Meet Candice Johnson of Views of Gold Entertainment in Brooklyn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Candice Johnson.

Candice, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As much as I’d like to say that I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do from the start, that is just simply isn’t the truth. I’ve only discovered my passion for photography and videography within the last two years. Though if I were to start from the beginning I’d say my love filmmaking started when I was a young Brooklyn girl that added to the movie collection with her mom every time she went to the doctor. You can ask the local Blockbuster if you can find one. I still own a DVD/VCR so that I can still watch those old movies and the special features, bloopers and behind the scenes. But that wasn’t enough for me to see where I should have gone. Something pushed me to go toward the medical field, and while everything happens for a reason and I am very appreciative of all that I’ve learned, I feel as though I should’ve seen this in myself sooner.

I pursued the medical professions and didn’t touch a camera until 2014 when I studied abroad in Paris, France. I had an amazing time and experience, I still cherish the memories and look through some of the pictures to this day. That was my first experience handling a digital camera and I took some nice pictures that I had no idea what to do with. So, like before I just focused on school and at this point earning my degree. The topic wasn’t visited again until I was about to start graduate school and my very good friend Leah, that I owe thanks to, suggested I start a YouTube channel. I had been looking into multiple streams of income and had already decided to take multiple vacations that summer. So I bought myself a GoPro and decided to figure it out, it wasn’t until the last vacation that I figured out how to properly record a vlog and just like that I had posted my first travel vlog on my channel “LifestyleofGold TV.” This wasn’t enough to make me full time though, I stayed in school and eventually fell off with vlogging because school became extremely demanding.

About a year later, I was dismissed from graduate school for failing to pass a test with a score of 80 or higher. Even though I immediately transferred my credits to a new University and continued school online, me being dismissed was honestly the first push toward my passion. After that, I was in school for something I no longer wanted, starting a business in real estate and working at a job I hated for 6 months. During that time, I picked up vlogging again and thought long and hard about what made me happy and what I would do just for the pure joy of it. I felt that I needed to figure that out before attempting to pursue anything else after dropping out of online school. Eventually, I decided to get more consistent with vlogging and had a sudden desire to create influenced by my friends Keron and Cory – who are also photographers and videographers. They pushed me to get an actual camera. After that the rest is history. I went on to start doing photo shoots and videos for clients and used my vlogs and YouTube university to sharpen my editing skills and find my style of vlog. Right now I am a self employed full time freelance photographer and videographer at Views of Gold Entertainment, where I travel where you are capture to your memories and bring your ideas to life. Even though it gets hard managing this business as well as my real estate investing I truly believe that I’m doing what I’m meant to do. The irregularity of pay in the beginning stages can be tough and it takes a lot of hustle and meeting people but at the end of the day, it’s what I love to do.

Has it been a smooth road?
No, I definitely wouldn’t call this road a smooth one. One struggle would be finding work as a freelancer starting. All I had was what I’ve learned on Youtube and practiced while filming and editing my own vlog. There isn’t anything wrong with being self taught, but starting from scratch in your home requires significantly more effort to get outside content and network with others in your field. I had to utilize social media tags to find and follow like minded people to get in those rooms where I can get my name out there. Outside of that another challenge that I had and I’m still dealing with is pricing and knowing your worth. Even though you may be new to the craft, if you do the work and create great results then you should be compensated accordingly. My biggest challenge is sticking to my guns and sometimes letting gigs pass by because they don’t see the value in working with me for the price that I set for myself.

Tell us more about the business.
I run a photography and videography business or entertainment company originally based out of the Philadelphia and New York City regions. I’m most known for travel and tourism content which is essentially traveling to different cities and attractions and creating a video that displays the location. I like the photography and commercial side of advertising and marketing, which is something I’m pushing to dig into even more. I’m proud to say that my company has grown from a vlogging base and is expanding to different areas within the industry. I think what sets me apart is my prior college education in psychology. I feel as though it gives me a sort of understanding of what my client or the audience wants and helps me to relay their message or personality through the picture or video. Also, I think that although I do have a degree, the fact that it isn’t in the field of my business also plays to my advantage. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going to school to sharpen a craft or learn something new. But, I feel as though coming from a vlogging background allows me to be able to truly create without an innate feeling of boundaries that can be set by formal education.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
In the next five to ten years I see the industry changing from a lot of individuals becoming their own business and creating a whole empire surrounding that business. Identical to a lot of YouTube photographers and film makers that do classes, sell merchandise and collaborate and partner with other businesses as well as creatives. They may not run a YouTube channel on their own but I can see someone building a Kevin Hart or Peter McKinnon type of empire.

Contact Info:

• Website: viewsofgoldent.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/viewsofgold.ent
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ViewsofGoldEnt/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/shotbyvinaj
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/shes.goldennn

Image Credit:
The images of me were photographed by my friend and team member that is also a photographer Keron A. Murray.

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