Welcome, and thank you for visiting our website! My name is Justin Means, owner, photographer and videographer for All You Can See Media. The idea behind All You Can See started in May of 2017, when I was trying to come up with a good subject for the final project in my college Technical and Business Writing class. Our assignment was to write a project proposal, and from that proposal, make an instruction manual detailing how to complete a certain task. So, I got the creative juices flowing and started brainstorming on a fun topic. Then, the idea came to me. I had always been sort of interested in starting a blog. But what kind of blog would it be? Would people be interested in reading just a bunch of my random thoughts on various subjects? Probably not!
The Birth of Justin Means Photography
I thought about it some more throughout the rest of that day. What are some of my favorite hobbies? I spent the night Googling various other blogs to try to get some ideas and ran across a lot of really nice photo blogs. Then, the light bulb finally came on. How about a photography blog?! I've always been interested in photography, and starting a blog also, so what better time to do it? I racked my brain for quite some time trying to think of a good name. All the cool and creative names were taken, and after spending hours online, I wanted to get it up and running as quickly as possible. So, I just put my name on it - Justin Means Photography!
Since then, I've learned quite a bit about photography and blogging, although I admit, I still have a LOT to learn. I posted several blogs about my travels while serving in the U.S. Navy, and various other photo excursions, but the site and blog never really took off. In hopes of future growth, viewership and possibly selling some photography of my own, in June 2017, I turned Justin Means Photography into an LLC (Limited Liability Company). A few weeks later, a new idea was born.
A New Family Website?
I really wanted to include my parents in this whole thing too, since they were my main inspiration for starting a photo blog in the first place. I may be just a tad bit biased here, but they both have a really good eye for photography! My dad was an interstate truck driver for over 30 years. While on the road, he took some pretty nice pictures. He even won the calendar contest that his company at the time held! My mom also has a very creative side of her own when it comes to photography. I wanted to be able to share their photos alongside mine, without having to create separate pages or sites for their work. My mom was concerned that if I did that, it would take away from my own blog, but I told her I could separate mine and theirs with no problem. With that in mind, my plan was to change the name of the site to take my name off of it. The first name proposed was Means Family Photography. I was prepared to go forward with that name, but then I thought the word "family" made it sound like we specialize in family photography. I wouldn't have minded offering that service once our site took off and had more viewership, but at the time I wanted to keep it simple.
The launch of Lone Star Snapshots
I thought, "How about something Texas related?" We all love it here, and there is so much to see and do. Texas is home to some of the most picturesque country in the world. So, a few weeks after I launched the LLC, I started a new website called Lone Star Snapshots, which was to be a site strictly for "Texas history, scenery, and more".
It was intended to replace Justin Means Photography, and feature things that, in my opinion, make my home state of Texas great, such as the wide-open spaces, food, culture, people and cities, both big and small. My intention was to visit one new town every month for a "Texas Town of the Month" feature, where I would share some of the things that made that particular place or town unique, plus give a brief history on it as well. I even filed the paperwork to change the name of the LLC to Lone Star Snapshots, LLC. Unfortunately, due to my work and school commitments at the time, Lone Star Snapshots was short lived. The website was taken down in October of 2017 and the LLC formally disbanded in 2018. I brought back the Justin Means Photography website soon after and continued to post blogs and pictures to the site and Facebook off and on sporadically for another three years before I took the site down again, along with all the social media pages.
The Rebirth of Justin Means Photography
In July of 2022, I decided to bring back Justin Means Photography again. Only this time, instead of just posting photos, I was now learning how to do mobile live event streaming! I had started watching the freedom protests & trucker convoy in Canada in February of 2022 and became fascinated with the coverage that the various live streamers were capturing. They were showing things that the mainstream news failed to show. Watching these different streams every day, I wondered to myself if I could do it too. So, I studied what programs they used and how they interacted with their chat, downloaded the software and tried my hand at it. After a few successful test streams, I formally launched the Justin Means Photography YouTube channel. The Sparks of Freedom 4th of July fireworks show in Farmersville, Texas was my first official live stream. I would continue to go live with other events in North Texas, including the Plano Balloon Festival in September, Farmersville's Old Time Saturday parade in October, and some severe weather coverage as well. There was just one minor thing that was bugging me. The name of the page was still Justin Means Photography, and nearly all of my content since relaunch was videography, not photography. I was enjoying the live streaming, but didn't want to abandon photography completely either. How could I reach a bigger audience, plus have a platform for photography, videography, and live streaming, plus maybe something else down the road? After much thought, the answer was clear. Another rebranding!
The Launch of All You Can See Photography
There are tons of photography pages out there that are branded with the photographer's name, plus photography at the end. For example, Justin Means Photography. John Doe Photography. Jane Smith Photography. Simple, yes. Effective, maybe. Boring? Also, yes. My original plan back in 2017 before I launched Lone Star Snapshots was to take my name out completely, in hopes of attracting a bigger audience, and to possibly include other people too, such as my parents, or other guest photographers/bloggers/streamers. I also wanted to have separate pages and social media accounts for the photography and videography/live streaming in case someone wasn't interested in the live streams, but would rather just see photos instead, or vice versa. So, I finally decided to go ahead with it. After about a week of driving myself crazy trying to find names that weren't already taken, and when repeated back to myself, I didn't hate, I thought of one that surprisingly wasn't taken. It was finally settled. All You Can See Photography!
All You Can See Media (and TV) is born
The relaunch of Justin Means Photography as All You Can See Photography was complete. Now, I just needed to figure out what to do with the videography and live streaming side of things. In keeping with the 'All You Can See' theme, All You Can See TV was born! I also figured I needed a main site or page to consolidate everything under. I also considered integrating news coverage into the live streaming and social media platforms as well. Welcome All You Can See Media!
All You Can See Media officially launched on January 7, 2023, followed by the All You Can See TV website on January 12th, and the All You Can See Photography site on January 18th. Shortly after the launch of all three websites, I quickly realized that working with multiple web sites, and multiple social media accounts was not only proving to be a bit difficult to manage, but unnecessary. As a result, in February 2023, I did what I should have done to begin with, and merged All You Can See TV and Photography's social media accounts and websites under All You Can See Media, with the exception of the video/live streaming channels on YouTube, Rumble and Twitch which remained as All You Can See TV. I also updated all the original logos to match the main All You Can See Media logo.
The first official All You Can See TV live event stream was broadcast on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter (now X), and Twitch on January 21, 2023 from White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas at the Lady of White Rock Lake Ghost Hunt, hosted by Haunted Rooms America.
In December 2023, I simplified things a little more by changing all of the social media video accounts that still remained as All You Can See TV (YouTube, Rumble, Twitch and Kick) to All You Can See Media. All live event streams will still continue under the All You Can See TV name, while all photography content will be under the All You Can See Photography name, just on the same All You Can See Media account.
All You Can See Weather?
In addition to live event streaming and occasional news coverage, one of my other plans included severe weather news and coverage, possibly under the name of All You Can See Weather. Our weather coverage would include live, real time coverage of weather events as they happen, if we are in the immediate area of a severe event, or live studio coverage if conditions warrant. For the time being, if/when we do any weather coverage, just like a regular news report, it will be under the All You Can See Media name.
All You Can See News?
Back in January 2023 when I first launched All You Can See Media, I had planned on doing news coverage alongside photography, videography and live events. I was heavily conflicted on this, however, as news often leads to political discussion, and it is sometimes difficult to avoid presenting a bias when reporting certain news stories and topics, as things can get heated and controversial. I originally created All You Can See as more of a creative outlet, and a place to go to see things like photography and fun live events to take one's mind off the troubles of everyday life.
I went ahead with the idea of doing a live "call-in" show test run, just to see how it would go and what the response would be. Our first "call-in" live news stream aired on January 19th, 2024, and was originally intended to be the last live show of 2023, but was pushed ahead to January. Although we didn't have the live viewership to really dig deep into meaningful conversation, I did have the opportunity to test the call-in system and overall, the stream yielded positive feedback from the viewers that watched after it had already aired, so I'm still keeping the idea for more news and live shows open for the future! Any news content we bring you, including severe weather coverage, will be under the All You Can See Media name.
All You Can See Gaming?
One of the other original plans I had was starting a new, dedicated gaming channel called All You Can See Gaming. With all I had going on at the time of our launch in January 2023 (starting a new job, starting school again, plus trying to find events to live stream and places to take photos), I figured I had enough on my plate as it was. I discovered that launching a gaming channel took a lot more time and was more involved than doing simple live event streaming. Plus, I've noticed as I've gotten older, and discovered other hobbies, I don't really have the patience or the time anymore for most newer games! I still haven't written the idea off completely, though. If I do decide to broadcast any gaming content in the future, I'll make a formal announcement.
What's in store for the future of All You Can See Media?
What do you want to see from All You Can See Media? I'm excited to see what's in store for our future. If anyone has input on what you want to see, what events I should cover or go to next, or ideas for new content, please let me know! You can e-mail me at contact@allyoucanseemedia.com, send me a direct message through the website, or DM me on any of our social media platforms.
God Bless, and thank you so much for your support!
Justin Means
Owner/Photographer/Videographer
