Meet Corey Saldana | Videographer/Photographer/YouTuber/Podcast Host/Streamer

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

Hi Corey, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I love when I get asked about risks because I’ve been taking a lot of risks the last 5-6 years. Originally, I’m born and raised out of my hometown of Seattle…Go Hawks! Moving to Los Angeles has been a goal and dream of mine since 2013 when I decided to enroll into Film School. I wouldn’t say going back to school was a risk but the dream that I had was definitely one, the dream of moving to the City Of Angels. I decided to try and move here back in 2017, I applied for work while still going to school full time and finally landed a interview so I decided to fly out here from Seattle to go through the interview and within a week I heard back and was offered the job! The downside….they wanted me to start within a week and obviously a week is not enough time to look for a place to stay and get settled in, so unfortunately I had to decline the job offer. Come around again in 2019 when I graduated from Film School, I decided it was time I finally take the risk and chance of moving to my dream city, so I applied for hundreds of jobs went through various interviews and at last, finally was offered a job! Now the risk here is moving to a totally new city with no family or anything but it was a risk I was willing to take because I know the golden opportunities that are out here can change a persons life forever. That risk I took did change my life and for the good and now I’m living my best life here in LA and still working hard to achieving all the goals I have set for myself. Risks sound scary but it’s definitely one thing I feel everyone should do one in their life and see if the risk was worth it, because for me….it totally was!

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 think that separates me from many others is I am a man that creates within various niches and content. Just to name some of them, I’m a Videographer/Photographer, Podcast Host, Gamer/Streamer and YouTuber.

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.

Aside from all the artistry stuff, I am also a Gamer/Streamer on platforms such as YouTube, Twitch, Kick, and Facebook Gaming and also a YouTuber. During the time of Covid in 2020, I was trying to find things to do and to still create content even though we were locked inside for a whole year. That’s where I came upon streaming. Gaming and Streaming have become a really fun things that I would love to try and take full-time aside from the Videography/Photography side of things. It definitely hasn’t been an easy task and building an audience isn’t easy, but the way to be successful at streaming is consistency.

Now, the last thing is being a YouTuber in which I have been YouTubing since about 2009. During this time, there was really no tutorials or anything to tell you how to be a YouTuber. The main piece of content I was creating was short videos of me cloning myself as well as showing me producing music. After a long period, I decided to pursue the video side of things and learn more about videography. Adobe Premiere and After Effects tutorials were slowly popping up on YouTube and those helped me practice my craft. Since then, I’ve done various tutorials on Videography/Photography and vlogs, and with me jumpstarting my YouTube channel again this year after a 5-year hiatus, it will revolve around Videography/Photography, Vlogs, Unboxings, Tech Reviews, and Gaming.

I definitely feel like anything you try to pursue is never a smooth road, we’re all going to struggle some kind of way. For me personally, the beginning was smooth, this is when I was just networking with locals to shoot photos for free which then I ended up building up a great fan base and clients. During this time, though, I was also attending Film School full-time while also trying to make a name for myself in Seattle and I’m sure a lot of people know that trying to balance a full-time job, going to school, and trying to make a career out of what you’re trying to pursue definitely isn’t an easy task.

In 2017, after attending The Los Angeles Film School for already two years, I made the decision that I wanted to move to LA to pursue the film industry while also still going to school. To make this happen, I was applying for work in an industry that I already worked in which was assembly. After I had sent out countless job applications, one reached out to me, and I was offered a job interview a couple days later. I booked a flight out to LA, went through my interview, and was eventually offered the job a week later. The worst part, they needed me out there in a week and this was not enough time for me to find a place to live and move over, so I decided to decline the job offer and wait another year.

Come 2018, I start sending out more job applications in hopes of coming to the city I’ve dreamed of moving to and to start my career. 2018 was yet another failed attempt of making the move to Los Angeles. Come 2019, I finally finished Film School in June, and this is when I really pushed myself to get a job. Hundreds of applications were sent out for videographer/photographer jobs, and luckily enough, I landed about 5-6 interviews. Out of the 5-6, I got offered a job by 1, and next thing I know, I finally made my way down here to LA and made my dreams come true.

This just shows, if you are persistent enough to make dreams and goals become a reality, anything is possible. There will be struggles on the way, but those are just little things that will eventually pass. Keep your head up!

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?
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?
Definitely I have to give a big shoutout to my family and my friends that I’ve made out here in LA! There’s no better place to be if you’re a creative and looking to gain some kind of success. Being in Seattle I felt like I wasn’t really go anywhere. Sure, I sort of made a name for myself as a photographer but I wanted to be way more than that, I wanted to be a full on content creator and LA is the best place to meet other like minded people. So I want to say, shoutout to all the homies that have pushed me to being the best I can be and I’m still out here pushing to be even better!

Website: https://www.coreysaldanavideography.com/

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/coreysaldana

Image Credits
Christian Faith Fernandez
Andre Jayy