Vision Media captures memories, creates opportunities

BY KADIE TAYLOR

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

LAFAYETTE — Vision Media documents moments for local athletes and memorializes memories through photography and videography services. Through working closely with local schools Ryan Smith said he hopes to help athletes gain scholarship opportunities and remember the highlights from their high school athletics.

“My main goal is to help the local athletes around this area, and do it in the highest quality work,” he said. “I try not to put out anything that I don’t think is high quality — so that’s my goal. To help kids get recruited and get to the next level, and if not, at least capture some memories for them that they can look back on in 10 years and be happy that they can re-watch [their high school athletics] in high-quality form — [which is] something I wish I had from when I was in high school. So, that’s the main goal, just to help kids either get to the next level or capture memories for them.”

Smith said he began exploring photography after being inspired by photographers online and deciding to learn more about the art.

“I’ve just always been interested in how [photographers] took so many shots, and what went into it,” he said. “It was a very tough learning curve. People ask me, ‘Did you go to school for it?’ And I didn’t. So I just learned from like YouTube university — I just YouTubed a lot of stuff, took a lot of notes, a lot of trial and error. Especially with off-camera flash, there’s a lot of trial and error. I had some great subjects that helped me get started. They took the time to go and do a photo shoot with me that took probably three hours, and it was 30 degrees outside. And that’s kind of how I got started, just [taking some photos] for free, doing a lot of work for free to start. And then, gradually getting better to where I felt comfortable actually charging customers.”

As Smith began to photograph more, he said he started to develop his skills as a videographer as well — which helped him stand out as an artist.

“I usually [capture] football, but when I started off, I was just doing photography, and now I’m doing a lot more videography,” he said. “When I go to these football games, I do a lot of highlight films for players, [I photographed] Jaques Wilkes, who just signed with Auburn — I did a lot of his film work for Wadley High School. And that’s really when I separated myself, is when I switched from just doing photography to offering both the videography and the photography.”

Smith said he has a variety of packages for families and schools, which can include photography and videography.

“With a sports photo shoot, the more athletes I get from a school, the cheaper it gets,” he said. “So, usually if I have less than five subjects, I usually charge $200 for an hour-long session. If I work for school, just doing live action of the sport itself, that’s a little different. Those packages can be video and photo, because I do a lot of video work as well. So it is pretty much just how many athletes I have signed up. The more I get signed up, the cheaper it is for the family.”

With his priced packages and dedicated photography, Smith said the best payment he gets is seeing the excitement of the athletes.

“The payment I get is the smiles I see on some of these kids’ faces when I get finished with the work and put it out on social media,” he said. “I get a lot of messages from them and a lot of messages from the parents thanking me. And that means more than any amount of money I can make.”

With his focus on sports, Smith said he also enjoys capturing other special moments for clients and the beauty of nature.

“It’s not just the passion for sports, I’m trying not to box myself into just being a sports photographer,” he said. “I’m covering some weddings, videography-wise. I love nature — the dream is to go up to Montana and shoot nature type stuff — all that really intrigues me. I just grew up with sports, I understand the game, so I kind of know where to be in certain situations — so that helps a lot. Just the knowledge of knowing ball, especially the three main sports that I cover, is football, baseball and basketball, knowing those helps a lot. But I really have a passion for all of it — capturing memories is really where I get the drive from.”

As Vision Media continues to grow Smith said he is honored by the support of the community and clients.

“It means everything, having their support, getting to the point where I’m almost going to have to hire some people to go cover some games, because I’m getting booked by multiple schools,” he said. “But the school that I want to be at, the school that I want to help the most, is Chambers Academy. That’s where I graduated from, so them hiring me for a lot of stuff means the world to me, because I want to make everybody look good. Wadley High School gave me my break. They’re the ones who hired me first, and I got started with them. But Chamber’s Academy really has kept me busy here lately — I appreciate that a lot.”

For more information, visit Vision Media on Facebook. To enquire about a photoshoot, message via Facebook or email rsmithc11@icloud.com.