Rising Stars: Meet Dylan Gibbs of Grand Rapids

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dylan Gibbs

Hi Dylan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I first found a passion for videography at a young age. My dad let me borrow the family camcorder and I would run around the neighborhood filming my friends, making short form content we could look back on in our adult years.

As I grew up, I left the camcorder on the shelf through my middle and high school years. It wasn’t until I graduated from high school where I picked up a camera again. My friends and I planned a 2 week roadtrip out west as a celebratory adventure post graduation.
I filmed the entire trip and that is where I realized video creation was a true passion of mine.

Through my college years I interned at my local church doing videography for them, learning the basic skills required to create heartwarming, captivating films. It was here where I developed my faith and shaped the “why” for filming. It was at my church where I was asked to film my first wedding. Having no prior experience in weddings, filming such high stakes moments was very daunting. I had to learn audio, the angles, the lighting, however I used the little knowledge I had during my time at the church and small passion projects to dive into the world of weddings.

Two years later I would have over 15 weddings, an LLC, and dozens of meaningful connections under my belt. I would have never imagined that “Yes” to film my first wedding would result in some of the best moments of not only my life, but I’ve been able to deliver meaningful moments to so many people that they will cherish for the rest of their lives.

It is an honor to be able to use my gifting’s to bless the people I get the opportunity to work with and I’m so excited for what’s to come!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road of videography… If I could sum it up in a sentence it would be, both extremely rocky and the smoothest road you can go down.

The learning curve navigating the editing programs, the costly equipment upgrades, circumstances out of your control, and very late nights, make the road rocky. You develop a resilience when in the industry. Your client may never understand the obstacles you have go through to create a memorable video, but the reaction of them receiving the video knowing they picked the right person for the job is worth it.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My LLC is ‘DylanGibbsMedia’ and I specialize in wedding films, promotional content for local businesses, and I am venturing into the documentary film space!

I am a perfectionist. My videos take an average of 4-6 months from capture to delivery, but I am proud of the attention to detail I have knowing my client will be receiving the best work I am capable of.

My keen eye sets me apart from others. Thinking of the final video while I shoot allows me to orchestrate the wedding day to my creative vision. My clients have been extremely flexible in allowing my vision to become reality.
I’ve learned what it takes to tell a story. There’s a lot of amazing creators out there, but the ones that stand out are the ones who can tell a story clearly to the viewer. My goal is to tell a story in a captivating way that really makes the viewer feel like they’re reliving the moments.

Each shot I take I want the viewer to be able to pause the video and make that still a photo. Each shot is intentional and has a purpose within the film.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The biggest risk I’ve taken so far has been financially. Being completely self funded, Ive spent entire paychecks at my full-time job to fund my passion.

The people in the industry are fully aware that the equipment, especially for videography is never cheap. I have invested upwards of $10,000 working at a Hardscape/landscape company in order to keep my business running.

Risk is the key to any successful business. Every person I’ve talked to regarding business has told me I have to make decisions that seem impossible to pull off, however I am continually shocked to find they have paid off more than I could’ve imagined.

Pricing:

• Camera – $1700
• Gimbal – $900
• SD cards, Computer, Software – $5000

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dylangibbsmedia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylangibbsmedia/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DylanGibbsMedia