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Pierre Froger
@pierrefroger_
Videographer and photographer based in France
Photography as a passion has come to me unexpectedly. Until the age of 21, I never really took photos or videos. Though that year, I somehow started following several French and international creators, among which Casey Neistat. During that time I hardly understood English but despite that, I became fascinated by how these creators expressed their daily life and told a story using video.
"Becoming aware of the power of video to get across a vision, to share stories of the world, enlightened a fire within me."
A fire composed of curiosity and desire that made me investigate cameras to prepare myself for the one-year trip to Australia that I was going to do at the end of my studies.
"This was the very first big trip of my life and the perfect moment to start creating visual content."
Looking back to my photos from that time, the quality of the results was pretty poor – but the “click” had taken place and a passion was born, which has led to improving my work continually ever since. Moving toward the Atlantic coast of France as soon as I came back from Australia, also motivated me to keep shooting. I had never lived next to the ocean, though the sea has always been a source of inspiration for me, and living so close meant that I went out very often to create imagery or videos. In spite of my determination to create visual content and develop myself in that field, I decided to continue my studies at a management school.
"Here I met people that were passionate about photography and video too."
So very soon we had started creating content together for different projects. First for our university, then quickly professionally for clients through an association that we created alongside our studies. Doing these professional projects aside helped me to learn a lot about managing video projects and the more we did, the more happiness and joy I experienced.
In 2019, the moment came to make a choice. I finished my studies successfully and I could start a management course, which was in line with the path I’d been following so far. Though, I could also jump into my passion which was video and visual content creation… The voice of passion spoke, and I took the leap. Starting for myself in the creative field has been the best thing I ever decided to do. I started my professional activity by realizing videos for businesses and individuals. Already soon, COVID-19 came and interrupted the dynamics of my initial activities. My professional projects calmed down or were put on hold, but being an optimistic and determined person by nature, I happily continued to create content for myself with the aim to ameliorate and with the faith that nice, even small, projects would come.
Of course, I only started recently, but it’s something I value a lot and will always try to remind myself of when I face more difficult moments. Putting on the entrepreneurial hat involves putting on numerous hats after all. You have to know how to communicate, plan, manage a customer relationship, manage your finances and your investments… It is a profession requiring a lot of skills that you might not expect at first glance but that you should be aware of when choosing to embark on the adventure.
In general, I think there’s so much about photography as a business that people don’t understand or see when they look at your work or when you tell them that you are a photographer. I consider myself lucky because my closest relatives support me in this adventure, but there are also many that don’t comprehend that it is possible to make a living from this industry and that it is an actual job that requires many hours and effort. For now, I haven’t narrowed down my photography to a specific genre and divide my time among doing business shoots, weddings, landscape or interior, all in order to learn and to spread my opportunities. It is a discovery of what genres I enjoy most, but most of all, it is a way to generate a wide range of skills, perspectives, and experiences.
From the moment I jumped into this adventure called entrepreneurship, I also started a YouTube channel to share my life as a videographer, talking about my professional and personal projects, ways of working, experiences, learning, etc. It was thanks to YouTube that my brand new passion could be fed with lessons, tips, ideas, inspiration… I spent hours and hours watching tutorials, all helping me to get to where I am now. So it felt natural to me, in my turn, to create content to upload on YouTube to hopefully help others too.
"To inspire or educate other creators. It is ultimately a kind of virtuous circle that will perhaps make other creators crave, to live off their passion."
Though, lately, I haven’t uploaded a lot as I decided to take a break to think about what I really wanted to post on my channel. I believe that when we create content, we must first of all like it ourselves and share quality over quantity, no matter what the social platforms or algorithms favor. I realized that at times I didn’t live up to that vision. So I took a step back to reflect on my vision, to not alienate myself from my objective or what is close to my heart.
Meanwhile, I have started with sharing short messages on my Instagram – messages that I value, that I learned myself, that motivate me. Ever since I started with video, I’ve always wanted to use this format to create emotions and inspire others. And beyond the visuals, I love to add words to it. I find that this reinforces the message of the video and gives it the strength of its message. It is indeed an expression of how I see things and I think in the current context, it is all the more important to bring a small dose of kindness and strength. That’s what I’m trying to do with these little videos.
I love being in front of the immensity of the ocean and waiting for what the sky will offer me. It’s where the magic happens. The colors, shades, sunsets are never alike and this is a spectacle that I would never want to miss. Now I am more often in Paris, I miss being on the coast, observing the vast surrounding and the endless ocean, the sensation of being alone facing the horizon… The positive energy, the soothing effect and the creative vibes the ocean provides me with is something hard to find being in the capital. Having many photos of the sunset and the ocean, I feel there is one photo that I feel defines me as a creator. It represents everything I love when going out shooting, and when I look at it, I feel as happy and alive as if I were right there.
Nevertheless, during this period of the pandemic, I learned that it isn’t necessary to go far away and there’s no doubt I feel happy in many other places in nature. Australia was a trip that provided me with an indescribable feeling of freedom, and the French coast touches me deeply every time I find myself on its beautiful cliffs or beaches overlooking the colorful horizon, but I have now found out how to feel amazed by places very close to me. Actually, I shared four episodes on my YouTube channel where I visit four different spots less than 100 km away.
"I end these videos saying, “profitez des merveilles qui vous entourent”, meaning “enjoy the wonders around you,” which I believe is the key to happiness and appreciation, wherever you are."
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