Daily Inspiration: Meet Kyle Patton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Patton.

Hi Kyle, 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 backstory with our readers?
As a kid I was super into youtubers and movies, and in late elementary school I got a camera and started making silly videos with my neighborhood friends. I continued pursuing filmmaking through high school. I was blessed with a well funded program at my school Nolensville High School, so I regularly had opportunities to get my hands on a camera and shoot something. Having a new prompt every 2 weeks or so kept me sharp and motivated. When I came to school, I opted to major in Emerging Media rather than Motion Pictures, so I could focus my creative energy to freelance gigs outside of school. I started shooting photos and videos for different musicians in the Belmont scene. By the end of my first year, I’d shot three music videos for artists big in our circle and had established my place. Since then, I’ve worked to build a brand identity around “kyle with a camera” posting content on Instagram and working with various artists from the Nashville area and further.

Some of the most notable artists I’ve worked with now are Million Miler (solo project of the Plain White T’s lead singer), Cosette, Ava Beathard, and Glitch Gum. My style features CRT textured glitch visuals, and sublime infrastructural architecture. Now in May 2025, I’m graduating from Belmont with a degree in Emerging Media and Photography, and I’m looking to continue pursuing freelance creative production as my full time job.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Getting to this point has been a fun ride, but not without it’s bumps. The biggest area of growth for me has been in the personal relationships and communication. I’ve learned what happens when things aren’t communicated clearly on a project, and how that can be detrimental to the work relationship and final product. I’m also putting myself through school without help from parents, so shooting music videos and concert photos was a way for me to make some money while still going out and socializing on the weekends. At Belmont especially, not everyone understands the need for a hustle like that, and it’s been difficult to scale up the business because most of my clients are working on passion projects with a student’s budget.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The majority of my business is music videos, but I like to say I specialize in anything with a camera, hence… “kyle with a camera” Whether it’s photography, videography, mixed media art, or recursive video feedback loops, the camera is my medium and I like to use it in many ways.

My specialty is creating analog glitch visuals. I have a suite of analog video gear with CRT tv’s and a Panasonic live video mixer from the 90’s. I started buying up that equipment when I made a music video for a Belmont band called GIRLS NIGHT, and it’s been a very experimental and self-taught journey figuring out how to do more with it. Recently, I started throwing visuals at house shows using the TVs and a projector borrowed from on of my mentors.

I’m most proud of my fine art photography. Since a lot of my style is inevitably distorted and low-res, I like to remind people that I know how to properly expose my camera. There’s a lot of joy that comes from being meticulous and detailed in the image-making process. I opened my first photo exhibition this January at the Packing Plant in the Wedgewood Houston neighborhood to positive reception! It was called the Untitled Towers Project and was the first showing of my ongoing body of landscapes about the american electrical grid.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Belmont – My experience at Belmont has been great, but I give all credit to the lower level staff there, not the executives. While the school as an institution has felt like it doesn’t hold its most creative students’ interests in mind, the professors, advisors, and campus leaders here are so impassioned, caring, and invested in their students. Some highlights are in the Photography department with Robin Paris and Christine Rogers. Robin was my photo professor for 3 years and is my favorite professor I’ve ever gotten to study under. She’s taught me so much about the world beyond photography, and she’s retiring this year and moving back to Asheville. I’m planning on visiting her after traveling this summer to print a new round of tower photos.

Something Good – Another person who’s helped me out is Jack Sabbath. He’s about 10 years older than me and started a creative production company in Nashville called Something Good with me on the team as a videographer very early on. The flow of jobs, learning opportunities, and valuable connections from that group has not stopped, and I’m excited to continue my work with Jack and the rest of them. In June they’re taking me out to Charleston to stagehand and shoot the High Tide music festival.

Pricing:

• I work in the $1500-$5000 range for music videos.
• ~$1000 for visualizers
• $100 Concert Photography
• $35/hr general rate.
• (I don’t see much of this being super nesecary unless its normal for you to include. Everything is negotiated on a per project basis for me.)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kylewithacamera.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylepatton.png/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571959682183
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-patton-b2221727a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kylewithacamera
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/74xeuUWaaBlq4awAQXmfNY?si=-2lXmW_mQ6CX0bHPG-IBiA