Creator Stories: Featuring @austheshooter, Austin Carriere
My name is Austin Carriere, and I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and this is my story of how I went from loving King Cobras to being the Lead Digital Video Producer for the Denver Nuggets.
When I was a little kid in school, I had to do a project on my favorite animal and I picked the King Cobra. From there, I realized that I was fascinated by reptiles and amphibians. In middle school, I learned about famous animal enthusiasts like Steve Irwin and began to think that I could turn my passion for animals into a career. So I went to Oklahoma University for herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians. I started taking many international “herping” trips — trips to study and observe reptiles and amphibians in their natural habitats. This is when I received a camera for Christmas to help document all my trips abroad. What I didn’t foresee was that when I got the camera, my friends started asking for graduation photos, social media content, or photos of them doing their sports.
With the help of YouTube University and a million tutorials, I slowly became Austin with a camera, while also being Austin who catches snakes. As I began to take more and more photos, I began to look for a way to do more with my camera rather than just taking random photos every now and again. I began working for the OU Daily, a student-led media/newspaper outlet on campus. With that job, I got the opportunity to shoot almost everything — from breaking stories to the biggest sporting events. Being a competitor and a sports fanatic, I fell in love with shooting every sport that came up. Then got the opportunity my senior year to work directly for OU Athletics and become the primary content creator for OU Men’s Gymnastics, the #1 dynasty in the country. This new position included new content responsibilities that I wasn’t as good at the time, specifically videography. So, with more videos from YouTube University and the freedom to try new things with a great team, I became more than just Austin with a camera and my friends started calling me AusTheShooter.
Unfortunately, my first and only full season with Men’s Gymnastics had to end early with the start of a global pandemic. With only a couple of months of strong video experience and graduation coming up quickly, I had to make a decision to either attend one of the Herpetology Ph.D. programs I applied to, or take a huge risk and become a full-time sports content creator. I didn’t want to take any more tests and decided becoming a sports creative would be more enjoyable as a career. Thanks to having an amazing support system, made up of my family and friends, my name got around enough to get some freelance opportunities to keep improving on my work. Eventually, I got brought back for another year to work with OU Athletics as a COVID-grad creator and got the chance to work directly for the OU football, basketball, and softball programs. It got to the point where I had final interviews to work for the Seattle Seahawks or a company that hadn’t been on my radar before — Fresh Tape Media in Denver, Co. While I was working for NCAA Softball during the Women’s College World Series, I had a gut feeling that Fresh Tape Media would be the place for me. That decision ended up being one of the best decisions of my entire life.
I got to experience more than ever by working as a Junior Creative, including working with and traveling for, some of my dream brands and athletes. By truly being set up for success with the help of Fresh Tape Media, I decided to take my talents to the Denver Nuggets becoming a Digital Video Producer in my favorite league. I am just a Black kid from New Orleans who was supposed to be catching snakes for a living, which would be a crazy story on its own.
While I originally wanted to be a herpetologist, I am now a full-time creative working for an NBA team. It took a lot of hard work, determination, and dedication. I wake up grateful every day that I beat all of the odds and am now in a field a lot of people would dream of being in. I don’t take one day for granted and only strive to keep getting better, while also trying to be an inspiration and motivation for my little siblings and other Black kids around the world.
You can check out Austin’s content and profiles below.
Gondola: https://gondola.cc/austheshooter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austheshooter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/austheshooter
