you are. I know your team and everything. And I and the great thing about it is I my most of my team are teenagers. I actually acquired preteens a few years ago. I had a kid start it when he was nine, and he's probably one of my best people right now. And he's 11, I think. 12. Well, he just turned 12. And um, working with the young people there is just so amazing because like you you s sometimes I sit back and I just like I get everything started and just kind of sit back and let them do their thing.

Vipul Bindra 1:00:05

Yeah, it's a spark, right? So they'll just have the have the spark. And then I think as a teacher, obviously, uh, you know, I think that's what makes I think also a good teacher, bad teacher, whatever it's like being able to bring that spark out of somebody, right? I think that's the key. Because I remember uh growing up anyway, I having teachers who are just like, do this, do this, and I'm like, This is so boring. And then then teachers who make even boring things interesting, right? They make you want to be part of it. And I think so it also goes on to say how good of a teacher you are. Because if you're bringing these young kids to have more interest in them doing their best, then I I mean that's all they really want, right? Somebody to pull out that spark out of them, right?

Lamar Shealey 1:00:45

Yeah, and just and I'd like to try to I tell them, I said, um I know some of you aren't gonna be in this forever. You know, you're just doing this because you want to do something or your parents made you do it in the beginning, honestly. Most of them, their parents made them do it in the beginning. Um, but as they grow to love it, some of them will do this professionally.

Gymnastics Commercial And Small World Networking

Vipul Bindra 1:01:06

And that's how you find out, you know. Like you said, I'm sure a lot of parents send their kids to the gymnastic location. Not everyone turns pro like your son is, and that's where the spark is, right? You have to find it. You're like, oh wow, yeah, this is and I'm sure the coach notices too, right? He's like, oh yeah, I gotta I gotta hone the skills of this kid. He has potential.

Lamar Shealey 1:01:24

Yeah, and one thing I love about gymnastics is it teaches so much discipline and they have to work at it and it's physical, and and the big thing is even if they e even if he doesn't end up going to college for it, let's just say, because you know, of course, his is he aspires to do it professionally and go to Olympics one day. But even if that doesn't happen, he just does it and stops when he goes to college, you still learn how to deal with people, deal with adversity, deal with winning, deal with losing, yeah, which is a huge thing.

Vipul Bindra 1:01:54

Exactly. Those are important life skills, important life schools.

Lamar Shealey 1:01:57

You already went through that. You've you've been at the top, you've been at the bottom. You've did it where you got all the medals, and you've been there when you got no medals.

Vipul Bindra 1:02:05

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:02:05

And you know how to deal with it. And sometimes those are the life lessons that they have to learn that not all kids get a chance to learn. And yeah, the coach is on them. Yeah, coach, yeah. Coach Xander is on them. He was actually coach of the oh, I forgot to tell you, he was coach of the year this year. Oh, really? For I didn't know that. For um USA gymnastics in the whole country.

Vipul Bindra 1:02:23

Wow. That's awesome. Like I said, they're they're killing it, man. Both the brothers, they're they're on top of what they're doing. I mean, Austin's everywhere too. I mean, he was running for um commissioner, I think. Uh oh, he was? I didn't know that. What was he running for? Uh I don't know. It's it's some some office too. Like, you know, I helped him with some of his campaign stuff. So yeah, he, you know, they're they're always out, they're out in the community helping people. We also helped them with uh him with a documentary that he's trying to do for Winter Garden and stuff, East Winter Garden. So, like I said, they're always out in the community doing something, helping out, and that's awesome. I mean, it's the same thing for us, like I said. Quentin's doing the same thing. I mean, I need any help. Funny is rare. I know like I said, I I usually have everything and I usually know most of it, but again, even I don't know everything. Yeah, nobody knows everything. So, and then Quentin's my guy. Usually, if I don't know anything, he's the one who's gonna know that specific thing. So, like recently, I was thinking about getting uh live units, you know. Yes, and uh guess who's called who I called, you know, Quentin Quentin. I mean, he doesn't answer my phones anymore since the studio because he's busy, but he called me back, you know what I mean? Like, because uh I know he's he's busy, you know, getting that place uh wherever he wants.

Lamar Shealey 1:03:33

And we're about to go to Africa again in uh about two weeks.

Vipul Bindra 1:03:37

Look at that. And then how long are you going for this time?

Lamar Shealey 1:03:40

17 days, I think it is. 16, 17 days.

Vipul Bindra 1:03:43

It's a long trip.

Lamar Shealey 1:03:43

Yep, he probably he gets back. Are you taking the Sony or are you black magic? Um, I'm taking my Sony's. I'm I'm I'm doing photography for this trip.

Vipul Bindra 1:03:50

So and is he gonna do video?

Lamar Shealey 1:03:52

He's doing video, so it's gonna be fun. He's taking his FX6. So that's what I thought. Yeah, yeah. Black magic isn't the best for run and gun. Yeah. Unless you want to manually focus all the time.

Vipul Bindra 1:04:02

But he's uh no, he's he's good. And like I said, he like was saying he's knowledgeable about it too. I called him and he was immediately able to answer my questions because I was like, hey, I want to acquire some of these. What do you think? And whatever, whatever. And he was like, Yeah, this is how much it's gonna be, or this is how it's not gonna be. There's another company that was able to research, you know, and that's what you need as a as a as somebody in the industry, and that's why I'm saying it's so important to have the network where you know I know a lot about it, but I know everything. And like you said, you guys went to Inco Infocom, he knew the latest products and and stuff like that. And he was like, Yeah, this is right. And then I was like, Okay, thank you for pointing me in the right direction. And you know, I was able to go. Same thing when he wanted the FX6, he had called me, he was like, Send me a photo of your rig. He wanted to see how to rig it up or whatever, or what his options were, and that's what I'm saying. It's a collaborative industry, you work together and you succeed together. Uh now talk about uh pricing strategies. How are you? I know you do photography, you do videography, you're doing some podcast stuff, you're doing live stuff. I mean, there's a lot you guys do. Yeah, uh, let's go with photography, because that's mostly what I've seen you do. At least when I'm approaching, you're like, I got a photo session. So, how do you normally price? What could somebody let's say somebody's interested in it? Uh, you know, and I know it's skill-based, there's a lot of ranges, but what can somebody realistically expect to charge? I don't know, if they're if they want to do photography.

Lamar Shealey 1:05:23

First off, let me be let me be real. Yeah so I am into the professional side of it, I am really starting to get into that side of it and pricing it. Because um, one thing about doing it for church where you're learning, you don't always you don't charge all the time. You know, sometimes they'll bless you, give you some money and things of that nature, but you don't always charge. So I'm working on growing that and learning, you know, my worth. It's hard to it's hard to learn your worth when you're used to it just doing it because it's fun. Yeah. So I would say if you're starting out, of course you're gonna do a lot of free stuff. Do a lot of free stuff. I suggest if you have kids, do your kids. If you have a wife or fiance or brothers and sisters, parents, do them first. That's the best thing to start with. I am trying to get into the you know I guess you would say the five, six hundred dollar range.

Vipul Bindra 1:06:20

That's like sort of like a session you're saying.

Lamar Shealey 1:06:22

Yes, that's what I'm trying to work towards that, but it's finding a clientele because it's hard to and I was just talking to somebody, I was talking to my wife about this actually. Um, how do you get the mindset of people to get you out of the oh you said how much? I was expecting like a hundred dollars. Yeah. I'm like, do you know that my rig is like seven grand?

Vipul Bindra 1:06:45

Yeah, and then you have to edit the photo. You have to edit it?

Lamar Shealey 1:06:52

And of course, getting out of what you think is a good deal. Because it's like I do this. So for me, it's like I needed a picture, I just set it on a tripod and take the picture, you know? But for them, it's like, oh no, you need the expertise, you need the posing, you need to have somebody that knows how to a little bit about makeup. You know, like the camera. What's the undertone of the person to be able to light them correctly and make sure that when you go and post, it's not as much work. Hey, I need to be able to give you the stuff turnaround to the same day, yeah, or I need to do high-end type things. So, I mean, I would guess if somebody's just doing a regular photo shoot, um, I would guess the two to four hundred dollar range would probably be your start.

Vipul Bindra 1:07:36

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:07:36

Starting, um, and they could just go up from there depending on what you need. I want to.

Vipul Bindra 1:07:41

These are personal photos, so you're helping, you know, a family or a couple or a individual. There's obviously more money, right? When you start to do company stuff. Yes. So if if obviously, and it also depends, I guess, on people's personality. If they just want to do it for individuals, then that's fine. I mean, this is a good rate too. But if you really want to just make money, companies where you're at, doing corporate divisions, exactly corporate photography, headshots, right?

Lamar Shealey 1:08:06

Yeah, and that's where it's kind of hard of pricing, is saying, hey, I want to be able to do these family shoes. I like doing it. I really do like doing it. Yeah. You know, um, but then also, hey, I have a family uh I have you I need you to do a family reunion. Yeah, that's gonna be a lot different pricing structure than hey, me and my husband want to do a photo shoot for uh for an hour for our anniversary, versus I need to make a whole set, I need to drive 45 minutes, I gotta bring all these lights, I'm not gonna know what's going on. I gotta do, oh, there's like eight different families in this big family. I need to do some of those, pose them here, pose them there, and by the time you leave three hours later, you are totally exhausted.

Vipul Bindra 1:08:49

Yeah, and that would be a lot more money, right? A lot more money. Uh, you know, like you said, there's eight families. You're driving, you're also going on location with some of them coming to your studio. Yes. So what would something like that be? What a couple thousand, maybe more?

Lamar Shealey 1:09:02

That would be nice. Yeah. But probably in um starting in a thousand range. Okay. I mean, for something for a big family. Yes.

Teaching Kids And Building Integrity

Vipul Bindra 1:09:08

Um really not bad. You going there for three hours, you know, like you said. Yeah. Getting some photos done and giving that.

Lamar Shealey 1:09:15

You know, first 30, 30-ish minutes, you're just like kind of talking, getting people where that, finding out who's who.

Vipul Bindra 1:09:20

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:09:20

Okay, this is this is grandma. So make sure to get her and do that. And when you have little kids, one thing that I always do whenever I do family photo shoots and I do little kids is if they come in ready, I'm starting with them. Yeah, because they're not gonna look like they're not even just look like once they are tired, yeah, they're done. You're not gonna get any great photos when the kid is tired. You can't cheer them up, they're hungry, whatever the case may be, if their toddlers are are below. And especially if you're outside. Oh, that's it. Yeah, Florida, man. Yeah, so you get that out of the way first. And then um, then you start getting to the older ones. Like, all right, y'all gotta stay and and then teenagers, you gotta cheer them up.

Vipul Bindra 1:10:03

Yeah, well that'd be a hard job.

Lamar Shealey 1:10:05

Oh, it's like that's who I like dealing with when I when teaching, I like the middle high school kids. They are becoming different nowadays, though. They are very different.

Vipul Bindra 1:10:13

I mean, they're they're growing up with uh what do you call the scroll lifestyle, right? Just being on the phone, yeah, their attitudes a little bit differently.

Lamar Shealey 1:10:20

I mean, I'm not I I guess I'm getting into the older range. I'm 39, about to be 40 this year, and they're just different. They are from four years ago, they're different. I'm like, who are you? Wow.

Vipul Bindra 1:10:33

What would you what uh so describe like what do you mean by that? Like in what way? Um is it just because they're growing up in this environment, you know?

Lamar Shealey 1:10:42

Their attitudes are different and how they respond to people. They're it's different. And even when I I was when I went to high school, you know, we were a certain way. Two years later I was substitute teaching. And I couldn't recognize how they were acting two years out of high school. Not because I was different, of course I was different. I'm an adult now and I'm changing things, but and and of course, you know, vernacular's gonna change, things that they say is gonna change, but the way they acted towards adults changed in two years. It's crazy, and even nowadays is different, you know, and depending on areas that you're in, uh the two-parent household, one-parent household, is the grandparents raising them. Yeah, I mean, I could tell you some stories that I probably wouldn't say on camera from what I've experienced in that, and you'd be like, Really? That happened, the mother and the grandma can't be able to do that. What is it can get crazy, and then you have some kids that are just diamonds in the rough. All you need to do is give them a little bit of encouragement, and they excel. They go from almost failing out to almost straight A students, and all they just needed was a little bit of encouragement. Yeah, but then it's those are getting further and fewer in between now. It's crazy. And I say, you know, you're the lovely family, you gotta keep those kids close and just make sure that you're monitoring them. And hey, you know what? So you get a certain age, I choose your friends.

Vipul Bindra 1:12:19

Yeah, no, I totally get it. And I don't know how much you know we'll be able to, we'll try because you're absolutely right. You know, as a as a dad, I'm starting to realize that to be honest, I felt like I had full freedom as a kid. And maybe I I'm looking at it more, you know, not pleasantly, because you know, I only have the happy memories or whatever, but I don't remember my parents restricting me much. And I was one of those kids that I was just like, you know, like I said, I was just like happy watching Pokemon and crap, you know, as a kid. So it's like, oh, let me play some on my PSP, play Pokemon, go out and maybe play with my friends, some soccer or whatever. You know what I mean? Like that was my growing up, so I was never into any of the crazy stuff now kids are into. I think and yeah, I hear stories and I'm like, whoa, what are they doing? Well, I think but to be honest, if I had a device in my pocket with the internet, who knows what I'd be able to do.

Lamar Shealey 1:13:10

Yeah, there is that part of it too, but I think it's also just the way some people are raised, some kids are being raised. Yeah, and the thing is where you're at most of the time is what rubs off on you. Because you know, my daughter's five, and you know, and she doesn't say anything bad. So it's not even bad, it's just she'll talk certain ways and use certain words that we don't use, not necessarily bad, just incorrect English.

Vipul Bindra 1:13:33

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:13:34

We don't talk like that, but she's at school. So she picks it up from the other kids. Yeah. And when they're little, they pick up that type of stuff. When they get older, they pick up other things. Because, you know, I monitor my son on the internet. Excuse me. And I monitor him, so I kind of know what he's doing and kind of do that. And the kids that we hung out with, my our parents knew each other. Sometimes it's like the the parents are crazy.

Vipul Bindra 1:14:02

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:14:02

That's the problem. And it's not even the kids, it's sometimes it's just like and then being in, and it kind of jade you a little bit being a teacher. Um, even though I wasn't at a big school, we're a very small private school, and just seeing that there's parents I didn't meet, I had their kids for three, four years, never met the parent until they had a perceived problem. Wow. And then some of them parents I knew them the whole entire time. And you know, it's just how it is. So that's also why I like dealing with the older kids. I could just talk to them real. Yeah. Versus trying to like, oh, you know, it's good. No, we're gonna talk. Yeah. You know, do you want to be in this situation when you get older? No. You gotta change it.

Youth Media Programs Through The Studio

Vipul Bindra 1:14:40

Exactly. Wow. That's good to know. You know, you have a different perspective in life than I do. Yeah. Because you know, obviously, I I I have my own perspective, but I help with like companies, you know, that want to make money, and so they want to just get it done, usually. Because it's in their interest, they're paying me a lot of money to come help them. It's very different for kids, you know. Like you said, you have you are the you know, you could change their life. It's so crazy as a teacher. Because, you know, um, especially if if they are, like you said, where they have they with a little bit of motivation, they could go on the right path, especially those ones, you know, where you can actually make an immediate effort. Um, because you know, it's it's the environment they're growing in, like I said. Um thank goodness I didn't have a cell phone with an internet, is all I'm gonna say. Because you know, now I'm an adult, you know, I have my other interests, but as a kid, you know, you can only think of the worst stuff. Yeah. So and then, like you said, if you're in an environment where other kids are doing it, even if it's not you that you know, they're gonna lean you towards all those things. So yeah, so it's just an environment that you're in. Um, but uh no, awesome. And then uh what is your favorite thing? Because we've talked about so many things that you do. Like, what is it, like if you could choose one lane, what is it that you really want to do out of all this? Or you could be doing more, you know.

Lamar Shealey 1:15:58

As of right now, I'm still because I'm still growing in videography more. Um, and I'm really liking that. Um, so I can't really say I want to do one thing as of right now. I'm still growing into kind of figuring out. Um, of course, I think I'm still gonna do certain things on the side. You know, hey, I'm I'm probably gonna do some family photography, especially working, um, going to church. You have a lot of people that's people are always gonna approach you about that. It's gonna be graduation time. Graduation pictures and loving catch, like catching, catching that moment. And now it's like when I see that kid that I'd never spoke to before, because they're you know, they're doing their thing. Now it's like we have a connection, like, yeah, you you went here, and one girl she graduated, she made her prom dress, and I did her prom pictures. I was like, I didn't know she made her prom dress. I barely even knew how many kids you had. Yeah, and you know, you get a chance to like get that connection with people. Um, but I think I'll always do that. I don't think that's gonna be my main focus. I kind of want to work with small to medium-sized businesses and kind of help see that grow. Yeah, not just see people grow, but see like their dream grow and capturing that.

Vipul Bindra 1:17:08

Yeah, that's pretty good, you know, motivation to have. And like I said, you're yourself doing great with a partner like Quentin. I think that's incredible. And uh, I think you're only going to you know find success. Plus, this cool studio that you're building, it seems very versatile to me. Like I said, whether you want to do podcasts, you want to do um like green screen shooting now, apparently, with Ultimate or photography, you know. Yeah, I think it's a nice place that you guys have built together. It has a lot of business potential. You know, you guys gotta take my advice. I told Quentin he's gotta do a networking event there. That's the best way to like show people what you guys have been working on all these months.

Lamar Shealey 1:17:44

And yeah, that's uh is and start starting right now. Um, right now I'm getting all kind of just random photo shoots, which makes it hard to like have a clean open room because it's like, all right, I gotta do one today, and then not next week I have a day. And yeah, it just has to, I think once we get back, we're going to lock in on that and make sure that we get that done. It's just trying to, you know, when you try to in your mind, being uh, and I had to learn about this, you can't always be a perfectionist in everything.

Vipul Bindra 1:18:15

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:18:15

Because you'll never get something done. You have to get it, you have to have a standard, and it can't be perfect. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:18:22

Yeah, you want to have a high standard, but you don't want to have a perfect standard because perfect standard does not exist. Yeah. So you don't want to be stuck essentially um uh you know reaching that perfection that you never reach, and then hence you never get anything done, right?

Lamar Shealey 1:18:36

Yeah, so I think that's what kind of help held us back from doing the meeting meetup. So I think we're kind of in a place where it's like, all right, it has to be good enough.

Vipul Bindra 1:18:44

Yeah.

Gear Costs And Not Quitting

Lamar Shealey 1:18:44

And that comes sometimes that comes with age, because I was that person that would fixate on something for hours and hours and hours and hours. And I had to learn. Yeah. Well, you gotta, you know, and having kids also help with that because you know, you can't just be locked in a little room for for days at a time thinking about, oh, how does this connect to that, connect to this? So now, so I you know, and he's younger, yeah, you know, I have about 10 years on him. So I think that's some things that I'm like, hey.

Vipul Bindra 1:19:11

So you're gonna lock him in the room and let him figure out where the connection goes there. I mean, to be honest, he's the guy to figure that out. Yes, yes. Uh, I mean, but to be honest, you're already using the studio, right? I know it's not like you haven't obviously announced it like um uh whatever, like officially like done a meetup or whatever. Yes, but I'm saying it's not like you're not using the studio. It's technically already, like I said, I came that day, you already had a session going on there, right? Yeah, yeah, because he was busy, he wasn't even answering my phones. I was like, wow, he's busy, all right. So I had to drop his camera to you. Yeah, he had some other stuff going on that day. So that's what I'm saying. You guys are already doing your thing, you're using and you were using the space, so yes, seems to be already like like said being used, right?

Lamar Shealey 1:19:53

Yes, we have um we're getting a lot of positive feedback on it. So, you know, we're trying to get people to give us negative feedback and say what can we fix? But sometimes it's hard to get that um because people are just like in awe. But you know, once things kind of die down, probably the next time you come back, like, oh yeah, this thing is what I was I did forgot about that. Yeah, fix that right there. Exactly. But um, and you know, of course, getting respected opinions is always great to get, but now it's just it's time to once we get back, I think we're gonna be um working on some stuff while I'm in Africa, while we're in Africa. So when we come back, it's like building up that with everybody else. Because you know, dealing with professionals, you know, I think most of the people in our group do things outside, they go on location. So now it's just now it's time to find those people that want to do things and don't have a place to do it.

Vipul Bindra 1:20:40

Yeah. You know, that they want to come into the studio because you're right. Most of my clients, I'm going to them or going to some location. But then you will get a client, at least for me, rare occasion, who's like, I don't have an office, I just work remote. Yeah. And that's where a studio can be awesome, too, you know, be like, okay, that's fine. We have a place where we can make it look like you have an office, right? Or something like that. Um, so the it studio has its place, I don't uh especially like you said, doing photography or whatever. A lot of people may not want, you know, my home's unorganized or whatever. I want to do some family pictures, let us come to your studio or whatever. So there's stuff like that, you know, where I feel like a studio has its place, plus making it versatile, where, like you said, you have multiple ways you can use it. It doesn't have to be just one thing. It's like, hey, here's a green screen option, here's a uh, you know, podcast option or whatever. It's a neat idea. Like I said, I'm really happy for you guys. Like I said, I can't wait for it to grow, but also that's a really cool opportunity. I'm so happy for Quentin. He always gets to every year go to these awesome countries and get to film, and he gets to get paid for it. I mean, that's really cool too.

Lamar Shealey 1:21:41

Man, getting getting to go to Africa for the first time and getting paid for it is yeah, it feels great. And do something I love.

Vipul Bindra 1:21:48

Exactly. I'm telling you, people, if you're interested in doing video production and uh, you know, uh you want to travel, or or rather get paid to travel and make awesome content, get involved with your house of worship or wherever you go, get involved in the video part of it, you know, put in the hours, get volunteer. Not only are you helping increase your skill, you're getting better at it. I think the other indirect advantage of it is you on these mission trips or wherever you go, uh you have the opportunity to now tag along, get paid, you know, create awesome content and travel for free. There's multiple benefits of doing that, right? Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:22:24

And um another thing that we're doing at the studio, we're trying to, we're well, we're in talks with a community center of actually building out a program to actually help the youth get into this. Look at that build.

Vipul Bindra 1:22:35

Yeah, so you're gonna train the next generation.

Lamar Shealey 1:22:37

That's what we're working on because and um one of our other good friends, Troy, talked about him earlier. That's something that he wants to do as well. He wants to start an organization teaching kids how to do live production because that is mainly what he does.

Vipul Bindra 1:22:48

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:22:49

And just opening up the world because this is not going away. It's not going away.

Vipul Bindra 1:22:56

Yo, video is central to what human life now, essentially. Yeah, and plus stuff like live, you know, and and video production in general and even sound. There's so much to this that is so inherently important to learn. And especially if, like you say again, go back to that, if they have the spark, the the interest, yes, uh, that could be a good place to go to bring that in. And with your education background, you guys may be the perfect people to to do it.

Lamar Shealey 1:23:22

Yeah, and that's another good reason to have a studio because we can't go and set up, oh, we're gonna have this for three hours a week. We're gonna spend two hours setting up at this community center to and then three hours breaking down because we're tired after dealing with teenagers. Yeah, exactly. You don't want to listen. That's another part of it. So we want to, you know, work and give back and um train up the next generation to be able to do what we gotta do. And um, yeah, once we got and get it started, we're gonna probably hopefully bring in people like you to talk to them and different people. I have a good friend that does sound, has a um sound company, bring them in, and you know, this industry is very is very vast in what you can do. Um you can literally some people spend their whole their whole career just on their phone doing it. Some people do it on the other end where they have, you know, a lot of equipment. Yeah. A lot of equipment. I wasn't gonna say a number, but I didn't I said no, we're this is gonna be public, so we're not, you know, he he his equipment is very it's quality, yeah, but it's not very expensive.

Vipul Bindra 1:24:25

Yeah, we need to have uh, you know, people stop mentioning. I feel like uh every person who comes here has mentioned at least each episode a little bit of the equipment. Remember, I make a living doing this. This isn't not to you, I'm just saying somebody listening will think, what is but this guy in equipment? No, I'm actually a video professional and I make money doing videos. This is just a fun thing, aside passion project. So all this gear is actually used for work and making money, but yeah, and it took 15 years to acquire everything. But yes, I do have a lot of equipment. I haven't measured it, but it has to be like I said, years ago I did 2021, it was over half a million, so I'm sure in the last few years, some has been, you know, removed, but a lot has been added, so it's probably a lot more than that now.

Lamar Shealey 1:25:07

And even be sitting here with you know, and and that sounds, of course, even saying those numbers to some people sounds like, man, I could never get up to that.

Vipul Bindra 1:25:16

But remember, if you can, if you but it depends on if you even want to. So that's been the point of this podcast. I've brought people who are running a production company like that where those numbers are realistic, but then also DPs where like, hey, you can actually be a camera operator, and then that makes that's an unnecessary because you don't need any of this. Kind of like, you know, you bring Quentin here, then he'll talk about all the equipment has, and then it's like, you're I can't get into it. But then there's people, um, you know, like Alex recently was like, I'm doing he did an A V job and he made eight grand and he had to bring nothing, you know, and they were he was slow in to the event. He did his thing. Obviously, he's technically knowledgeable, but yeah, but I'm saying is in this industry there's so many avenues. But anyway, with me, I've been trying to build a production company. Yes, and I want it to be full. And when a lot of people say we're a full, you know, production company, I want it to be legit. So we have to have lighting, camera, sound, grip, electric, you know, everything. And then when you start to slowly acquire that, eventually you end up with this and a van full of crap outside.

Lamar Shealey 1:26:16

Because even even at my stage, you know, I I've been I'm just starting to get into the wanting to do it more professional. And I have like probably $20,000 worth of equipment. And I'm like, how?

Vipul Bindra 1:26:28

Yeah. I mean, slowly, right? It's slowly. You know, you don't think about it. You could have camera here, lens here.

Lamar Shealey 1:26:34

Yeah, you and then it's like, okay, and then you know, the great thing is when you know people, you get deals sometimes. So, you know, I'm I'm quoting it at market rate, not what we actually paid for it. But you know, you start.

Vipul Bindra 1:26:45

But apparently tariffs will increase the value too, also value goes up that much.

Lamar Shealey 1:26:49

So it's like once you start adding that up, it's like, oh, I okay, yeah, I bought this $500 light, I bought this $2,000 camera, I bought a $1,500 lens, I bought a this, that, and that, you know, it adds up. So even at my scale where I'm just like literally like I could probably fit most of my stuff in a large vehicle, it's still worth more than the vehicle. And it's like, how did that happen?

Vipul Bindra 1:27:13

Yeah, and that's the nature of what we do, right? I think anyone, I'm like, equipments are important, but slowly as you do this more and more and more, you end up with tools that you need. And yeah, it ends up costing more than the vehicle you're carrying it in.

Lamar Shealey 1:27:25

And I I'll say this too, just for anybody that's watching out there, everybody feels like selling all their stuff sometimes and quitting. Trust me.

Vipul Bindra 1:27:33

Yeah, it's normal to have those feelings. But it's important not to quit.

Lamar Shealey 1:27:37

Yeah, don't quit. Keep going, keep going, keep going. But trust me, you know, especially at the stage that I'm at, you're like, I'm sitting here, you know, this I have the summer off from school. I'm trying to come back, but at a lesser capacity. How am I gonna do this? I got this amount. I'm like, man, I could just sell all this equipment and pay off my car. Yeah, exactly. You know, it's like, you know, you could sell off all your equipment and pay off your house and you know have no debt and like all right, get a corporate job.

Vipul Bindra 1:28:08

Yeah, done. Yeah, life is settled. And I think that's what what it is, you know, like you say, you see you've said well said there, because there's so many days, you know, where you know, things are not going right. You know, I can sit here and talk about yeah, how we closed that awesome deal and how we built made that awesome video, but then there are days uh where you know you send a proposal out, it gets rejected, and you do a call and it gets rejected, and you know, you I don't know, uh a couple emails come in that don't work the way you want to. I'm saying there is one of those days, or you have a pile of some tasks that you need to do that you don't want to do that are not the fun type with playing with a camera. And those are the days where you go, why am I doing this? Right, where you start to question everything. I think those are the most important days, even more than all the fun days, where you have to remember the fun days and go, that's why I do this. Because those days will come. It may not be today, I just need to get past it and and not quit, and like you said, sell off all the equipment, you know.

Lamar Shealey 1:29:04

So even with you know, I've been with my wife um almost 20 years. We've been married for 15, together for 20. So that's a long time. Yeah, this will be the first time that we've been apart this long ever. Wow. So even in the back of my mind, I'm still thinking, man, this is going to be a really weird experience.

Vipul Bindra 1:29:28

Yeah, because you're gonna be away from your family, your kids, your wife, yeah, everybody.

Lamar Shealey 1:29:32

Yep, and not knowing how well the communication is gonna be, because you know, we might be able to con talk every day, or we might not. Yeah, depending on where I'm at. I think we probably will, looking at where we're gonna be. But it's still like, you know, I'm not thinking our relationship's gonna go awry or anything, but it's like, you know, you talk to somebody every day of your life for for 20 years straight. You, you know, you you're well, it depends.

Vipul Bindra 1:29:56

How does she feel about you leaving?

Lamar Shealey 1:29:57

That though she's you know, you know, she's she's like very excited.

Vipul Bindra 1:30:00

She's like, go, she's like, no, you're not.

Lamar Shealey 1:30:03

Well, she's excited for me because of the experience that I'm gonna have, but also I know she's like, man, I'm gonna have these kids all day, 24-7, have to take him to practice, still have to work, yeah, and you know, deal with her daughter, you know, even you know, my schedule's still kind of crazy now, but it's like, hey, okay, at least a day of the week I'm not working generally speaking. Yeah, I have a day off, or I'll be able to take the kids, or just hey, get away from your mom, come let's have ice cream or something. I don't know, whatever, or cook a meal or something. Now it's gonna be her.

Vipul Bindra 1:30:34

Yeah, two and a half weeks at least, right?

Lamar Shealey 1:30:36

Yes. And I mean, we've had it where I've gone away for about a week-ish, about a week, or when when they went to Tennessee, my wife took my son to Tennessee, so it was just her and him, but he was at the camp, so she was by herself. So there is that, but it's like 17 days not seeing them for the first time. It's a very exciting experience, but it's also like, man, what am I gonna do?

Vipul Bindra 1:31:01

Yeah, you'll you'll figure out. I mean, you'll know immediately how you feel as you get on that plane. But I mean, what you are going on is incredible in nature, too. You know, it's kind of like the pros and cons of everything. So, and like I say, you're going with somebody, you know, nice who's been there already. Quentin will make you try all the pizzas in Africa. It's so funny that guy all of it in Africa only to eat pizza.

Lamar Shealey 1:31:27

So I I understand. I mean, I understand what he's saying. You know, we've had talks about it, and it's like you're going there to work. So I so my uncle used to um run McDonald's in the Caribbean, right? Okay. So when I was younger, I went to go visit him. Um, me and my sister, and he stayed in Puerto Rico, and we went to St. Martin. I was sick the whole entire time. There was the McDonald's street, other stuff, beach. Didn't go to the beach one day. The whole time. I I I don't know what it was. Yeah. So you don't want to go on, you know, that was me wasting my parents' money and his money. But imagine going somewhere to work and you're sick the whole time. So it's like, yeah, I kind of want to keep it a little bit safe. So I understand where it's like, just try pizza. I might try a dish or two, but I don't want to go over there and just, you know, not to be graphic, but be on the toilet the whole time.

Vipul Bindra 1:32:22

I mean, it can't be that bad. I mean, I get it. You have to be careful.

Lamar Shealey 1:32:25

Yeah, so I'm I want to be a little, I'm gonna be a little bit more adventurous, but you know, I understand this, you know, just not just going crazy.

Pricing Photography Without Being Cheap

Vipul Bindra 1:32:31

Yeah, exactly. No, I I totally get it. You are going there to work, technically, you're not going there, even though it's kind of like a vacation. But it's still working. It's gonna be fun. You know, yeah. It's gonna be fun. I'm so excited. All right, before we go, we're on the tail end of this thing. Uh, anything you want to talk about? Uh anything I haven't mentioned? Any stories?

Lamar Shealey 1:32:47

So I okay, I guess I will ask you this question. So I'm in a space right now where I'm starting to go into the professional realm of what I'm doing, and sometimes people have, and I'm pretty sure other people are going through this too, how to get out of being what everybody sees you as the cheap person. Because they're like, oh, you're not professional. You're doing it, even though they see you doing that, and sometimes, you know, going like going to the game is one of those things that kind of helps validate you. And honestly, you don't need to be the greatest person to capture certain things. Yeah. But hey, I've been with this person, I went to here, I've been to there. And that kind of tries you try to help have people val that validate you, but how do you get past that point of being the cheap guy? Not even necessarily cheap, but like the from the professional side. Okay.

Vipul Bindra 1:33:41

And again, my advice, my opinion. Yeah. Try the only way to be cheap, not the cheap guy is to not be the cheap guy. I know it sounds silly, but like when somebody asks you a price, you should say the price that you want it to be. The answer will be no, and that's okay. I hope that makes sense. It's it's one of those things. You have an advantage. Now, a lot of people can't do this. Let's say you are already making a living as a photographer, videographer, that's your all thing. So you cannot have hundred percent no's you got bills to pay, and that's how people have a hard time moving. But if you have a nine to five, you have a school that somebody's paying your bills, it may not obviously you want supplement, you have invested money in the gear, but I'm saying the the truth is you have to just say no. And now it's different. Uh, I'm not saying say no to a friend, like if Quincy's like, come help me, that's a different thing. But I'm saying to your end clients, you should work at the rate you want to, where you think it's fair for you. As in, like, you should ask around to other photographers, you should ask around to you know whoever you know you think is at what you're doing at the level of work that you're doing, and then you should see what they're charging, and then you should come up with a rate that also you're happy, you're like where you are excited to make their photos, right? And then you should just charge that. Simple as that. The answer will be no and no and no until it's a yes, and then it'll be a yes. And those people will refer you to more people who can say yes, because uh the way most of the time you get clients, obviously, you can do ads and stuff, that's a different thing. But I'm saying the family that paid you the price that you wanted them to pay. Let's say you're like, I charge $500 for a shoot, now I'm gonna charge $1,000, right? So the family that paid you a thousand most likely knows other families that can pay a thousand, right? So they'll refer you if they love their photos, right? You do the because now you're happy, you're gonna do an incredible job. Maybe throw a couple extra photos in it, do a good thing, and maybe edit them better. I don't know. I'm just saying, because if you get paid, the the idea isn't the money, the idea is you wanna do your best. Yes, and when you do their best, they see it and then they recommend you to someone else, right? That's the the formula. Yeah, so if you do your best, you go above and beyond, like you promised them something, you do more than that, you have a good time because you got paid what you wanted to get paid, they love the photos, now they go tell their you know friends. I'm saying they'll come back and now they'll ask them how much did you pay? You pay a thousand, right? And then now they already know what the price is. Yeah, I hope that makes sense. There's no way to go to a client that paid you $500, and and there's a chance. I know some people have done it. They made a $200 client, and then next thing they charge them a thousand bucks. Usually, though, that's not gonna happen. Yeah, right? They'll find somebody else and be like, Oh, yeah, I can't afford that because that's what they're expecting now. So usually you don't move clients. My thing is you have to find a new clientele, that's just what it is. And uh you should set your rate and you should find people and who are willing to pay that rate. Now, it may be difficult in the beginning, which is why you want to have a 95 until then. And then when you do, then like you said, you do your best. Don't cut corners, don't and then you know, like I said, they'll refer, and then it's like a web, right? The more you do, the longer you do this, the bigger the web gets, and then that's your rate. But then you always have this struggle in life because then they're like, now I need to up my rate again. Yeah, then you start again. It it is a thing, though. Then good luck getting these people. There's a high chance some may come back for a little higher rate, but usually the that tier is that tier. Then you start again, right? Then you have to go start all that again. So usually it's like pick a rate that you're happy at that you want to make. That's also reasonable. Yeah if you never get a yes, then you are the problem, you know. But it's okay, like in the big thousand dollars for exactly one headshot.

Lamar Shealey 1:37:13

Well, I'm not Peter Peter Hurley, yeah. I don't know if you ever heard of him.

Vipul Bindra 1:37:16

I've heard the name, yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:37:17

That guy charges like a couple grand.

Vipul Bindra 1:37:19

Yeah. So I mean, yeah. If if you can, and you have the club. See, the thing is, it's also a skill thing. What I'm saying is like I don't know. And you know, you as you progress, you start taking photos, you know, they're good, but they're not there. Then the next level, then the tier above, and they're the tier above, and then there's that guy, and you know, there's all levels, and then you should charge at your level. My thing is if everyone's saying yes to you, your rates are too low. Yeah, if everyone's saying no to you, rates are high. But sometimes that's rare. That's what we were talking about, is switching clientele. So usually I'm saying that's the easiest way to adjust, right? But usually you are stuck in a clientele. Let's say you're a student, you come out, you charge 100 bucks to make a music video, shooting, editing, providing equipment, everything, right? Sounds good as a student. You're like, yeah, I can make one in a few hours. It's just, you know, obviously the tier of music is low. Then you go to 200, you go to 300, you go to 400, and you're like, I'm good. And now you're like, I'm stuck at $500 music videos. Because guess what? After that, the the level jump is huge, right? You can't make that usually, but I'm saying with a phone and a computer, like you can. And then that takes an effort, and that's usually it is. You have to find out, and if you don't know, also I want to say that because people are like, I don't know. That's when you go find somebody else. Then you find somebody else who is charging that kind of money, and you say, Hey, let me come hang out with you on a shoot or something. See what they do for that kind of money because it's not just charging certain money, exactly, and then I'm saying then you know, okay, you're like, Oh, sure, I I'll replicate that, right? I'll give that level of quality, I'll bring that level of equipment, and now you can start charging that. And it may take a while to start building new clientele. Yeah, I hope that answers the question. The point is, you yeah, if you are in that low tier pricing, I'm saying you have to just sometimes just completely start from scratch with completely new tier of clientele. Yeah, which is tough.

Lamar Shealey 1:39:13

Yeah, I was starting so one thing that I don't shoot a lot of because I don't want to, is weddings. Yeah. Every time I do a wedding, I say, I need to charge more. Yeah. And I think I heard you talk about that with somebody on one of the other podcasts about the weddings. It's hard work.

Handling Unhappy Clients Professionally

Vipul Bindra 1:39:34

And remember, it's also it's different. See, when a family comes to you, you have the ability to make them laugh, smile, get to know them, make them comfortable. And and again, I'm not saying that each one is better, it's just different art form. Uh, versus a vetting, uh, you know, you can't, I mean, sometimes you can stage them, I'm saying, but usually you can't control the situation a lot, right? So you have to roll with the punches, unless you're just in point. Yeah, there you go. Then you can maybe you can be like, it's gonna be on YouTube. Anyway, but you know, the point I'm trying to make is you're rolling with the punches, yeah. And you know, and that's why it's a different art form. You have to just obviously figure out how to give the most, and it's it may not be for for you, and obviously, and that's okay, and that's why people like weddings are not for me. I can go make corporate videos all day every day.

Lamar Shealey 1:40:22

And I will tell you, Indian weddings are uh amazing, yeah. They are amazing. I mean, if you like them, then they're like the end product. Yeah, I'm saying the end product is I can make when they go all out and they have like the week long, and I'm like, man.

Vipul Bindra 1:40:36

No, I mean they're amazing for people who love, like I said, people that love doing them. Yeah, I grew up, you know, obviously watching enough weddings or going to enough weddings, and it was like it's awesome on one way, you know. Like I said, as a kid, I loved all the snacks and food you could eat. I'm like, you know, sky's the limit because it's usually buffet style or whatever. But you know, there's the other side of it. As an adult, I was like, do I ever want this party? No, but some people love it. Like I said, it's a whole thing, you know, usually five days, you know, and then there's so many ceremonies, there's so many people, but it's like it's on the on it on it uh like attending. I I'm not a big fan. I mean, there are parties if you really like enjoying parties, but as a photographer, videographer, there are a lot of money. You can charge a lot of money because there's a lot of days, there's a lot of work, but it's a lot, it's a lot of work, yeah. It is a lot, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And and now some people I know will condense it, do it for a couple of days or whatever. But it's still, I'm saying you are you do have the ability to charge a lot. Now, obviously, not all Indians will pay high price again, because they can be cheap, but they can also be very spendy. This is so funny thing about Indians. At one point, they're like so cheap, but then on weddings they just blow money like nothing, so you never know. Uh, but no, it's a good avenue. If you like, again, if you like doing wedding video photo, there's a lot of money in it, especially like you said, Indian weddings or just even a regular American.

Lamar Shealey 1:41:51

Yeah, but they're just they're just amazing. I just yeah, I just like looking at them.

Vipul Bindra 1:41:53

Yeah, I mean, hey, if you enjoy it, then you should take more of those for photos, no?

Lamar Shealey 1:41:57

I don't know. You don't want to do it? Like on the outside. I'm saying as a as a person watching it.

Vipul Bindra 1:42:01

Okay. Yes, that was great.

Lamar Shealey 1:42:04

But the person doing it, I'm like, man, like Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:42:07

No, I don't do weddings.

Lamar Shealey 1:42:08

12 hour day for a week and then have to edit that.

Vipul Bindra 1:42:12

Golly, I gotta Yeah, and then you have to understand what to edit where because you know certainly ceremony. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, uh for me, like I said, I stay away from weddings, photo video. Yeah. Um, but I I have brought enough people on here who do that because I want people to know that's a very good avenue to make a good living. It is. I don't think you should say no to that because even I had dogs. Try it out. Even he was like, he does weddings, because try I would say try it out.

Lamar Shealey 1:42:38

Because it's like it, yeah. Um is if if you have the opportunity to try a wedding out, try it as a second shooter first.

Vipul Bindra 1:42:45

Or don't ruin somebody's wedding. Yeah, yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:42:48

Do that. Um, because I would tell you the lower price weddings, they want you to do more. My only I think I've had one and a half two people that were kind of not uh, and that'll be the next question I guess I ask you, that weren't fully satisfied. One was they wanted to pay barely anything for a full-day wedding, photography and videography. And I just pulled on my wife just to move the first the main camera, just to you know, but it's just me. Okay, so I'm not gonna be able to capture everything.

Vipul Bindra 1:43:20

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:43:20

And then even their pastor, they try to complain to their pastor, because I know him, and he was like, You you wanted something where you need like three people to do it, and you have one person doing it. He's not gonna be able to capture everything. You want a picture of the kiss? I can't do video of the kiss. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:43:36

So and then Oh, you were doing both photo and video. Oh yeah, so why'd you say yes?

Lamar Shealey 1:43:42

That was I was starting out. Okay, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:43:44

See that that's fair then. Uh, because um And there's a way, there is a way to do it.

Lamar Shealey 1:43:49

There is a way to do it.

Vipul Bindra 1:43:51

I will disagree, but sure.

Lamar Shealey 1:43:53

It's not going to be great. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:43:55

Well, that's what I'm saying.

Lamar Shealey 1:43:56

It's not gonna be great, but if it's just like, hey, I just want to have it, you know, just hey, you know, some people might just put up a phone in the background. So you're doing that better, and then maybe you're not taking pictures of the ceremony, you're taking pictures of the in-between. So there's like stuff like that, yeah, but you're never gonna really capture the wedding fully with one person.

Vipul Bindra 1:44:16

Yeah, and and my thing is it takes usually a couple of people to do in video video by itself, yeah. It takes four people to do all to actually capture a wedding, you need at least four people. Two pictures, two video. There you go. So that's what I'm saying. If you make it one person, you're just it's just not gonna possibly do it correctly. I'm sure there's some genius watching this who's like, let me show you. And then they're an exception, I'm saying. But usually, and that's okay. When you're starting out, you do and tend to take I think deals like that. And that's that's what the point of this is. Please don't take those deals because you're like, there's better options out there, but you almost might as well do it for free. But then the thing, the problem is I would never say, I would say if somebody tells you to do both photo and video, don't say yes. Uh, even if it's free. I don't care. Yeah, I think you would you should pick. You would tell them that hey, I can do one or the other. Which one do you want me to do? Or choose or tell them which one you can do, whichever you prefer.

Lamar Shealey 1:45:10

And if you don't take this advice, the first time you do it, you won't do it again.

Vipul Bindra 1:45:14

Yeah. Well, they were just not happy because obviously it's not your problem.

Lamar Shealey 1:45:18

They were they were they and the other thing about weddings is the you gotta find out what they want and audio is probably probably the biggest thing with weddings. How to capture good audio. You gotta mic the groom and you gotta mic the official and if you're one person doing video, you're not gonna get it. So you gotta set expectation. Hey, you want one person to do video, recap video. Yeah.

Wedding Reality And Audio Priorities

Vipul Bindra 1:45:45

I think uh the thing from there to learn, and and I'm sure you already have, like you said, you obviously you come a long way from that. It's just that like clients A don't understand what we do, yeah, or can be cheap, or you know, make unreasonable requests sometimes. You know, we don't believe, I don't believe in the world. I believe highly in client uh uh experience, taking care of them, giving them an amazing experience. But that's not the same thing as saying yes to unreasonable requests, yeah. Those are two different things. So clients will always come and they'll say things like that. Like I said, the answer you, and like I said, I get it. When you're new, you're starting out, especially if they're offering money, you just want to say yes to everything. But personally, that's what I would do. It's like it's it's impossible. Like genuinely, like it's not being rude. It's like, hey, yeah, it's impossible for one person to capture a wedding, photo or video. Here's what I can do for you. I can do video, here's my pricing, which can be now low if you're new. That's okay to me, in my opinion, or even free if it's your first wedding. But then I would be up front and be like, look, this is my first wedding. I want to build a portfolio. There's a contract if you sign it that I can use this for promotional purposes, I will happily record it free for you, but I can only do this. And then I would still go to a friend and ask them to be a second shooter for free, being honest. I would not do it alone, but you can. I'm saying if you approach, it's not the end of the world, but I would definitely never do both, and that's the advice at least I would give to people, you know.

Lamar Shealey 1:47:09

Yeah, and um the first time I did a wedding with whatever side it was the first time I did a wedding and and actually contracted it and had a videographer and a photographer, it was so great because those days are long, and at least just having somebody there with you.

Vipul Bindra 1:47:25

Yeah, and and like I said, they're also taking the workload off. Yes, exactly.

Lamar Shealey 1:47:29

So if I'm the videographer and somebody else is the photographer, there's times where I don't need to tape anything, like when they're taking their pictures, so I just help pose people, yeah, make his day easier. When I need to video certain things, he's there to kind of help me out, or have the other people and distract them so I can do this.

Vipul Bindra 1:47:45

There you go.

Lamar Shealey 1:47:45

So you have that. Um, so I'm gonna ask this question and think about the past, right? Because now I'm pretty sure you will handle it a lot differently. Yeah. And you probably wouldn't have many of those. In the past, more in the beginning, middle stages, how would you deal with customers or clients that weren't completely satisfied?

Vipul Bindra 1:48:06

You're not gonna a lot of people won't believe that I've never really had a dissatisfied client. Couple of because I don't I again, I said I I yeah, just don't say no. Uh, I could probably go more to my actual nine to five job than I used to have it. There are a lot of clients, but that wasn't me because there's a company they were mad at, right? But I'm saying as far as video goes, I normally I've only done stuff, like I said, where where I was happy. Now, clients, like I said, have made unreasonable requests. Like, for example, I'll tell you one of the earlier gigs, somebody wanted me to shoot something, so we contracted, I'll come out for two days or whatever, right? They'll pay me and then I'll edit it. That's the scope of work. I always did that. And then they're like, hey, today's the nice weather. Why don't you for an hour go collect some footage from that area? And I was like, sure, but that's gonna be an additional 200 bucks. Even when I'm starting, I'm like, I'm not going. Why would I? That's not in the scope. I was like, if I spend your full production day for that silly thing, that makes no sense. Remember, we gotta do a second production day because we've only done one. So I presented it like that. I was like, hey, I gotta remember, we don't want to spend the production day on this, so let's save that for the real shoot day where we need to do all this. How about I just for a couple hours give me a couple hundred bucks or whatever I said, I don't remember the exact amount, uh, maybe 150, something like that. And then that too, so the answer was yeah, because like we're not playing around here, but at the same time, I would I'm if I'm new, I'm not gonna charge obviously thousands or all hours, like on how it would be for a shoot day. But ultimately, the the that's how I approached it, and maybe I'm different, but I was always like, I'm not gonna let anyone take advantage of me. Now, funny enough, actually, recently I was getting a couple of examples where clients were dissatisfied, and it's funny, it had nothing to do with me. So uh one time um this guy was there, we were recording an event, it went amazing. Like I contracted with them, and I always go above and beyond, so I charge them, which I think was very reasonable for like an hour long speech. And that actually was way longer, but to cut it down to an hour, and I'm talking fairly technical. Uh, I brought like four, uh no, one, two, six, six people, one guy on literal Ronin, and you know, gimbal and FX6 is everywhere, dude. For five, six grand. Like, I I know my rates are low, I'm not joking. And I'm good because I'm like, this is easy. A couple hours, everyone gets paid, life is good, but also, you know, we get to edit. So, in one way, like it's like good money, but the other way, I'm like, it's reasonable for what I brought. Yeah, everything went amazing. They're like, Yeah, you guys are great, blah, blah, blah. Best team ever. We give the video, and you know, obviously, we notice it, but we didn't say anything. Uh, it's a live speech in front of like I'm saying hundreds and hundreds of people. His pocket, he's wearing a suit, right? Went came out, and because you know, I guess he had his hands or whatever. We have nothing, we're back of the house. You know how it is on risers. And you and you can you're not gonna go there and say, Stop! Yeah, and funny enough, yeah, we noticed it, but I'm like, Well, this is edited. The thing we delivered, they signed off the video too. They remember, they haven't even still noticed it. They was like, This is incredible, let's add subtitles, everything's done. So I made even more money. But yeah, we can add subtitles. Life is good. Anyway, done, signed off. They're like, incredible video guys, well done. We gotta talk more about videos, and then yeah, two days later, obviously, somebody finally noticed the pocket out. And they as soon as they pointed out, the guy's like upset. He's like, Oh my goodness, somebody should have told me, you know, my pock's up. Like, no, that's unreasonable because A, first of all, it's a live event, and then two, it's not my put your pocket in. The guy on the roan in it. Exactly. Like, and two, you know, I mean, it's one thing on a studio, obviously we can we can do that. But like on a live A, I'm not looking for that. Wardrobe is not my thing. But two, uh, you know, I'm I'm not even I'm just I was asked literally the scope of work was record a speech. Yeah, that is videography, that's not filmmaking. I'm not there to check for wardrobe, I'm there to record a speech, and I did it way, way amazing than you know what the the task was. A we never checked the wardrobe. B, once we started rolling, you're on stage. At that point, it's too late. Now it's one thing, yeah. If I was there, I saw it. You're marking them up, and you're like, oh, okay. But we didn't notice anything until they were on stage, it was rolling, so I don't know at what point it happened. It's not on, in my opinion, us. When it's rolling, I can't, I in my opinion, I'm not gonna stop them. I don't care what's happening, I'm not going up there to stop the speech or even any of my cam ops. Mario, did you feel confident enough to go spot stop the speech? Do you know the project I'm talking about? Okay, would you have I'm saying Dared in front of 300 people where you were on the gimbal and Anthony was on the Ronin? Would you have gone and stopped the speech to fix a pocket? Not really. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I don't know anyone with it, and I don't know the right way to approach it. That would be somebody on their team. Yeah, but to be honest, the way I approached it, and again, I think my approach was so professional. I was like, as soon as they were like, hey, we don't like that. I was like, Yeah, I absolutely I agree with you. I think that's unfortunate that there was a wardrobe issue. You know, next time we should take a look at that, like I'll make sure somebody in your team checks for that. And he's like, Yeah, I wish you guys you're you had seven people that somebody would have noticed that. I'm like, Yeah, we did notice that. But you know, you normally, if you're supposed to check wardrobe, we'd bring a wardrobe person, but that wasn't in the scope of the work. But here's something nice I can do for you. No, I even offered, forget the wardrobe. I say, if you want, we can always add in a wardrobe person, but I'm just happy in general next time to come look at you before you go on stage and confirm the wardrobe looks good. That's going above and beyond. Yeah, and I think next and next time he probably won't even make that mistake. Exactly. But I'm saying these type of things happen, you know, it's a live thing. And that's the nature of life. Sneeze the booger on your hair. Yeah, exactly.

Lamar Shealey 1:53:41

And I'm can't you take that out?

Vipul Bindra 1:53:43

Yeah. No. So anyway, so but I'm saying, talk about, like you said, the clients are dissatisfied. And I and I'm sure no matter what I could have said, said there or done there, they're just gonna blame. And because you know, people, human nature, you're looking for you cannot blame yourself. Because I'm pretty sure at some point, most likely I'm guessing, uh, I I can go back, probably look at the footage. He put it probably put his hand there and it came out, right? Yeah, true, or somebody else did. Either way, I'm saying we had nothing to do with that, but their nature is not human nature is not to go, oh, I I effed up or whatever. It's like those guys, and I approach it like that. Like I said, mine was hey, this is what happened, this is how we can resolve it professionally, but as a courtesy, I'll do that job, even though it's not in my scope of work or my job, because I want I genuinely care about making a good product because now it sucks because they were so happy with it, they were gonna use that product, and now they're not they can't use it, right? I see the point of theirs because it bothers them. Yeah, and kind of does bother me too, but there's nothing we can do about it because otherwise we do it in a controlled setting. Yeah, but that's not that.

Lamar Shealey 1:54:46

And to go back to that wedding that they were not satisfied with, they were using the sound system of the church, they weren't talking in the mics. No, so there was no way for you to get audio. There's no way for me to get audio.

Vipul Bindra 1:54:59

Was there a board that you could have pulled it from or whatever? No.

Lamar Shealey 1:55:02

Even so at that point, you know, I didn't, you know, know about well, I've done sound before, of course, but I didn't have any of that kind of stuff. Yeah. So um, I didn't have any wireless mics. I just had like a little, you know, the little road ones that they used to have. Yeah, I don't even know where mine is anymore. But even with that, they weren't like they weren't talking in the mic.

Vipul Bindra 1:55:21

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:55:23

So a lot of times during these weddings, the officiants talking on the mic. Yeah, and they're just and they never give them the mic.

Vipul Bindra 1:55:30

Yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:55:31

Alright, what's your vows?

Vipul Bindra 1:55:33

Yeah, and then they're talking, and most people can't hear them.

Lamar Shealey 1:55:36

Yeah, you can't hear them, so like during that, and the and the pastor kind of had had my back to with that. I was like, there was no way I could get, I mean, I can't stop the wedding. And it kind of went to the same thing. I couldn't stop you and say, hey, talk louder or say into this. Yeah. And um, so everything worked out good.

Vipul Bindra 1:55:53

Yeah, and like I say, it was your first because now you know, like you can mic the groom, right? Throw one of those recorder mic, not the one I'm talking, go, but you know the one that internally records, so it never has to transmit. So I think stuff like that.

Lamar Shealey 1:56:05

If I was going to weddings, there's a few different ways of doing it. There is the you know, kind of documentary kind of like what kind of uh clip kind of version of it, and then there's the the whole entire wedding. And I think one of the biggest things, if you're gonna do weddings, audio, audio, audio, audio. If you have one camera, you probably need three or four mics.

Vipul Bindra 1:56:26

Yeah. Yeah, you gotta definite, at least, I mean, I know people who try to bride them mic the brides, but that can be difficult, I get it. So at least Mike the groom and Mike the offician, and but also the type of mic that will record, you know, like a tentacle sync track E or a pocket, I think uh DD has I mean a lot of companies have recorders, what I'm saying. The ones that record internally, sure they can maybe transmit too, but you want to have the recording it happening in there. So if your camera disconnects or something weird happens, you can just go and pull it out. DJ's messed up my audio before. I haven't tried flipped into him.

Lamar Shealey 1:57:03

I've had uh and I was like, okay, so there's another way of doing it where they just tape the mic on that their mic as a backup. Yep. Um, yeah, but I was just like, yeah, this is too much.

Vipul Bindra 1:57:15

Or they've lost my. I've had again, not vettings, but in general, I've given my mic to a soundboard or whatever, and then it's not there. And then at that point, I'm like, I'm not gonna fight with them. You know, it's like you go in there like, yeah, it was just right here, not here anymore. And it's like, really? Uh-huh. Uh so you know, it's like stuff. So I'm like, I just like to do my own mics, get my own recorders. Yep. That way, it's just less risk, less dealing with it. And even if I pull from them, I generally now do with an XLR. That was I'm like, yeah, I have it, and worst case, I'm just doing my own anyway. This is just a backup. Um, because like you said, there's a lot of variables in real life. Because it's see the thing about studio is it brings its own challenges. Yes. But you can you can stop, you can fix, you can go back. Real life events, conferences. I mean, I'm talking corporate side events, and even churches, conferences. Yeah, anything that's live, you you you gotta be prepared for anything and everything to go wrong, and usually it will. Power going out.

Lamar Shealey 1:58:13

Yeah, we've had that happen. So our last conference at the church we were at. Um, we were in a place where like I think we were seeing like 800 people were almost packed. Quentin was there with me, and the sound, the church was like, the audio guy asked, Well, how much what's your power that you have in your building? And he's like, Oh, it's enough. Well, we'll see. Yeah, the power cut off like a couple times. Cut off like probably like five. Yeah, and that could corrupt an audio file, you know, or a video file. Yeah, video file, so that kind of messed us up too. The live goes out, the internet goes out. Oh man.

Vipul Bindra 1:58:48

So yeah, even if you had a battery backup live time, the internet. Yeah, so even even when you so you gotta have a uh live view again, it's going back to, but that's expensive, yeah.

Lamar Shealey 1:58:58

It's expensive, yes it is. And even with um the level at where my church does it at, right? So we're in the midst of we what happens, we've been doing it so long that when we started catching up, we're still we we caught up, and then we get behind because you're doing it for so long, and it's not like live is making a whole bunch of money in those type of situations. So it's like we're now we're behind, and now we gotta upgrade all this stuff, but it's like we gotta upgrade this, this, this, this. So I'm like, I just keep it on the back burner and say I have a list of everything they need.

Vipul Bindra 1:59:32

Yeah, no, that's that's very smart because like you said, uh, and and like I said, I don't want to go or just defend because there will be people who are just unreasonable. Yeah, and that's why you uh I and again, my advice would be to also uh, you know, how they audition you, like they choose you out of all the vetting video or or event video people. You you have to do the same thing. Always meet with people either through video call or through um you know in-person meeting if you can. So you can also vibe check them because you'll know immediately, you know, if they're fit or not. Because don't be afraid to say no. Yeah, don't please don't be afraid to say no because I've gotten bad vibes and said I just can't do it. Yeah, you could just say I'm I'm not free, I'm not available, or I doesn't seem like a good fit.

Lamar Shealey 2:00:13

You know, sometimes it's past that point. He's like, No, I guess no, yeah, yeah. I've had to say that once. No, and that's okay. Yeah, try not to, or I you know, make the excuse I'm not available.

Vipul Bindra 2:00:24

Or or no, just say this this doesn't seem like the right fit. So thank you. That's that's what I'm saying. You can be honest and and and move on because at the end day, like you said, it's better to do now than when the wedding's over. And because that's that's not I don't want to be in that situation. Uh-huh. Like I said, if a client can get us upset about a pocket that had no control over us, I can't imagine uh uh you know somebody who's wedding, especially if they care, you know, they planned it, they they they did all that, and then then never never to have that video again. I I don't want to be that person, is what I'm saying. So I'd rather find the vibe, make sure you know you you match with the couple and and the bride and whoever, and you understand their expectations, you charge appropriately at the level you are, and then you set the expectations. I would even send them an example, like this is what I've done, like something you've actually done, so they can get an idea, you know. Oh, yeah, that matches. I love that. There you go, then do that, right? And if it doesn't, then they'll know, you know, we're looking for something higher end or lower end or whatever, and then you know, it's it's a conversation.

Lamar Shealey 2:01:24

And one of the things I know um in the beginning is learning the style that you do things because when you're when you're in the beginning and starting out, you don't have a style, so you don't really know what you're gonna do.

Where To Find Lamar And Delta

Vipul Bindra 2:01:38

That's when, like you said, I think you earlier said perfectly go be a second shooter for someone. Exactly. See I wish I would have done that more. Because yeah, because you learn from that other people, and and and also do it for more than one person, because if you just go with one, you just learn what they're doing. Yep. I think you should go try out with three, four people. Uh, you know, obviously good get good at camera, go do that, help them out, uh, you know, shoot enough, and I think you'll know very soon if A, this is even for you. Yeah. Or, and then if it is, then you know, which style, or you can mix and match and make your own thing, then do your first wedding for free, where you, you know, build this style or your own one, and then you go now show it to other couples, and that's how you would get couples. The thing is, I think the summary of all this is you can make money doing weddings, you can do photo, you can do video, you can make money building a studio, yeah, uh, you can make money doing corporate stuff, you can uh do live events, you can go help your church and travel the world. I mean, there's so much. So, if you're passionate about photo and video, yeah, there's so many avenues to pursue. So the best thing you have to do is just do it. That's it. And I can't believe our time is up and I could talk for you so long. This is amazing. The conversation was incredible, Lamar. Um, before we go, please title everyone where they can find you, follow you, tell them about the studio, all that.

Lamar Shealey 2:02:57

Okay, so um, my name is Lamar Sheeley, and uh LS Services is my company name. Delta Studios is the studio. If you go on Instagram, Facebook, Delta Studios Orlando, if you or you can find me on Lamar at Lamar Sheeley, all the platforms. Um, our website, I think it's Delta Studios.com. And then um I have LS Services.biz. You can go to either one of them and um yeah, catch me up, you know, talking.

Vipul Bindra 2:03:30

We shooting. Yeah, what are we doing here? Uh no, yeah. Um, reach out to him if you ever in the Orlando area, you guys need a studio to shoot a podcast or something indoors, also just in general for advice, questions, and um our or his business partner through Delta Studios, if you want to talk about it. Or whatever, he was here last season, pull up his episode, watch him, you know. Uh and then uh yeah, that's about it. Dude, I want to really thank you. This was an incredible conversation. I had such a great time with you. Uh, like I said, you have an incredible positive energy. Thank you. And I really like you know your partner sometimes. Uh I'm talking business partner, and uh yeah, not that but you know, Quentin's a good, great guy, and um, you know, I'm so glad you guys came together and what you're doing. I really like what you're doing, and I wish you both the success. Thank you. And I'm here, however, I can help you. And thank you, Mario, for another episode for producing it, cutting it for us. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. And uh thank you again. Appreciate you, brother. And thank you for watching another episode of Studio B Sessions with me, Bendra, and we will see you again next time. Don't forget Thursdays, every Thursday, yeah, morning. All right, bye. All right, bye.