“When I came to town all I had was $300,000, a computer, a camera, and a dream,” Keon Hector told The Scene. Today, just over two years since he arrived in the city, the Berbician is hailed by clients, fans and fellow videographers and photographers as one of the best.
Though he only took up videography on a professional level in 2017, Keon was interested while attending the Government Technical Institute (GTI) back in 2015. He spent every free minute shooting, editing or uploading one of his videos. By 2016, Keon and a friend, who shared his interest in videography, purchased a camera together.
The 23-year-old shared that though he helped with the purchase of the camera, he never kept it at home as the co-owner had contributed the larger sum. Together they began to produce comedies under the banner, Renaissance Entertainment. This led to them being hired to cover various events.
Keon laughed as he shared that they charged only $15,000 for an event, but added that at that time, it seemed like “a million dollars”. Sometime later, they were contracted by local artiste Wiz Phil to shoot his music video. The song video garnered more than 100,000 views and other artistes began to hire them.
Before long, Keon said, he had worked on several Chutney hits like “Never Gonna Leave” by Vicadi Singh, “My Johnny Walker” by Tony Cutz, “She Want Me Be She Raja” by Bunty Singh which gained more than a million views and “Poowah” by Vanita Willie with the video of the song being released just yesterday.
Keon noted that though he resided in New Amsterdam, Berbice, most of the work he was contracted for was done in Georgetown. After a year of travelling back and forth, he finally made up his mind to move to the capital. The young man shared that initially his mother was against him doing videography and photography and pleaded with him to find a more secure job. She threatened that if he did not start applying for such jobs, she would write the applications herself.
Part of the reason for relocating to Georgetown, the videographer said, was to attend the University of Guyana (UG) which of course was what he told his mother when he started out for the city.
But it was easier said than done when he arrived in Georgetown in September 2018. “Living by myself was the most difficult thing. I couldn’t cook. I couldn’t wash. I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “[George]town was like America to me.; I was lost in this big, big place. I spent plenty of my money on taxi and [takeout] food. I didn’t know how to get around town using the bus. I didn’t have the internet. I was lonely. I remember being up late one night and I started to cry. I wanted to go back home. It had only been two weeks… I decided later that night that I didn’t come till to town to go back home and spent the rest of the night working on my videos. The next day when my mother called and asked how I was doing, I told her I was okay because if I had only told her how I was feeling, she’d talk me into going back home.”
He started attending UG, pursuing a degree in marketing, but several months into studying, he was almost out of savings and tried acquiring a loan from the bank. He was told he needed a guarantor but was unsuccessful in finding one. It was more than he could take and sometime during this period he had a mental breakdown as he battled anxiety. He recalled a friend and the friend’s mother opening their home to him. And while this was probably what he needed most at that time, Keon crawled into a shell, deactivated his Facebook account and turned down all incoming work. After about a month of this, he visited his home in Berbice and while he welcomed the familiar scene and people, he continued to struggle with depression for about five more months before he was able to cast off the mental block. Determined to be better, he started accepting new work and life began looking up.
Keon shared that during this time he moved in with another friend, a former classmate he had been good friends with. This friend, Dwayne Jordan, he said, was also from Berbice and by the time Keon became his roommate, Dwayne had already learnt his way around Georgetown. He also knew how to cook and taught Keon these skills.
Keon credited his then roommate as the reason he was able to later save the majority of his income by not having to take taxis or buy takeout. ‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for lifetime’ is how the saying goes. Keon boasts that Dwayne not only taught him those life skills but also how to shop for groceries, all of which are important now that he is living on his own again.
Aside from being a friend, Dwayne is also a colleague. He, Keon and another videographer, Travis Rawlins came together in 2019 to work on a film called Gypsy for the Timehri Film Festival. Gypsy, Keon shared, was created to be part of the documented history of the folk song, “Gypsy in the Moonlight”. However, Gypsy was made with a twist as a horror theme was added. The trio’s production that year copped the winning prize.
Last year, they again united to produce Mi Casa for the film festival and took the first prize once more. Contestants participating in the competition, the videographer said, are required to shoot, edit, and submit their videos within 48 hours. They are eyeing another win this year when the competition is held.
At the start of last year, Keon did video productions for five singers contesting the Chutney Monarch Competition. Three of them placed including Bunty Singh who won the monarchy, Tony Cutz who finished in 3rd place and Vicadi Singh who got 4th. Following the production of the videos in February, Guyana was hit by the pandemic which cancelled all of Keon’s bookings for weddings and other events. However by July, he was again being booked and produced videos for several other artistes including Azariel with his “Tint” song, which garnered almost half a million views; and Steven Ramphal’s “Never Leave You”.
Keon enthused that he was thrilled when he was contacted by Steven to shoot his music video, as the singer is also a videographer. He was also nervous to shoot for another videographer and unsure whether he would be good enough.
“I was nervous because I didn’t know if to shoot it his way or mine until Steven asked me what I wanted him to do, then I reminded myself that this was my job and I needed to do my thing,” Keon said. The video, which was released two weeks ago, has already garnered more than 38,000 views. Many have since commented about how professionally the video was done.
Among Keon’s inspirations are Andy Henry, a photographer and videographer, also from Berbice, who shot Shawn English’s “High on the Truth” song video and Ziggy Denheart who according to Keon is known for his “amazing videos”.
It has not all been smooth sailing. Keon confessed to losing some work for his clients in the past. To avoid that happening again, he said, he now backs up any work he does as soon as he gets home from a shoot. In addition, if a memory card has been used for a shoot, it is not used again for another production until the first has been delivered.
Among Keon’s clients is Trinidad-based Guyanese singer Anil Azeez who is famous for his Gospel-Chutney song, “In Jesus Meh Can’t Die”. Keon did the video for Anil’s recent song, “Beautiful Guyana”. Keon also produced a video documentary on suicide for several UG students in Berbice. The film caught the attention of officials in Germany who subsequently covered expenses for the students to attend an exhibition there where the documentary was shown. To date Keon has covered an average of 50 weddings as a videographer and as a photographer. “My job has taken me places. I have been to Kwakwani, Wakenaam, Leguan, Linden, Timehri, and Bartica. Kwakwani is my favourite so far,” he shared.
What about the support from his mother today? “My mother is very proud,” he said. “One day she was at a store and she was writing her name on a bill for a [promotion] they had, and the cashier saw her last name and asked her if she was related to Keon Hector and my mother told her I’m her son. The cashier told her that I do amazing work. That same day she also reached somebody else that told her they love my work. She called me after and was happily telling me about it. She is very supportive about my job today.”
A video takes Keon about two weeks on average to edit but not all of his time is spent doing his work. In his free time, he likes playing billiards, or watching music videos or movies; his favourite actor is Leonardo DiCaprio.
Someday Keon hopes to run his own film production where he can produce short films and movies. Meanwhile, in the near future the videographer hopes to take his competing skills up a notch when he competes in international competitions.
Keon can be followed on YouTube at Keon Hector, on Instagram @Renaissance Gallery 1 and can be contacted for bookings at 617-9965.
