The struggle to make your hometown "cool".

There's a discussion that's been going on for years amongst my peer group and it goes something like "Ugh I hate it here sometimes. There's no paying work and the talent pool is so small" . This of course referring to where we come from which we often just collectively call Niagara . Now in the defence of my compatriots , Niagara has may things that do make working here an uphill battle. For starters even "working" here in the traditional sense is difficult , as there are roughy 100 applicants per every job posting the area , where as if you move closer to Toronto that number can get into the low 20s and even 10s. Also the area has carved out a niche for itself that is often difficult to market to, mainly meaning that the area is Canada's wine country and making a living off of just photographing wineries might be difficult to say the least. This wine country vibe also means that the main pull for photographers and videographers is weddings which although profitable is basically the "settling for a person because you're lonely" of image making. Personally I have to applaud those who do weddings exclusively because my limited experience with them has always left a bad taste in my mouth and a desire to cleanse it with more creative projects, or even just anything but a wedding. I will elaborate in a future post or video about my distaste for wedding work and my hopes to avoid it at all costs, but I digress. This brings me to the second complaint mentioned "The talent pool is so small". What I am referring to is the talent pool of models for those image makers who seek to make their name is fashion, glamour or whatever field that focuses on capturing images of beautiful people. This branch of the image tree is probably the hardest to make a living in, as it can becoming a trap for image makers as we can often be thought as secondary to the whole process. As the model is the one who is seen that often becomes the only thing the matters , disregarding the whole team that made the image possible most importantly the photographers, cinematographers and make-up artists . This has become even more true in the age of self-publishing platforms where models can sell directly to people with self phone pictures and videos , bypassing us completely. And often when we are called on to create content for these platforms there's a mysterious lack of compensation on our end that is considered disturbingly acceptable. This atmosphere is particularly thick in our Niagara area. So often our only recourse is that we have to leave our local areas and move into the cities to find work because let's face it, people in the city understand that everything has a cost and are less likely to waste your time with "collaborations" and "exposer" deals. And while this is often a viable career options for an individual , it leaves the community where it was before and we the community behind the lens should know better. How much of our growth is do to local and online communities of people like us sharing their knowledge to make us better at our craft. I feel like we owe it to pay it forward and attempt to enrich our own communities instead of just moving on to greener pastures. Now this is difficult but I'm going to make a pitch for how we can do it .

1. See the changes happening and take action.

Now while we have fallen into this belief that Niagara is a certain way and has a certain niche that will never change this just isn't true. I am fortunate to have gain a unique perspective when it comes to demographics. My previous 9-5 job was at a company involved in real estate investment and although 99% of the job bored me to tears it did show me some interesting things. Real Estate in Niagara is extremely motivated by the fact that people are leaving expensive city living in favour of more affordable loving in the Hamilton and Niagara areas. This means that whole "people in the city respect the cost of things" that I mentioned before is starting to come to us and we don't need to go there to chase it. But this means we need to be ready and need to stand by our rates and more than likely raise them, because remember what we think is a high rate is probably a severe discount to someone from Toronto.

However this means we must also be ready to provide the quality of service that they are accustomed to. For example in my particular case with cinematography I have noticed a very distinct look amongst commercial film makers in Toronto, which involves a very commonly used combination of camera and lens ( a canon mark D on a ronin gimbal with the Sigma 85mm lens fyi) . Now while this may not be in line with my particular style and sensibilities when in come to filming, I know that I have to give my clients what they want and may need to invest in this particular setup. So be aware of these trends in movement and style and be proactive.

2. Cultivate and Invite

This particular thought applies mostly to the model/glamour scene in my home area. This has been an ongoing frustration since most of my peer group have cut their camera teeth shooting local people who for the most part claim to have aspirations of being professional models but really just use local image makers as a means to populate their Instagram feeds. Now this would be fine if both model and image creator were both hobbyist doing it for fun but that is not as often the case as one might think. So what happens is image creators are trying to build portfolios with models who are not invested as one should be with a profession. Because think about it. What does a professional do? They communicate beforehand, they show up on time and prepared, they give their all during working hours and they follow up to see how they can be better in the future. Now if your an image maker who works with models i'm sure that I just triggered some flashbacks about being ghosted, or showing up late and not having anything to contribute to the shoot besides their presence. This is your wake up call to stop. Now I understand that as a creative you want to try new things but I personally believe that you will be better off consistently working with one or two good, professional models and putting your creative energy into concepts. Because let's face it bad models just drag your work down and keep it there. Take those one or two good models and work with them to cultivate your respective careers.

Now the another option if you want to bring your work up and make your area a more desirable place to make images is to bring the talent to you. Cities are where true professionals congregate, in this case modeling and talent agencies. While this may involve a more significant monetary investment on your end initially , when you go this route you are elevating your game without fail, because you are hiring a professional. Someone who has been vetted and has reasons to preform well whether this be compensation or simply professional pride. And if you do your job well as a professional you'll be sending them back with stories and experiences of the area and you help build it's reputation as a great place to work. In short put in the time and investment, like with anything worthwhile.

3. Showcase

If you're reading this post, more than likely you have access to the greatest tool available to us, the internet. And we all follow people in our field and our interests who make content about themselves or their businesses and through that we are shown glimpses of where they live and work. Now once again through this we are often shown the city, which again feeds into the belief that large cities are where creativity has to live, not true. Because of this thing called the internet we have an equal playing field to show our home as a cool place to create and I've noticed a stunning lack of it online. Now I know there's an appetite to see Niagara featured because a few months ago I featured a historic mansion in my area that most people didn't know exists, and this is just one of many gems that could be featured and I for one will be endeavouring to do so in the future. So the plain and simple advice here is to pick up those cameras and get out into your area, and don't just show it , talk about it. Where you live is special, it has stories and has a future that you can be a part of if you make it so. People aren't gonna know how great a place it is to create unless you show it as one.

So this has been a bit long winded and meandering but anyone who knows me knows this is just how I think.But what i've said here is stuff I stand by and have for many years. Sure I could have up and moved to the city and taken a job filming for someone that's established but that's not me. There's so much to love here , from it's history to it's natural beauty and it inspires me to be creative. Now I won't say that I won't go abroad to work , but I do know that this is where I want to return, refresh and get back to my creative roots.