The Moment I Realized I Was Creative

BONDSIII.Blogs

May 19

Growing up, I honestly didn’t think I had a creative bone in my body.

I Didn’t Think I Was a Creative Person

I couldn’t draw. I didn’t love playing instruments. I wasn’t the artsy kid, and so I just assumed creativity wasn’t in the cards for me. But in hindsight, I was always building something—tinkering with whatever tech I could get my hands on, fascinated by video, film, photography, and the process behind them, aka creative.

It just didn’t click, until years later.

One year for my birthday, my now-wife (then-girlfriend, Hannah) got me a drone. That single gift flipped a switch. The tech-loving kid inside me lit up. I went out and got a GoPro so I could attach it to the 3DR drone (a relic compared to what’s out now),

*For reference. I still have mine, will provide proof in next blog. Mine took a swim in the Pacific 🌊 💀*

and I started filming flights—10-minute-long aerial journeys over fields, trees, rivers, whatever I could find. I’d get home, scroll through the shaky GoPro footage from 150 feet in the air, and excitedly show it to friends and family.

…They were… not as excited.

That quiet letdown actually became a turning point.

I snagged a used small form factor PC from a local shop—$50—threw in an SSD so I could run Premiere Pro, and started trying to edit the footage into something people might actually want to watch.

That’s when I found storytelling.

Around that same time, a friend asked if I could fly the drone at her wedding. I had to tell her the truth: I’d crashed the drone and it was toast. But I offered to try making a wedding video instead. I had nothing but a Canon T3i, a 24mm pancake lens, a gimbal I barely knew how to use, and some blind confidence.

I manually pulled focus and slider gimbal shot everything I could and hoped I’d figure it out in post.

That wedding film was rough.

But I fell in love

with the process, with the craft, and with the power of storytelling.

Actually still like this video, I put a ton of hours into this.

In Between, But Not Stuck

I don’t know exactly what I’m building right now. But I do know I need to start putting my work into the world.

It might sound intense for a first blog post, but I think a lot about what I’ll leave behind. What people will remember. And if I’m honest, I haven’t shared much… yet. That bothers me—not because I want attention, but because I know I have stories to tell, and skills that could help or inspire someone.

Even just one person.

That’s why I’m writing. That’s why I’m trying to share. I want to tell my story. I want to help others tell theirs. I want the work I create to have an impact—something that lingers, something that matters.

I also want to lead by example. To show my kids that chasing your dreams is possible. That quitting a “real job” and pursuing a creative life is hard—but worth it. So far, this path has put me through the full spectrum of emotion: confidence, failure, pride, embarrassment, awkwardness, excitement.

And I wouldn’t change a thing.

I’ve come to realize that someday, I’ll look back on this exact moment (the not-knowing, the quiet building) with the same nostalgia I feel now when I think about those early drone videos and my first wedding film.

“Opening the Doors” …Someday

I’m not taking on new clients right now—but someday, I will.

When that time comes, I want to attract people and projects with stories that inspire me. That could mean, a cause worth believing in, an idea worth amplifying, or a product made with care. If it moves me, I want to help shape how it moves others.

The next chapter of BondsIII.Media isn’t about scale—it’s about substance.

I want it to feel like a boutique storytelling machine. Something small but mighty. Creative, efficient, intentional. A studio that moves with confidence—but never without grace or empathy.

For now, I’m just building. 🛠️

Quietly, deliberately, and hopefully with a little more courage each time I hit publish.

-John III