Events

Five years ago, Matt Billian left his fifteen-year career in public safety and turned his passion into a business. He is now known locally for his aerial photography.

“It all started with an interest in aviation,” he said. “And seeing things from up high.”

As a teenager, he paid for flight lessons by cleaning hangars at the Twitchell Airport in Turner. He could fly planes before he learned to drive a car. When drones began to be released, he was immediately hooked.

Billian Moments Productions has a memorandum of understanding with Franklin County’s emergency management services. Billian provides aerial visuals of emergency events as a community service. His background in public safety gives him an understanding of how emergency management operations work and how to operate safely in a crisis.

“To see something in its entirety and to utilize that for disaster relief,” he said, is immensely valuable to the county. During the December 18 flood, Billian took drone footage that was published by the Daily Bulldog and widely shared in the community, helping the public to understand the gravity of the event.

Billian recently changed his company name from Billian Moments Photography to Billian Moments Productions to reflect his wide range of offerings. The list is long: aerial cinematography, cinematic interviews, aerial construction footage, long term construction time lapse, commercial advertising, aerial live broadcasting, contract videography, event videography, real estate videography, directing commercials, and full production from planning to producing.

“Now it’s what you need me to be,” he said, instead of simply photography.

Despite his multi-faceted skillset, Billian’s roots are in photography. He has been playing around with cameras since he was young, owing his skills to never letting himself use an automatic camera setting. “I made myself go to manual right away,” he said. “It was very frustrating, but it’s definitely paid off.”

Billian said that he has found that splitting the business roles with his wife, to make sure “it doesn’t ever become stagnant,” has kept his excitement for visual art alive.

Learn more about Billian Moments Productions at www.billianmoments.com.

 Our Rotary Foundation                                                                                                

   The Rotary Foundation, established in 1917, is the charitable arm of Rotary International.

Its primary objective is to promote world peace, understanding, and goodwill through humanitarian efforts.

The Foundation focuses on seven Rotary’s strategic areas: peacebuilding and conflict prevention, disease prevention and treatment, water, sanitation, and hygiene, maternal and child health, education, community economic development, and supporting the environment.

One of its flagship initiatives is PolioPlus, launched in 1985 to eradicate polio worldwide.

This program has mobilized resources, funding, and volunteers to immunize billions of children and raise awareness about the disease.

Through partnerships with organizations like the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Bill & Belinda Gates Foundation, PolioPlus has made significant strides toward a polio-free world.

Global Grants, Ambassadorial Scholarships and Rotary Peace Centers are also major areas of focus for The Rotary Foundation.

The Rotary Foundation exemplifies the spirit of service, striving to create lasting change and improve lives globally, making it a cornerstone of Rotary's commitment to humanitarian service.