Emmy-Winning Videographer Ty Rogers on Freelancing and Staying Curious

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One of the biggest parts of any team or brand’s digital presence remains video content. Popular teams the likes of Duke basketball, Michigan football, and Indiana basketball have trusted their video content to Ty Rogers.

Rogers is an Emmy Award-winning content creator and former graphic designer who largely taught himself the skills needed to create high-quality video content.

Now pursuing a career as a full-time freelance content creator, Rogers joins the pod to discuss how he honed his craft, his experience building strong relationships with high profile athletes, and much more

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Edited Highlights Appear Below:

On building relationships with athletes (19:00)

Rogers: “Being able to build a friendship or relationship with student-athletes or even the professional athletes, when they feel more comfortable when you’re around them, they’re more likely to give you better content…If they feel comfortable with you around them and they have that trust feeling knowing that you’re going to shine a good light on them and not make them look bad…I think that can only help. Building that relationship and not just holding a camera and filming them or photographing them, but getting to know them as people…because it helps you tell a better story when you get to know that individual and what they’re about.”

On being mostly self-taught (21:24)

Rogers: “I think the one thing that I have always had, and I know a lot of other people do as well, [is a strong curiosity]…I didn’t go to school for this.
This was all self-taught… a lot of YouTube tutorials…late at night at home,  I would learn something…There’s a lot of knowledge out there. If you spend the time and know what to search for and follow the right people, you can really learn a lot…I owe everything to youtube that I’ve learned. Obviously, there are people along the way, other photographers or video guys that I’ve picked up knowledge from. But how I grew is the more I could learn in my free time and downtime has helped me continue to grow and get better.”

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On reasons for and what it is like turning freelancing into a full-time job (28:27)

Rogers: “One was the opportunity just to work with Cam [Newton]. Going back a year now, I didn’t really do freelance much on the side and it was strictly full-time Michigan football. But when I got that opportunity, it opened my eyes a little bit to make not only more income, which everybody would like, but the opportunity to grow and continue to improve and network and build relationships… Being able to take on multiple different projects I think is what I’m looking forward to the most  being able to work for some really cool brands here in the coming weeks and hit the ground running here soon.”

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Advice for aspiring content creators (33:48)

Rogers: “Be proactive and have a curiosity to want to, um, continue to not only learn, but improve and be willing to not get stuck in one way…When you find your niche, that’s cool, but you want to continue to learn. When you do that, you can only get better….Try to just have him that curiosity and be proactive to go and create content. You don’t always have to be filming the NBA Championship or Superbowl to like create good content…You got to continue to create and do that stuff and promote yourself in the right way. It’s why social media, I would say, is important.”

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