Meet Jerald David Winston | Camera Operator/ Drone Pilot/ Mentor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jerald David Winston and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jerald David, what’s the most important lesson your business/career has taught you?
As my business has grown over the last 20 years, I have found that the most important lesson I have learned, is that the driving force behind my success is my relationships. I learned how rewarding relationships are when you give them your trust and time. You have to be brave for this to work. Trust is a strength you can rely on your entire life, as long as you remember not to punish the next person because of the last person. Hold everyone accountable separately. Move forward. Your time is your one irreplaceable asset and people will see that you are willing to spend it on them and that is no small thing. You have to be willing to go first, to speak up, to help wherever you can in someone’s life. When they ask for help, be ready! I learned how my relationships, with care and devotion, can build into a community that can empower you to change your life. All along my path I have made it a priority to seek out the best in my field and ask them for guidance, development, solutions and all while remembering to reciprocate. I make sure they know they can lean on me as well. If they needed help moving I was there! If I could use my strengths or skills to help them, I would be the first to offer. This way I keep the relationships balanced. I never want to be a drain on my community. I strive to be an asset, or
as Mr. Rogers says, to “be a helper”!
Balance is so important in life, it stops us from burning out but the key to relationships is more than balance, it is Love. You might have started out by asking for help but soon after you will realize that everyone here has the same dream, the same Love for their craft of the camera and composition. Love is the key component to drive, motivation and commitment. Love is what gets me out of bed at 4 a.m. to go mount cameras for the N.F.L. in -2 degree weather. Love is what reminds us to reach out, help out and stay connected. Which is the driving force behind building a strong community of professionals like us, who are all so madly in love with what we do!

What should our readers know about your business?
Hi, I am Jerald David Winston and I am sole proprietor of PangeaAV. PangeaAV is the culmination of all the shows that have helped me become the production specialist that I am today. I love being able to help people communicate with and educate fellow audiences around the world. From being a long lens Camera Operator for Film productions and Corporate events to Being a Remote Drone Pilot putting my 107a cert. to good use; I am constantly reminded how big an impact a great production makes on the hearts and minds of our audience. I am dedicated to that impact by leveraging our community and resources to ensure a great show every time.

What sets me apart? If I had to put it into words… I would say it is the combination of my Mentors, My community of loving and dedicated technical artists, almost 2 decades of hands-on experience and my exacting eye. Each of these I grew and developed over time with great care. I listened to my mentors which led me to finding my style and to an
even deeper understanding of what it takes to be fulfilling and sustainable. I found my tribe and relentlessly helped out, anticipating needs wherever I could. I did this mainly by connecting people, whenever I was asked a question or presented with a problem that I didn’t have a solution for, I would say, “I don’t know but I will find someone who does.” This helped me become a valuable asset to my community as my connections found great success in each other. This is where my experience and exacting eye really helped because it gave me the tool set needed to discern who was great at what they did from those that were struggling, which led me to ask, “Could they help each other? Could they learn from each other”? Making these inroads has helped me find my place in the artistic and business community of Nashville and the greater technical community nationally.

I am most proud of coming back from the lock down at full speed. After a long 2 years where we did keep our sanity by creating and filming our passion project “2Aprons a YouTube Cooking Show”, our clients were ecstatic to be back and so grateful to have me back at their side, to be able to lean on me and PangeaAV to get their shows and productions not just up to par but to make them the best.

What I am most excited about is flying… That’s right with my new 107a certification (Drone Pilot) and my brand new Mavic 3 to add to my drone fleet, I am stoked to be able to capture the most beautiful scenes from incredible heights at startling speeds with amazing quality. To be able to bring that perspective to everyone is a great joy of mine and to be able to work with the talented creatives in our community to bring state of the art tools to bear in order to more completely breathe life and complexity into our visions and projects makes me feel fulfilled as a creative, enamored as a tech and blessed as a human being. Something about getting the shot and hearing the excitement in the clients voice, it just makes me feel all “fuzzy” inside.

If I had to nail down what got me here to “that moment” that led to where I am now, I would have to say “It was 3am and I was hungry, not go to waffle house hungry but grab a bag of chips hungry” I found a spot went in and as I stood in line to pay, I heard “Jerald David is that you?” Long story short an old friend from high school owned a company that worked all of the productions at the Ryman, he offered me a gig and I never looked back.
As I think about it, my whole journey comes down to the people. So many along the way that were lifelines to a better life through their education and guidance. People like Buddy Johnson who after a few years at the Ryman pulled me aside and told me “You can go all the way son, you got what it takes.” To Michael Hayworth who didn’t mind repeating himself a hundred times until I really got it, to Dave Wheeler who taught me the who’s who of Nashville. One after the other I was able to connect with people and through my energetic personality and my complete eagerness to help wherever I could, I made great friends that enriched every part of my existence! I will forever be grateful to my mentors and to my community.
Was it easy? Ahhhhh NOPE. Don’t get me wrong, production and the skills it helped me develop have given me all that I have, my beautiful wife, my friends, my retirement fund, my Bitcoin, my sense of security and community but I am not going to sugar coat it, it took everything in me to get here. So many early, cold mornings, just like I recently endured on a brisk -2 degree morning as part of the NFL’s Fusion Camera Team, 1000’s of pounds of gear moved across this earth and up what seems to be every hill when I toured the country as a camera op for festivals setting up, shooting for 15 hours a day and then loading out, power outages at the worst times, floods like the one we suffered as it interrupted all productions in Nashville just a few years back, tornados, gas mains blowing like the one that stopped the National Sheriffs’ convention mid session and just about anything else you can imagine going wrong on a production, I have suffered through all of it in my almost 20 years following my dream. If you want to make your dreams a reality your gonna have to truly be in love with what you do, this will keep you dedicated and disciplined when it seems the whole of the universe is trying to shake you off!
I overcame this by responding with my whole being “Not Today”. No matter what happened, even the pandemic, I had this mind-set empowered by the fact that I was never alone. I had the support of my mentors and my community, who rallied around me in the hardest of times giving me the resiliency to not just endure but to continue to strive to be the best Neighbor, Camera Op and business owner I can be for my community.

There are so many lessons that I have learned while on my path. I mentioned before the number one lesson I learned is the value and power of relationships but that lesson was built on the back of several others. So here we go.
“Know thy self” Spend time getting to know yourself, spend enough time with yourself that you know what your beliefs are and that they must allow for balance and how you want your beliefs to impact the world, this will make it easier to identify your community and your place among them.
Know your audience. Once you know yourself better it is essential to try and understand your audience. Both for the show and for your business. Study them when they eww and ahhh, remind yourself of their dreams, of what they are searching for, put yourself in their shoes and then try to knock them out of their socks with an amazing show. Try your best to remind yourself to be flexible, that audiences change from city to city, production to production and you need to be mindful of that. This will empower you to keep making your productions fresh and on point.
Clear, closed loop, communication. Communication is an art form and if you want to be a story teller of any kind this will make you more valuable to your community. Closed loop communication simply means follow up, be concise, ask clarifying questions even if it makes you look stupid, that’s what pre-production is for. Don’t let folks be vague, Encourage them to develop their ideas with you. This will help them and you to produce a better production. Then close the loop by following up every singe email with “received” even if you’re not ready to fully answer or don’t feel you need to respond. This way they know you saw it and you can take that opportunity to give them an ETA on when you will be able to comment fully and to remind yourself to follow up. Do your best to remove the guess work from all of your communications.

What do I want the world to know about my story? I want the world to know that I have put everything I am into my work. That I have set my life to reinforce almost everything I do. I use my archery to focus and hone my vision and depth perception, I use my work as a Google Guide to hone my composition and photography and to give me greater understanding of my many different audiences and what they find beautiful. When I go Kayaking I am constantly observing the magnificent balance in nature and ways to bring that beautiful simplicity to my work and life.
When I cook with my wife I develop a deeper ability to clearly communicate while maintaining a fun, artistic energy that rejuvenates rather than drains. Even as I relax and watch tv, I take notice of what works and how people are responding to it. By using my hobbies and personal relationships to continue to grow and reinforce everything else I do in my creative/ professional life, I am consistently building skills and a community that will carry me to my dreams. I often felt that a life divided was just too costly, that by integrating all of my interests, passions, and hobbies so that the skills I develop are continually and consistently supporting me in all other areas I ensure that I am ready when the project gets rough and the unpredictable happens, I am there and I am ready and this is what makes me stand out.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Where to go in my city? You came to the right person. We start off with a quick tour of Nashville so they can get the lay of the land beginning with Music Row, winding through Centennial Park to see the Parthenon, then to Love Circle for the best selfie with the skyline our city has to offer. Then off to the castle where Al Capone used to run his moonshine that is now a famous music studio. Then we go for breakfast at Loveless Café for some of the best biscuits in America. After Breakfast we go on a mural hunt as I show them the amazing street art Nashville has to offer and yes, I take them to get their angel wing pics, and no worries because I know when to go so there’s no line.
Then we are off to Prince’s for the best Hot Chicken on the freaking planet! Once the exhilaration of lunch wears off we go on over to some of Nashville’s hidden gems, I mean literally hidden, like my favorite hideaway the bar hidden in the broom closet at Hotel Noelle. Then to Patterson House for the best drink in town, their bartenders have an almost uncanny ability to match you with the perfect drink. Then we are off to the Fairlane’s roof top pop up. It requires a secret code for the elevator but no worries I know a guy. The drinks are second only to the view and with such a talented team you are sure to wear out your camera taking selfies. Then to finish off the night we go to Arnold’s a magical staple of Nashville, where the James Beard award wining team will put your taste buds on a whole other level! After dinner we will head around the corner to Rudy’s where we will watch the best in Nashville show us what it means to love what you do with music so perfect and full of soul that you will fully understand what makes Nashville special!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have been incredibly fortunate in my life to have been able to connect with so many talented mentors! My first true mentor was a teacher’s aid when I was young, “Michael the Marine” is what everyone called him. He taught me to be aware in stillness and in motion. This gave me the ability in life to recognize problems or solutions in complex, loud, moving environments. He also taught me to praise in public but discipline in private which led to better team morale on set.
My next great mentor was Tom Negri A Nashville man of the year so many years back, He taught me to be the face of a company, to be the first to introduce yourself, to welcome everyone and to anticipate their needs. These things compose the foundation of making people feel welcome and wanted.
My philosophy professor, Dr. Michaels. taught me that learning never stops and to take the time to “think deep and to understand how everything is connected.” This empowered me to be able to clearly plan and carry out complex projects with many moving parts while understanding how that will affect the energy and motivation of the people involved
Another great mentor for me was Dave Wheeler who taught me to be discerning, that quality matters and to know my own worth! He showed me the value of being connected to other businesses and encouraged me to reach out constantly.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the book that made the biggest impact on my business “Freakonomics” This book taught me to truly gather the data and to go through it, to not make hunch decisions based on anecdotal data. This helped me to consistently make better business choices!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pangeaav/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerald-david-winston-71202266/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeralddwinston/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdcGnytBI4acXSO5Y4i_cwQ

Other: An example of my award wining Drone cinematography for RedBull and Future I/O https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1_IGyAG2pg