BIO

BORN AND RAISED IN MANHATTAN'S EAST VILLAGE NEIGHBORHOOD, I FIRST RAISED A CAMERA TO MY EYE WHEN I WAS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND PRETTY MUCH HAVE HAD EITHER A STILL OR MOTION PICTURE CAMERA PART OF MY DAILY LIFE EVER SINCE.

I FIRST USED MY FATHER'S TWIN LENS ROLLIEFLEX (YES, AN ORIGINAL), AND SOON MOVED UP TO A NIKOMAT THAT MY UNCLE BROUGHT BACK FROM A BUSINESS TRIP TO JAPAN.

I SHOOT DIGITAL THESE DAYS, MOSTLY FOR EASE OF MAKING IMAGES AND THE POST-PRODUCTION PROCESS.

I LOVED THE MAGIC OF SEEING a photograph EMERGE IN DEKTOL, BUT DISLIKED CHEMICAL TOXICITY AND THE LABORIOUS PROCESS OF PRINTING. DIGITAL POST GIVES ME MORE CONTROL AND INFINITELY MORE FLEXIBILITY, HENCE A more compelling creative OUTCOME IN BOTH STILL AND MOTION PICTURES.

I FELL IN LOVE WITH LEICA WHEN I WAS 14 YEARS OLD TAKING A PHOTO CLASS WITH A PROTEGE OF PAUL CAPONIGRO WHEN WE COMPARED AN M3 WITH THE PHOTOJOURNALIST STANDARD NIKON F. IMAGES FROM THE NIKKOR 50/1.2 LOOKED LIKE A BROWNIE CAMERA SOFTNESS COMPARED TO THE M3 / 35MM SUMMILUX.

IN BETWEEN I'VE SHOT FILM AND DIGITAL ON BLACKMAGIC, BRONICA, CANON, CONTAX, LEICA, MAMIYA, NIKON, HASSELBLAD, red, SONY, AND IF i GO WAY BACK, A 4X5 SPEED GRAPHIC, 8X10 VIEW, AND MY BELOVED LEICA IIIG.

self portrait, BADRINATH, HIMALAYAS, 12,500', CANON 5D MII

tech promotion [motion graphics]

motion graphics frame a story differently.

Our brains interpret words or graphics differently than the images we are familiar with from daily life.

Promo for new media & social ecommerce startup.

writer, director, executive producer

Photoshop, Premiere, After Affects

NARRATIVE SHORT

navaswan is a short film for my MA in filmmaking.

awarded Best Narrative Short Film at the Rishikesh International Film Festival 2017.

filmmaking is a team sport. Always choose talent over friendship. work together often enough and you gain both, as well as creative partnership.

writer, director, editor, producer.

color grading and special efx, Kinga Kulsca.

location shoot, iowa, usa. Camera: orignal red one

MY STYLE

I'M A CITY KID. I GREW UP LEARNING HOW TO SEE ON THE STREET. AT A CERTAIN LEVEL YOU HAVE TO BE OPPORTUNISTIC—AND TO UNABASHEDLY STEAL FROM BRESSON, "CAPTURE THE DECISIVE MOMENT".

THE STREET FORCES YOU TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE MOMENT AND EVERYTHING IN IT. I LEARNED EARLY THAT WHAT I FRAMED OUT WAS AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT I FRAMED IN. PRESENCE IS EVERYTHING.

BE DISTRACTED FOR EVEN A MOMENT, GET LOST IN YOUR THOUGHTS OR LET YOUR MIND INTERPRET WHAT YOU SEE, AND YOU'VE LOST MOMENTUM.

EQUALLY, THERE IS VISUAL STORYTELLING ACUITY THAT DEVELOPS WITH EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING. THIS IS THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN TAKING AND MAKING A PHOTOGRAPH—YOU SET THE SCENE IN YOUR MIND IN THE SPLIT SECOND BETWEEN SEEING, COMPOSING, AND CLICKING THE SHUTTER.

THE SUBJECT:OBJECT RELATIONSHIP DROPS AWAY AND YOU SIMPLY MOVE INTO AN EXPERIENCE OF ONENESS WITH THE PERSON, PLACE, OR THING—NO SEPARATION.

GEAR IS INCIDENTAL. i USE WHAT IS AVAILABLE, WHETHER ITS my SMARTPHONE, MIRRORLESS, DSLR, STILL, MOTION, HYBRID.

CAPTURING OR CREATING THE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE IS THE ONLY THING THAT IS IMPORANT FOR ME.

CHEFCHOUEN, MOROCCO, sony rx100

agency promo [MOTION graphics]

how do you tell a story about a full-stack DIGITAL marketing agency in <90 seconds?

you do it with words, graphics, and movement set to UPbeat MUSIC to EMOTIONALLY engage the viewer so that they CATCH THE OVERALL CREATIVE ENERGY OF THE AGENCY; THE WORDS ARE THERE for the more analytical PEOPLE who need support dETAILS.

writer, director, producer

adobe photoshop, adobe premiere.

technology promo [case study]

business value customer evidence of enterprise software.

real people telling real stories about the value gained using microsoft enterprise project management

writer, director, interviewer, creative producer

Panasonic Varicam, premiere, after affects

FOCUS

my creative juice STARTS flowing WITH the possibility of experiencing what I see every day in a totally new way.

perception is reality. change youR mode of seeing and you have a diferent experience of life in and around you.

the question is, do you see differently from outiside yourself, or is it an inside job?

The more i explore my own interior pscyho-biological landscape, the more i bring to my storytelling.

I work PRINCIPALLY with natural light, both indoors and out. Much easier now using digital cameras with wideR ISO range, greater DYNAMIC RANGE, IBIS, and fast lenses.

I'M DRAWN TO PROJECTS THAT MOVE THE NEEDLE FORWARD TELLING HUMAN STORIES THAT SHOWCASE THE universality OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN.

AS IN NATURE, THERE IS UNITY IN DIVERSITY—WHOLENESS, NOT SEPARATION.

I LOVE DOING ADVOCACY WORK FOR THOSE WHO HAVE A limited VOICE, INCLUDING, ABORIGINAL PEOPLES, WILD PLACES, AND SENTIENT LIFE.

ASRAM, HIMALAYAN FOOTHILLS, INDIA, canon 5d mii

shaktifest [music video]

SHOWCASE THE ENERGY AND VIBRANCY OF SHAKTIFEST VIA MUSIC, PARTICIPANTS, AND ENVIRONMENT.

one-time live performance of rock-n-roll kirtan performer, dona delory.

CONSTRAINTS: ONE CAMERA, LOCKED DOWN LOCATION BELOW STAGE LEVEL, NO FEED FROM MUSIC BOARD.

cinematographer, director, editor, INTERVIEWER, producer

Canon 5d Mii, PREMIERE

p A R A [experiential]

PARA: Unbounded stillness in motion is the first of FIVE short films exploring the relatiship between the five elements and consciousness.

Awarded Best experimental film at the rishikesh international film festival 2017.

shot on location; original humback whale recording.

writer, photographer, director, editor, color grading, producer.

sony rx 100, photoshop, premiere

WORDS

IF A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS—NOW WITH THE PROLIFERATION OF DIGITAL IMAGERY, A VIDEO IS WORTH A MILLION.

YET, SOMETIMES, THE SINGULARITY OF A SOLITARY STILL IMAGE IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED TO TELL THE STORY.

THE POINGNANCY OF A SIMPLE SINGLE FRAME CAN SAY MORE IN THAT SPLIT SECOND THEN ALL THE WORDS GENERATED BY CHAT GPT AND OFFER MORE VISUAL IMPACT AND RESPONSE THAN NANO BANANA WITH ITS INFINITE MYRIAD POSSIBILITIES.

SOMETIMES IT'S THE LACK OF WORDS THAT GIVE THE visual story MORE IMPACT.

SOMETIMES ITS THE SILENCE BETWEEN THE WORDS, THE GAP, THAT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

SOMETIMES THE STILL OR MOTION PICTURE SUPPORTS THE WORDS.

THOUGH I STARTED MY VISUAL JOURNEY EARLY, I AM also A WRITER BY TRADE. I'VE WRITEN COPY FOR ALL MEDIA, ANALOG AND DIGITAL, INCLUDING MARCOM, CORPORATE, ADVERTSING, BROADCAST COMMERCIALS, BRAND, DIRECT RESPONSE, EMAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA, WEBSITES, WHITE PAPERS, PROMO SCRIPTS, CASE STUDIES, BUSINESS AND GTM PLANS, SHORT AND LONG FORM.

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NYC, iphone 6

AGNI [Experiential]

AGNI [FIRE] IS THE SECOND SHORT FILM IN A 5-PART SERIES ON THE FIVE ELEMENTS AND CONSCIOUSNESS.

AGNI PREMIERED AT THE 2019 RISHIKESH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WHERE IT WON BEST EXPERIENTIAL FILM.

WRITER, director, editor, MOTION GRAPHICS, COLOR GRADING, VOICE OVER, producer

OPEN SOURCE VIDEO, HUBBLE TELESCOPE VIDEO, ORIGINAL VEDIC CHANTING, ORIGINAL MUSIC, CANON 5D III, photoshop, davinci resolve

malaga, spain [TOURISM PROMOTION]

I HAD AN AFTERNOON IN MALAGA, AN ANCIENT CITY ON SPAIN'S COSTA DEL SOL, TO REFRAME IT FROM A TOURIST'S POV, GIVE IT A MODERN SHEEN WITH CONTEMPORARY FEEL YET SHOWCASE ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND ARCHITECTURE.

MAKING FRIENDS SITTING ON A PARK BENCH IN MALAGA'S MAIN CITY SQUARE, NOT ONLY PROVIDED GREAT SMILES AND LAUGHtER BUT ALSO A WONDERFUL IMPROMPTU SOUND TRACK.

WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER, DIRECTOR, color grading, PRODUCER

SONY RX 100, IPHONE X AUDIO RECORDER, LIGHTROOM, photoshop, DAVINCI RESOLVE

STREET

you never know when a good photo OPP presents itself.

sometimes a photograph just comes to you, stepping right into your frame, in this case enjoying a late afternoon lunch on a hot summer day when i should have been taking a siesta.

a half-eaten sandwich, some olves, an empty glass of beer, all out of focus, amplify the one-pointed internal dynamism of this street musician.

a little high dynamic range exaggerates the color just enough to heighten your experience but not enough to think its not real.

malaga, SPAIN, SONY RX 100

celestial bodies [DANCE]

one of six modern dance pieces performed for winter solstice celebration in small town THEATER-IN-THE-ROUND.

capture the essence of the choreography, the talent of the dance troupe, the story through expressive movement, during a one-time only live performance, all from a single position with locked-down camera.

CINEMATOGRAPHER, DIRECTOR, EDITOR, PRODUCER

SONY Z1U, FINAL CUT PRO

TEChNOLOGY PROMO [CASE STUDY]

SHOWCASE THE BUSINESS VALUE OF MICROSOFT ENTERPRISE PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPLICATION WITH A G2000 COMPANY.

THE CLASSIC PROBLEM-SOLUTION-VALUE EQUATION IS TOLD THROUGH THE EYES OF THE COO, CTO AND TECH IMPLEMENTER.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, INTERVIEWER, executive PRODUCER

PANASONIC VARIACAM, PREMIERE, AFTER AFFECTS,

fashion

working with a professional model who knows the cadence of a photo shoot and can summon a range of emotion to sell a product or service is a great asset to any photographer.

Helen, Los Angeles, Leica SL

TECHNOLOGY PROMO [COMMERCIAL]

TEST VIDEO TO PROMOTE STARTUP CYBERSECURITY COMPANY WITH BREAKTHROUGH PRODUCT.

DEFINE PROBLEM, SHOWCASE SOLUTION, PROMOTE VALUE

CONSTRAINTS: MINIMAL BUDGET; SHORT TIMEFRAME

WRITER, DIRECTOR, EDITOR, PRODUCER

OPEN SOURCE & STOCK VIDEO, PREMIERE

PORTRAIT

one moment, one frame.

miss the moment and you lose capturing the quintessential uniqueness of the person.

fortunately, the light was perfect, the subject was primed and knew how to strike a pose that epitomized his personal style, and i was ready.

The Mayor, RISHIKESH, INDIA, CANON 5D MIII

HAND CELL animation [COMMERCIAL]

sometimes the reality of life needs a charicature to tell the story from a different angle.

animated characters, whether as hand-drawn cells ala original disney or digitally encoded frames ala pixar, tell the story differently than a human actor—still, voice and sound is usually required to fill out the storyline AS DONE IN THIS HAND-DRAWN CELL ANIMATION.

Producer, account executive

Levis 501 jeans, Y&R SF

stills

Before motor drives on film cameras and 20 fps as digital stills, photographers practiced intuition balanced with patience to capture that singular split second of infinity needed to tell a story.

now, many photographers brought up on the speed of digital are using film cameras as tools to discover patience and experience the discipline of timing.

whether a creative artist uses analog or digital tools, the simple fact remains that the artist controls their toolset, not the other way around.

the discpline of learning how to see borne from patience and a settled mind, prevails in analog and digital.

true seeing is done from your heart.

barcelona, spain, canon 5d mii

finding beauty [artist portrait]

PROMOTIONAL VIDEO PORTRAIT OF ARTIST TONY ELLIS, MODERN PAINTER TURNED PHOTOGRAPHER.

YOU FIND WHAT YOU LOOK FOR. TONY LOOKED FOR BEAUTY.

CINEMATOGRAPHER, DIRECTOR, INTERVIEWER, EDITOR, COLOR GRADING, PRODUCER

sony z1u, canon 5d mii, rode, premiere

place

making a photograph is distinctly different than taking a photograph.

a sacred river, an ancient ritual, well-practiced hand-eye-body synched coordination from multiple people, and modern lighting to amplify the action, so many possibilities, but only one perfect image.

i moved around the stage at will. Side, back, front, close-up, wide—what produces the most compelling image, the one that captures the emotional intensity and history of modern times?

scouting helps, it always does. But in the end, you have to act from intuition and practice, pre-visualzing what you want and clicking the shutter, not twice, three, or four times, but once.

it's done, never to be replicated like this again.

ganga river, rishikesh, INDIA, CANON 5D MIII

MOTION

time and space are funny things.

sometimes we have no sensation of time moving. someTimes it goes by in a flash. other times, it drags on and on with slow caustic drudgery.

we live in a dynamic world, so sometimes we need to capture that movement to enable the viewer to experience it as a mirror of their own life, more true, more real.

i discovered my love of moving pictures when i realized that sometimes my visual storytelling required more than a single frame.

sometimes, story required movement through time / space.

sometimes it required the verbal expression of SPOKEN VOICE AND sound to further the story and its emotional TONE AND cadence.

sometimes the story required the camera to move with the people and people with sounds, music, speech.

sometimes the language of sound createS a richer context that furthered emotional tone more than visualS alone.

sometimes it's the silence between the spoken words or crashing waves or ambulance sirens breaking through the night's silent darkness that is amplified by visuals.

Chelsea, nyc, Canon g12

LUNA ART COLLECTIVE [artist portrait]

IMPROMPTU FILM AND INTERVIEW OF FIVE ARTISTS FROM DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIES USING DIFFERENT MEDIUMS.

SHOWCASE THE UNIQUE PERSONALITIES AND ARTISTIC STYLES OF 5 VERY CULTURALLY AND ARTISTICALLY DISTINCT WOMEN.

CONSTRAINTS: ECHOEY ROOM, ON-CAMERA MIC, TIMEFRAME (LITERALLY 30 MINUTES FOR ENTIRE SETUP AND Q&A)

CINEMATOGRAPHER, DIRECTOR, EDITOR, INTERVIEWER, PRODUCER

CANON 5D MII, 24-70/2, PREMIERE

CREATIVE PRODUCING

never before has it been easier to develop imaging skills and get our creative works out to the world.

Digital production tools and distribution channels have democratized media and given all of us Warhol's proverbial 15 minutes of fame.

more than ever, competency of craft is vital. sometimes, being a one-person show, as robust as it is, one lacks the acuity that comes with specialization or more experience.

Creative producing is where one has the artistic or directorial vision yet lacks sufficient technical digital skills to execute at the required level of artistic expression.

Creative producing is akin to directing, but ALSO INCLUDES more business CAPABILITIES, aligning with client communication objectives, ensuring that appropriate CUSTOMER response is elicited.

HAVANA, CUBA, nikomat, 50/1.4

WATERS [experiential]

THE THIRD OF FIVE VIDEOS EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FIVE ELEMENTS AND CONSCIOUSNESS.

BEST OF SHOW, RISHIKESH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2020

WRITER, DIRECTOR, GRAPHICS, COLOR, EDITOR, PRODUCER

OPEN SOURCE & STOCK VIDEO, ORIGINAL MUSIC, DAVINCI RESOLVE

FOOD [in-situ]

capturing the living essence of food can invoke a psycho-biological response that salivates the palette, inspires the mind and raises the heartbeat.

natural lighting, no setup aside from its insitu display, and context of place always challenges our ability to tell a story in a single frame that engages the viewer to want more.

BARCELONA, SPAIN, CANON 5D MIII

TECH COMMERCIAL [PUPPET ANIMATION]

PROMOTIONAL VIDEO FOR TECHNOLOGY STARTUP.

MR. PUPPET WAS USED TO REFRAME THE VIEWER'S PERCEPTION TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX FOR A BRAND AND CONSUMER APPLICATION THAT PUSHED THE BOUNDARIES OF HOW HASTAGS COULD BE BETTER USED BY BRANDS AND INFLUENCERS TO UNDERTAND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

CONTRACT ANIMATOR

voice, sound, music

the belching putt putt of the jitney, the wind blowing through my hair, the stuttering forward motion moving through traffic, the driver, muttering when a cow crosses the jitney's path, all of life's richness filling the frame, expanding the story, giving the viewer a deeper, more real, maybe even surreal, experience.

without sound, seeing only the blur of the people you imagine speeding through traffic.

without spoken word, you see the intense look of the driver's eyes in his left mirror.

without the jitney'screahing sound, you see tightness in the driver's shoulders.

add in bollywood music, a cow mooing, a pedestrian yelling, engine sputtering, or the driver muttering and you gain richness, depth, experiencing being in the scene not simply an observer, but embedded.

haridwar, india, canon 5d miii

Fire of Love {Rumi}

an afternoon at the sufi mevlevi temple in istanbul brought to heart the depth and breadth of rumi.

i sought the right poem and music but it wasnt until i heard yahushah recite his original translations of rumi did i knew i had found the right collaborator.

original translation of rumi, yahushah oursHamillian

violin and dilruba, olaf sodenburg

Poem - Creative and executive producer

Video - Photography, color grading, editing, PRODUCER

Canon 5d markii, lightroom, photoshop, premiere

DEJA VU [ADVOCACY]

Environmental advacacy video to raise awareness to potential environmental catastrophe of siting a super tanker port on international Straits of Juan de Fuca,

Produced under auspices of Washington Environmental Council. aerial photography enabled by Light Hawk.

CONSTRAINTS: ZERO BUDGET; SHORT TIMEFRAME

outcome: washington state legislators voted no.

WRITER, DIRECTOR, EDITOR, PRODUCER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

PANASONIC VARIACAM, EDITED ON VIDEO TOASTER V1, WORLD'S FIRST COMMERCIAL NON-LINEAR DIGITAL EDITING SYSTEM.

Please forgive the poor video quality and out of synch audio. This is a digitized version from a VHS copy from my original 3/4" videotape.

landscape

how do you scope down the vast beauty of the northern arizona desert so that you retain its scale, majesty, and grandeur yet also feel intimate?

what to do with the contrast of color, earth, sky, rock, wildflowers, sagebrush and shadow?

You look for form. You compose in geometry. You see symmetry and asymmetry. You discern the play of light and shadow. You go for purity of elements. simplicity that belies complexity.

monument valley, arizona, iphone x, graded on phone

Technology Promo [case study]

SHOWCASE THE BUSINESS VALUE OF MICROSOFT ENTERPRISE PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPLICATION WITH A G2000 COMPANY.

THE CLASSIC PROBLEM-SOLUTION-VALUE EQUATION IS TOLD THROUGH THE EYES OF THE CEO, CTO AND TECH IMPLEMENTER.

ON-LOCATION, PARIS

WRITER, DIRECTOR, interviewer, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Variacam, premiere, after affects

SELF-PORTRAIT

WHY WE HUMANS DO WHAT WE DO IS OFTEN MORE INSIGHTFUL AND REVEALING THAN WHAT WE ACTUALLY DO,

BORDERS WAS CONCEIVED AS AN EXERCISE IN SEEING WITHIN DELIBERATE TIME AND SPACE CONSTRAINTS IN CONTEXT OF LIMITED PHOTOGRAPHIC TOOLS.

WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER, DIRECTOR, COLOR GRADING, PRODUCER

IPHONE X, native photo app, native color grading tools, davinci resolve

nature

sometimes seeing what is right in front of you is the most difficult part of being a photographer.

we get used to seeing the same thing out of habit and don't realize that we are not seeing anymore, we are remembering.

not truly seeing or being present or being in the moment, but recollecting imagery from fragmented images stored in memory.

oh yes, we are present enough to see a little bit, and then our memory fills in the parts of what we thought we see, but really don't see because we are not sufficiently present, so we formulate an image of what we think we see—only its the past and we think its the present.

i boosted the color of the kelp to make it more than slightly hyper-realistic; this way, i'll remember. :-)

oregon coast, iPhone 9, color graded on phone