Sommertime Creative was a small multimedia production business I started in 2013 while a Junior at Ohio State. I had started messing around with video cameras in 6th grade, and the hobby stuck more than any other. Over time I got better cameras, professional editing software, and continuously learned about all it took to make something look and sound professional. This pursuit of professional video quality eventually led me into photography as, at the time, the most accessible large sensor video cameras were actually DSLR photographic cameras that had a video mode.
My photographic skills grew throughout several family vacations, and I eventually wanted to display my work on a website. This led me to learn html and CSS and soon enough, I could design websites. Graphic design was a skill I picked up over the years while working on websites and video titles. I think all of these visual-based skills really rely on the same appreciation of spatial composition and color balance, so I tended to grow in all of them simultaneously. (keep reading below)
At some point I had the opportunity to work on a video project for a friend with the skills and small amount of equipment I had acquired as a 19 year old. When that project went well, another future client approached me about doing some marketing for his business. To take on that project I thought of a business name, registered it, got business insurance, and Sommertime Creative was born as an amalgamation of the visual (and auditory) skills I had developed over the preceding near-decade.
Over the next several years I used all of those skills to complete marketing projects for other businesses and organizations. Videography became the dominant aspect of the business, and the projects I took on gave me many interesting opportunities. In 2015 I spent a day filming for Radio Disney, capturing the behind the scenes and on-stage action of Dove Cameron, Before you Exit, and Timeflies duo Cal Shapiro and Rob Resnick as they performed at a family and equestrian event on the property of billionaire Les Wexner. In my middle years of medical school I filmed a few live music videos for country music artist Clark Manson as he opened for Old Dominion and performed at Country Concert in Fort Laramie, OH. I produced several videos for Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine, and created a documentary style film on patients with fibromyalgia that was used in research on medical student education on the topic. I filmed promotional walkthroughs of event spaces throughout downtown Columbus, OH (along with 360 degree photos) and produced video interviews with the CEOs of Watershed Distillery and Pelotonia, among many other projects.
Overall, my experience operating this small business was a fantastic one. It gave me an opportunity for multi-dimensional growth outside of my medical education, helped me professionally interact with people twice or three times my age, provided an income when I would’ve otherwise been completely dependent on student loans, forced me to more intimately understand business taxes, allowed me to develop a creative passion I’ll have for the rest of my life, and like I mentioned above, delivered some incredibly unique experiences.
Now that I’m done with medical school and finally have a stable income as a resident physician, I no longer require the additional income Sommertime Creative provided and no longer have time to devote to such demanding projects outside of work. As such, in the beginning of 2021, the operation of my first small business came to a close and filmmaking turned back into a passion project. This leaves me open for growth in a new direction. I now exercise this creative passion by producing films of my own adventures, but in the future I plan on working toward the creation of long-form films with a more cinematic character. As always, I like to keep my visions for the future a bit amorphous; this allows you to be open to the same sort of serendipitous opportunities that led to the majority of my past video projects. All I know is that I remain excited by filmmaking and look forward to what the future will bring!