FilmingLifer PRO | Lindsey DeCicco
Lindsey DeCicco is a photographer & filmmaker based in South Bend, Indiana and one of our valued FilmingLifer PRO members at the FilmingLife® Academy + Network.
Lindsey has always loved taking and looking at home videos and pictures. She can remember a thousand details that would have otherwise been forgotten by looking at an old family picture or hearing the voice of a family member. Creating those kinds of memories for her clients is what she loves to do.
Tell us a bit about yourself
Those that know me best know I love Dr. Pepper, Lake Michigan, Jesus, reading, Seinfeld reruns, telling funny stories, and my family (not necessarily listed in order of importance!).
I met my husband in our church youth group and have been with him for over half our lives. We started dating when I was 16 and married really young. Both of us were 20. We will celebrate our 16 year anniversary this October. I have 3 boys, spaced out quite a bit in age due to infertility. It was a difficult journey and I’m grateful for those stinky guys every day.
I am also a Physical Therapist Assistant in our hospital. I work one morning a week over there, spending the rest of my time at home with my kids and working on my part-time photography and videography business. My husband pastors a church, so that keeps us busy on our evenings and weekends.
Tell us about the kind of photography & films you create
I am a family photographer and videographer who dabbles in senior, wedding and commercial work.
It’s about 75% family and 25% the other stuff.
How did you first get started in photography?
My dad was a hobbyist photographer and bought me a Barbie 110 camera for Christmas one year.
Ever since then, I’ve always had a camera. I just naturally kept learning more until I got here.
What made you decide to learn video? What was your motivation?
Video was appealing to me because watching our family’s home videos was always so fun to me. I love it.
My dad loved to make them and we loved to watch them. Now my dad is gone and I do really cherish hearing his voice on the videos. I cry every single time I watch the scene of Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation when he is up in the attic watching the old film reels. I love the nostalgia.
Several years ago, I started trying to take little videos with my camera during sessions and adding those tiny clips into my client’s slideshows. They were truly terrible, but they were a big hit with the clients, regardless.
I started trying to get better at taking little videos of my family. I was on vacation in Charleston, SC and had just taken a video of my kids drinking a smoothie. Someone from Chicago started chatting me up and asked if I was doing video. She told me about a course she had just finished and I immediately looked it up and decided to take it as soon as it was offered again. I learned the basics and ran away with it.
My kids absolutely love watching the films I have created. It makes me want to keep going.
“I saved all my favorite clips of my baby throughout the year and had such a fun time putting them all together in one love letter of a video. It was so fun seeing the growth of both him and my skill over the year. The hardest part about putting this together was deciding which of the zillions of clips I wanted to use. I just love the way it turned out.”
What was your biggest challenge when you first started learning video and how did you overcome it?
Technically, it was probably nailing focus. I wouldn’t shoot more open than f/4.0 for a long time. I have bad eyesight and seeing the focus on my LCD screen was not easy. I practiced and practiced and gradually lowered my aperture number. Now I do much better!
Artistically, I struggled with composition, variety of shots and telling a story. I still struggle with those things. I'm often afraid I’ll miss the moment. I want to work on slowing down during my professional and personal shooting.
Did you find it a challenge to educate clients on the value of films, how were they first received by clients?
Educating clients about films was a challenge in my area. To my knowledge there aren’t any other Family Film videographers in my immediate area, (but there are some in the region.) I thought about how I could best get my films in front of my community, and I decided on a very specific model call: photographers.
I know photographers value photography more than most non-photographers do. I reached out to a few photographers that I had personal relationships with and explained what I wanted to do, asking them to pay about $75. (I didn’t have a music subscription at the time and this would at least cover some of my Premiere Pro and music usage for the first few months of filming.)
I also took some pictures (though not many) at each session and had those available to purchase for a nominal fee. Most clients at least bought a few photos, which helped cover my new software and music purchases for a little while. As part of the deal, I asked them to share it if they were happy with it and thankfully, everyone did.
This exposure slowly grew the awareness in my community, and as a bonus the photographers didn’t feel threatened sharing my work because they don’t do video. One photographer referred me to her client and they have hired me every year. Not only that, but they also hire me every year to do a grandparent film. The same photographer hired me back to do another 2 additional films for her family.
Another photographer has been a referral machine for me. Unfortunately, not many have worked out yet but she continues to support me with referrals.
A third photographer has become a good friend and I’ve even started shooting some wedding videos alongside her wedding photography business. We will do two together this season.
Another photographer and I have solidified our “co-worker” type relationship with tons of referrals back and forth and we shoot different genres.
The relationships I have been able to strengthen through videography is such a pleasant side effect. I still am not booked up quite to the level I aspire to be, but it has been very good.
I have since done two similar model calls, one for vacationers around us and another for a baby’s-first-year kind of compilation film. My next model call idea is for a moving portrait type session. Slow and steady wins the race!
Tell us about your favourite film and why it's special to you
My favorite film is my most recent personal film, of our trip to a lake cottage (below).
Things are starting to click together for me in the shooting, in the editing, in the music planning.. it just feels like it’s all coming together and I am levelling-up a little more.
Sentimentally, it is special because I grew up on the lake every summer and, while I can’t give the whole-summer experience to my boys, I am loving watching them enjoy it for a week at a time. The sparkling water, the “tink” of the flags hitting the flagpoles, the laughter that you can hear carry around the shore.. I just love everything about a lake vacation! My baby was such a fun age on this trip. I want to bottle him up... and I did!
What is your best piece of advice for those just getting started with films?
If you have the money, invest in the academy. It has been so tremendously helpful.
If you don’t have the money yet, listen to every podcast, read every blog post, and watch everything you can about making films. Implement a little at a time. It’s tempting to bite off more than you can chew. Pick a focus, attempt it a few times, and then pick another.
Over time your skillset will improve and you will be amazing!
See more of Lindsey’s work via her website - www.lindseydeciccophotography.com - and social media - IG: @lindseydeciccophotography
