Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Gallo.
Hi Nick, 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 backstories with our readers?
I grew up in a small town in Connecticut, called New Canaan. I began filmmaking as a young kid making home videos with my brother and close family. At the time, I truly believed they were cinematic masterpieces.. minus the fact they were filmed on a Flip Video camera with absolutely no storyline or concept.
As I grew up I eventually found a passion as well for creating and producing music. This passion took pretty much all my attention from my teenage years to my early twenties. When my friends and I started taking this more seriously with music, we wanted to create music videos for them to bring the sounds to life.
But, as broke, inexperienced musicians we didn’t have much of a budget or network let alone to make them possible at the quality we wanted. So, I decided to use my passion for filmmaking to give it a shot by doing it myself. I went out and bought a $200 canon camera and started to film for my friends.
The videos weren’t great at all but, to be honest, the vision was always there, I just needed time. Fast forward to 5 or so years ago, I started investing in more cinematic gear, like lenses, gimbals, lighting, and sound. I quickly realized this could be a viable stream of income if I honed in on the craft.
After leaving my job at Apple in 2018 I decided to go full-time freelancing photography and videography, and given the preemptive decision, I didn’t do so bad. But, I started to realize it wasn’t going to be sustainable at that rate. So, once the shutdowns began in 2020-21, I decided to take a leap and move to Miami to start with a clean slate.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As blessed as I have been in my life, I can confidently say it has not been a smooth road at all. By prioritizing creating art like videos and music, I was able to really focus on my passions, but the clouding thought of “how am I going to pay rent this month?
When is this check going to arrive? How am I going to literally eat today?” was always in my head. One major obstacle for me was during the shutdowns. Most of my streams of income completely halted and I was beginning to burn through all my money at an alarming rate.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’ve developed a specialty in creating recaps and highlights of events. After moving to Miami in September, I’ve worked with Macy’s, Jack Daniels, the University of Miami, and dozens of nightclubs in Miami. What sets me apart is my eye for capturing moments.
Whenever I am attending an event, I try to read the room, feel the energy, and replicate that whenever I’m putting together the video after. My end goal always is to make sure the people who weren’t there get the chance to experience what I had to opportunity to experience.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
A lot of people I work with don’t know that I’m just as much of a musician as I am a filmmaker. Beginning in October of 2020, I released a song every week for a year straight; producing, mixing, and writing all of the music myself.
This project/challenge was called “The Golden Year”. My ear for audio production helps me so much with videos when selecting background music, sound FX, and capturing people talking.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shotbygallo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrXQfQQ8Dez9or2PFoO7d-Q
