Daily Inspiration: Meet Ware Media

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shance Ware & Virginia Ridgers. They share their story with us below:

British-born, Virginia Ridgers moved to the US in 2011 with a background in retail fashion PR. Although awarded a BA Hons in Photography from London College of Fashion, Virginia has always preferred the background logistics and detail involved in creating a photoshoot. Her years working between LA and New York, producing fashion shoots with revered photographers, together with her not-so-secret skill as a spreadsheet queen, developed her talent and her reputation as a Fashion Photography Shoot Producer.

After a decade of producing fashion stills shoots, and wearying of the sometimes OTT demands of high fashion personalities, Virginia, a long-time fan of Nashville, arrived in 2018. She was looking to plant roots, figuratively and literally (growing tomatoes between travelling for work), live in a place where neighbors talked to one another, and was lucky enough to settle into a 1963 ranch house in East Nashville.

Shance, an Atlanta native, marched on the drumline of the famed Southwest DeKalb High School Band, featured in the hit film Drumline and the only marching band in the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics. His performances across the US and Europe led to a music scholarship at TSU, a successful audition into Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and his degree in Commercial Music. For the past 20 years, he has played professionally all over the city and cannot leave the house without bumping into some music-related person he’s worked with. To create videos for his own band, Shance began studying videography as a hobby, developing the skills to produce music videos for himself and other musicians.

Check out Shance’s self-produced ‘Ride Out’ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XgrRZpiSWA

When Shance met Virginia, he held a corporate retail position for a well-known music brand and Virginia had begun to established herself as a Nashville Producer. In early March 2020, the Nashville tornado lifted three trees from the front yard and placed them through the roof (although thankfully all were safe inside, including Oreo the puppy). The Covid19 lockdown followed three weeks later, and by the end of the year the couple, like so many others, found themselves out of work.

Virginia had begun to Airbnb the spare room to pay the mortgage and Shance was making music videos for local musicians and artist friends. Virginia formed “The Nashville Women’s Collective”, a community organization holding seasonal markets featuring women-owned small businesses and local female musicians. These women combine forces to raise funds for essential Nashville-focused causes such as Gideon’s Army and Thistle Farms.

Getting paid to work together, doing something you love within your community, was the ultimate goal, so they set about bringing the dream to life. With their combined skills they formed Ware Media in autumn 2020. By Spring 2021, they had teamed up with local comedian, Josh Black, as his ongoing camera crew. Shooting projects across the city, from events like The NAMM Show and Tomato Art Fest to commercial photography and videography for local restaurants and businesses, they have now established Ware Media as the one-stop shop for content creation.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Virginia: Some months it’s a salary for both of us, some months it barely covers the bills. But when someone comes to us with a passion project, if they’re willing to put in the effort to prepare the content, we’re willing to film it just to see it come alive. We try to pick and choose what we work on as much as possible, making sure it’s something that we believe in and want to help build. With Josh Black for instance, his comedy started as a side project, but we felt that he really had something to say and the potential to be a great voice in our city, so we wanted to make sure that the quality of his videos matched his talent. If we all gain success through the process, that’s a bonus.

In the midst of Covid, Shance began to shoot videos of me cooking in our kitchen, making seemingly complicated recipes more accessible to the average home cook. A plus of being unemployed in the time of Covid was that we had the time to develop our own projects. We were able to use my previous food stylist experience in our pandemic-era work at the same time, reinventing full-service restaurants into take-outs with tasty online photos, providing both the clients and ourselves with at least some revenue source. The minus came as we became more successful and attracted more clients – Knives and Frocks remains only a series of 5 videos and I am unlikely to cook for fun online anytime soon. (However, I would encourage any pescatarians to have a look at the one-minute Asian salmon – you’ll never diss the microwave again.)

Check out Virginia’s cooking videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLECUWK_VuJ1YXmHSSlM71GA23QSm00j8V

While unemployed I was able to found and nurture “The Nashville Women’s Collective”. Again, as more time is devoted to growing our business, it becomes more difficult to manage the organization and social media (a full-time job in itself if you are over 14) necessary to build a charity. I am currently gearing up for this year’s Flea and other events, so watch this space for more info: @nashwomenscollective on Instagram. Better yet, join as a volunteer and help to plan and execute events directly serving your community.

Other challenges? Could be two people who live together, working together. Fortunately for us, I am the detailed organizer and Shance is the creative. He spends hours editing to perfection while I have my Producer’s hat on, costing time versus return. This can be the boring side of any new business and we are always striving for a balance between imagination and reality. I always have a to-do list while Shance would be happier working on a passion project for as long as it takes. Also, as a team we are paid as a single package per project, which doesn’t always equal a salary for two.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We have shot still photography and videos for magazine editorials, music events and musicians, celebrations and corporate events, comedy shows, restaurants, real estate, and small businesses. We love shooting progress projects: following East Side Murals as they completed a new mural at Five Points this winter. Shance also recently shot the Black History Month cover of East Nashvillian magazine featuring Southern folk musician Adia Victoria. We try not to pigeonhole ourselves and love doing events, portraits, and all types of artist-related projects. We’re looking forward to shooting at the Nashville Comedy Fest in April 2022 and getting to know and work with other great creatives in the city. East Nashvillian article: https://www.theeastnashvillian.com/adia-victoria-a-southern-gothic/

We are still continuing to grow our individual careers – I have been able to work more and more in Nashville as a Producer and Shance has been taking on work as a Photo Assistant or Digital Tech on large-scale commercial projects. He is a self-proclaimed nerd and would love to have more time to develop a gaming channel and create more music.

What sets us apart from others is the power of two. We are opposites that complement, in our business and in our lives. The diversity inherent in our life experience and the everyday humor of survival brings a unique insight that comes out on the other side of the camera. I ask you: Who would not want to work with an English woman attired in 50s vintage and a thoughtful Southern African-American whose seminal work on sneakers entitled ‘Shance’s Unhealthy Converse Collection’? Could this be the sleeper documentary that we have all been waiting for?

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We are always looking to collaborate with other creatives looking to make content. DM us on Instagram @waremedia (link to: https://www.instagram.com/waremedia ) or email: waremediagroup@gmail.com

Our personal Instagrams: 

@waremusic 

@knivesandfrocks 

@nashwomenscollective – to support local causes and women-owned business or volunteer to host events 

Contact Info:

• Email: waremediagroup@gmail.com
• Website:  www.waremediagroup.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waremedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waremediagroup
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/waremedia
• Other: https://nashvillewomenscollective.org/

Image Credits
@eastnashvillian
@spitfiresnapshots