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

Hi Tyler, how do you think about risk?
Through working for myself over the past three years now, I’ve come to realize to live a life of freedom is risky. Life now is tremendously different than life 4 years ago. 4 years ago I had just moved from Pennsylvania all the way to Tucson, Arizona to pursue a new role at a craft brewery as their brand ambassador (risky). Long story short…I was let go after about a year of working there. All I could think in that moment was “Did I make the wrong choice of coming out here?” I didn’t really know what my future was going to look like next. Through my time while employed at the brewery, I had become obsessed with learning videography and photography in my spare time. I had the occasional client project here and there making very little money and didn’t envision anything actually happening. After weeks of wondering what to do next, I started to promote my work more and people were catching on. What started as just a few projects on the side, turned into recurring client work. Fast forward to the present day, this is now my career. I’ve had the opportunity of working for several national name brands and could not be more fortunate to have taken a risk to do what I love. That’s not to say that some days the inspiration to get work isn’t there, because it does happen as it’s a natural part of working for yourself. The good news is that letting go of the limitations of perceived security in exchange for real freedom is worth the growing pains.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I think the thing that sets myself apart from most is that I have two different creative sides. It’s a bit hard to describe. The first creative side is my passion for being outside shooting landscape photography. The second creative side is my passion for being inside in a studio creating product videos for clients. If I didn’t have that time to be outside taking photos for fun, my production company wouldn’t be where it is today. With that being said, I formed Lidwell Creative 3 years ago now and we specialize in product videography and photography. We’ve worked with Oatly, Three Wishes Cereal, Nature’s Bakery, Eegee’s, and Vizzy Hard Seltzer just to name a few. The lesson I’ve learned along the way is that while I’m extremely busy doing what I love creating for my clients, I make sure to carve out time to follow my other love for landscape photography. Burnout can happen to anybody.

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?
I’d take them to Mount Lemmon AND Gates Pass for hiking and the most scenic views. After this, we’d probably go to a few of my favorite craft breweries and taprooms for some beers and food. A few of my favorites in the area are Pueblo Vida, Tap & Bottle, Ten55 Brewing Company, 1912 Brewing, and Westbound. Since COVID is a thing in the world however…the realistic thing would be to go enjoy the scenic views, grab takeout from somewhere local, and hangout at my house.

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 would not be where I’m at today without the support of my fiancé, Bethany. She pushes me on a daily basis to pursue any and all of the random ideas I come up with. She truly gives me the inspiration to push forward in life. I can’t thank her enough for all that she does. I’m also extremely fortunate to have supportive friends, and parents that believe in what I’m doing. I think when working full time in a creative field, it can be challenging at times describing to anybody, but especially your parents why you’re doing what you do. They’ve trusted me from the get-go of starting my own business. There are so many others in addition to this and I could write a novel, but I don’t want to bore you all.

Website: https://tylerlidwell.smugmug.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylerlidwell/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-lidwell-2b3b33aa/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tyler.lidwell/
Other: Personal Brand Website – https://tylerlidwell.smugmug.com/ Lidwell Creative Website – https://lidwellcreative.com/ Personal Brand Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tylerlidwell/ Lidwell Creative Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lidwellcreative/

Image Credits
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