Today we’d like to introduce you to Terrence Scott.
Hi Terrence, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Before buying my first camera, I had already had a heavy interest in photography; mainly because I use to love the quality of the photos that came from real cameras. In 2016, my junior year of high school; after finally coming to the conclusion that I wanted to try photography out, I took the last bit of money I had saved up from a job I had at the time (I think it was around $250) and bought my first camera. It was a Canon 60D I had got from one of the football coaches at my school (McNair High). BIG SHOUTOUT TO COACH WRIGHT BTW! I really can’t remember exactly how I found out he had a camera for sell but I believe one of my buddies (Big James) knew he did and told me to ask him about it, and thank god I did.
Buying that camera changed my life and I don’t mean financially but it had finally felt like I knew what I wanted to do with my life.. it gave me a purpose. On top of that, I knew I wasn’t going to college because I hated school, so that was most definitely out of question. To be honest, I feel like if I didn’t take action when I did I probably eventually would’ve lost interest, especially due to the fact that DSLR cameras are expensive AF. Of course, the camera I bought didn’t last long, but shit I only paid $250 for it so I really wasn’t surprised lol.. but another big shoutout to my dawg Twan (@imbabytwan) for letting me use his camera when mine broke on me, man played a big part in keeping me going with photography. Salute to you my brother, if you reading this.
In 2017, I started interning for what I believe was a managing company. I think the name at the time was “TheCampaignATL.” The owners Gambino and Karmen was managing Chicago artist “Lil Wop” at the time so they sort of made me his personal photographer and from there I started doing a lot of shooting for artists, mainly rappers. Being in the rap scene, I started to grow an interest in music videos but I was slick scared to take action because it was out of my comfort zone. The same year (2017) I eventually tried it and started shooting videos for my friends and people in my neighborhood who wanted to rap but I didn’t really get good at it until maybe 2019. Around this time I was still mainly a photographer. I started trying to take it serious when I started getting good feedback from my peers and my social media following but it was still more of a “doing it for fun” type of situation. In 2020-2021, I said f*ck it and really started trying to transition more into videos. Fast forward to now, 2022-2023, I’m pretty much a full-time director/videographer.
But as far as where I’m at today, a big part of my progress/success was from networking and building valuable relationships.. I also tried to keep myself in the right rooms. Believe it or not a camera can get you A LOT of opportunities and in A LOT of places and at the time I was taking any opportunity I could get, whether it was a paid one or not. During my beginning stages, I tried to really not focus on money and just keep my focus on BUILDING MY PORTFOLIO and again my RELATIONSHIPS because I knew eventually those two things would open doors for more opportunities down the road; which would also eventually turn my hobby into a career.
Also, just a word of advice to any up and coming photographers/videographers, don’t be money hungry and don’t just do it for money. You won’t get as far as you think. I’m not saying don’t charge at all but know when to charge, how to charge and know who to charge. The right relationship can take further than trying to charge a petty couple hundred dollars. Another thing, don’t be afraid to try new things. Stepping out of your comfort zone is the only way you’ll see growth in anything you do.
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?
A smooth road? NOT AT ALL! Not even close if I’m being 100% honest. But I look at it like this, anything actually worth achieving or chasing doesn’t come easy.. so instead of looking at it like a bad thing or complaining, I always tried to flip any situation into a lesson and just learn from it. I look at everything as a sign and just think, “maybe this happened for a reason.”
Coming up as a photographer/videographer most of my struggles; which I feel like any creative could relate to… is how expensive it is to invest into decent equipment… Luckily for me, I was old enough to get a job, which eventually help me buy everything I needed in order to start shooting. Besides financial reasons, I feel like I’ve dealt all types of problems since starting… for instance, a car break-in (which forced me to start COMPLETELY over.), equipment being broken, photos and videos being lost, wanting quit MULTIPLE times dealing with impatient people, etc… I could keep going but I think y’all get the message. Lol
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My brand was built up mainly off photography; portrait photography to be specific, which eventually transitioned into videography. I still do both to this day, my main focus right now though is videography. As far as what I specialize in if I’m being honest… I feel like I’m equally great at both.
Since starting I’ve done more than I expected I would, especially for me being as young as I was at the beginning of my journey. I’ve had the opportunity to shoot for people such as Lil Baby, Young Thug, Lil Durk, Gunna, Hoodrich Pablo Juan, 21 Savage, Moneybagg Yo, Young Nudy, Lil Keed, the list goes on… I’ve had photos published on blogs, photos used for album/mixtape covers, etc… One of my photos was used on Lil Baby’s “Harder Than Hard” mixtape cover which I feel made people embrace me as a photographer, which helped a lot at the time. Not to mention, recently I’ve been getting hired by big record labels to shoot videos for their artists, which is a big accomplishment to me. So really, my business as a whole has been thriving. Honestly speaking, I’m overly proud of how far my brand/business as a whole has come and how far I’ve come mentally throughout these past years.
As for what sets me apart from others, I feel like my style of editing always stood out when it came to both videos and photos, at least to me it did. I don’t use the craziest effects but I think it’s my color grading and quality that always caught people’s eyes. Shit, if I’m being honest it even surprises me sometimes.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
If you’re not willing to bet on yourself when no one else will, being an entrepreneur is not for you… go apply for a job. People hear the word “Risk” and get intimidated, which is understandable depending on your situation. But if really want to achieve something in life you will do what it takes to get there! Living in fear and being scared will leave you stuck! I’ve taken multiple risks to get to where I am in my career and I’m nowhere near where I wanna be. Sometimes it was rewarding and sometimes it wasn’t but that’s what comes with it being a risk. I have taken many major risks since starting my business, too many to count tbh. Not to mention the sacrifices I had to make in order to grow but yea.. risks and sacrifices are overly necessary.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.oneshotskott.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/oneshotskott
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/oneshotskott
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/oneshotskott
Image Credits
@shawnwentcrazy @richdasniper @eyezofmenace @shotbyfatboi_
