We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful BG Boyd. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with BG below.
Hi BG, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
Honestly, I am still kind of trying to overcome it. There are so many talented artists in Tucson, and really, most of what I do is document their talent. So when I come back and look at my videos of their work, I can’t help but have the thoughts they are the talent, what am I? I am just making photos and videos of their awesome thing. What really helps is after the artists see my videos, and this is one of the things I love about Tucson, they get so excited and say “omg! this is so cool! Thank you so much!” Almost every single creative I have met in Tucson views themselves as one part of a giant creative culture and if one of them succeeds, they all do.
So, in short, my experience with getting over imposter syndrome is to have people tell you that you are not an imposter.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’ve been taking photos since around 2010. Right before Covid struck, I decided that it was time to see what drone photography was all about. I became FAA Part 107 certified early on because I wanted to make sure I understood the rules and was a safe and responsible drone pilot.
My big project right now is a website called tucsonazmurals.com. I wrote the website from the ground up myself and provide virtually all of the photos and videos of the murals, most of which were all taken via drone. There are now over 375 murals documented on the website by over 160 different artists! A visitor can find a mural by keywords, location, or artist name / social media handle.
In addition to the murals website, I mostly focus on providing affordable aerial photography and videography for Tucson causes and community events for organizations such as SAACA, Friends of PACC, TMC Healing Art, All Souls Procession, Rare Disease Day, Rock the Spot, and the Vail School District.
I am also available for other aerial jobs and I have been very fortunate to work with SkyPod Images to participate in several events at The University of Arizona over the past few years. Most recently, we provided live aerial footage at Arizona Stadium for the Arizona Bowl!
In the process of documenting murals for tucsonazmurals.com, I have been lucky to meet and talk to several muralists such as Ignacio Garcia, Jessica Gonzales, Joe Pagac, Ruben Urrea Moreno, Pen Macias, Sean John Cannon, Jodie Lewers Chertudi, Alejandra Trujillo, and more! As I mentioned for a previous question about Tucson creatives, all of these people are so awesome and kind and talented. There is even a video out there somewhere of me flying my drone through Joe’s car while he was working on a mural!
In line with my desire to help local organizations I have recently joined the board of the Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance (SAACA) and I am very excited to become more involved with the art in Tucson and doing my part to help spread the word about local art.
When I am not photographing art and murals, I enjoy to take photos of landscapes and nature.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Considering most of what I do is flying drones, I’d say the number one skill was growing up playing video games. Haha, just kidding!
The first quality is directly related to drones, and that is responsibility. As my helicopter pilot friend likes to remind me, I am not a real pilot. But, when operating a drone, you have an aircraft in the sky with other (real) aircraft and there are federal rules you need to follow and you need to be safe to make sure you don’t cause any harm to people or property. There are a lot of folks out there that boast they are 107 certified but post highly reckless and irresponsible (and illegal) videos. I value responsibility and would advise other people getting started to value it as well.
Second, is to be humble and kind. Everyone is at a different stage in their life emotionally and professionally. When I first got started I saw other people’s stuff and was like wow, I’ll never be that good. I am still probably not, lol, but I’m better. So, when I see people that are at where I was a few years ago, I don’t make fun of them, I answer any questions they have and share whatever I can to help them on their journey. Also, no one likes to hang out and collaborate with someone that isn’t nice.
Third, despite just saying being humble is important, I have to say that the third quality is that I am mildly good at what I do and have a few skills. I’m pretty decent at photography and I’m starting to get decent at videography. I grew up building my own computers so learning how to use new software and tools comes fairly natural to me. I’m not one of those people that shoot the perfect jpeg in camera lol. I need to use tools afterwards to finetune the work.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
In general, I am much more of an introvert than an extrovert, which can kind of be a problem when you are trying to make new connections and do new things. In the past 12 months, I think I have gone outside of my comfort zone a bit and stopped being so sheltered and made a bunch of new connections and even joined the board of directors of SAACA (Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bgboydphoto.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/bgboydphoto
- Facebook: facebook.com/bgboydphoto
- Twitter: twitter.com/bgboydphoto
- Youtube: youtube.com/bgboydphoto
- Other: https://tucsonazmurals.com
Image Credits
All photos are my own
