Meet Rob Betz

We were lucky to catch up with Rob Betz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rob, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I’ve found my purpose by constantly exploring new possibilities; having no ‘formal education’ in the industries I’ve found myself working it, it was up to me to learn the skills I needed either from others or from online resources. Having already been blessed with artistic talent, I found that endeavors that required an instinctual eye for aesthetics were much easier for me. So I taught myself film theory and framing and excelled at video production and photography. This eventually led me to learn 3D animation and, more recently, 3D modeling. It’s been a journey of continual education through unconventional means.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m a photographer who primarily focuses on weddings. I love taking pictures of people that capture and/or evoke emotions in whoever sees those photos. Whether it’s a posed and artistically lit photo of a newlywed couple at sunset or a candid of someone having the time of their life at a wedding reception. I’ve strived to really master light and shadow to make my photos stand out. You can see my wedding photography and www.heatherandrob.photo.

My most recent endeavor has been 3D modeling and animation. My focus has solely been on my favorite sci-fi franchise Star Trek. I started out modeling interiors before moving on to the outsides of various famous Star Trek ships. My work has been so well received that I’ve recently secured a contract to develop new assets for Star Trek Online, a massive multi-player open universe online game. What makes my work stand out is my attention to detail in presenting things that are never seen on screen in the tv shows and movies simply because it’s usually just background imagery. You can see my animations at www.youtube.com/@RobBetz

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think the 3 most important qualities that were most impactful to my journey and instrumental in my success were 1. Determination 2. Desire to improve and 3. Ability to learn from my mistakes / not being afraid to acknowledge that I make mistakes.

My determination kept me going even when it seemed like I wouldn’t succeed. Learning to accept that not everyone would love my photography enough to hire me helped me get past the ‘ego’ part of being an artist.

My desire to improve continuously allowed me to learn new things and develop skills I had previously thought were well beyond my reach.

My ability to learn from mistakes and not being afraid to acknowledge I’d made them was key. Instead of letting a failure get me down, I took it as a life lesson and something to learn from so that I didn’t make the same mistake again.

My advise to anyone early in their journey is to never let self doubt keep you from taking steps forward. Bumps and bruises are part of the journey and you will make mistakes. You will fail. But you will learn FAR more from your failures than you will from your successes. Success reinforces you and lets you know you’re doing something right but failures teach you what needs improvement. They teach you to slow down and not get so full of yourself that you think you don’t need to improve.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

My biggest area of growth in the past 12 months has been 3D modeling. I’ve known the basics of animation for a long time and for years was able to create pretty neat animations but I was always using models I purchased or found online for free. While it was nice to be creating, I always had this voice in the back of my mind telling me I was “an imposter” for not modeling my own creations. Last year I began really digging in and learning to model. I took what I learned and really started creating things in the 3D space. I found, to my suprise, that it was something I was actually really good at. I started with Star Trek because I loved the franchise so much and knew what the interiors of the ships looked like. I knew what I personally wanted to see in the animations I made and that helped me really develop my skills. My animations were so well received by the YouTube community and people were so supportive of my endeavors that I found myself really motivated to keep going. Today I’m modeling things with ease that I never thought I could possibly even begin to create. It’s opened up new avenues for revenue and is so rewarding that it’s brought a new sense of fulfillment to my life.

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