Meet Corey Saldana | Filmmaker & Photographer

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

Hi Corey, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Growing up as a child, I always had my dads old school camcorder in my hand and filming anything and everything I could in which today we now call it vlogging. I’d film my family outings, stop motion videos with cars and myself singing and dancing as a child. Eventually growing up, there camera was no longer a thing for me and totally forgot about it. Fast forward to finishing high school in 2006, I eventually picked up my first DSLR camera which was also able to film 720p videos. From that point, I pretty much taught myself how to shoot videos and use editing software since there wasn’t much on YouTube during that time.

During this time, I would shoot short films featuring myself awhile using Adobe After Effects to add some flavor to my shorts. Music has always been in my blood and eventually I wanted to use that love for music but make visuals, so I reached out to local artists in my city and hometown of Seattle to offer music video services. I knew I wanted to take Filmmaking and Videography seriously so I eventually in 2013, I enrolled The Art Institute Of Seattle in Digital Filmmaking. During my time going to film school, I was shooting various music videos with artists in the Seattle area and also had my try and photography. Photography was something I did not intend to get into but since I already had a camera in my hand, I figured why not?

After using family and friends I decided to start offering free photoshoots to people in Seattle and probably had shot with nearly 150+ people doing so. This got my name around the city of Seattle and eventually built a good list of clientele with even more people inquiring about my services. In 2015 I decided The Art Institute was not for me and found out about The Los Angeles Film School based her in LA in the heart of Hollywood. My four years there, I still was grinding it out shooting music videos and photography and started networking with people in the Los Angeles area as I was planning my move here. In 2019, I finally graduated from Film School and made my move out here to LA as I landed my first Videography job in the industry. My four years being here in LA, I’ve networked with so many talented artists that have also pushed me in my craft of Filmmaking and Photography and so excited to see what’s next for me in the future.

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.
One thing I’m definitely proud of are the people that believe and have trust in my work. Without those people, I feel like I would not be where I’m at right now with my artistry in Filmmaking and Photography. It’s been a long road with trial and errors but I feel we are all still students and I’m always learning something new that I can add to my arsenal of knowledge.

I think it’s also great for other artists to share how they’ve become successful which is why me and John started our Podcast called “The Artistry Drop” where we bring on various upcoming artists that share their stories and how they got to where they are. So far we’ve had many amazing guests such as Andreao “Fanatic” Heard who has produced for many of the amazing artists we know today from Michael Jackson to The Notorious B.I.G. and many more. We’ve also had American Idol contestants William Casanova & Dennis Lorenzo, Music Video Director Matt Alonzo who’s directed music videos for Lil’ Wayne, Chris Brown, The Game & Justin Bieber.

Me and John are definitely both very appreciative for these amazing artists to come on our Podcast and drop some knowledge for the upcoming generation of artists but also at the same time, it inspires both me and John because we hear about all the trials and tribulations people go through but still end up pushing through to gain success.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Being in Los Angeles, it’s literally a playground of excitement and enjoyment. A few places I would definitely recommend is Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. You can’t ever go wrong with some theme park fun. Next would be the beaches, there’s so many here to go to from Malibu, Santa Monica and Venice or even Huntington out in the OC. There are way too many food spots to go to and with my four years of living here, I’ve probably only hit 2% worth of the restaurants but ones I would recommend trying is Boiling Crab, Korean BBQ and Taco Trucks because the tacos out here in LA are amazing!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people I can give a big shoutout to that have gotten me to a certain level of success I’ve achieved but first I’d like to say, shoutout to myself! We can have all the encouragement and support from friends, family, mentors, etc but it takes us, the person that is trying to achieve all the goals we set to decide whether or not we want to pursue or not pursue what we have set for ourselves. So big shoutout to myself for always pushing through with everything I have set for myself.

Now to the shout outs! Big shoutout to my family of course, my Dad, Mom and Sister for always believing in me and my artistry. Definitely without a families support, I feel it brings a lot of people down, I’m so happy my family has supported me this far in what I’ve been doing. Second, big shoutout to my bros John and CJ. They have definitely been with me through the thick and thin and have been there since the beginning of my artistry dating back to 2006. Thank you to all the people I’ve met here in LA through creative work and networking and for being my friends, I appreciate you all! Last but not least, huge shoutout to my Fiancé Rachelle for always being there for me and always pushing me to be better at my craft and supporting me with everything, she’s my rock.

Website: http://www.coreysaldanavideography.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corey.saldana/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CoreySaldana

Other: The Artistry Drop: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theartistrydrop/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theartistrydrop

Image Credits
Corey Saldana Nancy Leonard Seangthea Samai Rachelle Pila Cheyenne Gonzalez