By Dov Gurewicz — Filmmaker, Photographer & Drone Operator, Hollywood, Florida
When I was seventeen, sitting in yeshiva in Montreal, I used to doodle in my notebook during class.
One thing I drew over and over was a logo.
DG Productions.
I had no idea what DG Productions was. I couldn’t have told you what it made, what it did, or who it was for. I only knew, in some wordless way, that I wanted to create — that I’d be involved in production of some kind. Music, video, events, something. The shape of it was completely unclear.
The pull toward it wasn’t.
That was almost twenty years ago. I wouldn’t own a camera for another decade.
B&H Photo, where the education actually started
Before I ever shot anything professionally, I worked the floor at B&H Photo in New York.
If you don’t know it, B&H is one of the largest and most respected pro camera and video stores in the world — the place serious photographers and filmmakers go to geek out over gear. Working there in 2012 was a free education in everything I’d eventually build a career around.
Every day I was surrounded by cameras, lenses, lighting, audio, and the people who actually knew how to use them. I handled equipment I couldn’t afford. I asked questions constantly. I learned the technical side of filmmaking from the ground up — not from tutorials, but from hands-on hours and conversations with people who’d been doing it for decades.
That’s where I understood the thing that still runs everything I do: the gear is a tool, not the talent. But you have to know the tool deeply before you can forget about it and focus on the story.
B&H gave me that foundation. I’m grateful for every shift.
On the floor at B&H Photo, New York, 2012.
From the store floor to a Canon Rebel on Craigslist
In 2016 I was flying between Chicago and Miami to date a woman named Rayna — now my wife. We’d explore the city together, and without realizing it, I started framing things in my head. The way the light hit the water. The specific orange of a South Florida sunset. I was composing images before I owned anything to shoot them with.
Then we took a trip to San Francisco, and that city opened up in front of me in a way I wasn’t ready for — the color, the light, the layers. I knew immediately I needed a camera. Not wanted. Needed.
Because of B&H, I knew exactly what to look for. I found a Canon Rebel T6i on Craigslist and bought it without hesitating.
My first paid job came soon after. A hundred dollars to shoot an event. The client hated every single photo.
I was horrified. But I didn’t quit — that failure lit something in me. I knew I had it in me. I just had to get better.
Then came the drone. I walked into an Apple Store in Miami and an employee showed me a DJI Mavic Pro in alpine white. He took me out back, launched it, and I watched it hover there — steady, precise, jaw on the floor. Obsessed immediately.
Not long after, Rayna was pregnant and we took a babymoon to Greece. Oia, Santorini — whitewashed houses, blue domes, the Aegean below. After that trip I chased photography and filmmaking with everything I had. The work started coming.
From a notebook margin to a real company
Today, Dov Gurewicz Productions exists.
I’ve filmed legacy documentaries for families who want their story preserved for generations. I’ve documented weddings and elopements in some of the most beautiful places in the world. I’ve made brand films for businesses ready to tell their story in a way that actually connects. And I’ve captured aerial work from the Florida coastline to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
When I look at the DG logo now and think back to a seventeen-year-old drawing it in the margins of his notebook, something in me goes still.
He didn’t know how it would happen. He just drew it.
What I’ve learned building a creative business
The vision comes before the proof. That kid in Montreal had no camera, no clients, no path. He just kept drawing the logo. The certainty never arrived first — and it wasn’t supposed to.
The failures are the education. The client who hated every photo. The slow seasons. The projects that went sideways. All of it shaped how I work now. You don’t get the good work without the bad work first.
Presence is the skill nobody talks about. The best filmmakers aren’t just technically good — they’re present. They notice. The camera is a tool. Attention is the real skill.
Clarity attracts; confusion repels. I spent years trying to be everything to everyone. When I narrowed my focus — legacy films, elopements, brand work — the right clients started showing up.
If you’ve got a logo sitting in a notebook somewhere
Draw it again.
Build the thing.
The certainty comes after.
Ready to work together? Start a project — I’d love to hear what you’re making.
Dov Gurewicz is a filmmaker, photographer, and drone operator based in Hollywood, Florida. Dov Gurewicz Productions has been documenting life’s most meaningful moments since 2015.
