Sitting Down with Eyecam; the Man Behind the Megashoot, Gotham Glamour, and So Much More

Eyecam dressed as The Crow this past April. My idea, just FYI. Photo Credit to Weownthenight_photography

Prior to him going off to host his third Summer Beach Party event out in Long Island, I sat down with Daniel, also known as Eyecam. Daniel has been praised and most recognizable on the east coast for his work as an event producer and photographer. I've written about his events in the past, and interviewed models in attendance. Now you get to hear from the man himself, get know him a bit better, and get a sneak peek at what he has in store for us in 2025 into 2026.

There will be both audio and a transcription below. I hope you enjoy!

Angid

This is Angid, thank you all for joining me on the Haunting Frame. I'm joined by renowned photographer, and event runner Eyecam. If you want to tell us your actual name and where they can find you on social media. 

Daniel

Sure, Angid. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate being on the hunting Frame Podcast. My actual name, government name is Daniel, and you can find me on Instagram at @EyecamPhotos. One word.

Angid

And tell us a fun fact about you before we get ready to dive into your head.

Daniel

Man, fun fact. Fun fact, I really like the color green. Really, like, a nice olive green is a color that I really like. I really like shades of green, like the Megashoot posters - they have a lot of green. 

Angid

And yellow.

Daniel

Greens and yellows, yeah, but primarily green. I mean, yellow, yeah, because, you know, Eyecam, but definitely green's, something that I really enjoy. 

Angid

Especially since I'm looking at you, you know, suits your skin tone.

Daniel

Yeah, I do have an olivey complexion, you know, so the green definitely makes me, you know, very interesting to look at for sure. If only my eyes worked better.

Angid 

So I know you're mostly known for the mega shoot, which I've had the pleasure of attending in the past, all types of mega shoots. And I've heard about them and seen the work that's come from them. But I wanna rewind a little bit back to February of 2025. You transition from hosting photography events to doing a runway show. What made you do that transition? What inspired that?

Daniel 

Great question. So for those of you who don't know, the name of that event was Gotham Glamour. Angid (TheHantingFrame) was there, and she was able to see it firsthand. 

So what inspired me to do Gotham Glamour? Great, great, great opening questions. So, the year prior, we rewind a full year almost to the summer of 2024. I was just coming off Megashoot X in Philadelphia, where we did the first ever two-day event, and that was awesome. I was tired. I was real tired, but... being able to get out there and do two days of giving back to the community and being in front of 60 creatives over two days at the time, which was at the time, which was the biggest event we've done. I felt like, okay, I've hit, I've hit a point where now I need to see what comes next. I need to evolve. I need to grow. 

I need to see what the next phase of Eyecam is. And I came across an event held by @Rainstorm.NYC. She's a very great and awesome creative who I've had the pleasure of working with a few times. She held an event on a rooftop in Brooklyn, so I cut work and I got in trouble. Fuck my job, though. Happy to go, happy to leave-

Angid

You know I'm putting this on the internet.

Daniel

That's fine. That's fine. They know. So as a wrestling fan, I was drawn to one of the models who was going to be there. And that model is a wrestler for AEW. Now I won't say her name, but it is a female wrestler and she was there in attendance. I saw it from her story, which then right away made me go over to Rain's page, where I followed her and I connected with her and I reached out in the traditional Eyecam way and I said, "hey, I would love to be involved in this, whatever way I can. You let me know what you need. I've never done this before, but I'm happy to be there." And she told me with very open arms, "hey, yeah, come be a part of this. We're doing it on this day." I forget the date, but I'm sure it was in July or early August. And I went out to Brooklyn and it was 92 degrees that day, and I had a black polo on and black jeans, and I stood in the sun from 11 o'clock in the morning to about 11:30 at night. And I had the only sunburn on my neck. Oh my God, it was terrible. It was absolutely terrible. But it was worth it. I hadn't experienced that night that I still holding me to this day as the defining moment that changed the trajectory for Eyecam. I got to work with that AEW performer, I met Rain. I met a lot of people that I do runway with. One of them being Donny. Donny's Devils. We had a very very memorable interaction where we both almost got ran over by a set of risers, which was awesome. And that, you know, that one moment kick-started what would eventually become Gotham Glamour. I was really inspired by the amount of people who showed up to the event. I was really inspired by the amount of talent that was there. Some people that I've only seen online, I was like, man, I don't even know. Damn, I thought you were fake. I thought you were AI. But no, they're real people. And they all have a genuine passion for runway and being able to, you know, represent these models and these brands. So I did a few more with Donny and I did a few more with Rain and I said, you know what? In the traditional Eyecam sense of.... whatever you can do, I'm pretty sure I can do better. 

Angid

Wow. So a humble.

Daniel

Hey, listen, you got to believe in yourself, you know? You have to stand up and look at yourself in the mirror every day and say, "if I'm not better than I was yesterday, what am I doing?" You know? And I took that to heart and I've done a lot of these great events. 

I've done 10 Megashoots. We were getting ready to go to Summer Beach Party 2, which was great. Ironically, getting ready to go in Summer Beach Party 3. We're at the ever of - a couple hours before. And I wanted to make a big splash. And that's exactly what I did. I went out and for six and a half months, we planned Gotham Glamour and through blood, sweat, and tears and lots of trips to the city and lots of headaches and lots of learning experiences. We did Gotham Glamour and we had six over 60 models. We had a full sold out crowd. We had to have standing room. You saw that, you were there.

Angid

Yep, yep, I experienced it.

Daniel

I was tired. Holy crap, I was tired. But wow, did we do it? And I look forward to doing that again later on this fall.

Angid

Okay. And I just want to add in a cheeky little question. Gotham Glamour, inspired by Batman or something? Gotham?

Daniel

Ah, no, actually, ChatGPT. Full stop.

Angid

So you admit to just using ChatGPT? No originality?

Daniel 

So, okay, so there is originality. I had had a great conversation with Sarah, right? Chat GPT. 

And I was looking for inspiration. So I went into the program. It's a great program, by the way. Those of you who don't use it, but I went into the program and I had this idea. And I was like, I want to do something that's gritty, but showcases the city and a logo, but also has high fashion. And it gave me like 15 or 16, I think I think I asked for 20 names. And one of the names that came up was Gotham Shoots. And the other one that came up was Glamour Knights. So I was like, hmm... Gotham Shoots sounds like a crime. And in Glamour Knight sounds like a porn. So how about Gotham Glamour? And I ran it by a few coworkers of mine at work, and they were like, "that sounds really cool, actually." And I was like, oh, okay. And I sat down with my pen and pencil. I drew up a little skyline with the words underneath it and... Gotham Glamour. 

Angid

All right. That was very interesting backstory. 

Daniel

I'm a Marvel fan, so, you know?

Angid

Whatever. What was the most challenging aspect of putting together a runway show?

Daniel

Oh, God. So many things. It's not easy. For those of you who are listening to this, it's not easy, okay? Don't do it. Save yourself. Oh, my God. The most challenging thing.... One, or do you want everything?

Angid

You can give me up to three so we don't go out, you know, ranting. 

Daniel

Okay, top three. So of the three, I'll say three being the least of the difficult; finding a venue. Definitely difficult, but in the grand scheme of things, not as difficult as one and two. Two would probably be managing the expectations of the designers of the models, making sure everything is on point and ready to go the day of. And one is me. Looking at myself in the mirror and telling myself, "I can do this." And I'm going to do this and getting out there. 

And I had a whole idea to put on a nice suit and the day of, I said, "fuck it." I'm going to go in my Eyecam gear because this is who I am.

Angid

You are Mr. Eyecam? 

Daniel

I am Eyecam, man. Listen, you see me at an event, I got black jeans and a black shirt. I'm doing the same thing tomorrow at Summer Beach Party. Black jeans and a black shirt, but we got Venyx tomorrow, so throw that on for the first time.

Angid

We'll get to Venyx. 

Daniel

Yes, we will. And in regular Eyecam fashion, I just threw on a jacket over it. And I was like, you know what? This is our Gotham Glamour look. And I think later on this this fall, when we go back for our next show for Gotham.... I don't know if you have a question about that, so I'm not gonna say they name.

Angid

We'll come back.

Daniel

Okay. I'll definitely have the same outfit again.

Angid

Okay.

Daniel

Maybe a different jacket. We'll see.

Angid

I would hope. 

Daniel

That one's ripped.

Angid

What was the worst case scenario in your mind?

Daniel

Ooh. Nobody showed up.

Angid

You walk into an empty venue?

Daniel

Yeah, no. I mean, we had casted 60 models. We had seven designers and a full crowd. And my worst case scenario was I show up and nobody shows up or half the people show up. 

Yeah, that would have been terrible. I probably would have I would have retired right then and there. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Thankfully, we had everybody show. Plus or minus a few people, but that has to be expected. After running all these events, I know.

Angid

Life happens.

Daniel

Yeah, 60 people will confirm and 50 people will show up. It's fine. 

Angid

Right. So how do you manage so many people, the models, the designers, all of it, the crew, how do you manage all that?

Daniel

I don't know. I just kind of do. I learned from the best, I will say that. I give countless countless levels of support to Donny from Donny's Devil. I give him a lot of praise because that man knows, and I know that I had at least 15 to 16 conversations of just what to expect, how to do it, where to go, what steps to take, how to get from point A to point B. And that man is dedicated to what he's doing. And he has my support, you know, I fully stand by the creative aspect, but it's not easy. You need to work with people who know what they're doing, and he's definitely one of them. When it comes to runway, I was very much... overwhelmed thinking about model expectations, but that's the point of having a good team. We had members of my team in Athena and Alyssa and Cory, who were backstage managing the model experience, making sure people were on key with what they needed to do. We had Giana from Donny's team and a few others who were helping me backstage kind of move pieces around to to make sure we got everything done. Crew wise, we had Brandon, and Lawrence, and Brandon Charleton, and Albert (WeOwntheNight) in the media pit making sure that that was taken care of. And then running around with me as my right hand man is, of course, the one and only hahaCam. Datway productions, K-storm, my best friend in the whole wide world So yeah, you definitely need definitely takes a village to do it. Of course, we had the lovely haunting frame and her friend, Madeline Deleon as well at the door, helping us get from point A to point B as well. And I'm sure I'm missing people. All right, man, I can go on and on about who helped us that night, but it's a lot. It's definitely not a one person type thing. It's a 15th to 20 person event. It's very different from the Megashoot where the Megashoot can have three or four people really running it and runway takes a small, small, you know, block of houses.

Angid 

And would you say that Donny from Donny Devils/Angels because he has two lines has been like a little bit of a mentor to you or like taking you under his wing a little bit in terms of that part of the industry?

Daniel

I don't like to say mentorship. I like to say a helping hand. I definitely, we definitely had a lot of discussions. We definitely had a lot of times when we sat down and I asked for, you know, guidance and where to go, but when it came to producing the show, it was all me. You know? It was all Daniel. It was all Eyecam. The visuals that were produced. The musical choices, the atmosphere, the location, the everything, the promotion, it was all in-house Eyecam, you know, or originated work. I definitely give credit to where credit is due. Like I said, I definitely have plenty of questions as a newbie coming into it. And he definitely did a great job managing my expectations and keeping me in check of what I needed to do and what I needed to, you know, focus on. So I gave him flowers for that, but I'm sure if he was listening to this, he would he would pretty much say, just what I'm saying is Daniel did it. You know, I told him... Here's what to do if you fuck up. But Daniel, Daniel took care of it and ran with the boat. By the way, Donny also has.. a beauty line now.

Angid

Ohh.

Daniel

A little cheap plug for you there.

Angid

A little shameless plug for Donny. That doesn't come cheap, Donny.

Daniel 

Yeah, hey, man. Royalties.

Angid

So did you do any prep before you went out to host Gotham Glamour or anything to like pump you up, get into the mood of hosting?

Daniel 

Yeah. So, day of the event, I was actually working a event that was produced at my job, which was being broadcast live in front of 20,000 people. So that was tough. Going down to the show, I had listened to my playlist of pump up music, which always starts with Cult of Personality by Living Color. To then be followed up by This Fire Burns by Killswitch Engage, and then to then be followed by that with definitely third, but not least, Chapter 4 by Avenged Sevenfold. So definitely the music gets me in the mode, gets me in the mindset of doing everything. Once I'm boots on the ground, it's a different person that... in the car, it's Daniel. At the event, it is Eyecam. It is the persona that has been crafted. So there's just just business. I don't think, I don't have time to think. I point and I walk.

Angid

So would you say that then there's two different entities? There's Daniel, which is the personable friend that people come to with some concerns and then there's Eyecam, which is like, I don't have time for you. I need to get this done.

Daniel

Well, damn, girl, turn me heel! 

Angid

Well, no, I'm just saying, you know, some people say business is, business and nothing personal. Like, do you think you have those two different sides, or do you mix them a little bit?

Daniel

I definitely have two different sides. I have the Daniel side and then I have the Eyecam side. Eyecam side, I won't say it's a "I don't care", but is definitely, "how can we move this along? 

How can we get from where we are now to where we need to be?"

Angid

How can we compromise?

Daniel

Yeah. How can I make you happy while still getting what I need? And I think that's fair. 

Angid

Right. Okay. So you already mentioned it, and I was going to get to it, but you're impatient. 

I know you're coming out with a, it's kind of like a fashion line of your old called Venyx. It's quite a switch from organizing and hosting and doing all the things you already do. What gave you the idea to go into that, to go into fashion?

Daniel 

Why not? That's the answer. Why not? I'm a man of doing things that are difficult. I know that when I get comfortable doing something, it's time to move on. And I got real comfortable doing events. Listen,I've done 17 events at this point, okay? And I'm gracious to God and, you know, to my team, my family, to haunting frame. For all of the things that I've learned and I've been given support with along the journey, but there comes a time where I need to look at myself and say, is this growing me or am I becoming comfortable?

You know? And I saw myself becoming comfortable doing the Megashoots and I saw myself becoming comfortable doing House of Horrors and Summer Beach Party. And after doing runway, I said, "you know what? This is great. It's difficult. I'll do it again." And at some point in the summer, I looked at myself and I said, "you know what? This runway stuff is great." 

I can probably design something. I'm pretty creative. I watch enough TV, I watch enough YouTube. I've been to enough shows to know what people like and what I like and why not, you know?

Angid 

So it was about challenging yourself?

Daniel

Yeah, if it fails, it fails. Hey, it's always better to try.  You know? There's a lot of people who there who say they can't do something, and a lot of people there who say they can do something. People who say they can and people who say they can't usually both end up right. 

Angid

Okay. All right. Well, that's that's a good quote to have. 

Daniel

Of course it is.

Angid

I have to ask because I interviewed the lovely Levatino Couture a couple months back.

Daniel

My favorite person to argue with. 

Angid

I'm sure the feelings mutual. When the idea popped into your head to do fashion, would you say you were a little bit inspired, not so much by the style or the artistic side of Levatino Couture, but where you inspired by her willingness to put herself out there, to be a designer, and to put her own art into the world?

Daniel 

That's a really good question. I didn't think it was going to come that way. I don't know, actually. I genuinely don't know. I wasn't expecting that. Let me see. What inspired me?

Angid

It's supposed to keep you on your toes.

Daniel

That's great. I mean, for the record, I had no idea what you wrote.

Angid

Oh, I know.

Daniel

I'm shooting in the dark here. I would say it's a mix of things. A mix of things that I've seen as a photographer and an event coordinator. And just going to runway events and what people create. You know, I would say that's probably the top inspiration. Second to that would probably be the satisfaction of saying, I had an idea, I made the idea come true, and it succeeded. And then I guess third would be Athena and Levatino Couture. I'm real proud of her. She knows that. We tussle every now and again, but it's all love. You know, she's one of the only people that I'll tell who will on the team and know that I'll probably lose because I'll just be like, you know what? I got to walk away from you for a few minutes or I'm going to, you know, pop my blood vessels on my forehead. And the feeling is definitely mutual, but we have a lot of good respect for one another. I consider her like family, I consider her like a sister. And she is a constant success story of going from plan A to a switch up of plan B and somehow ended up on plan J, but still making it work, just like plan A. So I'm super, I guess I'm super inspired by her ability to work around things.

Angid

To persevere, essentially.

Daniel

Persevere, yeah. sure. Something like that.

Angid

So can you give us like a verbal sneak peek of what Venyx is going to look like? Like the vibe? 

Daniel

Verbal sneak peek.

Angid

Yeah, obviously. I'm not going to out it just yet. That's not coming till fall and you won't give the access to that.

Daniel

No, yeah, I gotta keep that tight. Verbal sneak peek into Venyx. It's going to be different. It's... if you know the Eyecam events and you know how my posters are set up, there's a lot of inspiration that's drawn from Halloween. So our Halloween event in House of Horrors. 

There's a lot of inspiration that's drawn from the characters that I grew up with, some of them being The Crow (1994). Some of them being, you know, the Hardy Boys and some Star Wars related elements. Some of the music I listened to. And yeah, it's, you know, keep your eyes out. We'll have some stuff showing up at Summer Beach Party. And we're planning to do another launch later on this August and a proper launch and New York Fashion week, hopefully.

Angid

Okay. Well, you actually kind of answered one of the questions I had for you, which was, what celebrity or figure or designer popped into your head when you were envisioning Venyx?

Daniel

Skye Dolecki.

Angid

Skye Dolecki.

Daniel

Yeah

Angid

Interesting. Why do you say that?

Daniel 

That's the person I need to work with.

Angid

So you're putting it into the ether? You're like, "I say the name because I want it to happen." 

Daniel

That's who I need. And when I get it, I will be a happy man. And then I'll go and do something else.

Angid

That's fair. That's fair. And you're debuting Venyx at Vyce, correct?

Daniel

That's correct.

Angid

That's happening in the fall. 

Daniel

That's correct. You're hearing it here first before Summer Beach party.

Angid 

Well, to be fair, it will probably be published after Summer Beach Party.

Daniel

Okay, that's fair. So if you're here after Summer Beach Party, then it was announced Summer Beach party. But if you're at Summer Beach Party, which if you weren't, what's wrong with you? You know, I guess, you know, some people don't like showing up to Long Island. It's fine. I get it.

Angid

It's far.

Daniel

It is far, you know, but we're going to make an Eyecam territory there. Everybody who lives out in Long Island are just going to have to deal with it. So we did it in the city, and we took over the city. And we're starting to take over parts of Philadelphia. And somewhere down the line, we're going to have a nice little home in Long Island. That's on the horizon. So Long Island Groups, be careful. Be careful! I'm coming for your money. 

I'm just kidding. Open to collaborations all the time. Absolutely looking forward to what comes next for Venyx at Vyce. That sounds nice. Venyx at Vyce. More information on that will be coming out in the next week or so. On EyecamEvents page and EyecamPhotos page. All right.

Angid

Well, we look forward to that. 

Daniel

Of course you do.

Angid

Cocky. Are you interested in possibly selling Venyx online and making it more accessible and available to the public one day? 

Daniel

Probably not.

Angid

Probably not?

Daniel

This is mine. 

Angid

This for you and you alone?

Daniel

This is for me and me alone. I don't really look to make money off the things that I do. You know? Tickets to my events have notoriously been cheap. I will take full ownership and claim that I was a person who started the $30 ticket for the event in the city.

Angid

That's a bold claim.

Daniel

It is a bold claim because that's what I did. I did that. I was a person who took the majority of the events away from 100 plus dollars to $30. And listen, it works, you know? More photographers can attend, more models can attend. More creatives can grow their portfolio, more people can sit back and say, "wow, I really had a great time today because I spent under $200 doing this." And as a photographer myself and somebody who attended events in the past, it's great to be able to not go broke walking in the door. 

Angid

Fair. Well, that is a fair point.

Daniel

Yeah. So I don't look to make money off of Venyx. Um, Maybe when I hang up the Eyecam jersey, maybe I'll sell some gear. I'll sell an Eyecam shirt and a Venyx armband. But not yet.

Angid

All right. And I have one last question for you before we close out and get outta here. So after you're done with everything, after the Megashoot, what's next for Eyecam in 2026?

Daniel

It's the million dollar question. So what's next for Eyecam after Megashoot 12? 

I have joked around for a while, and I tell people all the time, you know, time is running out. Time is running out. Catch me. Catch me at an event before time runs out. There is nothing planned after Megashoot 12. There is no Summer Beach Party planned right now. There's no House of Horrors, there's no Gotham Glamour. I think after Megashoot 12, we're going to take a break, for a while. You know, doing the events are amazing and I love the communities we've built, but I think it's time to let the Eyecam brand potentially,

I haven't decided for sure. Potentially take on a a new owner, a new runner. You know, maybe it's time to see what the next generation of Eyecam and the Megashoots and Summer Beach parties can look like and see, you know, we've built such an amazing base of photographers. Amazing, you know, set of models and communities. And at that point, we would be at, let's see, so we have Melanin in Motion, which I don't count as mine. We have Vyce, hat's number 19. House of Horrors is 20. Christmas show is 21. Blank for between Megashoot and Christmas show, that's 23... no that's 22. Megashoot would be 23. And I think that's a great number to kind of walk away on. Number 23. So there is nothing planned right now. And that's why these events are super important to me going forward. 

I want to put 125% into everything because it's, uh, it's beautiful to look at what we've done and it's beautiful to look at. These two posters on my wall, which one has maybe 15, 20 signatures, and the other has almost 40. Megashoot 10 had 60 people over two days, and Megashoot 11 had over 80 people in one day. So I know that by the time we hit Megashoot 12, we'll probably finally crescendo at 100 people at one event. So yeah, we'll see how that plays out. But that's your headline for this article.

Angid

Eyecam done after Megashoot 12. 

Daniel

Eyecam done? After Megashoot 12.

Angid 

Wow. That's pretty saddening for some people. Who's taking over after you?

Daniel

I dunno. We'll find out. 

Angid

Oh, so you won't tell me that?

Daniel

We'll find out. I don't know. I don't know where where we go after that.

Angid

Spoiler alert, it's me.

Daniel

Ah, that'd be terrible. Horrible for business.

Angid

It would die.

Daniel

Yeah, Eyecam would be Eye-dead. Eye-gone.

Angid

Yeah, Eye-gone. All right. Well, thank you very much for speaking with me and for telling me so much about your experiences and opening up to the people who really don't know Eyecam that much, at least a little bit. Nothing too personal, you know?

Daniel

Yeah, I would love to come back and do more of these. So you know where to find me.

Angid 

I know very well where to find you.

Daniel

I'm sure you do. This will be a great, this is great. And, you know, I commend you for having such an awesome platform to connect the creatives who really want to make an impact on other people's lives and put good into the universe. So you keep you keep doing what you do that's so impactful and you are going to go really far.

Angid

Thanks, dude. Thank you so much for joining, everyone. Bye bye.