Today we’d like to introduce you to Leo Samples.
Hi Leo, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Funny story… During my journey to play professional basketball, I noticed that I would get more exposure if I had more highlight reels and videos. Only problem was I was often alone while working out and during pro-exposure basketball camps. This was hindering my ability to get full exposure for coaches and scouts to see what I could do on a basketball court. Instead of letting this defeat me, I started recording myself working out, doing drills, and creating highlight reels for myself to send to coaches. During this process, I started teaching myself the art of editing videos, not knowing that I would fall in love with the process while doing it. A few youtube videos away and I was equipped with what I needed to know how to edit content.
Fast forward several months, I was gifted a camera for Christmas from a special person. I had never owned a professional camera before so the excitement was evident on my face when I opened the gift. I took that camera everywhere with me. From the grocery store to the gym, even nightclubs! Just snapping whatever I felt like snapping. Ironically my first paid gig was to record a basketball game, so it really came full circle for me. Having a camera around my neck all the time opened a lot of doors for me and attracted clients like I hadn’t anticipated. I would get into events for free, clubs, exhibits, and even arenas simply by the assumption that I was the “camera guy” for the event.
My first big venue I attended was in 2018 at an event called “The Instagala”, here in Atlanta, GA. I attended the event with my sister. We were dressed to the nines as they say and of course, I had my camera around my neck. The event had many celebrities and social media influencers in attendance so I knew it would be a great place to start networking. During the event, my sister encouraged me to start taking photos, so I did. I started taking pictures of every celebrity or influencer I ran across. I had only been doing it a few weeks by now so I was getting comfortable taking them, but I was confident and knew even as a newbie, I was pretty good at this thing. I was approached by a few VIP guests to come to take photos for them. It wasn’t too long before I had everyone wowed by the photos I was taking. So much so that it seemed to make it easy to connect with multiple clients that wanted me to be their personal photographer. This was the beginning of my journey and I never looked back.
I booked a camera operator job that night for a client that was currently filming a reality show for BET. This is where I learned what it looked like to be a part of a real film crew. I fell in love with being on set and soon realized I found another passion other than basketball for the first time in my life. At this time, I was living 3 hours away from ATL and the commute to be on set every day and work a full-time job 3 hours away became very challenging. Even with the commute and long hours on set, I knew it was something I needed to pursue. I would be on set for hours, sometimes not wrapping up until 2-3am and have to drive back home to be at work at 7am. It was a real grind but in the midst of it all, I began to meet amazing people and network with the right clients that helped me propel into a full Photography/Videography business. I was taking pictures everywhere and gaining more clients and expanding my portfolio and services. I even ended up being invited to the Emmy’s by a client where I would further my clientele and gain the confidence to do this full time. It wasn’t even a year and I decided that it was time to go all in on figuring this thing out. That year I walked away from my USAF Logistic Analyst career to follow my true calling.
I moved up to ATL so I would no longer have to commute and also not have the risk of missing out on opportunities that frankly you just have to be available for in this industry. Sometimes I would get called last minute for big gigs that I could not do simply because I was too far away. In 2019 I created “LINC PRODUCTIONS”. Today, I have expanded my business past simply taking pictures and videos. I have a team of amazing creative people where we specialize in both personal brands and B2B digital marketing, ad campaigns, music videos, commercials, professional photography and more. We are the one stop shop for anyone or any company that is looking to scale and grow their business to new heights. Whether it be a Real Estate agent that needs their listings photographed or headshots, to the indy artist that needs and new hot music video, to a Fortune 500 company looking for marketing schemes to increase revenue and flow. I’m proud to say at Linc Productions, we can get it all done. In 2023, we plan on filming and producing a new tv series that will be shopped to major platforms and tv networks that will send shock waves through entertainment world. I’m very excited for the future of Linc Productions and its affiliates and don’t plan on stopping any time soon. STAY TUNED.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Gaining success in anything you do will come with obstacles and challenges. These are the very things that you become successful from. There will always be ups and downs but how you deal with either of the two often determines who and what you are. It also tends to determine how successful you will become. My main challenges have been expansion, client retention, and knowing who to work with. You have to understand that you can’t work with everyone and all money isn’t good money. Standing on my core values and intuition has helped me along the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At my core, I am a creative. I love bringing visions that I have had in my head since childhood into fruition. I love when I can think of something in my head, write it down and see it come to life in video or pictures. On the other hand, I am a businessman. I know what makes sense business-wise and have always been a natural with numbers. I have endless amounts of creativity and ideas that helps me create amazing content for myself and others. On the same token, it also helps me think of innovative ways to implement within a business structure and improve just about any process that I have knowledge on. My business mainly consists of creating engaging content for personal brands and businesses looking to scale. We do photography, commercials, promos, music videos, digital marketing, ad work and more. We specialize in knowing we can take anyone and any business from where they are to new heights.
What makes me most proud is the satisfaction I receive when I see my team and I put in work for one common goal whether it be a simple shoot for a model or running an ad campaign for a clothing brand. It makes me proud to know that like minds can come together and create magic with one another. So as the company grows, so does everyone else that is involved and I hold great pride in knowing that I’ve created a platform that creatives and business people alike can be “LINKED” to. (LINC PRODUCTIONS) which stands for “Living Is Not Confined”. There are no confinements with truly LIVING and I stand by that. Linc Productions is NOT about me, it’s about us. That’s what I’m building. What sets us apart from others is we do everything with the client in mind. We consult, we write scripts, we strategize with clients and build something exclusive and tailor-made for them. Everyone is different, and we treat our clients like that. You’re not just a number here. Its exclusivity that separates us.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I love collaborations. Anyone looking to help or add value in any way I’m definitely looking to work with. You can DM me on IG or email me personally to LEO@Lincproductions.com. Anyone else looking to support you can simply like a post, share a link, tell a friend and please SUBSCRIBE to the youtube channel (LINCPRODUCTIONS). We are currently looking to expand so we are looking for more team members, more interns and anyone that can add knowledge and value to the cause. Any actors, film crew members, writers, producers, directors, photographers, PAs or etc, looking for a team, feel free to reach out. Anyone that is looking to invest in the company can consult with me anytime to see if it is a good fit for both of us. Grow with us!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leo_free/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lincproductions3528/featured
Image Credits
Linc Productions @Leo_free
