Meet Luke MacNeil | Creative Mercenary

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

Hi Luke, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I worked in tech for most of my career, writing code and managing IT infrastructure. That’s been a passion of mine since I was about 12 years old. Working for tech companies afforded me the ability to travel quite a bit on business, and during this time I picked up a camera to explore the areas that I was sent to. I spent a lot of time in San Fransisco and learned photography by walking the streets and climbing the fire escapes out there at night with my camera.

After doing this for years, I became proficient and obsessed. I achieved my Professional Photographers of America Certified Professional Photographer accreditation as well as my FAA Part 107 Certified Commercial Drone Pilot license. I spent all my free time studying photography and editing techniques and following the careers of other photographers. At one point I realized that my work could stand aside, or above any of the photographers I was idolizing.

After 20 years or so of using my skills to advance the agenda of various fortune 20 companies I decided it was time to advance my own agenda, so I quit my tech job, wrote a business plan, and started MacNeil Media Group, LLC. I marketed primarily to Massachusetts Cannabis Companies by making myself a Media Pass and using it to enter Cannabis Industry Events where I met industry professionals and enthusiasts looking for media. I did photoshoots for magazines, celebrities, billboards, social media content, signage, and internet videos and crushed all of my 5-year goals in the company’s first 6 months.

After a year of this, I decided to take it a step further, sell the house and everything in it, and take it on the road. My wife and I have been living off the grid in an RV in Colorado for the last month or so, exploring all the creative opportunities this great state has to offer – and there are a lot!

I’ve always believed that the best way to make money is to monetize the activities I’d be doing anyway, and so far that’s worked out for me. All I’ve ever wanted to do was make stuff. Songs, Photomanipulations, Interactive Websites and Applications, Magazine Covers, Astrophotography, Timelapses, Stop Motions, Short Films, 3D Motion Graphics, Videos… whatever I think is cool.

Luckily, those are the types of things that literally all businesses need to stay relevant in a media-driven world.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve always had an innate ability to dive very deeply into a subject and quickly come up with an expert-level understanding of how that thing works and how to manipulate it. I get real obsessed with creative pursuits, really fast. Someone at a previous employer of mine used to refer to this skill as “porpoising”, and that’s how I think of it. Within a couple of weeks, I can usually become adept at pretty much anything, and I focus that on creative arts.

This started in my preteen years when I discovered music and computers and carried on into my teenage years when I became obsessed with audio recording. I love everything about it. I’ve always played music, and have produced and recorded several records. There’s something about the intersection of technology and creativity involved in audio production that ticks all of my geeky boxes at once. Now well into my grown-up years, it’s progressed into video production and 3d motion graphic design. There’s no time to be bored when there’s so much to practice.

I’ve been a long-time member of the Blackstone Valley Art Association in Massachusetts, where I was inspired by other artists and given the ability to further hone my creative skills by leading seminars on various subjects including photo editing and image manipulation, audio processing, and long exposure photography. I found that by taking the time to develop workshops for others, fundamental concepts solidified in my mind, it pushed my preparation and presentation skills, and improved my ability to articulate complex ideas to beginners in an entertaining and digestible way. I highly recommend this to all creatives. A lot of people that appreciate what we do really want to do what we do.

I want other creatives, people that want to be creatives but are afraid of rejection, and people at large to know and understand that you can do this. Anything really. You can make a living with your skills and your art. It has value, and society desperately needs it to function (sell stuff).

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We’ve only been in Colorado a short time, but if I were to suggest an itinerary to someone that’s never been here I’d have to recommend The UFO Watchtower in Hooper, CO. It’s such an interesting place, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the most beautiful mountains and the most dramatic sunsets you’ve ever seen. And aliens.

This area is a photographic dream. Within an hour or so you can reach The (otherworldy) Great Sand Dunes national park, the giant waterfalls of North Clear Creek and South Clear Creek in The Rio Grande National Forrest, Several Protected Wildlife Areas, Hot Spring Pools, and so much more.

It’s an incredible place sparsely peppered with some of the nicest people you’ve ever met, and they’ve all got an interesting story.

Bring plenty of propane though, it gets cold.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to my wife, Jennifer MacNeil. She’s always believed and trusted in me to follow these dreams and take big risks, like quitting my 6 figure job to start, of all things – a photography company or selling everything we own and moving into an RV to live a transient nomadic lifestyle. None of this would have been possible without her, and she’s a solid photographer herself! Jenn rules.

Website: www.macneilmediagroup.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/lukemacneil92

Linkedin: www.linked-in.com/lukemacneil

Twitter: www.twitter.com/lukemacneil

Facebook: www.facebook.com/luke.macnei1

Youtube: www.youtube.com/lukemacneil

Image Credits
Photographer: Luke MacNeil Models: Jennifer MacNeil, Caroline Frankel, Tori Heffernan