May 13, 2020

Meet Garrett Bradley

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Garrett Bradley.

Garrett, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m 29, grew up in Concord, a small town in the East Bay Area. I started out painting and illustrating as a child, carried that through high school where I was introduced to photography and slowly began to make the trade. My freshman year, I had enrolled in a photography course not knowing I would actually be developing and enlarging my own 35mm film and that experience sparked something inside me. A lot of what I shot early on was BMX and Motocross since those have always been big passions of mine… plus when you are hurt and can’t ride it gives you a reason to be with the squad.

After high school, I kinda floundered around for a bit and wound up spending a few years working as an apprentice car painter in a small auto body shop in Berkeley, CA. Growing up watching my dad tinker on all sorts of cars and motorcycles and idolizing Jesse James, it felt like a good fit for the foreseeable future. I eventually left the shop to pursue rescue swimmer school in the US Coast Guard. The day I was accepted into the USCG, I shattered my right elbow and became disqualified. Needless to say I was crushed… I had invested in lifeguard certification training, four months of night classes to become a certified EMT and my dominant arm was broken to shit.

Back to the drawing board… A couple of weeks into recovery, I enrolled at my local junior college Diablo Valley College. I had signed up for three classes; intro to real estate, intro to sound design and intro to film. After a week, I was headfirst back into the creative space. I realized my intro to sound design class had a prerequisite (intro to protools) so naturally that took the place of my real estate class. I didn’t realize it then but those two audio classes taught me as a visual creative more than any other art or film or photography class has. My film class was also kick ass and I met my current business partner in that class. We shot some super crappy movies and shared a lot of great ideas with each other but there would be like five years between that class and the businesses we share now.

After DVC, I moved to SF to attend the Academy of Art University in SF where I bounced around the film/tv and communications departments. I went in thinking I wanted to learn cinematography and directing and that was it. Two semesters in, I changed to the communications department in hopes of adding some new skills to my toolbox and diversifying. That’s exactly what happened, I got the foundational knowledge in various areas of design, trans-media, web, VFX, and writing that have allowed me build and continue to grow. All through college, I freelanced shooting at night clubs, concerts, and anything else on weekends while working my full-time job at a bike shop (Mikes Bikes SF).

My last semester, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Florence, Italy which was a life-changing experience for many reasons. A month before I was set to leave, I was scrolling through IG in bed at like midnight and I see a post on Diddy’s photographers (Kaito) story. He said he was looking for an intern/assistant and I hit him immediately telling him how hungry I was and I’ll do what I have to do be down there and available for work. To my surprise not even 5 minutes later, I was having a full-on conversation with him about how this is all going to work out. I spent almost that whole month leading up to Italy in LA sleeping on his couch and working on Diddy’s web content. The work didn’t just stop when I left though… I spent my entire summer in Italy running back and forth from my apartment to my school building downloading and sending files on the good Wifi. I had to prioritize editing over certain day trips we took as a class around Tuscan Italy, not only missing out on the experience but losing class credit! That was what I was willing to do to maintain this relationship. Feeling blessed to have the ability to work with such a high profile client remotely, while abroad, at a great rate I spent frivolously what I had earned and waited for my money to come in. The only problem was my invoices wound up taking close to 6 months to process and I was completely broke with a little over a month left in Italy.

I made it back to California at the end of the summer, got right back to the grind and moved to LA where I have been since still chasing the dream.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Up until the last year, I’ve worked mainly creating web content like vlogs, behind the scenes videos and mini-documentaries. I love production but working as the lone wolf for the time being is where it’s at. Outside of that, I’ve been helping run Cuba Libre which is a luxury cannabis cigar company and simultaneously working towards the launch of my own brand Money Trees be on the lookout for that.

I think network and ability to network is what sets me apart. I’m always excited to meet new people and learn and share.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
For me success would be building a platform to create without restrictions and passing that on to the next generation of passionate creatives.

Contact Info:

Website: gbradleyfilms.com, Cubalibrecannagars.com, Moneytreescannabis.com
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Instagram: @gertgertgert, @cuba_libre_cannagars, @moneytreescannabis

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Meet West LA Series Sponsor:

Megan Gallagher: Hi! My name is Megan Gallagher! I’m a 24 year old 2x TED speaker, #1 best selling author, afterbuzz tv host, mental health advocate & podcast host! I am very passionate about helping teenagers and changing the school system to have mandatory classes about self love, mental health and following your dreams! Growing up, I started struggling with anxiety as young as three. As a got older, I became more aware of my body and by 14, I knew that something was wrong and I needed help. It was really scary to be sitting in class(in High School) and all the sudden feel hot, sweaty, a fast heart rate and like I was going to pass out. These “episodes” happened every day, in all seven of my classes. After a few months of struggling, I decided to sit my parents down and vent to them. It was so scary and surreal, yet I felt so understood and safe. I then started therapy for three years and went on a journey to discover who Megan was. Now, having overcome it all and being in such a different place in my life- I have dedicated my life to being that person I craved as a teen. I speak at middle schools and high schools across the country in hopes of spreading positivity and inspiring teens to reach for the stars!