Five Years North is the coming-of-age story of Luis, an undocumented boy in New York City desperate to bring the American Dream back home to Guatemala. Alone, he struggles to work, study, and evade Judy—the Cuban-American ICE agent who patrols his neighborhood. Find screenings and more info at the official website. Role I was the DP…
Documentary
Documentary: Since I Been Down
In America’s backyard, a community held captive by policies targeting gangs and drugs, sacrifices their youth for a false sense of justice, and safety. Nearly forty years later, a true path to justice and healing is led from inside their prison walls. Find screenings and more info at the official website. Role I had the…
VICE: Portland Protest
Here’s What Happened When Right and Left-Wing Protesters Talked it Out in Portland Portland averted large-scale street violence over the weekend as a mix of right-wing groups gathered Saturday to proclaim their love of America — and their disgust with Antifascists. While Antifascist organized its own counter-protest, law enforcement mostly kept the two groups apart. The…
Vice: The Evolution (Or Not) Of School Shootings In America Since Columbine
The evolution (or not) of school shootings in America School shooting survivors discuss progress — or lack thereof — with gun violence in this segment. When the Columbine shooting happened in 1999, the survivors had no concept of what a school shooting was. Neither did most of America. “We thought there was some sort of…
Vice: This App Lets You Give Money to People Experiencing Homelessness
This App Lets You Give Money to Homeless People From Your Phone What if you combined the functionality of Venmo and GoFundMe with the user interface of a dating app to fight homelessness? “Samaritan” is a new startup out of Seattle that provides homeless people with small “beacons” (a key fob that functions as a…
Starbucks: Upstanders
Upstanders is a Starbucks original series featuring a collection of short stories, films and podcasts sharing the experiences of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to create positive change in their communities. About the Films In April, I received a call from Joshua Trujillo, former photojournalist and current manager of photo and video for…
Starbucks: Upstanders Season 2
Upstanders Season 2 is a collection of short stories celebrating ordinary people doing extraordinary things to create positive change in their communities. These stories of courage and humanity remind us that we all have the power to make a difference. After creating the pilot episode and several episodes in season one, I produced four more films…
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL: EXPLORER
In 2016, I was brought on as a Director of Photography on Season 9 of Explorer, as they re-launched the style and approach of cable television’s longest running documentary series. The season brought me to Indonesia, Italy, the Netherlands, and across the United States covering death ritual culture, nuclear reactors, refugees in Europe and environmental…
Spilling Over
SPILLING OVER is a documentary that examines the human consequences of America’s often excessive energy use. The story follows the Arnesen family and the town of Venice, Louisiana as they refuse to become casualties of our endless desire for more energy resources. In the wake of the largest oil spill in U.S. history, the people…
Mpala Live
I spent two weeks filming in Laikipia County, Kenya, documenting the research and wildlife at the Mpala Research Centre for Mpala Live!. Within its 200 square km of unfenced landscape, Mpala incorporates cattle ranching, wildlife, and research all in one. Mpala Live! gives you a round-the-clock look at the lives of elephants, lions, zebras, giraffes, hippos, birds,…
VICE: Wisconsin Republicans Strip Power from Incoming Democratic Governor
Wisconsin Republicans can’t accept that Scott Walker lost an election In an extraordinary session that started Tuesday afternoon and went on till after dawn Wednesday, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin passed a series of bills designed to strip power from the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general. Full story on Vice News Tonight. Role Director of…
VICE: 17-year-old rising star among Wisconsin Democrats
Meet a 17-year-old rising star among Wisconsin Democrats When Wisconsin helped to deliver President Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, many Wisconsinites were shell-shocked. From 2000 to 2012, Wisconsin had supported Democrats in every presidential election. But in 2016, many of the young and minority communities that came out for President Obama didn’t show up to…
VICE: NYC Cab Driver Suicides
Colin Quinn talked to NYC cab drivers about the industry’s suicide crisis Earlier this month, a cash-strapped taxi driver in Queens took his own life. But the tragedy was hardly a unique situation: he was the eighth cab industry suicide in the past year as ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft continue to rise in…
Politico: My Generation Is Never Going to Have That
On a brisk Saturday morning in March, a 27-year-old programmer named Zach Lubarsky, bundled in a fatigue jacket and knit cap, took a ReachNow rental car to the north end of Seattle and spent an hour or so scouting one of city’s most desirable neighborhoods. Wallingford, as it’s known, offers house hunters some of the…
VICE: Eric Holder on Bomb Threats
Eric Holder on the bomb threats: “It is a sign of the times” For most politicians and their surrogates, the final days leading up to the midterm elections are all about routine campaign activities, like knocking on doors and making phone pitches to voters. But for Eric Holder, a Democrat and the Attorney General under…
VICE: This instrument turns brain waves into music
Most people play a musical instrument with their hands or mouth. But Dr. Thomas Deuel, a musician and neurologist based in Seattle, has built one that you can play with your mind. He calls it the encephalophone, which more or less translates to “brain instrument.” The thing looks like an electrode-studded swimmers cap with wires…
VICE: This app will pay anyone to shoot news videos
Americans’ trust in news media is at an all-time low. But local news is the source people trust the most. Now there’s an app called Fresco that could complicate that. Local news stations around the country are using it to outsource the gathering of news footage to anyone with a smartphone. VICE News’ Elle Reeve…
IM/PERFECTION
Immigrating from Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1961, Hitoshi Hida struggled to learn English as he excelled in math and painting during high school. Abandoning his desire to be an artist, Hida pursued a career in architecture. With the advent of three-dimensional renderings, Hida, 72, is one of only a handful of designers in Hawaii…
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion
A conversation between a recovering addict, a Seattle police officer, and a case manager on their experience as some of the first participants in an innovative harm reduction program. The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a harm reduction program started in Seattle. Instead of incarcerating low level, repeat drug offenders, LEAD is a pre-booking…
Here is New York #8 – 09.14.2013
Lauren and I usually try to celebrate our birthdays by traveling somewhere nearby. For her birthday last September, we drove to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We brought our bikes and stayed at an AirBnB. I’ve spent my whole life around large bodies of water, but the sheer volume of water flowing over the…
Automated Subtitles in Final Cut Pro 7
Over at Talking Eyes Media, we recently came across a useful subtitling tool using Final Cut Pro 7 and InqScribe, a transcribing software. Essentially, you can use InqScribe to subtitle a project, or a scene, and easily import those subtitles into FCP 7. There is a way to import these to Premiere Pro CC, but you have…
Spilling Over: Three years on…
I just returned from filming in coastal Louisiana for Spilling Over, a documentary that I’ve been working on for three years with Lauren Frohne. Check out our latest update on the progress of the film and the last shoot.
Kisumu, Kenya
I recently traveled to Kisumu, Kenya, to film part of a client documentary project with my employer, Talking Eyes Media. The project highlights an effective program aimed at fostering friendly dynamics between the police force and sex workers. The program has helped sex workers feel comfortable reaching out to police when a crime has…
N.C. Mission of Mercy Dental Clinic
I’m working on a project about health care for my documentary course. I’ve been trying to cover a broad range of topics and one is dental. Dental is often not included in health coverage and is very expensive. People go for years neglecting their dental hygiene even though dental pain can be one of the…
F/22 and Snow
We had a project titled F/22 where we had to photograph 22 things based on a list of 22 words. Here are some of the photos I came out with and the word we were to photograph.Blue 4 a.m. Body art The Letter E Fear From the Hip (not looking through viewfinder) Gross Love Self…
Raleigh Rally
Photos shot today, can you believe it? My focus today was light. Don’t steal my pictures. They are copyrighted. For real.