Meet Ty Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ty Smith. 

Hi Ty, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
My story dates back to 2007 when I got my first webcam and started uploading videos to YouTube. Though I’ve been no stranger to cameras, thanks to my dad and his documentation of me and my sibling’s childhood it sparked my interest in the visual arts. After some years of just creating random ideas, I get my first official camera in 2014 my freshman year of high school. At this point, after working with video since I was younger my interest in shooting photos started because I needed to do something different. The learning curve of having an actual camera was frustrating because I knew nothing at the time about exposure, composition, or quality storytelling. Three years go by of me trying to find my style through architecture, landscape, and self-portraits. It wasn’t until 2017 that I shot someone else other than myself and found my new passion for taking pictures of people. A year goes by and I begin to find my style within my photos, ultimately becoming more confident, I even began to shoot my photos on film. Now it’s 2018 and I graduate from high school with dreams of moving to LA to pursue my passion in visual arts. Moved there with my friend Ari, whom I’ve met in my high school video production class. We enrolled in the Los Angeles Film School and was living in Hollywood on track to pursuing our mission. After about a year and six months, I ended up getting some great opportunities to be a part of film sets as a production photographer and things started to pick up for me so I dropped out of film school cause it was too much to manage at the time being a full-time student and working on 12hr sets. Things are going well and I’m ready to go full-on towards my ambitions. Until Feb 2020 covid hit and the world came to a stop, especially in LA. The opportunities slowed down and after working how I was working I got burned out from LA. So August of 2020 I move back home to Denver to be with family and get connected with myself again. Over the past year of being back home, I’ve been working on building my production company 88Legacy and providing the best visuals for the people in my city. I’m focused on my city and really establishing myself here as the guy you go to for top-quality video & photo work. This is only the beginning. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The main struggle that I’ve had over my career is consistently putting out the ideas I come up with. I’ll have the winning streaks of me putting out some of my best work and then go ghost. The thing is though the best opportunities in my career have come from consistency. So that’s why my main focus this year is just being consistent, I know the work is good quality but I just got to consistently keep putting out the good quality work. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a director and photographer. My main focus over the past couple of years has been photography and I’m known for my unique sense of color and storytelling in my photos. What makes me most proud is how far I have come and my long-term consistency in getting better in my craft regardless of what roadblocks come my way. 

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
There are many people that have supported me through my journey and the list would be to long if I went down it but those that I appreciate I let it be known. If I have to give credit to anyone though it would be my parents. The way that they’ve raised me and the insight that I’ve gained from them is what made me who I am today. My mother is an interior designer and business owner, I’ve gained a lot of my artistic knowledge and business savyness from her. My father works in communications and I’ve learned a lot of my communication and people skills from him. Combine all of that together and you have me! 

Contact Info:

• Email: hi@tysmith.co
• Website: www.tysmith.co
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/Tycr8tes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TySmithOfficial
• Twitter: twitter.com/Tycr8tes
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4YJkpaGVIbbeSWm-jM6QmA