Community Highlights: Meet Hunter Lewis of Verba M Photography + Film

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Lewis. 

Hi Hunter, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
When I was younger; like middle school to junior high school, I went on several youth trips every year and my mom ended up buying me a little digital camera to make sure I always came home
with good photos. By the time I had graduated high school I had gotten a little bit nicer of a camera from my mom and I pretty much always had that with me. In the middle of college, I started getting more into actually learning how to shoot good photos and dabbled with video too. This gave me a couple of opportunities to shoot some of my friends’ engagement sessions. At this point in time, the extent of my interest in photography was just creating something beautiful for my friends to remember the special events in their life. Later that same year I randomly took a position as a video producer for a youth camp and spent the summer making fun recap videos of kids doing inner-city relief projects and helping people in need. At the end of that summer in 2017, I had a couple of friends; kind of out of the blue ask me to film their wedding. I barely knew what I was doing, but I have always been a risk-taker and I value the places that make me uncomfortable. I drove down to Lubbock, Texas in 2018 and shot my first wedding film. I also simultaneously signed my life away to a pursuit of progression and seeing how far I could take this. By 2020 I had done 5 weddings; mostly for friends and was working in Cleveland, Tennessee as the unpaid head rugby coach at Lee University. I was paying rent with random 9 to 5’s and was pretty miserable especially when Covid was in full effect. Come May of 2020 rugby was nonexistent because of Covid and I had on a whim booked 4 weddings in 4 consecutive weekends. I took a huge risk, quit my job, got a business license, and started filling my tanks with all the advice I could get. By the end of 2020, I had done 17 weddings for the year and I just thought I was killing it. Now it’s December 2021 and I did 65 weddings for the year on top of over 40 other corporate jobs. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Getting to where I am now was by no means easy. I would critique myself so heavily knowing that I could do better and this would keep me from turning in projects sometimes. My first year in business full time I was so unhappy with what I was turning in regardless of the praises I was getting from my clients or followers. I also had to learn in one of the hardest ways possible that the more people you let in, the more you open up the doors to your business, and the more moving parts you have the more trouble you have. It was difficult to navigate the path of bringing in help and finding balance in creating an atmosphere of trust, but also being the sole decision-maker. I also found out at the end of this year that I had a difficult time saying no to clients. It can be really stressful building boundaries for yourself as a business owner. Wanting to provide the best customer service possible, but also giving myself the space to rest and recover were two things that collided so much this year. 

We’ve been impressed with Verba M Photography + Film, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Verba M Photography + Film is an extension of my love for telling stories, capturing memories, and creating something beautiful. My bread and butter is wedding photography and videography, but any project that allows for creativity or storytelling is what I am really into. At this point, my company has dipped its toes into a lot of different things, but the work I am most proud of is our first music video. From the very beginning of the project until the day is was complete, I felt like my tanks were just so full. I was spending hours a day talking on the phone with one of my best friends and the director of Photography as well as the artist we shot for; who was also a very close friend. Just being able to sit down and plan something huge, and be creative, and the see a project through was so good for me. 

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
First and foremost, I would have to say that having a hard work ethic has contributed the most to my success. It seems so simple, but I feel like I am doing what a lot of people are not willing to do to make my way in this world. Spending an entire month in a hotel, driving through the night from one wedding to the next, and then getting back home to start editing the previews is so hard. 

Pricing:

• Wedding Videography Starts at $2,000
• Wedding Photography Starts at $2,000

Contact Info:

• Email: verbamphotography@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.verbamphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verba_m_weddings/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/verbamphotography
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEu2Rv2SWrAOfKdhLUqkfeA
• Other: https://vimeo.com/user92933397