Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Pond.
Hi Drew, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As a marketing major in college, I’d always dreamed of working for a big city ad agency, brainstorming creative ideas, and breathing life into new campaigns. The universe had other plans for me as I switched gears from the world of marketing and trained to be a lead optician.
I’ve learned over the years that a desk job is not a job for me! While the world of optometry was fascinating and occupied my mind for several years, it lacked the creative outlet I’d always yearned for professionally.
It was after a rather random, unexpected experience of being a guest at my brother-in-laws’ wedding that changed the course of my life moving forward. The morning I logged onto Facebook and saw their wedding video front-and-center, is a moment I’ll never forget. Unbeknownst to me at the time, clicking the play button would be the discovery of a lifelong passion.
After an impulse purchase on Craig’s List, my very first camera would help launch me into a career I never could’ve expected. With zero experience and no one to guide me, I spent months and months teaching myself the ins and outs of shooting and editing video all via YouTube, while working my 9 to 5 job in private practice optometry. Through endless grit and determination, I began picking up my very first jobs. In a matter of months from the official launch of my website, business started pouring in. I feel so lucky and blessed to say that almost eight years later, it hasn’t let up.
Through trial and error, I built my dream career from the ground up; a career that was never on the radar for me. I’m a huge believer that everything happens for a reason and I couldn’t be happier or more fulfilled with my unconventional journey today. Passion found ME in the most unexpected of ways, and I’m forever grateful for that.
From my humble beginnings in 2014, my business, Dock House Digital, has filmed over 400 weddings spanning the globe and has received numerous accolades such as ‘Cinematographer of the Year,’ as well as having the honor of being a three-time nominee in the Global Wedding Film Awards.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I can’t say that it’s been smooth sailing since day one, and honestly, I’m extremely proud of that. Some of the most important lessons I’ve learned on this journey of owning a small business have been rooted in the mistakes I’ve made along the way.
At the very beginning, when business was sparse, it was difficult holding a 9 to 5 job to pay the bills while attempting to get my little dream business off the ground. It required endless hours of work, bucketloads of stress, and many doubt-filled days. Nothing worth achieving is ever easy, and I made a promise to myself to never give up.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a professional wedding filmmaker based in Charleston, South Carolina. I document beautiful weddings both locally and across the globe, and provide my clients with a creative and timeless keepsake to look back on for decades to come.
Dock House Digital is known for its non-traditional style of wedding videos. I take more of an artistic, editorial, and ethereal approach to my work. My work is driven by musicality and oftentimes the unexpected, which is what I believe sets me apart from others. There are so many ways to tell a story visually, and I love the challenge of ‘wowing’ my audience.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The wedding industry is constantly evolving, however, outside of design trends that consistently come and go, I don’t see there being much of a change in the overall rhythm and heartbeat of events. On the cinematography side of things, I see there is a huge shift for the better.
With a majority of my clients being millennials, who highly prize video and the social world we live in, the demand for wedding filmmakers is on the rise! I’ve not only experienced this myself, but I’ve heard from other businesses, too, that video is starting to get booked even before photography. It’s so interesting to see a shift in clients’ priorities.
While photography will always be looked at as the “default medium” in the wedding world, video is coming into its own and is now equally as important on most clients’ lists of wedding day priorities.
Pricing:
- The average client spends $5,500
Contact Info:
- Email: drew@dockhousedigital.com
- Website: http://www.dockhousedigital.com
- Instagram: @dockhousedigital
Image Credits
Sara Boyd Photography and The Happy Bloom
