Today we’d like to introduce you to Waves.
Hi Waves, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
To be completely honest, never in a million years did I think that I’d still be pursuing my passion in the visual art field at this point in life. But for those who’ve supported and believed in me, I say thank you. It all started for me back in high school. I had no real sense of direction on what I actually wanted to do, but it always felt like my story was going to play out differently. I remember vividly the first time I picked up a camera. I was 16 and got accepted into being a part of the yearbook team in school. I don’t really remember what drew me to want to be a part of it, but I knew that I wanted to take pictures, so I figured that it would be the best opportunity for me to do so. It took a while, but once I got permission from my teacher to use the higher-level camera, there was no looking back. It was practically love at first sight, being that it was just so hard to put it down along with the constant amount of positive responses I was getting, it encouraged me to keep doing it. I also came to the realization that it’s something that I wanted to get better at no matter what.
Around the same time, my interest in music started to increase exponentially, specifically underground indie and rap to name a few genres. I then came to realize that music was something that I wanted to be a part of, though I had no interest in songwriting or making music myself. I eventually started shifting my photography to start capturing more music-based events and moments, and after a little while I also ended up becoming interested in filmmaking, after seeing a close friend of mine help me shoot a small independent project for him, I felt that I could do more than just take pictures, so I saved up and got myself my first real video camera after some time. It started off as doing behind-the-scenes for small studio sessions and other moments my friends and other local artists got themselves involved in. After being involved with the music scene for a while, I’d say the first real breakthrough was being able to capture a small mix session for a well-known artist, Bino Rideaux in 2020. Though no real traction garnered from that at the time, It was still a crazy moment nonetheless. But after a few months, I ended up getting the opportunity to be able to shoot behind the scenes for him again at one of his music videos alongside Blxst.
After being able to capture and share that online, things started moving way faster than I could’ve imagined. The director of that video liked the pictures I took and allowed me to come back to his any other shoots that he had coming up at the time, and it started becoming consistent over a few months. I ended up landing one of the biggest opportunities of my career at the time through them. Gaining the interest of a record label was definitely something I would’ve never thought was going to happen to be frank, but I was extremely appreciative and excited for the opportunity itself. After producing and editing pieces of content for them, they eventually offered me to be a part of their team, it felt like a dream throughout the entire process of that happening and it felt like the start of a new chapter. But all good things come to an end sometimes. Being in that situation, I realized how limited I actually was creatively, and how much my self-worth and value actually meant to me being a creative.
That’s when I realized that I’m meant to do my own thing, producing pieces, content and different types of creative videos of the sort without anyone doing any filtering and making decisions for me. I ended up leaving the label, wanting to move independently and started my own production company. Though it was brief, I’m grateful for the experiences and lessons learned from being a part of that team, and it’s something I’ll always carry with me to keep myself inspired to push further whenever turbulence arises in life. As of today, I’m producing many forms of video-related content, from music videos to skits, even to small independent films. The opportunities make something that can leave a mark are endless and trust me, there’s a lot more to see from this side here. All I can really say from this point is to look out for Otherworld. We’re coming.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No. Definitely not. I’ve had a laundry list of things I had to go through and overcome in order to get to where I am, from being told my work isn’t good enough, getting replaced without any warning and even working for free on multiple occasions.
But it’s through overcoming those challenges that we become much more self-aware of who we really are. And also it gives us the opportunity to learn from the mistakes we make along the way so we could become an even better version of ourselves. So i’d say that those tough lessons are definitely worth it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I used to do photography full-time, but over the years my love for putting ideas together have transcended into wanting to being in a more creative director role. But for the most part, I shoot short-form creative content, which includes music videos, skits, and I’m also working on putting together a short film, but it’s too early to really go into detail on that. A lot of the content hasn’t been released yet but it will be hitting all screens soon.
As of right now, I’m most know for creative direction with photography and music videos, in particular I’m working on developing a unique editing style that can really be replicated, but I know that comes with time but getting my hands dirty and really digging deep to discover something new is a feeling that can’t be compared.
Honestly? I’m most proud of not the work I’ve put out over the last few years but of the hard work and effort to get to where I am right now. It’s been a fun ride, and I have a feeling that things are going to start moving differently from here on out.
What makes you happy?
To be honest, seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they enjoy the work I’ve put out is always something that’s brought a good feeling out. But what really makes me happy is using my knowledge, skillset and experiences to be able to spread knowledge and advice to anyone who’s wanting to improve themselves. It’s something I can relate to because even till this day the desire to grow and become even more well-immersed in what I do remains a constant. And if there’s something I can do to make the process somewhat more seamless for anyone else on the creative path, then I’ll gladly help in any way I can.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/yvngwaves
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdrE9A88jGPhwsnE23Yu4QA
