Meet Yaniv Waisman of Torrance CA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yaniv Waisman.

Hi Yaniv, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The Unified Eye: My Journey from the Studio to the Boardroom and Back to the Lens

In the professional world, we are often told to choose a lane: be the artist or the executive; the creative or the strategist. For me, these have never been opposing forces. From the prestigious studios of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to the high-stakes environment of UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, my career has been a pursuit of a single truth: the best stories are told when business acumen and artistic vision walk hand-in-hand.

A Global Foundation of Respect

My perspective was forged through a “Global Eye.” Born in Israel and raised in Venezuela before moving to the U.S., I’ve spent my life navigating different cultures, languages, and worldviews. This multicultural upbringing did more than just provide me with a diverse visual palette; it instilled in me a deep-seated philosophy of respect. Whether I was directing in Venezuela or collaborating with corporate clients in Los Angeles, I’ve always approached my subjects with the understanding that everyone is different—and that those differences deserve to be honored.

The Strategic Creator

My transition from directing in Venezuela to earning my MBA at UCLA Anderson was a pivotal evolution in my craft. While many see business and art as a conflict, I view them as a necessary partnership.

“When you are an artist, you are the product. You need the business knowledge to sell and promote yourself.”

This philosophy became the engine behind Crexels (www.crexels.com), the production company I founded in 2001, and over the last two decades, I have spearheaded more than 400 projects, including infomercials, commercials, and corporate videos. By applying the marketing diagnostics I learned at Anderson to every frame I shoot, I ensure that my videos aren’t just visually stunning, but strategically aligned with the project’s end goal. I don’t just ask where the light should fall; I ask what the client needs to achieve and how this visual story will get them there.

Championing the Hispanic Voice: LosCortos

Long before YouTube was a household name, I recognized a gap in the cinematic landscape. It started simply: I was late to a presentation of short films and realized there was no other place to watch them. That frustration led me to create LosCortos (www.LosCortos.com). Today, in an era of digital noise where great content often gets buried, LosCortos serves as a vital, curated sanctuary—a non-profit dedicated to ensuring that the excellence of Hispanic filmmakers is showcased and celebrated.

The Liberation of the Still Image

After decades of managing the complex logistics of film crews and the high-pressure demands of corporate production, the quietude of the pandemic brought me back to my roots: photography.

Returning to the still image has been incredibly liberating. In my portrait work, I have the opportunity to work one-on-one with my subjects to create something truly amazing. But it is in landscape photography where I find my greatest balance. There, my “MBA brain” finally takes a backseat. In nature, I don’t have an end goal or a strategic objective; I am simply trying to capture a single, unrepeatable moment in time. It is where I find my peace.

Today, I continue to bridge these worlds—using my business mind to drive creative excellence, my platform to advocate for filmmakers, and my camera to find the quiet beauty in the world around me.

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?
Resilience, Reality, and the Pivot to the Personal

The road has never been smooth. In this industry, you are always hunting for the “next”—the next client, the next project, the next contract. For me, that hustle was compounded by the grueling, long legal road of Visa issues. Coming from another country means your talent is often tied to paperwork, and navigating that system while trying to build a business like Crexels required a level of endurance that they don’t teach in art school.

The Creative Trade-Off

For years, my professional life was defined by the needs of others. Most of the projects I produced for corporations and television lacked my own creative signature; they were driven by the client’s vision and the marketing objectives we identified. I used my MBA to ensure those projects were successful, but my own creative mind was often sitting on the sidelines.

Facing the Double-Blow: COVID and AI

Then came the 2020s—a decade that redefined “difficulty.” First, COVID-19 brought physical productions to a standstill. Just as we began to emerge, a new challenge arrived: Generative AI. Today, computer-generated video and audio are rapidly replacing traditional production. For a strategist, this is a market shift; for a creator, it’s a total transformation of the landscape.

Photography: The Creative Reclamation

It was in this environment that I returned to photography. It became my liberation. While my corporate work was a service for others, photography allowed me to see my own creative mind working again.

When I work one-on-one with a portrait subject, I am not just fulfilling a marketing brief—I am creating something amazing from scratch. And when I am out in nature for a landscape, I am reclaiming the “human” element that AI simply cannot replicate. AI can calculate an image, but it cannot experience the peace of being outside or the visceral connection of capturing a specific, unrepeatable moment in time.

I have learned that while the “road” may change—from film to digital, from physical sets to AI-driven markets—the core of who I am remains. I am a strategist who knows how to survive the “long road,” but I am, first and foremost, a photographer who has found his voice again.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What I do and what I specialize in:
I am a visual storyteller who operates at the intersection of high-level business strategy and fine-art execution. My career has been defined by a “Unified Eye”—using the rigorous marketing diagnostics I honed at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management to inform the creative language I developed at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

For over two decades, I specialized in corporate production and infomercials through my company, Crexels. While many creators focus solely on the “look” of a project, my specialization is in the “Why.” I don’t just ask where the light should fall; I ask what the client’s end goal is and how a specific visual narrative will drive that result.

What sets me apart:
What sets me apart is my ability to bridge worlds. I have navigated the “long and legal road” of being an international creative in the U.S., dealing with the complexities of visas and the shifting tides of the industry—from the total standstill of COVID-19 to the current rise of Generative AI.

While AI can calculate an image or a script, it cannot replicate the “Global Eye” It cannot replace the human respect I bring to a one-on-one portrait session, and it certainly cannot experience the peace I find in landscape photography. My work is grounded in real, physical moments that a computer didn’t “calculate.”

What I am most proud of:
I am most proud of my recent “reclamation” through photography. For years, my corporate work was a service for others—fulfilling a client’s vision rather than my own. Returning to photography during the pandemic was a liberation. I am proud that I had the courage to step back from the “logistics” of production to see my own creative mind working again.
This newfound creative freedom led directly to one of my most significant “additional steps”: producing the web series “Imposter” (www.ImposterTheSeries.com). Written by the talented Veronica Maccari, who also delivered a powerhouse lead performance, and directed by the visionary Shayda Frost, the project allowed me to merge my strategic experience with a story I truly believed in. Seeing it reach over 300,000 views on YouTube confirmed what I had always suspected: that when I align my professional expertise with my own creative voice, the results are powerful. Whether I am capturing the peace of a landscape or the intensity of a scripted scene, I am finally creating for the sake of the vision itself.

Whether I am capturing the peace of a landscape or the essence of a person in a portrait, I am finally creating for the sake of the image itself. I’ve proven that you can be a successful strategist without losing the heart of an artist.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
The Spark: From Engineering to the End Zone

I wasn’t always destined for the arts—at least, not on paper. Growing up in Venezuela, I followed the path of logic and joined my friends in Engineering school. I had always been “the kid with the camera” in high school, but I viewed it as a hobby, not a career.

That changed in a single moment while watching television. I saw a commercial where Budweiser bottles played a game of football against Bud Light bottles.

To most, it was just a clever ad. To me, it was a revelation. I saw the perfect marriage of technical precision and creative imagination. In that moment, I realized I didn’t want to build bridges or machines; I wanted to build stories. I walked away from Engineering school and began working with a photographer friend, immersing myself in the world of light and composition before eventually moving to the U.S. to study at RISD.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crexels.com and www.whydoubleu.com
• Instagram: @crexels and @whyWphotos

Image Credits
The black and white photos of me I took them. The other ones were taken during production by people hied by Crexels. Who owns the rights