Nicholas Loftus - Videographer "SS Video Production"

Join Our  Stance Auto Mags Group, Give Our Facebook Page a Like, and Follow us on Instagram

More images are in the slider above, These Photographs are supplied by the  Photographer, check their Link for Bookings.

Order the Printed Magazine HERE!!

Nicholas Loftus

2014 Dodge Challenger R/T (Custom Built Camera Car)

Instagram: @ss_video_production

YouTube: SS. Video Production

I am a 20-Year-Old Videographer based in Phoenix Arizona USA, Originally From Cary Illinois USA. Currently serving in the United States Air Force as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD) (Bomb Squad) Stationed at Luke AFB AZ. Always had a passion for Videography from a very young age, started a YouTube channel when I was 12 against my parent's permission to make videos about my RC cars and aircraft. Graduated high school One year early at the age of 17 and enlisted in the Air Force at 18. Moved from Illinois - Texas - Florida - Arizona Over the course of 2 years to complete all of my required school and training.  

Back in my elementary school days, my grandfather would take me into his office on the weekends where his boss was a big Ferrari collector, I would sit there for hours picking his brains about the cars. Later on in the 8th grade, my parents had bought me a Nikon D3200 kit camera for Christmas, and that had begun the madness of my interest in car photography/videography. I would take that camera everywhere with me. There was only one car show in my hometown so I would take as many pictures as possible trying to improve my skill. Later on, in high school, I would do many photoshoots/Video shoots of friends' cars for free just to get practice.

But When I had enlisted in the Air Force I had left that all behind. It wasn't Until about 1 year ago that I saw the Bondurant Racing School (Now Radford Racing School) Was offering a free spin in a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, so I said "why not?" and that's when all the passion came rushing back. Right around that time "Dogecoin" The Meme Cryptocurrency had skyrocketed in price and I had made my move a week later to buy my own Dodge Challenger...... Nothing Fast... Nothing Special... Just something to scratch that itch. 

This Story Isn't so much about the car, It's more about the camera........ After picking up the challenger I Slapped some ugly red racing stripes on and was "ready to rock ''. Cruising around town was fun, but I was missing something..... after the initial excitement of buying a car died down I was getting bored and that's when it struck me...... Join a car club. So I did exactly that, but soon after that I realized nobody had any good pictures of their cars, so as any logical person does, I went out and spent $4,500 on a camera and lens with no profit return in mind.

It wasn't too soon after I started taking some car photos and videos that everyone in the club was asking me to do some. After showing some of my coworkers the videos they told me " You know, you really could be making a lot of money doing this right?". I sat on that for a while because at the time I was just doing this for fun, But with COVID Lockdowns and extra Dogecoin cash burning a hole in my wallet I decided there was no better time than now, so I hopped online and ordered another $12,000 In-camera equipment and haven't looked back since. 

Defusing Bombs, And Editing Videos is no easy task....... talk about time management. So here I am 20 years old with $17,000 worth of camera equipment and a Dodge Challenger all in no less than 3 months..... talk about impulsiveness. Well, I knew people enjoyed my videos....so I needed a name, something sly, something That sounded cool "Street heat video" .....No  " Street Stance Video" ..... No

"NL Media" ...... No "SS Video Production"...... Ah yes, that's the one. So I set off with the name and good content in mind and messaged just about every single car owner in the state of Arizona if they wanted to do an edit and to my surprise, I got an overwhelming amount of.... 0 replies. Well, that was disappointing, So I messaged Automotive businesses from an empty profile with zero followers and yet again..... 0 replies..... ok, no big deal I thought I'll go film some street racing and some car meets in the area to fill up my profile, so I did exactly that. And one week later I booked my first paid shoot with @2020_slowcivic......

Now I can promise no matter how great I thought my shoots were when I first started...... they were not..... they were nothing more than a hot pile of a dumpster fire. I quickly learned that having the most expensive gear did not make me the best cameraman around. But over time and many videos later I noticed my content started to improve, every time I pick up my camera I'm trying something new or different to try and improve upon my past mistakes or failures. Every chance I get I'm watching YouTube videos to improve my filming or editing technique and be the best I can possibly be. 

Only a few months had gone by into shooting with all this fancy gear and I had clubs, car owners, business owners reaching out for content. life is great, one of the most notable shoots had begun with myself reaching out to a local Vinyl Wrap shop "AZ Wrapaholics" To shoot a free promo video, after the first video the owner of the shop David loved the content so much he offered to complete vinyl wrap my challenger with my brand logos in exchange for more video work. After then a friendship had developed between the two of us which just speaks to how much this car community means to both of us.

The challenger Isn't very different from the rest other than a custom vinyl wrap, wheels, suspension, and lighting, nothing noteworthy... 

The Wrap is interesting because most businesses would use colour or gloss to advertise their brand but unfortunately with the challenger being used as a chase car I had to go with a matte colour to avoid reflection onto the other vehicle we are filming.

The camera system is where everyone stares while we are driving down the road. I use a Tilta Hydra Alien Arm with the DJI RS2 Gimbal, mounted to the rear of the vehicle. I have all of my control and video cables and control cables routed to the passenger seat to capture the best possible rolling footage. 

Advice/tip

Again Less Related to my car and more toward auto filmmaking 

"Never Quit" And "Send It" are two quotes, four words, simple language tattooed on my body as a constant reminder. Keep grinding, even when things seem at their worst I can promise you will improve and others will notice. 

Sponsors

• AZWrapaholics 
• Glow Optics 

Car Club 

• NXLVL Car Club

Special Thanks To

• Chance Chassot
• Endlesssmedia
• IceyMedia 
• TheProVideo
• ProdNorb 

The car scene has brought me so much! Most importantly it has brought me family..... yes it seems cliche like a quote straight out of Dom Torreto's mouth but it's so true, the friends I've met through filming cars I consider my family. 

My personal dream car is a 2021 C8 Corvette (wide-bodied) But in terms of production, I would eventually like to transition to a mid-size SUV with some speed like a Lamborghini Urus.

What do you think? leave your comments in the comments section at the bottom of the page

.YOUTUBE CHANNEL

'The future is bright as long as we can still Smell the Fumes'

Check out our Google News give us a Follow

All of our Magazine can be found on Amazon, they Print and Deliver worldwide, Stance Auto can not be held responsible for the final print, all complaints and returns must be directed to Amazon.

UKTM no: UK00003572459