Meet Tessa Barlin | Environmental Documentary Filmmaker

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

Hi Tessa, what do you attribute your success to?
As clichéd as it may sound, I think success comes down to passion, determination and authenticity. During my first few years as a photographer, I tried to attract wedding clients as a way to supplement my income and fuel my passion for wildlife/environmental filmmaking. Then one day it hit me – weddings are not actually my passion. They’re not me. From that day on, I decided to take the plunge and brand myself solely as a wildlife filmmaker/photographer. I deleted my wedding photography Instagram page completely and just focused on my wildlife page. Despite the fact that it wasn’t making me money at the time, I focused on my end goal of becoming a wildlife cinematographer. The added pressure pushed me to go out and seek opportunities that I may never have otherwise pursued, such as a film grant to produce my first short environmental documentary. So in short – branding comes down to staying true to who you are and not compromising on that.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a filmmaker, my art is in telling stories with pictures. I’m an extremely passionate and emotive individual, and I believe in the power of conveying that emotion through film. There is no better way to inspire people into caring about a particular subject – or better yet, taking action on it – through moving through a compelling piece of film. Films bring people from different worlds together. You might be a middle class adult who comes from an affluent, white American suburb, and suddenly you’re drawn into the world of a child living in an impoverished middle eastern country under religious dictatorship rule. And you’re able to feel what they feel on an instinctive level. That’s the power of film. In my work, I aim to bring out the emotive, human characteristics of animals, to allow audiences to connect with them on a different level. I focus heavily on faces and eyes, because I really do think that the most powerful tool of connection is looking someone in the eyes – even if that someone is a dragonfly.

It was not easy getting to where I am today. It took a lot of self-doubt, uncertainty, almost giving up and then persisting to be able to be here. I still don’t feel like I’m fully there yet. And that’s a good thing. If I’d ticked off all my goals before I turned 30, I’d have nothing left to do. Still, I’m incredibly proud of the fact that ever since I was a young girl, I dreamed of becoming a National Geographic Explorer. And today, at the age of 27, I have realised that dream.

I’ve learned to believe in my ability and trust my skills. Don’t be afraid of failure. Failure is an essential part of learning and improving. I can’t compare my skills from 5 years ago to where they are today. I did the best I could with what I knew and had available to me at the time. One of the biggest challenges has been learning to allow myself that grace. I’ve learned to be inspired by other peoples’ work but not to try and copy it. The very nature of art is that it’s unique. There is no right or wrong way to do things. No one does it like me, and that’ a good thing. There is no one to compete with. I am just here to play and experiment with my career.

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?
Cape Town is still my favourite city in the world because there you can never run out of things to do. We would eat at a a little Ethiopian restaurant called Madam Taitou. We’d do a sunrise dip at Clifton 4th Beach. We’d go scuba diving in Simons Town. We’d go wine tasting in Franschhoek, and thrift shopping in Observatory. We’d go kayaking off Mouille Point where they are always playing dolphins swimming around, and if we go around August, hopefully we’d see some humpback whales too. Finally, we’d take a hike up Table Mountain and come down the mountain through Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, where we’d have a lovely lunch and coffee.

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?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to my beloved parents, who have always encouraged me to go after my dreams. They have always believed in me and my vision, and have always supported me no matter what.

Website: www.tessabarlin.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tessa_wildlife/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessabarlin/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tessa_wildlife

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tessabarlin.photography

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCryzVnZEJt8MH9__5Cb1dVA