Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy Moon
Hi Billy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me to your orbit of sharing life stories. I wanted to be a film director my whole life. Growing up in Oahu, 16 years old, I was attending a private high school when I saw a printed flier one day from the New York Film Academy. It was advertising a six-week course in filmmaking at UCLA or New York. It felt like an immediate calling. I was already a movielover and this sign just screamed a great opportunity, but I was very nervous about showing it to my parents because I was afraid they’d reject the creative arts I loved and wanted me to become a doctor or a lawyer. It was a movie moment. I revealed the flier at the dinner table in what felt like slow motion. Their curious, scowling eyes scanned the flier in the longest ten seconds imaginable. To my shock, they immediately said I should go, and I did. I learned how to write, edit, and direct 16mm short films at UCLA. On the weekends, the academy would treat us for very L.A. sightseeing, tourist trips, and restaurants.
Cut to years later, I graduated college but I ended up working numerous, mundane dayjobs for many years. At the time, I didn’t know why I did that. I was making short films here and there, sure. Most of them were terrible but I’m proud of two or three. Reality catches up quickly and it always wants to skip ahead of you, watch you fail, and see how you react to that. Therefore, I was afraid of truly pursuing my passion. I was too afraid to take positive risks, afraid of failure, more rejection, and in financial debt.
In June 2017, I experienced an emotional breakup with a woman who I believed came into my life out of serendipity, enchantment, and an unexpected second chance at romance. She was the most beautiful woman I’ve never seen — until I did. Like the indelible “LA LA Land,” those two characters, struggling to achieve their dreams, met and supported each other at the right time to produce their goals into a magical reality. Even if that meant, they could not be together for the rest of their lives.
When our relationship collapsed, I was having bad dreams weekly, still working at an office job, and processing what the heck happened. It got worse. I was falling out of love with directing, and falling swiftly. It was a frightening revelation and I knew if that spark left me, I’d be lost and upset. Then it happened. I didn’t want to direct anymore. I let myself down. My primary passion faded. I told my closest friends, my mother, and questioned God.
Feeling this daily funk, I knew I had to change something significant in my life or else I won’t survive. Instagram was getting hot at this point so I started reaching out to women for any trade for photos’ photo shoots. I know how that sounds. Male photographers, we got a negative stigma against us. This USC student from Taiwan, I think was my first model from Instagram who agreed to meet and shoot in downtown L.A. and it went really well. From there it just snowballed from one person to another. Outdoors, natural light, and for only two hours or less. It was really fun, but something was missing.
Driving in rush hour where there are more cars than people, I was enamored by a powerful movie billboard. In that moment, I just assumed movies just grabbed frames from the edit bay and use those frames for marketing movies. This was a tremendously humiliating discovery. Every movie and show always hire a still photographer on set to shoot everything. Mainly to sell the film or show. I did not know this. Why didn’t I know about this? I felt like a moron. It hit me like a ton of bricks. “I can do that. That’d be really fun.” That was it. That felt right. It was a massive calling. I’ve been chasing the dream since.
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?
I was naive to believe that just because I’m pursuing still photography, it should be easier than becoming a successful, known director. Nope. It is just as difficult. The hustle never stopped and it won’t stop. The emails are nonstop and you can easily forget who to follow up with because time moves so fast. I was shooting stills and BTS (behind the scenes) photos for film students and novel filmmakers for free to work myself up. They were actually fun and I don’t regret that. I kept telling myself, “I know the journey’s supposed to be hard but can’t some parts be easy enough?” Nothing is easy but some things do get easier. Film schools don’t teach this particular occupation nor have business classes covering negotiations, contracts, protection, all those highly essential skills to have to navigate around clients and life.
The main battle is waiting. It is awful. Waiting is work. In some ways, I am a waiter. I wait for people to respond, read, and most importantly, remember. I don’t believe persistence is key anymore — it’s the old ways of thinking and succeeding. I think nowadays, if you’re persistent, people will just ignore you until you stop. With the Internet, apps, and social media, or as I call it anti-social media, to connect has become so much more efficient and yet, more sensitive. Direct answers aren’t a trend anymore. Ignoring and silence appears to be the common response for an exit.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a still photographer. Even though I started out shooting agency models, fashion, and portraits, my primary passion is shooting stills for films.
You’re asking what am I known for. Gosh, somebody needs to tell me because I’m still running up this mountain. Perhaps I’ll know when I get closer to the snowy top.
You know, I’m very blessed because my career didn’t explode until the pandemic started. I don’t and won’t ever thank the Covid-19 supervirus for my creative path but what I took from that is, even at the most paralyzing, darkest standstill, something bloomed. Miracles can happen. I shot a feature film called “The Immaculate Room” starring Kate Bosworth, Emile Hirsch, and Ashley Greene. That was exciting. When Will Smith’s company, Westbrook, was flexing its muscles rapidly, I just reached out to those good folks and pitched myself as a backup still photographer. A few months later, I shot Will Smith quite a few times, Megan Thee Stallion, Post Malone, Cadillac, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and many other awesome, partnered streaming content for them. My life goal is to shoot stills for “I Am Legend 2.” I’m excited to see Michael B. Jordan co-star in it, and I hope he’s playing a helicopter pilot who’s on the redemption path because he accidentally killed Neville’s family. I’m just wishful guessing!
One of my heroes, Mark Seliger, gave a keynote highlight of his work and he started out his speech by admitting he doesn’t have a style. I was astonished and relieved to hear him say that because his work is legendary, and I don’t think I have a style. I wish I knew. I’m just focused on delivering the strongest images possible. Mark Seliger shoots extraordinary photos of the biggest names so I strive to become like him. But you know, with my own style.
I can tell you this. My favorite photo shoot was shooting Janelle Monae. It was for Little Cinema and Amazon. It was the night of the January 6th insurrection. Production designer, Darcy Scanlin, created this elaborate musician’s domain with furniture, drum set, bar, and thousands of prop records in the background. I was told way later that the room was originaly vacant. Ms. Monae was performing her song, “Turntables,” and I was hired to shoot stills in that room but they couldn’t fit me in there successfully since the steadicam operator was constantly moving in that small room and his space was limited already. I was bummed. You’d think I’d be relieved, right? As if I got paid to just chill. No, I like to work. I love to shoot. After a few takes, they nailed the music video. Then they called my name for me to come in. Now my heart was racing because I knew I had limited time in that room. I even thought, “is Janelle Monae going to be there or did she walk away?” She was there. Hydrating. Discussing with her team. This is why Little Cinema are good pros because they were asking for stills while I was there but Monae’s manager was a bit resistant due to the late hour and time itself. She asked me how long would it take. I said “one minute.” I was serious. I meant it. I also hid my terror and acted like I had full blown confidence. They approved. Thank God the set was well lit. I quickly introduced myself to Janelle Monae. She was super kind, I must say. True to my word, I rapid-fired for sixty seconds of her sitting on the sofa and standing by the microphone. She seemed pleased. Everyone returned inside to set but I dashed out, alongside the edge of the pool, narrowly falling in, and just dropped my ass into an empty chair at craft services. I tilted my head back and exhaled ferociously in relief. Job’s done. Success. Until…
Someone firmly calls out, “Billy! Billy!!!” I gasped my eyes and bolted out of the chair. Jogged back to set, thinking this is where I get fired. After almost falling in the pool, I unravel the white curtain and gently step inside, back on set, and I see no one has moved. Janelle Monae was still sitting on the set couch. Then her people said, “we’d like to shoot more photos.” Like a freeze frame of unblinking shock, I was stunned, but I knew time was money. I immediately reacted, “yes, of course, let’s do it.” This time it felt more relaxed. They cleared the set and it was me and Janelle again.
The main reason why this was my favorite photo shoot is because Janelle was asking me personal questions. Sincerely. Generously. Curiously. It didn’t feel like she was filling the pauses or dead air to get through. Also, she’s a big star so she had absolutely no motive to talk to me in the first place. But she asked compassionate questions like, “how are you doing during this pandemic? Is work going okay?” Things like that. We were having a normal conversation while we’re shooting. I think that was a major icebreaker because I started directing her to move around more, pose more, hold this, stand there, feel this, and the icing on the cake is when I asked her to hold out your palm to the lens and hold the mic with your other hand and just look through me. I noticed she did that in a nanosecond during the recording of her music video so the idea naturally struck. The entire session lasted maybe 5 minutes. It was exhilirating. A memory I will always cherish. Weeks later, to my surprise, some of my photos went out in the trades and promos. Janelle Monae is immensely talented, beautiful, and super cool.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Mentorship is enormously helpful. In numerous ways, it’s accessing the true insight and knowledge that you cannot discover nor explore in schools. Returning to the topic of Instagram, I admit it works most of the time. I reached out to still photographers, Curtis Baker and Jasin Boland, and they’ve been patient and amiable with answering my ignorant questions years ago when I was learning about the stills’ world — what to expect, how to prepare, what do I need, how to negotiate, how to deal with difficult people, etc.
Then there’s David James. A legend. A master of light, composition, and emotion. He shot for Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, and over 16 Tom Cruise films. When I saw his IMDb, I was mesmerized. I reached out to him on Instagram to pick his brain. It started out as a mystery because I didn’t know what he looked like and he hadn’t done many public interviews. Over the years, we met in person one on one every few months to see what I’ve shot and how I’m doing. Most importantly, listening to his incredible stories of shooting movies. David truly helped my eye. He taught me how to see things differently, how to compose a frame to tell a story without pushing the shutter button, and encouraged me to always ask myself, “is this shot worth shooting? Is there an immediate narrative to it?” It’s like teaching someone a magic trick and directing the audience’s eyes to see and feel what you want them to. If there are any novel photographers reading this, cropping is the key. You’ll see.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.safflare.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safflarestills/?theme=dark
- Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/safflare/?theme=dark
- Other: https://vimeo.com/user3029279
Image Credits
Andrew Wille, Jessica Doan, Westbrook Media
