My name is Chester Keegan Magness, and for the last seven years I’ve been trying to connect.It started with curiosity. I had been digging through my dad’s adventuring gear, convinced that somewhere among the worn climbing equipment and old shoes there was surly a treasure or two. it was then, at the bottom of a broken bin, I found my first camera, a 2013 GoPro Hero 3. From that point on, I filmed everything. I watched endless edits and constantly compared my work to the fast-paced, generic action videos from Red Bull and GoPro, thinking, this is what good looks like. This is what I should aspire to.For a long time, I chased that dream. I spent my time trying to recreate what I thought people would see as “cool.” I fixated on speed, spectacle, and familiar formulas. I believed that better gear, the right shot, or the perfect sequence would suddenly make everything click. If I could just get it right, I’d finally feel like professional, and be content.I never did.Toward the end of high school, I began to struggle with my mental health, and that struggle quietly reshaped how I saw myself, media, and the world around me. The content that had once inspired me no longer held the same weight. Everything started to feel manufactured, designed to grab attention rather than say anything real. I kept asking myself, where’s the honesty? Where’s the emotion? Where’s the work that exists because it means something, not because it performs well?That shift changed how I approached my work. I stopped trying to impress and started trying to be truthful. I came to believe that media should be something you can stand behind without explanation. When a piece was authentic, it carried more than images. It carried belief, emotion, and intent, and offered the viewer a place to connect.For the last four years, that idea guided my work. Boiled down, the goal was simple: make it genuine, or don’t make it at all.Today, I work as a freelance videographer, photographer, and editor based in Te Anau, New Zealand. I continue to love media and working with others to tell stories that feel honest and personal, while constantly refining my craft and searching for better, more meaningful ways to connect people through imagery and story