Episode 38 - Andres Nieves-Bernal - Videographer/Photographer, and Co-Owner of ANB Collective

This episode is a really special one because host Rashelle Newmyer is finally bringing the magic from behind the camera out in front of it. She sits down with Andres Nieves-Bernal, the creative mind behind A&B Collective and the person who has helped bring this podcast to life visually and creatively since day one. Andres is usually the one behind the scenes making everything look and sound great, but Rashelle finally convinced him to step in front of the camera so you can hear his story.

In this conversation, Andres shares how he went from being a competitive soccer player to falling in love with photography through car culture and YouTube, and how he and his wife, Jasmine, slowly built a creative business that now helps families, entrepreneurs, and brands tell their stories through photography, video, and marketing. They discuss how A&B Collective evolved, what it’s like to build a family-owned business, and why structure, consistency, and respect for people matter as much as creativity and talent.

They also discuss content creation, social media trends, the pressure of the algorithm, and why authenticity consistently outperforms perfection. Andres shares what it’s like balancing business ownership with family life, how he’s teaching his kids about work ethic and entrepreneurship, and why he believes that giving people a great experience matters more than any flashy edit or trending transition.

This episode reflects on creativity, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and what it takes to grow something meaningful over time. It’s also our Season One finale, which makes it extra special. Rashelle is so grateful for everyone who has listened, shared, and supported this podcast, and I can’t wait for what we’re building next.

Thank you for being here, for being part of this journey, and for helping make Season One of The Realtor Who Wines such a beautiful experience. Let’s get into it.

Cheers! 

Thank you for listening! Connect and collaborate with Realtor Rashelle on any of her social media platform pages > https://linktr.ee/RealtorRashelle

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Realtor Who Wines podcast. I'm Rachelle Newmeyer, your hostess with the mostest a student of life, a connector, a passionate wine enthusiast, and your local favorite guide. Join me as we explore the vibrant Pacific Northwest. Savor the finest wines and champion the spirit of entrepreneurship. Each episode, I'll sit down with inspiring guests, supporting business ownership and uncovering the stories that make this community unique. So grab a glass of wine, settle in, and let's embark on a journey of discovery and connection together. Cheers. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the realtor who wins. I'm Rachelle Niemeyer, your realtor who loves to win. Today I'm with Andres and I can't wait for you to meet him. He is normally the magic behind the camera of the realtor who Wins podcast. But I got him out of his comfort zone in front of the camera. So, cheers. Cheers. You gotta separate my. He's not a big wine drinker. Ooh. Pretty good. Yeah. That's Chardonnay from Arbor Brook. They are in the new Burgundy area. Super cute place. I'm hoping that they'll be on season two. I meant to tell them about it. Will you introduce yourself to everybody? Yeah. Hi, everyone. I'm on Nevis. Bernal. I am Marshall's videographer, and I also run my own, like, photography videography business. And we're on UE4. And I do it with my wife, which is super cool and fun. Yeah. You have a family owned business. You do more than photography. Obviously with the podcast, you do all the audio editing and things like that too. So is audio and visual. Yeah. So everything that has to do production, we offer it and we get to have fun with it. So. Yeah. What did you have like a background in a photography videographer or what kind of like led you down this path. No I did not. I used to be like a really big soccer player when I was, middle school. High school. When played in college and semi-pro for a little bit. And then after I quit soccer, I kind of needed to find, like, something to fill in that passion. And, I was always into cars, too. And then I would sit on YouTube and watch, like, all these really cool car videos and these car photographers, videographers that would travel and I had like a traveling bug from soccer because we traveled a lot and I was like, I want to be a photographer. And I bought like this really cheap camera. And that just turned into this whole, like, 11 year hobby thing and then finally got the courage to just make it a business. Yeah. Well, so you started doing cars? Yeah. So my friends and I would have these, like, really outrageous cars that you couldn't drive anywhere because there were one too low. There are too loud. And we're like, hey, let's take pictures of cars and, slowly turn into, like, hey, let's do videos of them. And we started posting these really, like, bad videos on you on YouTube. They're horrible. Yeah. Now that I look back at them and then, that slowly turned into one day of family, of a family friend of ours was like, hey, can you take, like, a family photos? And I was like, yeah. And she's like, how much would you charges? Like, I'm gonna charge you like my first, like actual family. Like, I take photos and I did their photos. They weren't great. I look back at them now, I'm like, wow, this is like, oh, at least it's free. Yeah. And, yeah. And I just really got into it and then just started slowly investing into gear on increasing your skill level. Yeah. YouTube University was just watching. And you know, I think the biggest learning experience was just going out there and actually, like, doing it, like capturing cameras. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and here we are. You know, so you transition from cars. Did you instantly go because of that family friend and to family photography or do you do other stuff? No, actually it was just still the car stuff. And I was hanging out with my buddies. And then, that somehow turned into, like, shooting a filming a quinceanera. And, they liked my work, and that turned into like, hey, can you help me film a wedding? And then that turned into another wedding, and they just kept like, yeah, turning into, like, this really cool opportunity. And every time a new, like, hey, have you filmed this or shot this? No, but I'm sure we can figure something out. And. Yeah, you just gave me all this, like, really cool experience. So yeah, I love that about you that you'll, like, easily pivot and do things. Talk about you and your wife Jasmine have and be a collective and then under the collective. Yeah. Yeah. So we started when I decided to start my photography business, it was like kind of like a one day like we talked about it, and then one day I was just like very tired from my, like, old job, which is kind of crazy. But we never really like, came up with names. I was like, let's just go and be moments cause we're capturing moments with families, and I really love doing that. They get to we get to freeze these moments in time. So that's where A and B moments came in. And then, you started doing like the bodybuilding. Yeah. And so I started doing bodybuilding. So I had a friend who started doing bodybuilding during Covid years, and one day was I came in and, you know, photographer, videographer, you want to do this? So then we I started dabbling into that. So then I would post like these beautiful weddings on my amp moments. And then my next post would be a very like, buff individual. Yeah. So like it kind of confused people. So then we created A and B visuals. So then that was like more of the creative side stuff where like post this sort of branding for, businesses. And if a bodybuilder wanted because we wanted to kind of be able to help everyone and like in their own niche, you know, bodybuilders want to be creatives and influencers. And then so then we thought about A and B collective and like A and B collective is kind of like the umbrella of. Yeah. And then you have weddings, we have this you want creative, we have any B visuals, but then we have A and B collective with your business. That's where we get to help you with everything. That's marketing, branding, social media, matchmaking kind of thing. So yeah. What have you learned over the last four years? Just growing your business. Oh, definitely structure. I mean, we, I think we're learning how to structure because I think being a business owner and then having kids and everything, so, like, it's a juggle. Yeah. Like, I always of. I'm still learning now. Like, I, we're like I said, we're on you for. And I feel like every year we get to grow a little more. But we're also like learning, like we're not exactly where we'd like to be yet. But I've learned that I need structure and like a system. So we're trying to, like, really figure that out so we can be like a great asset for our clients because I went from having these jobs that there was a structure I clock in at this time. I have these specific jobs that need to be done right before a clock out. It's hard to one day going like, wow, have all this free time, like I can just work and we're like, oh, it's okay. I'll just put the kids to sleep and then I'll stay up late and edit like there was. There's no structure. So I'm slowly trying to figure that out, to be more successful and like a better asset for my clients and other people that I get to work with. So yeah, well, and the more structure you have to, then the more you can take on clients or specific projects and things like that. Yeah. Your son is also starting to help with the business now. Yeah, we actually just filmed the wedding and he was actually my videographer for it. Which is funny because like, him and, he was just kind of hanging out, and then I was like, I was like, I kind of need help because your mom's actually invited to this wedding, too. Like, we're kind of where she's, I guess, at the same time. And he was kind of just hanging out. I was like, yo, you want to make some money today? And he's like, yeah, let's do it. And then it was funny because we showed up to the wedding. He helped me film like the first part. We were getting calls and then out of nowhere he, like, disappeared. I couldn't find him anymore. And he was playing cornhole with the guys. Oh, like, I was like, dude, you're supposed to be working. In all fairness, his son is a teenager. Yeah, yeah. Which is fun because it was like for a family friend, which is pretty fun to do. And but he was I was able to teach him and he slowly learning to do some of the stuff we do so we can just help each other. Yeah. The business grew well, and I think it's so important, like, you know, I bring Rylan with me to a ton of stuff. And do I want her to get into real estate? No, but I just want her to learn about business and how to interact with people, how to treat people with respect. Things like that. And you're doing the same thing. Yeah. It's fun. You show them to like it. Well, because my parents, we never had that opportunity because they were pretty, you know? Yeah, they were in, heavy jobs and they worked hard for us to, like, be able to have a career like this. And it's like, I'm not. I don't have a very, like, art. My job's hard, but not really. So I'm like, I'm trying to teach him. Like what? How we can improve and be grateful about the opportunities we have. Because like, the fact that I get to say I get to play with cameras for my career is like really cool. And I do that. Yeah. Ten years ago, because as we were trying to build this big dream of ours today. Well, and I tried to just also show Rylan like, even like swinging a hammer isn't like the only work ethic way. It's totally commendable and like to your point, like that's hard on your body. It's long hours labor type jobs. But I still want her to see like how how much time goes behind the scenes of like entrepreneur where you're owning your own business and then also just like how to interact with other people and provide good customer service and things like that. Yeah, that's the most important thing too. Like, I think one of the things I've learned because I've had the opportunity to work some other people, but I think the thing I pick up the most is like respecting others. Yeah. You could probably provide a really cool service and you have a service you need, but if you don't give them a good experience or respect them as people like, right. And that kind of goes a longer ways in like what you're actually providing for. If you treat them all you make them have like that goes a really long ways over the service that you provide. So it's pretty cool as you're building structure and things. What are some like goals for you guys to grow the business more? Ooh, goals would probably be, like I said, pay my kid to do more stuff or have him learn more and be more like excited to be like, hey, I actually have this cool project I'd like to do. So like being able to support him there and then like me and my wife, being able to, like, actually work together full time and run the business well together. And then I think the biggest goal that we have is to, like, eventually open a studio and be moment studio where rhetorical make it creative space, have like cool podcasting set ups, beauty product shoot. Yeah, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's the biggest goal. And yeah, just being able to continue to do, like successful business like this too is pretty. Yeah. The biggest goal I see what has been some of the most like interesting things that you've shot or like projects that you've done. Ooh. I always like to show the some of the coolest one are taking you into business. We got hired to travel to Hawaii to do a wedding. And that's super cool. My, my daughter was four months, and our son was so pretty young. And then I looked at my wife was like, hey, this is kind of like paying for a whole trip, which maybe I was like, I don't know when this is going to happen again. So I think we're just going to go ahead and then let's do it. Yeah. We yeah, we flew out there, filmed the wedding and we used like a week and a half to explore, working with like sponsored MMA fighters, like wrestling the shoes in the Olympics, like, it's, I've had the opportunity to work some really cool people. Yeah. For sure. That's so cool. Is there anybody that you like hope that you get to work with or any type of business owner, entrepreneur or athlete? Anybody? Well, we live in Corvallis, I think, like, oh, cool goal to be able to like work with would be like probably OSU. OSU would be I've gotten the opportunity to do a couple jobs with them. But to be like on a consistent level to create stuff for them would be really, really cool. Go to I mean, if Disney called you, oh man, if Disney we both geek out about being Disney adults and Jasmine's a Disney adult too. So yeah, one way we've bonded, which is actually funny. When we first started, like when I first started getting into like the whole videographer thing, me and Jasmine have like a plan where we would we were wanting to drive there a lot so we can become Oregon Disney vloggers. Yeah, but I think that's still there. We're just trying to figure out like, yeah, like how to do it. Yeah, I know we big Sky dream too. Like who can we interview and Anaheim where we could have the podcast and Disney for a week. So how do we get there? I don't know if I can make it work. Yeah, I think so. I think we just make it a business expense. Yeah. We just got to go out there and we'll just interview each other like for three days. Well, there's like some influencers out there I feel like we could interview. I bet we could get at least one. Oh we could somebody. Yeah. That or I mean, honestly, I think we could just vloggers would be like oh yeah, what days? And we can just. Yeah, yeah I say we do it. Yeah. Well I'm 26. Oh yeah. You're going to see us at Disneyland. We're going to work on that. Yeah. What? As far as, like, staying up to trend because like you said, you've been getting, like, different equipment over the years. I know that you've learned to edit things differently and stuff. How do you stay up to trend? Are you still just YouTube university, or do you have any mentors or anybody that you lean on? I do, there's a lot of creatives on like YouTube and Instagram that they like to like do, which is like all the tech like cameras come out every single year. I try not to, I'm on my phone a lot and I don't like it, but because with what I do like, I feel like I have to consistently look at it because with the trends, like, yeah, knowing like the social media are like, especially if I want to offer it to as a service to someone. And I want to make sure, like, I provide a good service. I'm like, I'm keeping trying to keep up with like, oh, shoot, someone is this song's trending. Let's save that so we can use it with someone or let's create a video. If there's like specific transitions that are trending, like I try to figure out how I can use that or the storytelling part of it. Like the goal is to always be original as possible, but sometimes, like you are kind of I'm constantly scanning to see like, okay, this is trending, let's go make this video for this client because we know that that's working right now. So we want to create leads for them or whatever. So, but as far as gear I try not to like, I think I'm in a good spot where I have enough gear where I don't have to, like, invest and I can like, save it and stuff. Yeah. Is it hard, though, like when a new gadget or something comes out and you're like, oh yeah, it is, it is. But Jasmine keeps me on to don't chase. You don't need to. Let's have a business meeting. Yeah. Because I think like a lot of the stuff we, we do to like things like, I've built my gear around what I can provide for people. There's all there's, like, not to hate on them. There's a lot of creatives that go and like, all right, I got to buy this. I got to buy that. And then they have all the awesome gadgets. But then it's like you look at the work and it's like, okay, we got to focus what we're creating and delivering over, like what we have, what you know, what the gear we have. So like for me, I like to keep my edits simple because at the end of the day, like, I'm not selling you transitions or effects on your video or a song, I'm, I'm selling you a good quality video that represents who you are. Like, yeah, for sure. Do all these, like, flashes make it look like it's a rap video or something? Yeah. And you're trying to sell coffee, right? So, you know, so we try to keep ourselves simple. Just like benefits just mix and beans around. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thankfully it can we kind of funny. And what do we got a cool actually but yeah yeah yeah I want I mean that's for me like I wanted to do the podcast for years and years you know that. But I was just like the idea of learning a whole new skill set, like the audio editing and the video editing, I was I was like, I don't I'm not interested in that. Yeah. It's, it's a crazy world, honestly. It it's it seems simple, but it does take us a lot like, it's funny because all like, when, like, I'll sit on Instagram and some people make funny videos were like, what people think we do. It's like create videos within like. But a 32nd video can take us like a full eight hours or so. Yeah, especially depending on what it is. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, yeah I kind of feel that there's like then, then it's funny because like we'll do, like, we'll film something and then people like, hey, when do you think you'll have these ready? By tomorrow was like, do we just do like ten hours of filming? You gotta go through all that video to, like, actually curate everything. So make sense with what we're trying. Well, and it's frustrating too, because sometimes you will spend like eight hours on a video and it doesn't get that much traction. Yeah. And then a video that you did only spend 20 minutes on is like gets a few thousand views and you're like, what the. Yeah, yeah this one, you're right. But I okay. Yeah it's it's frustrating but it's just how it works is sometimes it is just the algorithm to it has nothing to do with the actual quality of the video. Yeah. It's like just the timing. Yeah. It's just the consistency too. If you're not consistent, it won't work like you do. Yeah. To which is like even for like businesses or even myself, sometimes I'm just not like I get overwhelmed. So I'm trying to balance with my kids and stuff. So like I can go and create stuff for myself or I want to deliver stuff for clients. So it's like I put that before I can like do something for myself. But I've noticed, like when you do stay consistent, it for sure pays off like it's a good invest. Totally. I mean, marketing in general, whether you're doing video, social media, print, whatever you're doing, you have to be consistent with it. I mean, if you're only doing it like once a quarter, once a month, like it's just not going to really make the impact. It's kind of a waste of time if you're only doing it so often. Right? Right. Yeah. Doing it more often definitely will impact your business in the long run. Yeah. For sure. Talk about the business plan. So you are wanting to transition more into helping more businesses. With branding. Yeah. For more packages that way. Yeah. Yeah. We would like to, like, we love doing the weddings and stuff. That's every other weekend, depending on what the season looks like. We love wedding. Like, we've actually had a really good experience working weddings as we've had people like, really, we've never had someone, like, be upset with us or anything at the like. Well, no, it's nice to be part of your special. Yeah, yeah. And you know, one thing we like to do is to make sure, like they're doing well, you know, so we enjoy that. But sometimes you get kind of burnt out. So like, if we, we want to transition over to work with businesses that want to grow. So because we understand how hard it is and then big of an investment it is. So we want to transition to help people do either the social media management figure out how to help you create a calendar where you can stay consistent, or we just want to tell stories to like, yeah, you know, we all started somewhere. You know, we're all still growing. So yeah. Well and I say that to like realtors all the time because I help train and do a lot of teaching around real estate is like, not everything you post has to be about real estate. Like just post about the business or you've seen it. We've had a lot of conversations on the podcast where the business owners like in between takes and stuff happen. Like I never know what to post and it's like, just post you. Yeah. Getting grapes. Yeah. The vineyards just post you mixing wine, just post you hanging up. People want to see the behind the scenes stuff. Definitely. I was actually just like started I started listening to Garyvee and there was like a really follow up Garyvee one where he was like, he's like, just go on there and post you. If your name is on, just go on there and be like, I'm fucking Ron and I like to clean garbage. I mean, he's like, just post it and really does sometimes work like it's crazy. It has worked very well. So yeah, I believe all the advice I yeah, it was awesome. He was one person that like believed in YouTube before. A lot of people believed in YouTube. Like do you know his like history? His family owned a liquor store and he started posting about wine and he would be very honest. Like this tastes like garbage. Don't buy this wine. Even though they're a liquor store. Like he would do wine tastings and he would also do it in a very like layman's terms, like, ooh, the tannins. He was just like, this doesn't really taste like a red wine. Yeah, maybe don't buy this. In fact, we're not going to carry this wine anymore. He used to do stuff like that, and people thought he was nuts. So that's why are you posting that and that YouTube channel for this one liquor store in Jersey grew huge. And that's kind of where he started his. Yeah. Because people connect with you like you're just being, you know, like, well, and just being authentic instead of being like Delicious. And then the camera turns off you're like yeah yeah. You don't want to do this right. And so he wasn't doing that. Yeah. Like he was doing the book on camera. Like there was a few times he had like spit the wine out like no that's that's funny. That is hilarious. So yeah, I love Garyvee, but he just talks about, like, he didn't have a camera crew at first or anything. He just started posting. Yeah, yeah. Which is cool too, because like, like I said, we try to be as fair. Sometimes we like, we'll be like, no, just you don't want to. Here's this post with your phone. Like, yeah, like because I love when people reach out to like, hey, what do you think? Like, oh yeah, like, do this, do that. Like, I'm not like, nah, dude, if you want me to tell you, you got it. You had to hire me to tell. It was like, no, I'm going to like, it's how we grow. Like, oh, no questions. Yeah. Just me. Yeah. Being a collaboration. Hard. You and I are very similar in that way where we're just like, yeah, I want to help you grow. If you want to hire me to grow differently, then I'm here. But you're not like, well, if you want that kind of advice. Yeah, yeah. No, here's my van. Yeah. Or something. Yeah. So, Chris, like, I mean, one thing like, I feel like we just never stop learning, so, like, we just you, we learn all the time when you should be able to ask questions. Yeah. Easy. No, because I've had it. I ran into people where it's like, no, we. Yeah. You want to do that, go to my website. I have this guide for ten bucks. I'm like, dude, you can just be like me. Cool, friendly. Yeah, yeah. Well, and really, like, you need to like, yeah. Instead, maybe if you gave me the info, I might tell 20 people, right. Another guy versus me just buying it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, oh come on, just have the convo in person. Yeah that's hilarious. No. Yeah. It's yeah. We we love what we do is know and it shows. I really wanted to have you on the podcast because I get so many compliments and people are like, oh, you're doing so great. And I'm like, listen, everybody listen. I couldn't do it without your help. And with your expertise and everything that you're doing behind the camera too, it's been fun. I'm really excited for this upcoming season. And then, I mean, I was like, creative. When you hear stuff like that, it it's like a really good feeling to be triggered that when you saw a house or like, oh, I just yeah. Oh family a new home. Well and even with the podcast. So like you and I joked around and Jasmin too about this at the beginning I was like, well, hopefully my mom listens like I didn't know anybody would listen to it. But we actually have quite a few listeners and people loving it. And I get texts from people that like I haven't heard from in like 20 years, and they're like, I'm loving, you know? And I'm like, really? No. And then you've had some like really cool people on there, like hearing their stories. Like when I'm behind the camera, I'm like, oh shit, that's a really cool person I want. Yeah, I think that's so cool. I know I love, a lot of times I'll look at you throughout the interviews or afterwards I'll ask because, like, he's always like my beta tester, like he's not a big wine drinker. Like as an online drinker. Was that boring or was that cool? And he was like, actually, that was really interesting. Yeah. And stuff IRL. Like, I feel like he's laughing or engaging, so it's kind of nice. Yeah. It's cool. I think you like the mixture of like, guess you have to like even when you have people who don't drink wine, like their stories are really cool. And then how they got to where they are, like hearing, oh, I think that's the coolest part of what. But what we do, like we get to hear all these like, yeah, people's stories and like, you get to connect in one way or the other. I know it's really cool. People have asked like, why are you doing this? Like, what's in it for you? And and they weren't trying to be like, rude or anything. I think they're genuinely where like, why are you taking the time to do this? And I was like, do you not see like the cool people we're talking to? And a lot of them are people I already know, but it's just like showcasing everybody's like stories. Yeah, but they got going on. Yeah. It's fun. Yeah. No, I think every time, like even when I sit sometimes, like all at it and I'll have like one of your podcasts sitting and I'm like, oh yeah, I forgot about that. I was actually really cool. Like, yeah, it's really cool. Well, I really do appreciate you. I couldn't do this without you. I'm very excited for anyone listening. This is our last episode of season one, but we have already been brainstorming, as you heard here. Maybe Disneyland 2026. Yeah, but we have some tours. Yeah. When your tours. Yeah, we have some ideas for 2026 for sure to make it amazing. But yeah. Or send us like suggestions. Yeah. Or if you want to send us your stories or something, we are going to have a way to apply to be on the podcast too. We do try to keep it mixed up. Being in real estate, sometimes I get a lot of like real estate professionals that want to be on, but I was like, well, I want to showcase all industries, not just our industry, but for sure there will be a different definitely ways to apply to submit, to be on the podcast. Or if you have a wine you think we should try, we'd love to know about it. Yeah, yeah. So thank you so much for everything. I appreciate you so much for the. Thank you everyone for listening to season one. It's meant the world to us. This has been a great journey. We hope that you have a great holiday season and a Happy New Year, and we will see you in 2026. Cheers. Cheers guys. I.