Meet Dylan Nguyen of Dylan Nguyen Visuals & Rigid Motion Films
I have always had a love for the arts, from elementary school art class, playing clarinet throughout middle and high school, then dance, photography, and film. High school is when I really got into photography and filmmaking. I was the band historian for three years and took my high school’s photography and video production courses. Like a lot of high school students, I didn’t really know what to do when I got into college, and I wasn’t particularly good at anything else, so I decided pursue my passion for creating art as a career.
During my college career, I took a hiatus from photography to focus on filmmaking, graduating from the University of North Texas in 2017 with a B.A. in Radio, TV, and Film. Also during college, me and a couple of friends (Zachary Dyck & Carter Van Meter) from high school created our own film/video production company, Rigid Motion Films. It wasn’t until the end of 2018 that I was re-inspired to get back into photography after finding myself in a creative rut, both mentally and emotionally, stemming from not being able to find a job, and not producing very much content.
From there, I pushed to improve my photography skills and continue to improve each day. I have pushed both sides of my own brand, through word-of-mouth and reaching out to people to get where I am. And am now a published photographer and successful filmmaker/content creator. I am incredibly proud of how much I have evolved in both photography and filmmaking, but it definitely does not stop here.
Being unable able to find a job as a filmmaker/videographer in this field has proven to create its own set of challenges. I think a sizable part of it has to do with the political aspects in this market, as well as some of the odd requirements and experience that some of the jobs have, which may inhibit potential hire and interviews. However, the lack of a 9-to-5 has definitely helped me grow as a photographer and filmmaker, giving me more opportunities to create freely and do a bunch of gigs. Otherwise, I would say it has been a pretty smooth road. Having such a supportive family and friends has definitely helped. My parents didn’t force me to go in any particular direction in terms of my career choices but have supported me in all my endeavors in art.
Dylan Nguyen Visuals serves as my portfolio and a brand that specializes in photography, filmmaking, and video production. Rigid Motion Films is a co-founded company with friends that specializes in filmmaking and video production. I am proud of how successful they both have become in such a short amount of time. I think what sets me apart from others is that I can do both photography and film/video production seamlessly. Having spent time further developing my skills, not only in capturing still images, but also creating and telling stories with film, I have been able to bridge the gap between the two areas; allowing me to do both photography and film/video production seamlessly, which is not very common for someone in this field, as people tend to focus heavily on one or the other.
I define success as being stable, sharing new experiences, and taking all wins. Being stable, whether that be financially, physically, mentally, etc., is quite a success in itself. Take the wins. Even the small ones. A win is a win. Success comes with experience, and not just what you know or how long you’ve been doing it, but through learning opportunities. As the saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”.
