I’ve been in a bit of a creative rut lately, is there really such a thing? More of a prolonged frustration, I think I’ve maybe been putting too much of my energy into work and stressing over trivial things. I am going to try and make more of a concerted effort to begin doing things outside of filmmaking. Writing music again, stencil/painting, etc…It’s not that I am finding filmmaking less appealing, it’s my livelihood. Working behind the camera, in the edit suite, and ACing on sets hasn’t necessarily taken the fun away from what I do, but they have been rendered into a sort of protocolish fashion. I am becoming nostalgic for the days when I’d just run out with a camera and only want to  achieve an idea or express a feeling in moving pictures. One of my pitfalls as a filmmaker is my tendency to overanalyze the logistical nature of what it takes to pull off a quality piece. 

One thing I used to do that literally took up the majority of my time was still photography. Since graduating I’ve sort of put down the camera in that regard. I remember spending weekends literally doing nothing but working on building a series for one of my photo classes at UNF. For a good while I had begun to wonder why I had not pursued doing something on large format, 35mm or even digital for sometime, and then it hit me, I have an iPhone with Instagram.

 It truly is as lame as it sounds. I  have been slacking on the still  photo front  due to the fact that I  can immediately frame up a  shot,  take the picture,  do an extremely  quick cross-process on it, post it  online and receive instant feedback.  Instagram does exactly what it says  in the name: Instant gratification. 

It’s become a slightly infuriating realization. Don’t get me wrong, I love taking photos on my iPhone 4. In fact, I find it more challenging to achieve a shot or express a mood I am experiencing with it as opposed to my Canon 7D. No zoom means getting within proper distance to my subject, no proper aperture control means having to make sure I’m working with any available light instead of against it. I have taken quality pictures using my iPhone, but it has brought me to a place of convenience, a place of satisfaction. I’m someone that doesn’t really do well with being satisfied, in fact, I’d rather eschew satisfaction and replace it with a constant hunger, fear, desire to achieve something.

I have always been a staunch proponent of innovation and technology, and I find it increasingly ironic that I am slightly bitter over this, given that I legitimately enjoy using Instagram and enjoy the challenge of trying to actually take photographs and not just pics. 

Maybe I’m reading too far into this whole debacle, but I sort of find an interesting artistic/sociological observation in the whole instagram phenomena. You are out and about, see something that is interesting, frame it up, take the picture, and apply the
filter that is fitting to either your vision or the mood at the time. There is no real experimentation with what works or doesn’t. You don’t come back with a batch of pictures to a computer to upload into Photoshop.

Does this validate mobile photography as a legitimate medium? The cell phone is after all, just another tool. Perhaps from an artistic perspective, it is potentially a much more personal and human form of creativity. I’m not entirely sure. 

At any rate, all of this confusion and reflection has motivated me to dust off my DSLR and begin planning a series for the not too distant future. I’ve had a significant amount of ideas locked up in that noggin of mine since January that have had no outlet. Satisfaction be damned!

Happy shooting. 

It’s a cool Sunday afternoon, good time to start reposting on this thing. I know it’s been a good while. 

I spent the last week back up in DC shooting some incredible stories for a campaign for Washington Hospital Center. All were testimonial/documentary based, which will be intercut with some really great b-roll. We did 6 stories total, all of which I’m being tasked with cutting over the next 2-3 weeks, which I’m also pretty excited about. 

In between that time I got to see a good bit of the area. DC is always a great place to visit. Saw sites, some of my dearest friends, and ate some really solid food. 

It was also my first time really getting an opportunity to shoot with Matt and Sefton from Interpret Studios. They’re a company that works out of the building I work in. Really great guys that do a lot of great documentary/film work. Here is the trailer for a really great film they did in Uganda a few years back. 

I’ll be making more of an effort to keep this thing updated for those of you who still read this. Thanks again.

It’s been an interesting month or so since I officially began working at DVA. In that time I’ve been directly involved in a number of jobs both corporate and non-corporate. 

I recently spent a week in DC shooting some footage for Medstar Health, which operates a string of hospitals in the DC/Baltimore area. The shoot included me going up in a helicopter to shoot aerials, which I had a blast doing.

DC has always been a great place to visit and it was great to finally see Baltimore in person (big Wire fan). 

I’m currently editing the 3 minute spot together. 

I also recently shot a string of short promos for Void TV, which is a local skate, surf, culture show that recently started airing here in town. They were directed by my good friend and fellow DVA cohort Gustavo Cooper. Really liked the macro style we did it in. 

The last spot features a little cameo by my lovely wife Jenny. She was great to have on a shoot for once. Aside from all that, it’s business as usual. I have a few personal projects coming up relatively soon that I’ll finally be able to elaborate on. Thanks for reading.

It’s pretty soft, but I was stoked nonetheless to capture this during a timelapse I burned over the weekend. 

Long time no post. A lot has happened to me in the last month that has somewhat prevented me from making any kind of updates. 

First and foremost I got a new job, I’m now an in-house shooter and editor for a great production company here in Jacksonville called DVA. I was a recent hire along with my good friends Gus Cooper and Stephen Aymond. I really like the creative vibe around here, it’s a very collaborative workflow and everyone seems to be on equal footing with one another.

So that has been taking up the majority of my time, I do however still have a few little personal projects that I am still trucking away on, namely the documentary I mentioned a few posts back, which is still in planning stages. I’ve have meetings with several artists around town in the coming weeks that will hopefully get the ball rolling on the whole fiasco. 

The last thing on the weekend warrior schedule is a quick little video for my friend Michael that really cool ambient music under the moniker Messier 31. I recently went out and shot a quick test to see what I’d want to do, all I was asked for was driving footage, but I think that given the atmosphere of the music the video should be approached with a more dream/memory aesthetic. Here’s a sample.

That’s all for the moment. 2012 is shaping up to be a pretty good year.