Tony Gist

While videography has been my career for over 20 years, photography has always been my career adjacent hobby. A hobby that has become more and more of a passion through the unrelenting passing of time.

My photography experience actually exceeds my video career, going as far back as the ‘1900s’ as my kids say, but I never took it too seriously. I took a photography class in high school, and then just dabbled here and there.

I found a passion in video, earning a degree in Digital video production for film and television from Collins College in Tempe Arizona. Shortly after, I landed my first real video job at a small TV station in Wichita Falls Texas. Throughout the years, I worked my up to larger markets, seeing and doing things that most people only imagine. I found myself working major floods and fires, meeting all sorts of celebrities, politicians and people from all walks of life. I even spent a little time in front of the camera..

After all of my adventures in local television, I decided to move to marketing. Production commercials and even a small local television show for a short period of time. Currently I manage a small team of creatives, producing commercials and content for a large automotive group.

All along the way, I’ve captured the occasional portrait and wandered aimlessly around various streets snapping some street photos. I did a comic strip style ‘behind the scenes of news production’ photo series that had a small cult following on social media for a short time, but never really did anything serious. In fact, one of the few paid gigs I had early on failed miserably. If you’ve never been to a baptism, do some research before agreeing to doing a baptism photoshoot.

Portraits were always something I was extremely interested in, but had a hard time doing. It wasn’t until I turned 40 that I finally set aside my social anxieties, and attended a photo meet-up. Getting to work with models and learn from other photographers was huge. It really opened up the realm of possibilities and has sparked the flames of passion for photography. A passion I think I’ve always had, but am just now finally pursuing a little more consistently.

It’s still more of a hobby than a hustle, but if the two ever align I won’t complain. I’m really hoping to discover my artistic voice, but hopefully I can inspire or maybe even impact even just one person with the images I capture and create.