Meet Brendan Garland | Photographer/Creative Art Director at CODA Studios

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

Hi Brendan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I had recently just moved back to San Diego after a weird year and a half exploring and trying new adventures due to the Covid pandemic. I had first moved to Park City, Utah in Nov 2020 to snowboard and take beautiful photos in Utah’s gorgeous landscape. It was an awesome experience and Park City is an amazing place and I was able to snowboard and take so many great photos. I had then been offered a job to work at a very successful Bar in Austin, Texas, and I had never been to Texas before and I thought it would be a cool experience to try out Austin while the pandemic was still a concern in California. I ended staying in Austin from April 2021 until April 2022 when I made that decision to move back to North County where I was born and raised and to get back to the Ocean which I had missed so much. After driving more than 22 hours just to get back to the Beach with my dog and watch the sunrise on a Sunday morning, which was such a beautiful moment and had some time to sit and think about my life and what I wanted to do moving forward in a positive way and to be happy. On the very next day when I was staying at my friends house trying to catch up on rest after such a long drive, my friend had told me he had looked at a potential new office space in Solana Beach close to where we had grown up in a really cool area known as Eden Gardens, and they guy he was originally supposed to share the office space had bailed on him last minute and he asked if I wanted to look at the space with him. My first thought was “dude I just drove 22 hours and let me take a nap” but then a part of me was like “you know what, I should go look at this office space and make my dream of starting my own Creative Photography Studio come true”. Once I made that decision to look at the office space I was blown away at how perfect it was and it had all the potential to start my dream business and from that day forward I have been non stop trying to make my dream come to life in the form of CODA Studios, (CODA is an acronym for Creative Outlook Design Aesthetics) which is what my business embodies bringing my creative outlook design aesthetics into my photography and digital media marketing.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Having grown up as a Surfer in San Diego, I have always had a passion for photography and making surf videos with my friends growing up. My passion for photography sparked again when I was living in Australia and Indonesia for 4 in a half years. This really brought back out my creative side and I got more of a tropical style that I liked to incorporate into what I would photograph and document. I now like to incorporate this tropical aesthetic style into all my photo/video projects and I want it to set me apart in a really cool unique style that shows my creativity. I was so excited to get this amazing opportunity to start my dream business of opening a creative content/digital design studio. This has been a very stressful and challenging experience and I love every minute of it. I am able to learn and grow so much and I am able to open up my true creative side. I have always been a freelance photographer and now having my own studio space allows me to really turn my creative photography into a business that can help other businesses grow while showing their creative style also.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The first thing I would do is take them to the beaches in my hometown of Encinitas and take them surfing, then we would explore and see the beautiful coastline above Swamis and the meditation gardens and all the tropical palm tree areas around Encinitas. We would then walk to Cardiff and to Seaside Market and I would make them try the famous Cardiff Crack Tri-Tip. I would also take them to my favorite breakfast spot Pipes Cafe and VG Donuts, and for lunch options we would go to my favorite hidden gem spot Bestawan in Cardiff to get my favorite item on their menu, the Santa Fe Chicken Pasta. We would also have to go to the Cardiff Chart house on the beach since I grew up in that restaurant since my dad was the GM for my childhood and the sunset views are amazing there.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to thank my friend Connor McCarthy for putting this opportunity in front of me and motivating me to pursue my Dream of starting my own business and for being very supportive throughout this stressful and overwhelming process. Connor is also starting his own Real Estate Appraisal Company in the office space that we know share and we motivate and help each other out in this process. I would also like to thank Thad Benshoof and Jeff Kelley for also being such great role models in my life over the years and they have been very supportive of this risk I am taking to start this business on my won with my own money which isn’t very much, and they have offered me great business and life advice to help me make this dream a reality. I would also like to thank Jeremy Byrant for helping me to create and design my website and for helping me navigate through this process of starting my creative photography studio

Website: www.creativeoutlookdesignaesthetics.com

Instagram: codacreativestudios