Today we’d like to introduce you to Edward Macak
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?
When I was a kid, I was super invested in movies. I would buy every favorite movie on DVD, just to watch the “behind the scenes” content.
As I got into elementary/middle school, I took a few summer programs for various backgrounds; stop motion animation, and video game design.
Ultimately, I did not always know I would be pursueing photography and videography until I hit high school. In my freshman year, I took an photography class as a blow-off class. Little did I know, it was actually an analog course – developing photo negatives in a dark room, making pinhole cameras from scratch, and learning about photography overall in the more “classic” way. I fell in love with the process, and knew that was what I wanted to do. That year, I made it into my very first art show. Unfortunately, that was also the year COVID hit — I never got my piece back, and I don’t really even know if the art show ever happened. I was also moving at the time, so it wasn’t my focus to keep track of the happenings of that. I was still overall new to photography.
In my sophomore year, virtually, I took a digital photography course. This essentially rounded up to taking walks in the morning with my phone, snapping away at whatever I saw that I found stood out. My compositional skills improved during this time, as well as my understanding of natural lighting.
In my junior year, I enrolled at Cuyahoga Valley Career Center (CVCC)’s Media Arts program. From there, I went into learning video production for TV/film, musical engineering, photography composition and lighting, and animation. Essentially, every beginning skill anyone could need to start breaking away into the media industry. And, for seniors, we had the opportunity to possibly gain an internship at a local business to get our first experience in the industry.
During my time at CVCC, I also was published in my high school’s literary art magazine, Inkwell. I also earned roles in being a class representative in SkillsUSA, and one of the two students in my class to be members in the National Technical Honor Society.
While in my senior year, Charles Pratt, the owner of Breakthrough Sounds Recording Studio and Media Company, came to guest speak at my school. We had various industry professionals come in to talk about their business and possibly take in interns, mentor students, etc. Charles spoke about Breakthrough Sounds (BTS) as a community centered, faith-based studio and went over their story and day-to-day life. I was sold. Immediately, I loved the sound of this place, and wanted to be a part of it. I asked him then about if they offered internships, to which he responded “We do!”
However, at the time, I was still focused on the tv/film industry and the passion I had. Unfortunately, as I started to settle into looking for opportunities in that space, it wasn’t what I thought it would be; movie sets were now heavily unionized. This meaning, whatever role you have on set is your role. Stepping out of your job could ultimately lead to use loosing it. I didn’t like the idea that helping one another and collaborating for the greater good of the project wasn’t accepted in that space. So, I gave up on pursuing it, and wanted to find something that was more collaborative, community-based, and where I could see the fruits of my labor and how it impacts my clients.
A few months later, BTS sent out a curated ad just to my program. They were looking for a Multimedia Intern. I applied almost immediately. I had an interview, and about two weeks later, I got the role! For the next three months, I was thrown into filming podcasts for clients, updating the company website, and editing client work and internal social media content. After my internship period ended, I was brought in as “Media Assistant,” and continued my work. At the time, the company was in a transitional period of the media department, and I ended up taking the large majority of the work pertaining to internal and external (client) needs. In April of 2024, I was promoted to “Media Producer,” and have been in that role since! I currently work for all client media needs, run the website, address internal photo/video needs, and just celebrated my two years with the company on March 1st! I’ve been blessed to have everything I desired for in my job role, and have worked hard to accomplish it. I have my dream job, and that being more of the impact and reach, and not the title. I’ve been able to work with numerous brands for commercial projects, countless Cleveland artists, and every project that comes my way is unique and rewarding in its own way.
I also started writing poetry at the start of 2024. Prior to pursuing photography at the start of my career, I used to write short stories constantly in between classes at school. When I got to doing photo/video, I sidelined my love for writing. But, in January of 2024, I saw my first two poetry productions (live events) at Breakthrough. Both were by The Sparrow’s Fortune, a local poetry company that offers community workshops, retreats, and occasional concerts from their internal collective. It revived my love for writing, but in a new way. I’ve performed at various open mics at this point, and have written over 100 poems within the last… over a year. Ultimately, it’s been another great way to express myself in a way outside my media passion as it pertains to work.
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?
It has not been a smooth road! Going from being a high school student, with limited experience, to essentially being the key leader of the media department of a production company in two years did not come without challenges! I personally had to learn a lot about conducting myself in business – handling things with professionalism, but also asserting myself as a leader. Breaking away from my shy and quiet nature of my youth. I also had to learn how to balance multiple deadlines, last-minute bookings and changes in my schedule, and gathering my own clientele through word of mouth, outreach, and how to handle doing everything on my own – without guidance. And at the same time, picking up projects I didn’t have prior experience on knowledge in!
During my internship/assistant period, I also worked a restaurant job from mornings to night three days a week. Eventually, I left that job for several reasons I hated the environment at the restaurant, the ungratefulness and lack of professional response from my bosses, and how that drained my energy and attitude while working at the studio. When I left, I told myself I would never have another job after that if it didn’t pertain to my passions. I didn’t give myself a choice but to move forward to succeed at Breakthrough, earn my Media Producer role, and continue my growth. It was one of the best choices I made for myself. I’m extremely blessed and thankful to say, since then, Breakthrough is my only job. And at first, that was challenging, because I still needed to build clientele, new and returning, which meant getting a consistent income to build myself. But, I have that now.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I wouldn’t say I specialize in anything, but I do have a signature style. So, my regular projects week-to-week consist of creating content for social media, artist projects such as music videos, live recordings, and mic drop videos. I take portraits that range from headshots to various creative aesthetics. I capture event media, for events such as birthday parties to punk festivals, business conferences and underground concerts. I also produce several podcasts. But, in everything I do, my education is coming from a film background. So, I have a very firm belief in my composition (primarily in rule of thirds, lead room, and foreground-midground-background), and how I feel a professional outcome needs to look. But, I really love breaking the rules at times too. Sometimes that means shooting on wide angle lenses for a close-up performance, creating a warped and distorted look to add emphasis on body language. Other times, it’s how I place subjects in the frame during a podcast production. Ultimately, people have learned to recognize my work, and compliment me for the “crispiness” of the footage (quality), the color grade, the skin tones, and my editing skills. Ultimately, I think my education and strong opinions on how to shoot and what to shoot with set me out. In a world of expanding opportunities for iPhone creators, holding firm on shooting everything on a camera is different. Also, since I’ve started, I only shoot/film on manual mode — no automation. Every setting, angle, all of it, is done with intention. At the place where I’m proud to be at now, it’s exciting and satisfying that clients come to me and ask to brainstorm with me; they want to know what I feel would best represent their project due to my style, knowledge, and creative intuition.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
One of the biggest takeaways I’ve had is that you have to push yourself beyond your own boundaries to find success. When I left my restaurant job, I was leaving security to pursue my passion. In a creative industry, that is a very hard thing to pull off and to be successful in. But, when I said I didn’t give myself a choice, I meant it. Now, granted, I had been putting aside money to fall back on to stay stable as I built, but that wasn’t going to last forever.
All that to say, if you want to earn the role of your dreams, run your business full time, etc., you need to CHASE it. If that’s the only thing you want, you need to work as hard as you can for it. Accept the 3am nights, and the 7am mornings. Eventually, it all will build if you’re willing to sacrifice.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eddiemacemedia/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardmacak/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EddieMace
- Other: https://linktr.ee/eddiemacemedia
