Alumni Spotlight: John Lee '17

Alumnus John Lee '17 is taking his talents behind the camera and creating memorable films about people who are deeply in love. 

Lee is a wedding videographer and owner of his company — John Lee Visuals. Since going full-time with his videography business, Lee has captured dozens of couples on their special day. His work has also allowed him to travel globally to places like New York, Los Angeles and even Paris. 

His passion for film started at a young age. "I've always had a love for being behind the camera. In high school, I would make funny videos for my friends. I didn't know it would become my career," Lee said.

When he visited UL Lafayette's campus for the first time during a tour, he knew that he would be able to hone his filmmaking skills here. "When I toured UL Lafayette, I got this feeling that I had found my home. It was the perfect size for me, and everyone was super friendly when I was there. It was the only school that I toured, and it was the only school that I applied to," Lee said. 

As a student, Lee was very involved in his coursework and extracurricular activities. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and a member of UL Lafayette's SOUL Camp staff. One of his favorite parts of his time with SOUL Camp was working on different orientation events for incoming freshmen. He absolutely loved seeing students come in and start their next phase of life as Ragin' Cajuns.

Right after graduating with a broadcast journalism degree, Lee began working at KATC as a photojournalist. After a few years of telling stories across Acadiana, he moved into a new role as a student life coordinator at South Louisiana Community College. 

All this time, he never put his camera down. He started filming graduation videos for college students on the side. Until one day, he got asked to film a wedding video. "I was super nervous to film my first wedding. I was doing graduation and save-the-date videos, but I had never tackled a full wedding before," Lee said. 

After he excelled at capturing his first wedding, his business took off. In 2022, Lee decided to pursue videography full-time. In just his first year of business, he has filmed 25 weddings. For Lee, these wedding videos are more than just pieces of film but heirlooms that his clients can view for decades to come with their loved ones.

"A wedding is so much more than two people getting married. It's about two families coming together. What I love the most are the little things that make each wedding individual. Every couple is so different. The challenge of a videographer is telling a story that really embodies that couple and makes it unique to them. I think it's such an emotional day, and I just want to be able to show it in an authentic way," Lee said.

As his career progresses, Lee plans to keep capturing life's special moments and seize every opportunity that comes his way. He's extremely grateful for the foundation that UL Lafayette gave him that helped him develop into who he is today. "UL Lafayette has given me my friends who have become family, my fraternity brothers and so many wonderful connections. The community is truly a family, and I'm so proud to be a Ragin' Cajun," he said.

Main Photo Caption: John Lee '17 shoots a live concert. (Submitted) Story Photo Captions – Left: Lee and his camera. (Submitted) Right: Lee shows off his work to bridesmaids for a wedding. (Submitted)