By: Jadyn Spradlin

Photo Credit: Lewis Hollander

Though Lewis Hollander is only a freshman at UMBC, his videography is on scale with work produced by professionals. His instagram account “LewsFlicks” showcases his videos dating back four years, but it doesn’t even begin to truly cover this student’s expertise. 

Hollander got his start in the world of videography during his sophomore year of high school. A student at local Mt. Hebron, he regularly produced fun videos with his friends and eventually built up a rather successful YouTube channel. Realizing his abilities and enjoyment of video production, he began producing content for his school’s varsity lacrosse team. Beginning with a mix of sports photography and videography, he quickly learned how to capture both emotion and action in his shoots. He developed editing skills with programs like Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro, and eventually settled into a niche of sports videography.

While his skills and knowledge would have allowed him to pursue a career in sports media right out of high school, he elected to attend college in order to develop his academic background and professional portfolio even further. He knew that the Media and Communication Studies program at UMBC would be perfect for this, as it offered to teach him various fields of academics while still emphasizing experience-based learning. 

An additional draw of UMBC was our New Media Studio. Describing themselves as “UMBC’s central hub for video production on campus,” the studio is responsible for fulfilling a variety of institutional production needs, with projects ranging from graduation and sports coverage to digital storytelling and research highlights. Though not officially associated with the MCS department, the studio’s website states that they are “actively involved in supporting UMBC’s Media and Communication program through teaching and internships.” 

With that in mind, Hollander sought out an internship with the studio and began working with them shortly after. Starting first as a camera operator for live broadcasts of soccer games, he has worked in various roles and positions with the studio. He still prefers his sports videography though, and has created numerous highlight films for UMBC sports including soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. These videos are most commonly featured on social media platforms, posted by either specific teams or UMBC's own accounts. Hollander enjoys being able to see his own content put to use to grow these accounts and promote UMBC athletics, and says these first-hand experiences have made him interested in managing social media accounts in the future. So far, his internship has already allowed him many unique opportunities to do this, as he has been able to suggest, plan, and execute some of his own ideas for strategies and content to boost these accounts.

In addition to these first-hand experiences, Hollander says he has benefitted from UMBC by meeting people and making connections that he otherwise would not have had access to.

After graduation, Hollander plans to continue his work doing freelance videography and specifically hopes to join the media team at Premiere Lacrosse League (PLL). His recent internship experience at UMBC is already proving to be useful in fulfilling these career goals, as he just secured an internship with PLL for this upcoming summer. 

When asked what advice he has for anyone wishing to get started in this field, Hollander kept it simple: "Shoot everything you can. Even if it's not exactly what you want to be doing or focusing on - any shooting - any time you spend behind the camera, you are becoming a better shooter."