Meet Joel Romero of MadDogVisuals in Baldwin Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Romero.

Joel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Well, I kind of just started making videos in college whenever I’d go out with friends or do something cool. I had a beautiful cracked iPhone 5s that I would film everything with. I never really thought too much of what I was doing I always just enjoyed it. It was something that kinda brought some life to me. If I was sad, I would shoot something and it’d make me feel better, if I was happy Id shoot something and id feel great. Making videos was just something I got hooked on and it made me feel good about myself. Unfortunately, I stopped for some time because I just got involved with wrong people. My mental health was really bad, I was abusing alcohol so bad, I had a job I hated, I was going to school but had no idea why I was, I kept getting into relationships and being toxic and always distracted myself, I was just lost and I didn’t really care about my life. I would pick up the camera here and there but never really did anything for a consistent amount of time. In Jan 2019, I got fired from chipotle. I had been trying to get morning shifts cause I was always closing but my jerk of a boss just said no so I thought ok screw this I’m going to just start giving out free food. The next day three very beautiful woman were there and I was on cashier and I gave them three chipotle bowls worth about 27 dollars, for 1.19$.

Couple of days later they caught me haha. I had mixed feelings about losing my job, I hated working there so it was a relief but how am I gonna make money. I kind of ignored it and continued to be toxic to myself. I remember having a conversation with myself asking myself when the last time I was actually HAPPY. I couldn’t answer it and I felt like its been so long since I’ve felt happy or anything. I had just been distracting myself by doing things that ultimately hurt me. I was tired of feeling worthless and feeling like I wanted to die. I didn’t want to live like that anymore. I wanted to be happy, to be proud of who I am, to feel good about myself, so I thought about the things that make me happy and the first thing that popped up was my camera and making videos. I just thought fuck it, let’s see where this goes. In March 2019 was my first video gig and then I haven’t stopped. This last year has been wild, I feel I’ve grown more in this last year then I have the last five prior to when I got fired. I feel like I’ve matured and learned to take myself serious as a creative. I also and proud of not being in the same mental state I was stuck in for so long, I was hopeless then and had no direction where as of now, I feel purpose in my life. Even when times have been hard times during freelancing and I would have little breakdown or be extremely frustrated. It made me feel alive. It’s been really fun.

Great, 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?
Well, no one really has an easy road when they try do something creative. Its hard getting clients, sometimes you have to do some stuff for free, you can work hard for a while without seeing anything in return and I can really make you doubt yourself. I think the most important to understand is to acknowledge that it’s never going to be completely easy and to be okay with that.

MadDogVisuals – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I don’t really think I specialize in anything, haha. I love to make videos. I’ve shot weddings, clothes promo’s, barbershop videos, stand up comedy pictures and videos, car promo’s, and many other things. I shoot a lot, even if I’m just hanging with my friend’s ill set a camera up and record ourselves just hanging out, haha. I never really think about what sets me apart honestly haha I just always strive to do my best and work very hard to create something for my clients that they’ll watch over and over again.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moments of my career so far are the Mini Docs that I have done. I’ve done few so far but that’s what I’m focusing more on doing. I love the intimacy of putting myself in someone else’s world and documenting their life. I love it. I met one of my best friends Josh Michaels when I started taking pictures/videos at an open mic that I would go to often and in may 2019 he was going to perform a 30 min set for the first time so we decided to make a piece on his stand up journey so far. I did something similar with another comic that I met from the Chatterbox Open mic. His name is also Josh and they are both very handsome gentlemen! But anyway, he was going to perform a set and wanted to film something about his writing process and his love of stand up.

A musician was about to release his book and LP after his father passed away and wanted to his story about his father and family leading up the release. The projects that I’m proudest of are the ones that have a lot of heart. When I look back at them and rewatch them, I remember the little things like the moments in between shooting, getting some food after a shoot and slowly becoming good friends, I remember where I was at in life and why I chose those projects. They always give me some feeling of nostalgia like when you hear an old favorite song and a bunch of memories come flooding back. They’re like old friends.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/maddogvisuals?igshid=1g33k7rf1asb1
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCApqRhUWwxclNbHt7FJQtGA

Image Credit:
Amber Rain, Joel Quintero

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