Iz Harris: The Travel Filmmaker You Need to Be Following
Iz Harris is a DC based youtuber, travel filmmaker, and digital producer. Through her youtube, Iz documents her life as a full-time creative, avid traveler, and mom. From her start as a wedding videographer duo almost a decade ago with her husband, Johnny Harris, Iz has grown in her storytelling, medium, and journey sharing online. Her youtube spams videos covering her mental health and visual poems, to easy recipes and most notably- her travel videos. Iz has the power to make you feel like you’re along for the ride with every travel video she posts. Always relatable - she makes travel filmmaking feel more accessible and more human. Iz is also the host and producer of Eater’s “Travel Eat Repeat” and the co-founder of Bright Trip, a site with online courses for travelers.
On Starting Out
Where did you learn your technical film skills?
My husband, Johnny, and I bought our first camera on a credit card (don’t do this!) and actually sold our own plasma to pay for it. It is the most ridiculous thing to think of now, but we wanted to capture things so badly, and felt like we could learn whatever we needed to if we had the tool. Once we had it in hand, everything I learned was either self-taught or through osmosis, shooting and editing alongside Johnny. I understood the basics of video going in, and Johnny had been filmmaking for quite a few years at that point, so we just took what we knew and obsessively tried to improve it each and every time we shot or edited a video.
How did you decide to pursue film?
I wouldn’t quite describe my journey as one of “pursuing film” only because my entry into this industry was semi-accidental and occurred, not because of some artistic necessity, but more of a broke-young-married-college-student-about-to-have-a-baby necessity. That isn’t to say I wasn’t a video maker in my early years, I was, and, oh boy, the internet will never see those masterful creations. But when it came down to it, I started a wedding filmmaking business nearly a decade ago primarily to start a business. I put the cart before the horse a bit and taught myself the craft as I built my business. Everything I learned from shooting fundamentals to editing was by getting out and doing it. There was no formal schooling, no training in composition or film theory, it was all very scrappy and fast and wonderful.
What was your career trajectory like?
After starting our wedding filmmaking business, we booked 30 weddings in our first year. It was madness, and I was forced to learn fast. I developed a skill for run and gun shooting, and started to hone my storytelling and editing technique (telling the same story over and over really forces you to start to push the limits of reinventing that story in the edit each time). It was about 3 years after starting our company that my son, Henry, was diagnosed with Autism and I decided to take a step back from working outside the home to focus on him and his needs. It would be about two years of walking that journey alongside him before I’d return to filmmaking. By the time I returned I knew I wanted to do something new and different and bounced around a few things, mostly commercial or brand story films, but I was itching for something different. At the time I was documenting our travels for a show of one (my husband) and maybe sometimes my kids. I decided to post a few 60 second travel edits to my instagram (which at the time was just for family and friends) and people received it so enthusiastically. I started wondering if maybe I could make something that would incorporate travel, but also provide an income. Having never watched YouTube I was unaware of travel vlogging, but after a swift googling session I realized there might be a place where I could do what I love, make what I love, and earn a living along the way.
How were you able to make the career change from wedding videography etc to your own creative work
Once I decided to start posting to YouTube, I went all in. I watched (literally) one hundred Casey Neistat vlogs, starting at his first, and took feverish notes on everything from story to shooting to editing. I started making twice-weekly videos (this feels hard to imagine now), and gave it everything I had. I decided that if I could hit 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year, I’d give myself more time to prove the concept and invest in the idea. It was November of that year that I hit 10K and to say it was surreal is an understatement. Around that time, I started to establish a network of other YouTubers, people who were much more well versed in this world than me, and were unbelievably generous with sharing tricks of the trade. They’ve since become close friends. This helped me start to think about making my channel a viable career, and be strategic early on. From there, I found my way into opportunities like producing and hosting my own show, Travel, Eat, Repeat with Eater, premiering my films at Buffer Festival, and securing sponsorships that allowed me the opportunity to make what I wanted each day, how I wanted to make it. That reality is not something I take for granted even in the least.
On Creative Life
How did it feel to start venturing into short films and poetry shorts on your channel?
In terms of exploring a new and different medium, diving into shorts and visual poetry felt invigorating, intimidating and inspiring all at once. When it came to actually sharing those pieces, some of which are detailing the most vulnerable moments and realities of my life, it was incredibly daunting. I’ve been asked a lot about the more personal work I share, and how or why I’ve done that. I can only explain it by saying that I needed to create those pieces as a part of my own processing of difficult things. The very first visual poetry piece I shared was called gratitude and suffering, and it came about at a time where I was experiencing a lot of wonderful things in terms of my career and life at home, but simultaneously, I was also processing trauma and grief, and witnessing the people I love process it as well. It was a juxtaposition of two opposite human experiences that was hard for me to reconcile. I wrote that poem in under 10 minutes. It spilled out of me, and after reading it through, I knew it needed to be visual. It’s been that way with any short film or poetry piece I’ve written since. I really think those videos have become a part of my emotional processing strategy, pouring my hurt or hope into my work has given me an outlet to express things I wasn’t previously able to. It’s been beautiful to see that people have felt so heard and seen in watching them.
How has starting on Youtube helped your journey as a creator growing her platforms?
Starting a YouTube channel changed my entire trajectory as a creator. First and foremost, it gave me a sense of accountability I hadn’t experienced before. Even though my audience was initially very small, I still felt a sense of duty to share videos - and to be constantly improving the quality and storytelling each week. It also provided a creative playground for me to make whatever I wanted in that given moment - as a wedding and commercial filmmaker, I had never experienced that kind of creative freedom and quickly learned that I thrived in it.
What sort of content do you aspire to create?
Strangely enough, the next big thing I make will be a step away from video. I am hoping to write a book (honestly just writing it here is terrifying), I’ve wanted to share the journey our family took with our son’s diagnosis of Autism for many years, and while I have done that through film, I feel this story will have the most impact in the form of a book. For video specifically, I hope to continue to stretch myself in my writing and (admittedly weak) explainer skills. I would love to create a piece that is more rigorous and dense than my previous work in the next year or so.
What piece of advice would you give yourself 5 years ago?
I think the biggest thing I wish I had known, is that it is going to feel really slow, and really impossible. In the successes I’ve had, I’ve found that most of them are the culmination of many tiny moves & steps, many scripts that are never made into films, many conversations that lead to an idea, many risks that sort-of-turn-out, just so many little moments that eventually add up to one big stride. This reality makes it really difficult to see & understand that growth is occurring, but it is. So I would say to myself five years ago, ‘keep going, it may feel like this is all for nothing, but it is adding up to something you will feel is great.’
What makes you most excited as a creator online?
Besides the fact that it is a blank canvas each and every day (which I love), I have also been blown away by the online creator community. In the short 2 years I’ve been on YouTube, I have made some of my closest, dearest friends via the platform. I had no understanding that digital communities like this existed when I began, and feel very very lucky to be a part of one now.
How has your storytelling changed through time?
Absolutely. I think there are likely foundational aspects to my work that stand firm as I evolve as a creator, but for the most part, I hope to be always changing and growing and shifting in my art. When it comes to technical storytelling, I am always trying to improve my skillset - whether that be through deeper dives in the pre-production stages, storyboarding more intently, editing a bit differently or changing my writing style. In terms of the more creative part of storytelling, the stories that I write and share are ones that are reflections of the life experiences I am having at that time. As a result, the stories I tell are constantly morphing as I morph. I think this is why my films feel a bit like a digital journal. They very closely track my experience at any given moment.
On Her Family
Is it difficult to capture your family in your work? How did it become a more regular practice?
There are two answers to this question that are both equally true. First, yes, it is difficult to capture my family in my work for many reasons. Logistics alone, it is a very difficult task to chase two kids around the globe and capture anything that can be made into a story. Aside from that though, there are the constant questions I ask myself regarding how they would want to be captured, whether they will be ok with having been captured, essentially if I am doing the right thing. I’ve tried my best to be mindful of who they are and what they would/will feel when they see these videos someday and hope that makes a difference. The second answer is that, no it is not difficult, it is in fact the most natural thing I’ve ever done. These moments are ones I was capturing from the time Johnny (my husband) and I were married, and continued once we had our first son, and then our second. We had hard drives full of memories and moments long before I decided to share them on the internet because I knew those moments were precious and wanted to remember them. All in all, it is something I am very glad I’ve done - being able to look back has been the biggest treat as these boys grow up and become more independent.
What are the challenges you've faced while traveling and producing?
I mean, so many. The way that I produce my vlogs or even the episodes for Travel, Eat, Repeat is very run and gun, and while that can be good for capturing moments on the go quickly and efficiently, it can also be a disaster if something goes wrong with audio, visuals, etc. Often times our travel shoots are 12 hours straight of capturing a new place with new foods and new people. Just from a sheer physical perspective, we are always hauling our own gear for miles and miles and miles, sometimes plus two kids. It is a daunting task that takes a lot of preparation and focus, as well as a sensitivity to local cultures and people.
How did you feel your online presence and work change after opening up about your mental health?
I initially shared about my mental health because it was causing an enormous creative block not to share. I felt like every time I was appearing on camera, I had to pretend to be someone else, someone who wasn’t sad, or anxious or depressed. Sharing helped me to be more me. I think that authenticity is always going to shine through, as most of us are looking to feel seen and heard, so I think that showing up as myself, someone with flaws and real-life challenges resonated with my audience and helped my work and presence online to feel more meaningful.
What are the ways that you create a structure or a workflow while being a parent?
Since both Johnny and I are fully self-employed and parents, we’ve had to be extremely intentional about the way we set up our days. Our work hours are firm so there isn’t much time for procrastination or distractions. We know that once we get into our studio, we have 8 hours give or take before our nanny goes home and Henry gets back from school to be finished with everything on our to do list for that day. Having established hours has been essential in doing everything we need to do each day. Beyond that, I’ve found so much value in programs like Monday.com, Slack, Zoom, Spark for email organization, Dropbox for file sharing. I’ve also been quick to hire a team of talented people who help me stay focused and get things done on time.
On Her Eater Series
What were the best parts of creating your Eater series?
Besides the food, which was easily the best part, my series with Eater stretched me more than any other project I had been a part of up to that point. Having the opportunity to create for an audience that was less invested in me and more invested in the information I could share with them pushed me to evolve my format into something more rigorous. It needed to be good no matter who was hosting it, and that was a new challenge and one I was excited (and scared) to accept.
What pushed you to take this opportunity? Did it feel challenging in any way to continue to branch off from your own travel work?
I was really fortunate to be brought into Eater by a team that wanted to help me develop something great, and honestly, still does. They were incredibly supportive of my creative vision despite my lack of experience in travel and food journalism, and helped push me to become a producer, host, and journalist. I have to say that my decision to take the gig was mostly blissful ignorance as to what the project would entail, but I am so glad I did.
On Travel and Bright Trip
How did your travels start to influence your filmmaking?
Every place I travel to stretches me in a new way, whether it is the light, the colors, the narrow alleys or busy streets - the different scenery calls for different shooting, editing, music, and overall tone. I’ve loved the experience of being challenged by every place we go to.
Where are your dream travel plans?
Oh boy. I’ve been saying I’ve wanted to go to Greece for maybe 5 years now, so that has to be it. I’ve also dreamt of renting a camper van and driving through New Zealand so I guess I’ll take whichever comes first.
How did the idea for Bright Trip arise?
When our co-founder, Andrew approached us about starting a company within the travel education space, he was pointing to a gap in the industry that we had noticed over our years of creating travel focused content - and that was educational travel video. While there are so many travel vlogs out there, most provide only lists of things to do or where to go, or are more about the subjects doing the traveling than the actual place itself. We wanted to provide something with more depth, something that curious travelers could use to prepare not just for the logistics of their trip, but to understand the context of the place they are visiting. instead of simply providing a list of the best places to eat Ramen in Tokyo, we wanted to provide answers to contextual questions like, what is the history of ramen? How did it come about? How is it made? We were fortunate to found Bright Trip with Andrew, who has a background in education technology, and in combining our content creation and marketing skill sets with his Ed Tech know-how, Bright Trip was (slowly and painstakingly) born!
What are your goals with Bright Trip?
We hope to spend the next year growing a community of endlessly curious travelers - we are working hard to expand our library of courses with courses about Iceland, Capetown, Berlin, Switzerland, Costa Rica and London coming out soon as well as skills-based courses like “How To Solo Travel”. As we continue to grow, we hope we can help people learn and prepare for their trips in a way that not only enhances their experience but broadens their appreciation for a place.
How can someone get involved with Bright Trip?
We are in the early stages of the company and growing quickly, and as a result we’re always looking for hosts, editors, producers, production assistants, and travel writers to help us create these courses. If you happen to be interested, please see our careers page on the Bright Trip website.