Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra Genevieve Agar.
Thanks for sharing your story with us . So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a little girl, I was always artistic and loved watching movies in particular. When I was 18, I discovered the work of Spanish photographer Cristina Otero. She’s the youngest person to have ever exhibited in the Museo Nacional del Prado at 15 years old, and she’s completely self-taught. She couldn’t afford to pay for models at first, so she created this fantastic series of self-portraits called Tutti Frutti. I learned so much from her work, and she inspired me to spend hours in my room learning lighting, camera techniques and Photoshop.
Later in college, I wanted to study something creative, but part of me was afraid: I dropped out of college when I was 19 due to financial issues and worried about money. When I did return to university, the practical side of me studied Calculus and Statistics to earn an Economics degree. Although it was a time-consuming degree, I spent whatever free time I had making short films and getting grants from my college to exhibit my photographs. I didn’t sleep very much during those years, but it was well worth everything that I learned.
After graduating, a job in Miami brought me to South Florida (I grew up moving all over the world due to my father’s job). It was a fantastic job, but just like college, I was spending all my free time outside making my own projects and working on other people’s short films.
After nearly a year at my office job, I realized that working in a traditional 9-5 wasn’t the environment in which I worked best: I felt out of place and out of harmony with my true self. There were many personal projects I wanted to work on, and I wanted to work on bigger film sets. I had absolutely no idea how to do that, nor I did I know anybody in Miami who did. In fact, I didn’t know anybody who was a successful artist—I thought it was impossible to work in the arts and earn a living, much less thrive in the arts. However, with my Economics background, I had gotten good at personal finance. I saved up several months of income to live off of, and without any job offers or prospects, quit my 9-5.
At first, work was really slow and I was lucky to work on one film set a month. Over a year later, I’ve now worked on five feature films and multiple commercials, music videos and TV shows. This year I’ve also started camera operating and creating short films for my own clients with my production company, Palta Productions.
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?
There have absolutely been challenges over the past year, but each challenge has taught me something valuable. It was a daunting task for me to quit my comfortable 9-5 job with nothing lined up. I was fortunate to have saved up money, but I had no family and few friends when I first moved to Florida. People often say that being an entrepreneur can be incredibly lonely. I felt this when pursuing my dreams. I could have moved to New York, Washington DC or London like many of my friends, but that was not my path and I’m so grateful for where I have worked to be now. Plus, I love Miami.
Additionally, I work in a male-dominated space, much like the tech or finance industry. If you look at the top 100 movies each year, only 2% of the cinematographers are women. While the industry has improved with time, it can still feel like an old boys club, and we still have work to do to make sets more inclusive spaces. However, there are so many supportive people (men and women) I work with who want to see the industry change for the better. I’ve also been extremely lucky to work with some trailblazers, such as Director of Photography Laela Kilbourn, who has gone to Sundance seven times for her documentaries and narrative films, and also with Miami Director of Photography Alexandra Vivas, an underwater cinematographer and founder of the group Women on Set here in South Florida.
Tell us about your work.
I am a filmmaker and a Director of Photography. I create visuals for small businesses and entrepreneurs, as well as my own documentaries. This summer I’ve been filming a documentary series called “I Am Woman” with Lion Squirrel Productions, where we profile female-identified entrepreneurs in South Florida and learn the story behind her business.
I pride myself on putting the story first: I love camera gear as much as the next person, but I’ve seen many people obsess over what kind of lens to use, and then have no etiquette for their client or the people with whom they are creating a story. I believe in connecting with people and their stories before even taking out a camera. I believe that cameras are the tools with which to create art—not the centerpieces of the show or art themselves.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
If I had to start my journey over, I would have worked on building up my confidence. Much of what initially held me back from pursuing a career in the arts came from a place of fear: fear of being poor, fear of failure, fear that people wouldn’t like my work, fear of doing something nobody had done before. Changing my mindset has helped me tremendously and made me learn how powerful our minds are.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.genevieveagar.com/
- Email: info@genevieveagar.com
Image Credit:
Image credit: Alexandra Genevieve Agar
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