How It All Started

I began 8 Kinds of Smiles in 2010 when a friend of mine in Berkeley asked me if I would be interested in shooting her sister’s wedding in June.  It would be a more informal thing, a kick-start of sorts to see if this is something I would be into doing in the future.  From that very first wedding, I discovered what it is that makes shooting weddings so amazing.  In very few other occasions in life do you have the opportunity to capture such pure emotion, energy and personality.  It all felt so incredibly real, and I became hooked.

Growing up, I was never into the idea of shooting wedding videos.  There’s actually a stigma about it if you’re pursuing a career as a filmmaker.  This was of course before the revolution in the industry.  I never saw a good wedding video growing up.  I equated most of them to basically cameras on tripods type shoots.  There was no creativity, no art, and no personality.  I had no interest in watching them, and I wasn’t sure how even close friends and family had any interest beyond knowing the people in the video.  Then things changed.

A few years ago, I found out about this couple based out of Indonesia who shoot wedding videos together under their company WeddingClip Videography.  Please be sure to check out their site because they are probably the biggest reason why 8 Kinds of Smiles even exists today.  I doubt they were the first ones to partake in this new movement of wedding videos, but they’re the first ones I saw and so I credit them with a lot.  Anyways when I checked out their work, I was simply taken aback.  What I found most captivating about the work was that in all these videos were couples who I did not know at all and had no connection to yet through watching these very well produced videos I felt as if I really got to know the couple.  It was quite an amazing thing.  I ended up watching all of WeddingClip’s videos upon that initial discovery.

Fast forward to summer of 2010 during that very first wedding shoot with Mystie and Luyen (to whom I also owe a great deal for helping get 8 Kinds of Smiles off the ground).  I came into the shoot with the feeling I had gotten from watching WeddingClip’s body of work, and that same feeling remains the basis for my vision for 8 Kinds of Smiles to this day.

8 Kinds of Smiles aims to truly capture the emotion and energy of your special day.

When people see your wedding video(s), I believe that they should be able to really see both the personality of the event as well as the couple ring through.  When a complete stranger sees it and is able to connect to the video as well as the overwhelming sense of love of the day, that to me is probably one of the best compliments I can receive.

While I am a lot younger than most of the people out there in this line of work and have not been around as long, I promise you that I carry the same sense of professionalism, maturity, and skills as seasoned veterans.  What makes me as well as 8 Kinds of Smiles unique I think is that I bring with me so much passion and enthusiasm for both the craft as well as the art in capturing your special day.  I believe it shouldn’t simply be a video but a piece of art.  I’m also a romantic at heart so it’s always an honor and treat for me to be able to see true love as well as to be able to capture it on camera for people to fondly look back upon.

That is the story of how 8 Kinds of Smiles came to be. Thank you for taking an interest in us and what we do.  I deeply appreciate it and hope that we get a chance to work with you in order to capture your special day. Cheers!

–   Travis Do  (Founder, Lead Cinematographer & Editor)