Today we’d like to introduce you to Roman Marchuk.
Roman, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am originally from Ukraine and I have been a Florida resident for good five years now. About that time, my sisters came to visit me (I haven’t seen them for a long time) and we took a short trip to LA. I had a cheap entry level DSLR and I thought it was cool at that time and I thought just by having a big camera you are pretty much a pro. When my sister asked me to take a photo after sunset with the city view on a background, I realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I was so lost and none of the pictures came out good. I returned back to Miami with a solid goal to learn photography. It was August, end of summer, school started (I was getting 2nd bachelors degree in Management Information systems here at FAU) and did not get time to even start on my goal, not until Christmas same year when my sister decided to gift me a drone, I had no choice but put all my efforts and start learning. I would go on YouTube and spend hours of research about everything that I needed to know about the camera. What is aperture, ISO, shutter speed, how to frame the shots, rule of thirds, composition, long exposure. All this was so new to me, but at the same time so exciting. The more videos I watched and learned I realized I needed better camera, better lenses. The more I practiced, I realized I need to shoot something different because all my photos looked the same. I wanted to travel the world, and I wanted to do it for living I just needed to come up with the formula how to do it. One of my best friends from Texas, he works for the airlines and he was kind enough to put me on standby list so I could pretty much fly anywhere I want for free. That opened so many possibilities.
When before I would just bring a backpack on my vacations with some extra clothes, now it was a bag full of camera equipment, socks and underwear. I almost would fly every month, I went to Alaska, Hawaii, Bahamas, Yosemite, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Yellowstone, Denver, Salt Lake City, Toronto, Montreal, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Great Smoky National Park, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, France, Italy, Monte Carlo, and many more places basically within last four years. None of this would be possible obviously… I upgraded my camera bag… at least five times. I would buy used gear, use it for couple months, use it, sell it and buy something different. Traveling polished my photography skills a lot. But again after some period of my life I start feeling like I could do more. I felt like that photos don’t tell stories good enough. I realized that aerial photography and then videography is so accessible nowadays, when you can have a flying camera in you pocket anywhere in the world. Thats when I heavily started being very interested in cinematography. I started making short travel films about my trips combining drone footage with DSLR footage with various focal lengths, GoPro, etc. By then, I already graduated and got a full-time job in a software development company as a Quality Assurance Analyst. I started a YouTube channel which served as my portfolio couple of months later. I started offering my videography services to small brands around the world, and local business to create ads for social media. I keep following my passion and and am very happy with what I do nowadays. I worked with brands such as Wholefoods, Edends, Insta360, American Legion, Nomad, Poweradd, Subtle Clothing, KUVRD Camera and more.
Great, 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?
Probably, the biggest struggle is time. There are just so many ideas and projects that I would want to work with that I literally have no time for anything. Another struggle is to get your name out there. No company or client just gonna work or cotact you because your friends and family thinks you are such a great creator. You have to be very proactive and at the beginning even work for free just to polish your skills. That takes a lot of time and effort. But if you keep trying, it works!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about your business – what should we know?
My speciality is product photography and short videos for businesses and brands for advertising on social media.
How do you define success?
I think success is when you are able in life to find your passion, and do that for a living and be best at it. No matter what it is, but if your are a pro in that particular field and you love what you do it will not replace any amount of money.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.romanxplore.com
- Phone: 8175035975
- Email: roman.the.explorer@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/roman.the.explorer
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