Today we’d like to introduce you to Garret Louis.
Hi Garret, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a Saint Cloud, Minnesota-based photographer, and videographer. I own and operate Garret Louis Productions. I started my company on January 15th, 2019, intending to provide local businesses and individuals with media production at reasonable prices!
From a young age, I have always enjoyed capturing videos. It wasn’t until the end of high school that I became more interested in the video and photo industry. My first video series was about “Deer Camp.” Deer camp is what my family called our deer hunting weekend. I would take “vlog” style videos capturing our weekend. Over the years, I upgraded my camera equipment from a cheap phone to a DSLR to a cinema camera. I would improve the video from the last year and try to one-up myself every year. Deer camp helped me get better at storytelling.
I attended Central Lakes College for Video Production in 2017. One of my projects in college was to produce a 10 min film about anything. At the time I had a classmate and friend who let me capture and tell her story about surviving cancer. Producing this film with no budget and just Hannah’s story made me love the process of storytelling.
I was learning videography in class during school, but after school, I would spend time learning about photography. I ended up teaching myself photography by watching YouTube videos. Halfway through college, I started my video and photo production company. My first business client was a law firm in Saint Cloud. They hired me to take photos of the lawyers for their website; I was 19 years old at the time. I also helped create promo videos that they would use to bring in more clients and share their stories.
Soon after, I landed another freelance gig with a central Minnesota library system, including 33 locations throughout MN. They hired me to create a 50th Anniversary video highlighting each library and showing support for the community. This was the biggest job I’ve taken on, and I did a great job but also learned many things throughout.
After I graduated, I continued with my company. I started to learn about flash photography and get more comfortable in the photography world. Booking weddings, Seniors, and families while still working with local businesses. Fast forward to 2020. Once covid hit, all of my clients were gone, and I had no choice but to put my business on hold. Funny enough, I was also getting burned out at this time, so the break from media production was good for me. I was working part-time jobs and doing stuff on the side when I could.
While the pandemic was going on gave me time to think about what was next and what I truly saw myself doing for work. I love photography, but I found the industry was over-saturated with your classic wedding or family photographer. I knew I didn’t want just to be that, so I started to use my skills in photography as a hobby. While working professionally as a videographer and photographer for years, I was never interested in doing it just for fun. I always thought each photo I took had to be perfect. I also got the idea to create a short informational film about beer. I was working freelance for a craft beer tours event where they would have popular breweries from all over the state come, and you could sample their beer. While working on these events, I met many awesome people and thought it would be fun to create a video about how beer is made. With it being a passion project, I could tell the story independently without others’ input. The film is called ” The Brew Process.” Producing this project made me realize how much I enjoy creating videos. It also made me realize that maybe doing it for a job/career wasn’t for me.
Fast forward to today. I work at a live event theater and am part of the production staff. I helped set up lights, audio, and video for performers. As I am still learning about the theater world, I find myself fitting in very well, and I foresee this type of job as my forever career. The long days make for good times; although it’s hard work, it’s right up my alley.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I was hoping you wouldn’t ask this. We all have our struggles with things. One of my struggles was finding loyal clients to work with. I’ve had encounters with people who didn’t want to pay for my work or thought the value of my work was next to nothing.
Thank you for sharing that. What do you do in your free time?
In my free time, I like taking photos of friends and family. I enjoy finding abandoned buildings/businesses and taking photos of them on my Fujifilm camera. I also like adventuring out into older/run-down parts of town(s) and capturing the beauty that I find.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
At the moment, I’m just chilling. But I am active on my IG (Garret. Louis); if you want to check out some of my creative work
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Garret.Louis
