Today we’d like to introduce you to Herb Maximo.
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 feel like everyone’s story is like a ladder… climbing up step by step but mine went a little more like climbing to the top of one ladder and then jumping to the next ladder to climb up that one… repeat that 5-6 times and that’s pretty much what I went through. It started in with music for me, I was a musician before anything else and to this day its still my first love. I spent most of my teenage years on stage fronting a screamo band. I knew I was meant to be in the music industry but wasn’t quite sure where I fit yet so a few years into my 20’s I decided to go back to school and enrolled in Full Sail University, where I graduated with a Bachelors in Music Business. While there, I took on practically ever internship I could get and my future in the industry was looking pretty promising.
I started working with talent buyers and artist managers in Orlando and at the time, I dabbled around with photography just as a hobby; I never really took it seriously. Out of nowhere, I would start getting asked to shoot the bands that would come into Orlando… it started off with up and coming acts, then to the more established local bands, then to somehow shooting national touring acts at music festivals. I eventually realized that photography was becoming my “thing,” so before I even graduated from Full Sail, I shifted my focus to photography and that’s really where it all started for me. The transition from photo to video is similar, it’s really a “fake it till you make it” story. I was asked to shoot a pretty big movie premiere but the only catch was that they needed video. I had absolutely no idea how to shoot video, so I went on YouTube that night and learned as much as I could, then hoped onto amazon and ordered a few video essentials. Three days later, I was shooing a movie premiere. Once I settled into filmmaking, some years passed before I finally found my way back to music and can honestly say its the biggest blessing; combining my first love with my second love. It took about half of my life but turns out directing music videos is where I belong in the music industry.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely was not a smooth road but part of the journey is learning to love the bumps. If you’re not having fun, turn around a pick a different road because if there is any part of your passion that you don’t enjoy, it’s not really your passion. But if I were to think back, I guess one of the earliest struggles for me was really trying to got noticed in a scene that was overpopulated. I started in the era were Instagram was finally letting you actually upload photos and right around that same time is when everyone was becoming a photographer, not to mention the seasoned photographers that already owned the scene.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a cinematographer that specializes in music videos. My work tends to be more on the moody side and is very rhythmic. I’m extremely thankful for the background in music that I have because I think that it plays a huge factor in my on-set decision-making. Everything is very calculated and in line with the music. One of my proudest achievements was winning an Emmy in 2017 for a documentary that I worked on.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I think this generation of filmmakers are pioneers. It’s the new wave of creators and we are doing things completely different than they’ve ever been done. That being said, I don’t really think mentors are very common right now, I think it’s mostly community. It’s more about working and learning WITH each other rather than learning FROM each other because we’re in a way paving the road for the next generation. This is turning out to be a much deeper answer than I expecting but its sort of true. But again, this industry is all about relationships… I think the best thing to do is to find some likeminded people that share the same vision and literally just shoot everything together. It’ll expand your network and knowledge.
Contact Info:
- Email: me@herbmaximo.com
- Website: www.herbmaximo.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/herbmaximo
