Meet James Gibson | Director of Photography & Editor at Oakes Creative

We had the good fortune of connecting with James Gibson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi James, what do you want people to remember about you?
I hope to be remembered for how I love people, and the art we create together. I want to feel what there is to feel while I’m here, and capture that in my work. I want to be old looking back on a lifetime of passion and creation. And be content in a life well spent.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Hi, I’m James Gibson, 27, Nashville native. My business partner, Ben Oakes, and I, run Oakes Creative here in Nashville. We primarily create music videos, as well as commercial content.

It’s been a bit of a journey to get here. I started out serving in restaurants, and on the side I got brought on to a small family run media production company where I worked part time for 2 or 3 years. I learned the basics of filming, lighting, and editing during my time there.

Everything was going along smoothly, but things were starting to get too stagnant. I knew I
had the skills to do more than just used car commercials, I just wasn’t sure how to get from where I was at, to something bigger where I wanted to be. That is until I met Ben Oakes.

We met and got to know each other on set one day. We grabbed a coffee later that week and laid out a basic plan. We would film a couple of commercials for free, and he bet within a few months, I could quit both my jobs. We ended up filming exactly one establishing project together for free, and it wasn’t long til the plan came together and I quit my other two jobs to focus entirely on our production company, Oakes Creative.

We’ve since had our work featured on CMT, the Kelly Clarkson Show, Times Square, as well as traveled the country filming various projects, and sharing in laughs and memories all along the way.

As far as advice to other artists and DPs,
The most impactful decisions I’ve made along this journey aren’t what camera/lights/software I use. It’s the people I’ve partnered with.
I have a remarkably hard working, intelligent business partner and friend in Ben. Could not ask for a better working relationship. And I have an endlessly loving girlfriend and partner in Cassidy, who keeps me grounded in the chaos of running a business, and helps me enjoy all the little moments outside of our creative work.

As a rule, unless I have a real good reason not to, I try to say yes to most any opportunity. You never know where it will lead to. There are major connections our business is positioned to take advantage of now, because of some random opportunity I said yes to, back 5 or 6 links down the chain of causality.

Other than that, just really caring about the end product. Treating the artist and their art with respect, recognizing the inherent collaboration in these endeavors. And learning to be a thoughtful consumer of art so you can come up with meaningful concepts in the first place.

If there’s a Nashville artist reading this that’s potentially interested in a video content package, please check us out at BenOakesCreative.com! And you can see all our work and BTS at our @Oakes.Creative Instagram page. We’d love to collaborate with you!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This will be a little eclectic, But I’ve got a couple favorite spots around town.

To start with the most basic and obvious, as well as pay homage to my grandfather, I would say go tour the Ryman where my grandfather played for the Grand Ole Opry (The Opry still hosts shows there every December!) Add on the country music hall of fame and you’ve got yourself a full afternoon.

From there I might go over to Maggianos Little Italy on west end for dinner, and take a sunset stroll around Centennial park, featuring Nashville’s life-size recreation of the Greek Parthenon.

Then if you’re feeling Honky, you can head out to Broadway for an evening of live music and dancing. Just watch out for the bachelorettes on pedal taverns!

Cure the previous night’s hangover with a Chickichanga and Kale Tonic from First Watch which just opened a new location on 3rd and Broadway downtown.

Next while you continue to come back to life let’s keep it easy going and take a quick trip out to McKays for used books, records, magazines, toys, games, electronics, and more. You name it, they’re probably got it used!

Head back over to East Nashville for the evening and grab a Pharmacy Burger, and then skip over to Up Down, or The Game Terminal for some classic arcade madness!

If you’re up for a decent all day bike trek, you can ride the music city green-way from downtown all the way to Percy Priest lake. Just be sure to bring a backpack hammock and snacks so you can enjoy the lakeside breeze!

Or if you prefer to be up in the trees, you can check out the Nashville adventure park for their many ropes courses and zip-lines!

If you enjoy disc golf, Nashville has many courses on offer! My favorite is 7 Oaks, but there is also Naval Hill right by downtown and Shelby park.

Finally check out Love Circle for a stunning view of the downtown skyline, and if the light pollution from our growing city is obscuring the stars too much, swing by the adventure science center and it’s Sudekum Planetarium for a journey through our night sky and solar system!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate this to my father Steve Gibson.

I lost my father during the pandemic. He was a lawyer by day, and like everyone in Nashville, a singer/songwriter hitting up open mic nights by night. His father, my grandfather Curt Gibson, played on the Opry back in the day with Hank Snow and String Bean. I think my dad always wished he could have done more musically, like his dad.

The nights my father and I spent together during the pandemic looking back on his life, he lamented all the years he spent focused on his law career, working amongst “the worst in humanity” when all he really wanted to do was make music and create with others. He hoped I could learn from his mistakes, and if possible, go on and keep the musically infused part of the family alive.

I always enjoyed playing, my moms taught piano for 20 years, and I played guitar alongside my dad often. but moreso, I enjoyed using my talents for crafting visuals around a song. Telling the story, and giving shape to the emotions therein. I’ve always viewed my music video work as a fulfillment of my fathers request and legacy

Website: https://BenOakesCreative.com

Instagram: @Oakes.Creative

Youtube: @JamesGibsonVideo

Image Credits
Jack Blackburn