Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexander Atsaphanthong.
Hi Alexander, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
It’s crazy looking back at when I started doing videography. I was 25 at the time (Currently 33). I bought my first camera. That was a GoPro Hero 4. I mainly used it for traveling/vacation. I was traveling quite a bit at the time, and after my travels, I would always create a video of everywhere I went. All of my friends were so impressed of all the videos I was creating. I was filming so much as a hobby I completely fell in love with it.
Fast forward to 2019, I was asking friends/family if they knew anyone that was getting married and if they would let me film the wedding. I believe I shot that first wedding for $500. I fell in love with it, watching the bride and groom so happy on one of their biggest days of their lives and being able to capture all of that for them! I filmed a couple friends’/families’ wedding and a few events.
2020. One of the worst years I’ve ever had. When the year started off, I was going to school 4 days a week, working 12-hour shifts, taking care of my daughter, and filming on the side. I was so tired; I was having a hard time focusing and falling asleep at work. One of my coworkers seen me falling asleep and pulled me aside to talk to me. I told him everything I was going through. He completely changed my mindset when he said, “Why are you going to school for something you don’t even want to do?” I dropped out of school that year and focused on the business, my kids, and my day job.
Then Covid happened. All the weddings I had booked during shutdown had to be rescheduled to the following year.
Towards the end of 2020, I lost my job. I was so stressed out; I didn’t know what to do the first week after losing my job. After a few conversations with my family members, I decided to be fully invested in the videography business. I had a few weddings to film yet the end of this year. I was using those videos to market and promote myself on social media. The bookings were flowing in. I couldn’t believe I was booking that many. I believe I booked about 35 weddings for the following year. The money I was making, I used it to continue to upgrade and grow my equipment.
After the year 2020, I continued to book 20+ weddings, traveled to different states to film music videos, worked with local business, film local events. We even have a small team now! I’ve seen so many beautiful venues and places during this venture! I made my dream job a reality!
Fast forward to the present – I’m working part-time, continuing to focus on the business and I am able to be a full-time single father!!
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?
I would say yes and no. Some months goes smooth but then they’re some months that are super busy.
Some of the little struggles for me were teaching myself how to be more knowledgeable with editing, learning different software’s, learning new equipment, how to work with audio and audio settings.
The 2 biggest struggle, I would say, is filming so many weddings in a year and, like every other job, keeping yourself motivated and consistent.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about A Celec Film?
A Celec Film is a videography business. We focus a lot on wedding videography & we travel all over Michigan & beyond to film weddings. We create our videos based off the vibe of the wedding. If it’s a fun, super happy wedding. We create a fun/emotional wedding video. If it was more of an emotional wedding. We create a slower/emotional wedding video.
We also shoot promotional videos for local businesses and film local events in Grand Rapids, MI.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
The biggest advice I could give anyone is to continue to push yourself on what you want in life. There will be roadblocks, failed attempts, a lot of ups and downs, but just as long as you don’t quit, you will get to where you want to be and continue to progress.
I wish I knew how hard it was to start a video business or any business at all. It takes time to grow and to build.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.acelecfilm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celecfilm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celecfilm
Image Credits
Alexander Atsaphanthong
