This blog functions as both a website to display examples of my work and information about what I do as well as a blog to chronicle my thoughts and adventures in using pictures, words and music to tell stories.
To quote Ani Difranco, “Art is why I get up in the morning.” It’s nice to live in a time and place where survival is not the reason I get up in the morning. I think that more than anything else, art is a desire to show other people how we see the world. I use a camera both because I’m a visual person and because I know of no other more powerful way to convey ideas and feeling. Filmmaking and photography can run the gamut from abstract art to very pointed and specific messages. Giving people a view through my lens is the best way I know of to express how I see the world and also to effect the change I want to see in the world. I’ve always had a difficult time reigning in all of my diverse interests and my filmmaking endeavors reflect that. Vision is the theme of my work more than any particular subject and I enjoy turning my lens on everything from social issues and the natural world to music and people.
Through my production company, Rhythm Productions, I strive to create independent media and work within funding and distribution models that leave my films free of the commercial biases that work their way into so much of mainstream, broadcast media. The central doctrine of Rhythm Productions is that a diverse and independent media environment is vital to the functioning of a healthy democracy. By seeking out independent funding sources and creative outlets and partnerships for distribution, Rhythm Productions is able to make refreshing and valuable contributions to the media dialogue that plays such an important role in our society. Within this context, the goal of Rhythm Productions is to create art. I believe not only that art and documentary film can coexist, but that they are a particularly fruitful coupling. An insistence on approaching films as fine art rather than as a “product” is a driving force in my filmmaking endeavors. Films should offer another way of seeing the world and to this end, I strive to use images, words and music to create films that convey beauty and emotion in addition to information.
The blog entries that I write here are primarily a sort of ongoing production journal and will focus on exploring the aspects of filmmaking that I find exciting. Occasionally, I will write more technically oriented posts that deal in-depth with filmmaking equipment and techniques. These will be labeled as “Tech” posts and are best ignored if you’re not a camera geek. Equipment and software, even for a gear-head like me, aren’t nearly as interesting as the actual images and stories, which is what you will find in the rest of the posts. Enjoy and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments or just to say hi.