Jacob Lopez
Cinematographer / Photographer / Editor / Founder of Saints Creative
Chicago, Il
saintscreative.com
instagram @jacobsantoslopez
Q What do you do?
“I am a photographer, cinematographer, editor who works across different mediums.”
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
I started off in my church, The Potter’s House Dallas, making photos and videos for my youth ministry when I was 14. My youth pastor, who had his own production company, took me under wing and we began making content for our pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes. In 5 years, I served in many different capacities; producing weekly social content for his social media pages, editing various shows and videos for different platforms, taking on the role as one of the main church photographers, and traveling around the country shooting video for our conferences.
I started my business, Saints Creative, in 2019 when I was 17 specializing in photo and video content.
Now, I live in Chicago and attend Columbia College Chicago working towards my B.A. in Film and Television.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
I think I see the world differently, the small details, the beauty. I am also a problem solver and will work my hardest to best serve my clients.
Q What are you working on right now?
Right now I am the editor for the Woman Evolve podcast by Sarah Jakes Roberts. I also just finished working on some content for Jack Daniel’s and Heradura as well as Chance The Rapper’s Non-profit Social Works.
Q What’s your style?
I think that my style is maximal minimalism. I love clean lines but I love organic shapes as well. I think it is all about balance.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I wish I could focus on design more whether that be product, graphic or architectural. I would love to focus on this more especially architecture. It is something that inspires a lot of my work and I would love to study it more.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
Finding new clients since moving to chicago has been difficult, but slowly but surely I am beging to meet new people and clients.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
I actually just brought on a project manager/assistant, this month. She handles invoicing, reaching out to clients, follow ups, and organization which is really nice because it frees me up to focus more on my art.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I think I would’ve told my younger self to not be as timid and to not disqualify yourself before you attempt.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
How to reach a wider audience and grow my personal brand. Over the years I have made content that has been seen by millions of people but no one really knows that I made it. I have been pretty successful at making things for other people’s brands but not myself.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
Photo and video projects, working with brands and artists. Maybe going on tour and capturing specialized BTS content for a musical artist. Shooting more with film.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
An ideal client is someone who is open to new ideas and trusts my creative vision but also gives important feedback that pushes me to get the highest quality results for the project.
Q What is your rate?
My photo, video, and editing rates vary due to the scope or complexity of a project but Photo starts at $250, Video at $500 and editing at $150.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
The best way is to reach out by email, with budget and scope of work.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Vaughn - @vaughn.robison
Brenton - @brentonlockett_
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
art, music, film, architecture, nature
This member profile was originally published in September 2022.