Life & Work with Logan Harding

Today we’d like to introduce you to Logan Harding.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was given an old film camera when I was 8, and that sparked a passion for photography. I spent almost all my time and certainly ALL my money developing film through high school. I also interned at a small video studio while in high school, then went on to get my bachelor’s in Media Production. I freelanced on the side for the next several years while working a full time corporate job doing video/photo work in the e-learning for healthcare industry.

When my wife and I moved to Arizona in March of 2020, I decided to go full time with my own business. I chose real estate as my main niche to get the gears turning. I have experience in several different industries though, and am now building a full service marketing agency. I’ve brought on a photo editor, a marketing guru, a web developing magician, and soon, a social media specialist.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being an entrepreneur is never a smooth road. My dream was to run my own business directly out of college. The reality was getting fired from my first real estate photography job 2 weeks before my wedding. Then, we got married, and my wife worked part time as a piano teacher and part time as a uniform shop manager, and I worked part time at a coffee shop, part time at a dollar general, and part time doing whatever photography and video gigs I could muster in Florida. That went on for about 6 months until I had to find something better financially because our honeymoon baby was due and we needed more.

I landed the corporate job in North Carolina, and that gave us some financial stability. It also gave me some more experience working in my profession. As an entrepreneur though, I never fit the ‘gear in the machine’ mold. I wouldn’t keep my head down and stop looking for opportunity to do more of what I loved in different departments within the company. That didn’t fit well with the plans they had for my position, and I was fired in February of 2019. My side hustle of photography and video didn’t support my family at that point, and we (wife and 2 kids now) lost our apartment.

I looked for work for the next 10 months while living with friends. I only found a part time job doing real estate photography. I had done it in the past, so I knew how to shoot, and picked up the editing pretty fast. While there, I grilled the owner on how he ran his business. The finances, taxes, pricing, packages, how to interface with clients, basically, how to run a successful business.

That didn’t pay enough to support my family again, so we decided to move to Arizona to be close to my wife’s family and have the kids grow up with their extended family. I asked my wife to give me 1 month to get my business rolling, and if it failed, I would look for a regular job again. The first month was 5 days a week, 8-10 hours a day cold calling, emailing, working on Instagram, and hitting the road as hard as I could. Things picked up in the next couple months and God has blessed far more than I expected.

Things are still hard, but I am now running a successful media company and I’m set to more than double what I used to make in my corporate job. We’re living on our own again after almost 2 years of living with friends and family with 2 kids.

I know at any point, things could change, and we could be back where we started, but I also know that “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” ~ Job 1:21

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a photographer and cinematographer. I started out in weddings, and have done family portraits, business lifestyle portraits, product photography and video, social media lifestyle photography and video, real estate media, aerial photography/video with drones, and even shot video with another team for NASCAR. I have a really broad background in media, and I’m bringing all that to Southern Arizona.

I specialize in bringing cinematic video to marketing. Most of that is in the luxury real estate marketing currently. I’ve had client’s clients say “This isn’t from Tucson…this is Hollywood!” I’m able to bring fast paced, out of the box video to Arizona’s marketing scene, and I’m loving it! I’ve also done some automotive marketing, and that’s a thrill…something I’d like to do more of.

I’ve also brought my eye for creative, cinematic video to my drone work, and that takes things to a whole new level.

Beyond the skills of photo and video work, I really enjoy running a business and building relationships. I’m really good at that, and I come alive when I’m able to help my clients (who usually end up friends) plan and capture their vision and dream in video.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
First, I would be nothing without Jesus. He’s made all of this possible for me when I don’t deserve it. He didn’t have to bless my work, but He has. He’s given me grace in people’s eyes here, and given me connections and put me in a circle of influence that I could never achieve on my own.

Second, my wife has been an INCREDIBLE blessing and support through all of this. We’ve had a really tough road…just married, honeymoon baby, 5 part time jobs and usually broke, to losing my job and moving to AZ with no guarantee of success. She stuck with me, supported me, and has been in my corner while raising our two vibrant children.

Third, Garrett and Blake Pace of Lakeside Media taught me SO much during my years in NC. I worked with them on high end weddings and the NASCAR marketing, and I would never be where I’m at today with my video editing skillset if it weren’t for them. They taught me how to hustle in the video world as well. I’ve never seen a team work as hard as they have.

Forth, Woody with New View Photography in NC taught me how to run a real estate media business. He’s been in the game for 12 years, and he imparted as much of that as he could in the 10 months I worked with him. I was able to hit the ground running when we moved here because of all that he taught me.

Fifth, Gabe Nevarez of 33 Realty here in Tucson was one of my first clients. He is a visionary for his brand, and really helped mold some of the packages I offer now.

Pricing:

• Commercial marketing video is a $1200 /day rate
• A business BrandBuilder (the first step in the brand identity package we offer) starts at $1500

Contact Info:

• Email: logan@shadowpointmedia.com
• Website: www.shadowpointmedia.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/shadowpointmedia
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/shadowpointmedia

Image Credits
Logan Harding