Meet Dylan Leonard | Filmmaker & Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dylan Leonard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dylan, why did you pursue a creative career?
My life plan was always to be a professional basketball player. I only ever thought of myself as an athlete until my sophomore year of college when I sustained a major ankle injury. I had just started to gain interest in travel and photography prior to the injury, so after that happened and I couldn’t workout or play, I spent all of my spare time watching travel videos on YouTube and experimenting with my camera. After a full six months of having not been able to compete, for the first time in my life I realized there was more to life than basketball. At this point, I was falling out of love with the sport and in love with the world, as well as doing my best to capture it (which wasn’t great looking back, as all creatives tend to feel about their past work, let alone the beginning of it). I decided school wasn’t for me anymore, and neither was basketball. With a 3.85 GPA and a full ride basketball scholarship, I dropped out to pursue photo and video with really no evidence that it would work out, but the confidence that if I put the time in, eventually I would be successful.

It took years before I would call myself a creative, because I never really thought of myself as anything other than an athlete. I later realized, we are all creative, and the people who pursue their creativity as a career (whether knowingly or unknowingly), do so because they can no longer hold it in. It is a incessant desire to express that creative energy within us.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I first set out to pursue a career in photo & video, I was inspired by travel videos that made me feel a sense of freedom and exploration. It peaked my curiosities as to what was out there, how people made a living with a camera or social media, and had shown me that there were so many places in the world to see and I wanted to be able to create the same feelings of inspiration for others to seek adventure and new experiences. I never really had a plan, I just loved capturing the culture and visually sharing what a country or city was like in its raw form. I had particularly been drawn to countries/places that were a bit misunderstood, possibly because I always felt a bit misunderstood myself, so I set out to spend time in Turkey, Colombia, Brazil, countries that were referred to as dangerous or that American people didn’t really view as a destination they’d like to travel to for a multitude of reasons.

Despite not really having a plan, I always knew things would work out for me. I knew that if I was doing things for the right reason, through experience I would get better, I would meet people, and like anything else in life, if you put enough time and energy into something you will see massive improvements. Regardless of my confidence in the outcome, there were still many low points along the way, times where I had no idea what I was doing or what was next in life, but every low point that I got through, I realized there was something better on the other side. I kind of adopted this thought process and put it to use anytime a low occurred and just told myself I was being tested, and if I could get through it there would be something rewarding waiting for me.

After a couple years of traveling in and out of the states, I realized making money in other countries and then returning to the US wasn’t a sustainable way to live. I had spent four months in Turkey, two months in Brazil, three months in Colombia and visited quite a few other places prior for weeks at a time. Because I had constantly been gone, anyone I had built relationships with had pretty much forgotten about me or assumed I was traveling, which meant rebuilding everything when I decided to come back and set some roots. It took me about two years post college dropout to make consistent money with my camera, and when I say consistent I mean enough to just barely get by without having to work another job. Through all of this, I genuinely think my relationships with people are what got me to where I am today. I never wanted to befriend someone just because of an opportunity or to use them, I wanted people to hire me because they wanted to, and to this day all of my work has come from word of mouth, which I am extremely grateful for.

What is most important to me within the realm of my client work is that the people who hire me are happy and feel they’ve received value in what they’ve paid me to provide. There are many projects I have in the works that are near and dear to my heart as well, and with those my goal is to really advocate for the people, places, and things that are misunderstood or don’t have a chance to have their story told.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Although this may not be the most creative answer, I love going to the AMC movie theater. I utilize the AMC stubs movie pass, and frequently love going to movies by myself with my dog. It always helps boost my creativity whenever I’m feeling a little lull or when I need to decompress. I love to snowboard as well so I spend a lot of time in the mountains, specifically at Vail or Beaver Creek. I also take landscape photos for fun to capture the scenery and the textures of the Rockies, or take my pup on hikes all around the state. While it’s not in the city, one of my favorite places in Colorado is Great Sand Dunes National Park where the oxymoronic landscape of massive sand dunes and mountains collide. I go between Oregon, California and Colorado so there are still many places here for me to discover.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
When I was 19 years old I took a week long course with former NFL player Niyi Sobomehin that taught me the basics of personal development and creating/completing goals. This event is what flipped a switch for me, and my relationship with Niyi eventually went from him pushing me in the sports world, to encouraging me to follow my heart when I decided to drop out of college and leave the basketball team. I continue to look back at that week spent learning from him as a crucial turning point that has echoed throughout every aspect of my life since.

Website: www.dylnmedia.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dylan.leonard

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvdNMgRftT6u157b163aOsg

Image Credits
Big sur-11 by Zack Patrick DSC02184-5 by Graham Merwin, edited by me IMG_5024 2 by Zack Patrick Kingsley_1013 by Alex Stone All others by me