Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Hatton.
Hi Greg, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The story of my love for images starts with the photo albums that I found in my home as a child. From the start, I was captivated when looking through photos of my family members. I saw them at different points in their lives, placed in very different surroundings to what was around us at the time. The images always came with stories that explained what I was seeing and I loved that.
Storytelling grew into a big thing for me. Like all of us, I would visualize every story read to me. I went further and created stories based on single-frame images that I came across, I had an imagination that would fill in the blank wherever possible. Movies took it deeper, magazines did the same. Music did it too. I guess I just loved to hear and see stories of what people experienced in life. Fact or fiction, I was into it.
Then I learned that cameras were responsible for capturing images and I was hooked.
From there a camera was never far away from me. I shot something everyday. Photos, videos, film and digital. Workdays and everyday in between I’d be shooting something. I never thought to make image-making my career. I was doing it for myself. And if I’m being honest, in the beginning, part of me never thought I could be a photographer or cameraman. I didn’t have the money, the proper motivation or support and so I quietly embraced my love of the camera. That was an internal obstacle that I had to overcome. In time I did, as I grew and realized what I could do in life and what an opportunity living this life is; I shed a lot of fears and pushed forward.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think anything is meant to be a smooth road. In our society, we tend to promote the desired outcome more than anything else. We see heavy attention to the glamour of our success or how quickly we can get there. We feel like we know what it is to be a success, but often we don’t see other side of it. The struggles on the way to getting there. That causes an issue for many I think.
The balance of how much we see success to how much we understand the work that it takes to effectively be a success seems a bit out of balance. I guess it feels like we tend to put more emphasis on the fruit and speak little of the tree.
Sure, some people may get there faster than others; there are people gifted in ability or money. Some can run fast, some have a beautiful face or voice. Some may have a great eye. But even with all of that, it takes real work and dedication to pursue the best from yourself so that you can offer the best of yourself.
So yes for me, there have been “struggles” and it has not been easy. It took time to find my way but with this belief, I go into every learning stage in life, every activity or relationship understanding that there will be work to do. Externally and internally. Struggles can come in so many forms. There’s the obvious things like getting passed over for jobs. Or losing out to a “more talented” individual, etc. That part should be expected and can be used as motivation. I think understanding that is really important.
However, there should also be a focus on the self-inflicted struggles. Laziness, procrastination, lack of focus, lack of rest, lack of time to process, lack of accountability, addiction, distraction, it goes on and on.
Growing up in this modern world, social media is promoting each one of those things in the worst way possible. But when we start to embrace our personal responsibility to follow through with the tasks we set out to do, these struggles (internal and external) begin to look less treacherous. If they slow us down, they were meant to help us learn more of ourselves and overcome another level of being who we are or should/could be in this life. That will happen continually as we grow. Jay-Z spoke on it best when struggling with himself in one of his songs. The quote stays with me.
” … I’m losing myself, I’m stuck in the moment
I look in the mirror, my only opponent ” – JayZ
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Professionally I’m a cinematographer/photographer.
My focus in photography is centered around documentary work. The most recent photo project was based on the island of Oahu where I was chronicling the homelessness issue there and in turn learning the complexity of that situation everywhere in our country at present.
The interest that I have in photo documentary is the world-building and context that’s presented in this form of photography. Single frames can be riveting, but as a storyteller there’s so much more to see and share in these long-form essays and presentations. I love to capture the reality and context of what a given situation is. The documentary aspect appeals to me because we as humans continue to exist and progress through story-telling. That’s how we learn, share and communicate. So using the camera to show us to ourselves is very interesting to me.
My focus in Cinematography follows the same theme. The genres that I lean into heavy are Narrative and Documentary naturally. What I love in this space is the creative ability to recreate or present a complete visual experience to the viewer. When done correctly filmmaking can take us away from our world, show us something beautiful, something exciting, or allow us to remember the past as we reimagine stories of old.
I can’t say too much about what sets me apart. That’s something that other people are supposed to notice and comment on right?
I feel like my voice is different, just like your voice is different from mine or that of your friends and family. I love that there are so many artists and professionals because there’s so much to share. We each have perspectives and backgrounds that inform who we are. Those things bring to bare so many flavors of life and ways to communicate our talents and abilities. So what set’s me apart is that I’m me and I bring my life story, my experience and heritage into my work in the best ways possible. Thankfully that’s moved a lot of people and I’ve been able to express more of and more of what I see and learn so much along the way.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The easiest way to support anyone is to interact with them and learn more about them. You may find that you can help them in more ways than one or that they can help you more than you imagined.
I, like many of my colleagues, are not super well known at this point in our careers. Outside of L.A. most of us don’t have name recognition or anything close to that.
So if there was an “ask” from me as a creative, as a filmmaker, as a photographer, it would be that people looking for individuals in these roles to support and foster the growth and maturation of these fields of work and the people in them. Invest in scouting new talent, invest in learning more about the people that are on the ground supporting these industries. Buy a print or photo books from photographers you admire. View indie films made by up and coming filmmakers. Participate in the arts and learn more about what it takes to be successful in these fields. Appreciation for the art and the individual grows from that.
Think of what differences we’d see if we celebrated and supported teachers like we do athletes. We all know what supporting athletics looks like.
We’re all living this life together and no one has done everything by themselves. We need each other. Regardless or race or gender. The only way forward is to broaden our horizons and embrace the fact that we can do so much more if we do it together. Simple truth.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.impaci.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/renaissanceman
Image Credits
Photos By: Greg Hatton
