Meet Taylor Leal

We were lucky to catch up with Taylor Leal recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is a trait that I think that just has always been apart of me. I had many struggles as a kid, from growing up in a rough area in Philly to an abusive household that I ended up being removed from at 12 years old.

To me, I knew how much the odds were stacked against me coming out. The juvenile system in Pennsylvania can be very unforgiving, especially for a kid from Philly. To not escape the system, to not achieve my dreams, was failure.

I was able to make a life for myself outside of the system, and I am incredibly lucky to have when so many were not able to. Everything else since, has been easy. I keep my values and discipline the same. Failure, just isn’t an option for me.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

In this day and age of technology, I found out early on that to succeed, to become indispensable, you have to wear many hats. From what started out as a love for photography grew into working with musicians, which led to learning the video side of the camera. That led to cliental work like weddings, commercials, small businesses and now working to utilize my filmmaking in marketing and social media. I have worked with universities, NFL players, rappers, traveled all over the country filming and wouldn’t trade a single thing.

If you asked people around our parents age, they would say us Gen-Z’ers complain about things not being handed to us or that we don’t work hard enough, over generalized sentiment like that. What I counter with, seeing things from my experience is that we have to work twice as hard. The world doesn’t run on steel anymore, it runs on information and media. To get ahead in this line of work, it takes hundreds, thousands of hours dedicated to your craft, to fine tuning your niches, building the connections and rapport needed to be even the slightest bit successful, much less recognized for it.

But to me, that is what is most exciting about it. I could either adapt, evolve, grow and learn new tricks or I can wither and disappear. It’s a simple choice once you put it into a perspective like that. These lessons I’ve learned from my discipline also overarches into my personal life as well. I, as a person can accept change, rise to the occasion and become better than the person I was tomorrow, or I could stay stuck in negative habits, pessimistic outlooks that won’t help me overcome anxieties, doubts, and fears that I have. It’s helped me grow up, become the father I always needed but never had, and hopefully in ten years I can look back at something physical and tangible that came from my work and feel the same.

To describe my brand, my work I would say its in-between cinematic, moody, contrasty with a knack for punchy colors. I am a speed-ramp connoisseur, and I put an overall emphasis on quality and cinematic tones rather than vfx or green screen usage and such. I am however learning practical effects, in camera techniques and such to enhance my skill set. I am also directing more and more music videos, with my style in those being also well-put together cinematic pieces rather than flashy effects. I love telling stories, and I want artists to know when scouting for directors, that’s what I’m about.

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

Again I will say, learn to adapt. Be able to be coached, take criticism, and use it to be better. It translates again not only in art but in your own life as well.

Second, don’t let yourself get in the way of your own success and happiness. You deserve it, you deserve to be your own hero. No one can take that away from you. Get out there, and take what is yours. Love yourself, give yourself your own flowers, and lastly don’t falter when facing defeat. It is only a chance to learn and get better. The race is far, far from over.

Lastly, take inspiration from the world around you. beauty is everywhere you look, even on dark and cloudy days. You can’t appreciate the good days without the bad ones. Hardship will affect everyone in this life, and seeing inspiration through it all will make you a better artist, and a better person.

In terms of advice I can give young photographers and videographers, go out and shoot. It doesn’t matter what it is, drag your friends out of the house and have them model for you. Most of them will love it. Do not be afraid to fail, do not be afraid to explore styles. Art is what you say it is, just go out and create it. Lastly, YouTube is your friend. I learned more from experience and YouTube than anything else.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

When I am overwhelmed, there are a couple strategies that I use to face them.

1. Music. Music to me is my healing potion, I resonate with so many genres and wavelengths and listening to music is a great grounder for me when I feel like I’m being carried away. Side note, a lot of my work are also inspired by certain songs and such.

2. Use my support system. At 26, I have been around the block more than I probably should have, but I am grateful to my people. My friends in an absence of parents, father figures and role models have been there for me, and they are my family. My girlfriend and mother to my child is my go to when I need a reality check, and trust me she doesn’t hold back. But use people like this in your life, have their back and rely on them to have yours.

3. Lastly, breathe. Remember the sky isn’t falling, the world will still be here tomorrow. Do not be afraid to fail. Every single person in history has at something. But the ones that succeeded only did so from learning from their failures. Get back up, breathe, and get to it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://combatcamera.net
• Instagram: combatcamera_
• Linkedin: Taylor Leal
• Youtube: @combatcamera24

Image Credits

Emma Howdyshell
Gianna Catanzarite
Jared Colton