Framing Success Differently

How RAW Compositions is Authentically Capturing the People and Places of Lakeland

PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL AND PROVIDED BY RAW COMPOSITIONS

the midst of attending film school at Full Sail University in hopes of launching a career in videography, Michael Walker II determined he’d be happy eating chicken every day.

“I’ll never forget when my instructor said, ‘Some months are steak dinners and some months are ramen noodles,’” Walker said, referring to the reality that many film professionals deal with feast or famine results as they pursue projects and try to find their footing.  “And I’m like, ‘Can I find a happy medium and just have chicken?’” 

Not only has he found his happy medium by establishing himself as a trusted storyteller through video and photography—especially in the real estate, wedding and small business marketing industries—he is starting to help other local creative professionals find consistent work through his five-year old business RAW Compositions.

The self-professed movie buff and technical nerd loves Star Wars, and for years he dreamed of being a director of photography for a major studio, but he’s discovered success doing work that looks a lot more like what he did as an 8-year-old with his mom’s old school camcorder.  

He joyfully recalls vlogging with neighborhood friends near his childhood home in Bartow and being highly intrigued by online videos during the early years of YouTube. 

An innate drive to create original content followed him through school, where he was heavily involved in news and video production programs, eventually becoming an anchor for the daily news show at Bartow High School.

In film school he got his first taste of doing content marketing through videography when a class project sent him to Ace Café to shoot and produce a testimonial video to show off a restaurant notorious to lovers of hot rods, motorcycles and rock ‘n’ roll.

“I think that broadened my horizons…because it helped me see if they are interested in doing something like this, you can go to any city anywhere and find businesses that are also looking to do that,” Walker recalls. “Why does [purposeful video work] have to be fully scripted with a director, producer and big budget Hollywood thing?”

The question is obviously rhetorical, and he and his team at RAW Compositions prove that on a daily basis with the engaging content they produce for many of Polk County’s most well-known real estate agents, including everything from headshots to listing photos to social media videos.

John Hubbert Jr. and his wife Christine Hubbert of Team Hubbert with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Properties Group have trusted Michael with a significant portion of their company’s digital marketing footprint for the past six years.

Christine Hubbert says RAW Compositions has helped her real estate group truly showcase homes to their fullest potential online, and it’s no coincidence that both businesses have grown, a testament to the success of their collaboration.

“We each believed in servicing our clients with the best marketing and production to show their homes while taking it outside of the box [from] what the average was,” Hubbert says. “And it worked.”

Christine says it’s been memorable to watch Michael grow “from a young creative kid out of Full Sail,” and that she and John have evolved into close friends with him and his wife, Josie.

Walker doubled down on working with realtors in 2020—in the midst of a pandemic where many were panicking and uncertain about the short—and long-term impact of the market—in part because he knew he could provide a solution to help businesses get back up to speed or pass their idle competition. 

It also doesn’t hurt that Walker has long been in tune with the Florida real estate market because his father, Mike Walker, has been a real estate agent for more than two decades.

“Some months are steak dinners and some months are ramen noodles,” Walker said, referring to the reality that many film professionals deal with feast or famine results as they pursue projects and try to find their footing. “And I’m like, ‘Can I find a happy medium and just have chicken?”

Still images from some of the real estate videos RAW Compositions has produced for well-known local realtors.

His goal when working with real estate agents, or any business owners for that matter, is to help them be comfortable in their own skin, conveying messages in a way that is natural to them and is compelling to viewers.

“It’s better that you use your words…versus what I would pitch to you,” he advises. Whether an agent is polished or prefers to “cuss in their videos,” he says the key is they lead with genuine self-expression. In a town like Lakeland, he notes, people “feel it and they know” when something is not authentic.

At the core of RAW Compositions’ success is Williams’  “client-first” philosophy. He understands that every client has their own creative vision, even if they can’t articulate it. His approach is simple: start by asking, “What are you guys looking to accomplish here?”

What started as a one-man operation has scaled into a business with three core employees—including Josie, who serves as operations manager, and videographer/photographer Dillon Rampersad—as well as a team of talented editors who Walker contracts to keep turnaround times tight.

His business acumen is part experience, part education. With his mom’s nudge he enrolled in an MBA program, and in 2020 he graduated with his master’s degree that included a minor in marketing.

Life itself has also been a great teacher for Walker, who will gladly tell you 2025 has been “the year of everything.”

He and Josie got married, they welcomed their daughter, Cece, into the world this fall and the couple bought their first home. A quick check of his social channels shows a new dad who has leaned happily into posting #babydaddy content alongside some of his favorite work from the job he’s fully committed to when he’s not changing diapers.  

Truthfully, Michael is most proud of projects like sharing the stories behind and purpose of the Breast Cancer Foundation of Central Florida, capturing unforgettable moments at weddings or simply connecting other local creatives with local business owners to achieve top-notch results.

“The greatest fulfillment comes from seeing how well we can really transform the public’s viewpoint on businesses and propel them.”

His long-term vision is to establish a consistent avenue for other creative professionals—editors, graphic designers, digital media specialists and photographers/videographers—to find joy doing what they love and to further the impact of RAW Compositions.

The name of the company points to its foundation, as well as what it is striving to become.

RAW is a double entendre, referring both to the high-quality, uncompressed photo file format and to the look and feel Walker wants to be known for: “it’s raw, it’s cool, it’s awesome, it’s authentic.”

Compositions is a nod to the technical framing of a shot, a foundational element of photography and videography that separates great from good. 

“I want people to see us as a creative partner…who is hard working and creates excellent media through collaboration,” Walker says. “I want people to feel positivity working with us and I want them to get fulfillment, too.”

RAW COMPOSITIONS

Video Production Company

rawcompositions.com

@rawcompositions

201 Traders Alley

863.999.4594