Day-to-Day

Being a Person Besides a Content Creator.

September 7, 2015

This is a subject that has been at the back of my head ever since I created my Instagram account and exploded during last week, while I posted my demo reel there. Then it bounced back with a thousand thoughts about what I write up here and the several times I considered turning this blog into strictly “work”, or “what will they think of me if they read this and that post?”.

Soon after arriving in Vancouver I thought of going full-english here. Then I held back, it was a strange time and I wasn’t confident enough on my own to fend off anyone who thought this whole blog thing was ridiculous and 15-year-oldish. Guess what, yeah, it started around that time (more towards 18, actually), but to keep on writing constantly for eight years now took a lot more effort than just telling what happened on each day. Some posts here literally speak for me and reading them back after some time makes me understand myself a lot better – and usually think how life was simple back then.

At VFS we have several classes that talk about digital footprints. It’s important to be the first result when googling your name, it’s important to not have embarrassing photos, it’s important to look professional, do you know what an employer will think when reading that?, I haven’t hired someone because of this and that, and so on. When I google my name, going ten pages down everything still points back to posts here, or videos I worked on, so, yeah, googling me will give anyone A LOT of information about me. Do I worry about it?

If whatever content linked to my name made its way online, there’s a great chance that I’m aware of it. I do post a lot of “professional”, “workey” stuff about lenses, reviews, tests, my process and all, but I also have very personal posts up. Crap, it seems like I’m going in circles not finding how to really hit my point here.

I guess the problem start when someone says “they might not hire you because of this”. I have some serious issues regarding restricting information online, specially information that I WROTE MYSELF, ABOUT ME. I get the game where everyone pretends to be cool and to know everything but I think that’s utter crap. Why is that? Because when you hire someone or consider someone for a job, we’re talking not about a machine but about a fucking human being and, as much as any other human, we all have quirks and problems, usually balanced with something for a good side.

Sure I could’ve tried going through my year faking all along that everything was fine and never said a word about it but, you know, people connect much more when we’re down on the dirt together. I cannot translate the amount of replies and people sharing their own sad stories when I wrote a post that will eventually get me OUT of a job interview – “no way I want this nut working here!”. The reason why that happens is because suddenly you’re not just some guy sitting at a chair in a dark studio. You’re a real person just like you reading this, with just the same amount – and even the same type – of problems, and that’s the main reason I never gave up on writing this blog, not even when I had like 3-4 visitors a day.

Sorry guys, but the reason I write here is not for your entertainment – sure, sometimes it is, but it’s as much fun for me as it’s for you -, the reason I keep on writing is because I HAVE to. I’m not too keen on talking, not even to my closest friends and this blog is sort of a public journal for anyone who wants an insight of what I am. Along the way I work on applying a few lessons I learned from my parents such as never bringing anyone down and avoiding giving up my full address!

Also, another reason for keep on writing is so I don’t get so full of myself and start to think I’m better than anyone! I’m always open to new conversations, helping anyone I can with questions – cameras, lenses, anamorphic, compositing, bring it on! – talk about the hard times in life, asking for help and such.

Back to Instagram and posting my reel. The moment I started posting I had 588 followers. By the time I finished posting the 5 clips (less than ten minutes later), that number had dropped to 580, meaning that eight people were absolutely pissed by those clips and didn’t care about whatever I could’ve posted in the future. Sincerely, I’m glad they left. Yeah, the higher number was cool, but I don’t mind losing people that don’t care about what I post. I think the most valuable ones are those who are subscribed to my posts not because I write about lenses and have pretty pictures of that, but because they like the whole package of what I represent. That one day I’ll have something with visual effects in it, another day might be a lens review, or something I was happy about doing (like hanging out with May), and that kind of thing. And now we’re back at the title, which finally makes sense.

I am a content creator, yes. But more than that, I’m a person with ups and downs. I do some cool stuff but I do shitty stuff twice as much. Not everyday of my life has an amazing discovery or a breakthrough technique. If someone doesn’t wanna hire me because of that, I’m fine with it, I’m fine to the point of writing this post trying to encourage you to think the same way. And with that cheesy last sentence, I’m signing out for today.