We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Garrett Creamer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Garrett, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?
I really try to force myself to take time off. It’s hard when you run your own business and you enjoy what you do, but taking days off after shoots or just taking time for vacation has been hugely helpful to put things in perspective.
I’ve realized my musts every week are; time alone, time for my relationship, time for personal work, time socializing and exercising. I notice when I feel out of whack that I’m not making time for one or some of these things. I’m not great at being consistent, but always making sure to return to it.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m most interested in storytelling. This can take the form of a film, photo book, photo essay, prints, etc. I use different visual mediums for different things. Sometimes these are self-funded, written and produced by myself and some collaborators. Sometimes I’m creating these same things for clients, I always try to nudge clients into telling human stories because at the end of the day I think people are interested in people.
I’ve recently split in two my personal brand (garrettcreamer.com) and my commercial brand (babybirdfilms.com). Bear with me, website updates are underway on both.
At Baby Bird, I’ve teamed up with longtime collaborator and DP, Sean O’Neill to launch a Directing duo where we co-direct and shoot stills and motion campaigns. We noticed campaigns and projects always having motion and stills rolling in tandem so we figured why don’t we offer just that. We’ve handled many of our own productions and have very complementary skills, so it seemed like a no-brainer.
We just shot our first two campaigns in December and will be releasing them in the next month!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think hands down being a good hang is the number one quality in this business. Patience is a huge one as well, patience when things are slow, patience when you want to be moving higher faster, patience when the image in your head doesn’t match the image you make. Aside from all this, I think maintaining a personal creative practice is the only reason I’ve kept going. I have a ball working with clients, collaboration is so much fun. Creating work with your voice embedded in it is what feeds the soul though. It’s vulnerable and it lives so many lives once you put it out into the public eye.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I’ve longed for a mentor for years and realized that it comes in the form of collaborators. The creative community as a whole, is a support network. Passively this comes in the form of podcasts and books, and actively this is weekly phone calls asking someone more experienced than yourself how to handle a situation. I’ve done workshops, had coaches, consulted my parents, friends, partners, everyone. There are too many people to list here to name one. I’ve had so much help, and learned so much, through so many different people. Everyone seems to have a different style, and when you talk to the old industry guys they’ll just tell you very matter of factly that “things happen as they happen”. I can only hope to have so much resolve.
Contact Info:
- Website: babybirdfilms.com
- Instagram: babybirdfilms.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettcreamer/
- Other: garrettcreamer.com
Image Credits
Michael Enos Garrett Creamer
