Simpson College junior Christian Lopez was on track to becoming a physical therapist when he started his undergraduate studies at Indian Hills Community College. After two years of being unfulfilled in classes he was enrolled in, Lopez made the decision to purchase a $500 camera to begin his digital media journey.
“My mother was definitely not happy with that, but as time went on, I got more into it and started doing sports photography,” Lopez said. “Before I knew it, I was getting messages asking me how much I would charge for a session.”
After the Ottumwa native began posting his work on his Instagram page, people started to take notice, specifically the athletic teams on Indian Hills campus.
“Some of the Indian Hills basketball players approached me and asked me if I would shoot and make commitment graphics for them, but I had no experience in any design before that,” Lopez said.
Lopez decided that if he was going to make the change in career paths, he was going to go for it full force. That summer, he decided to start teaching himself everything he could about design programs.
“I proposed to myself that I would teach myself how to use Photoshop and Illustrator, which gave me the opportunity to start doing some gigs with Ottumwa High School athletics,” Lopez explained.
During his time working with the Bulldogs, he made connections within their athletic department and grew close to the activities director.
“At the time, they provided me with more equipment – better cameras, a laptop. I’ve been blessed with people that allowed me to grow with this opportunity,” Lopez said.
After his time at Indian Hills had finished, Lopez transferred to Simpson, where he is now majoring in graphic design and playing football.
Being a part of the Simpson football team has also opened new doors and opportunities for Lopez.
“I was actually a thrower on the Simpson track and field team, so I wasn’t required to go to off-season workouts for football, but I felt like I still wanted to be there,” Lopez explained. “I approached Coach Schmitz about coming in and making content for socials, less as an obligation and more like I just wanted to be there with my teammates.”
After beginning his company, “CLO – Lopez Vision Productions,” where he produces everything digital media, from photo graphics to hype video edits, Lopez has now made himself known within Storm athletics just by highlighting the football team’s out-of-season work.
“The idea just kind of popped into my head about attending their workout sessions. I didn’t want to be out of the football stuff,” Lopez said. “I thought if I was going to be there, I might as well make myself productive and show what I can do.”
Lopez now has access to the football team’s social media accounts and has been consistently making and posting various graphics that he designs himself.
“Above everything, I just cared about elevating the social media presence that the football team has,” Lopez said.
From starting on the physical therapy track to transforming a hobby into a freelance business and full-blown LLC, Lopez is much happier that he made the switch and found community at Simpson.
“I just want people to know, I took some huge knockdowns in some classes and just wasn’t feeling what I was doing while I was at Indian Hills. I had to make the decision to completely start over and go on a completely different path. You just have to know it’s okay to start over and it’s okay to make new goals for yourself,” Lopez said.
If you want to continue following along with everything he is up to, you can follow his Instagram @clo_christian_lopez, which has direct links to his other work accounts and portfolio.