Bruce Seymour, above, an entrepreneur, software developer, photographer, and full-time grandpa for his 3 young grandchildren, created GoodEye PhotoShare, an open air digital photo system in 2007. Over the years, Seymour brought the GoodEye system to many community events and locations including the Holiday Window Walks, the Art Museum, Zoo, World Chess Hall of Fame, and The Muny. GoodEye technology is currently still up and running in the cloud, though he’s no longer promoting the business. Seymour only does a few events a year for old clients, or people who seek him out. Instead, he has moved on to video editing. “With cellphones, everyone can take a good photo. I’ve moved on to video, which I find much more fascinating and rewarding.” Seymour explained.
Bruce and Lily Seymour met when they worked for the same company in Syracuse NY. They were transferred to St Louis, and raised their two daughters in the County. Twenty-five years later, they moved to an “incredible” condo they renovated in the CWE. That was when they finally felt they were living in a city where they belonged.
Originally from San Francisco and Seattle, Bruce longed for the West Coast and was always planning to return one day. “But I was blown away by what the CWE had to offer, it was like the big city urban environment my wife and I grew up in.” Now they have no plans to move.
In Seymour’s opinion, the neighborhood has only gotten better over the years. Their eldest daughter, a physician with 3 children under age 6, has lived in New York, Southern California, Houston and Seattle. “She and her husband could live anywhere, but they came back to St. Louis 3 years ago to enjoy the quality of life the CWE has to offer. As his daughter says, “The neighborhood has ‘soul.'”
During the pandemic, Seymour made time to get his FAA drone pilot’s license online. “If you fly a drone, you can shoot a lot of video, and if you shoot a lot of video, you need to edit it.” He trained himself in video creation and editing, watching hundreds of hours of instruction on YouTube. “This became my film school,” he said. For two years, he learned, practiced, acquired video equipment and software to become proficient in the basics of filmmaking.
In Seymour’s opinion, video editing is much more challenging and rewarding than photography. “Editing is the secret sauce to filmmaking. A well-edited video concentrating on individuals using music as the emotional narrator can be magical.”
And here’s where we get to this entrepreneur’s generosity: “Photography’s value and power as a tool to improve the community is limited, while video can convey joy, sadness, information, and the human condition.” Producing videos costs between $1,500 to $10,000 per finished minute, but as Seymour transitions away from his career he is contributing his video skills to promote and educate people via YouTube-type videos about St. Louis and, especially, the Central West End.
To date, Seymour has completed a few dozen videos for not-for-profits, institutions, and small businesses, including a series promoting Black-owned-and-operated businesses in the neighborhood. So far he has filmed Northwest Coffee on Laclede and Mack’s Bar & Grill on Pershing (videos are on the businesses’ websites). He’s also filmed interviews in the CWE community for newsletters and local organizations, including the KWMU website.
As you may have gathered, Seymour loves the tech side of video production. With his 360-degree camera, which shoots in all directions, he creates virtual reality images. An avid cyclist, he uses GoPro cameras to capture videos of bicycling throughout the City. Currently, he’s working on videos charting the bike trails throughout Forest Park.
“I grew up 3 blocks from Golden Gate Park in San Francisco,” Seymour said, “and now I live 3 blocks from Forest Park. I feel the Central West End is where I’m meant to be.”
Although Seymour’s time is limited, he is always looking for small projects that are interesting and will advance St. Louis. Contact Bruce Seymour via email: [email protected]
In honor of Monday’s holiday, here is Seymour’s touching video of 2021’s Memorial Day Flag Event on Art Hill: