2026 drone reel is live 🚁
Last year was our best year ever. We are thankful. Got to work with some incredible clients and collaborators and we couldn’t be more stoked. @ford@budweiserusa@nytmag@toyota@thebroadmuseumb@natgeo
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#part107 #superbowlads #aerialcinematography #DJIinspire3 #newyorktimesmagazine
NYT Mag cover shot 🙏
This was part of a larger interactive video and photo project with @nytmag and @nytimes , which was all about showcasing the stories of a neighborhood in Altadena with a single-take drone shot that would be fused with images, photos, and some powerful words by @jaimeroselowe . Grateful for projects and collaborators like these - shout out @kristen.geisler and @j_dims . It’s a privilege to work with a great team on a story that feels so close to home. And it is also rewarding to push the limits of this technology with creatives who have the vision to put it to use.
Look for the images in print in the physical copy of the mag, and check out the interactive piece on the NYT website.
Thanks for the BTS photos @ethannoahroyphoto
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#aerialcinematography #djiinspire3 #part107 #newyorktimesmagazine #dronefootage
Budweiser Super Bowl LIX: First Delivery’
My first superbowl commercial as a pilot. Got to fly for some people I have looked up to for a long time - ace producer Leah Alina, long time hero director Henry Alex Rubin, and Oscar winning DOP Rodrigo Prieto.
It’s awesome to work with vet pro filmmakers who not only understand the capabilities of aerial cameras, but are excited to push the limits of this toolset. We were given the support and the trust to pull off complex and risky shots that would normally only be attempted with cable cams, or arm cars, or high speed dollies.
Shots like the keg falling off of the back of a coach shot from just a few inches above the ground aren’t things you would assume would be drone shots, and yet the will to experiment and look for possibilities was always there. A complex shoot where everything flows because there is great leadership and producing at work.
One of my favorite moments was when we were tech scouting for a shot of a beer keg floating down a rocky river, which a running horse would later be composited into. At some point the 1st AD said, ‘Why aren’t we just shooting this for real? Why do we have to come back here with a giant crew?’
Everyone looked at me. I had no gimbal operator and no support crew on that day, just me. I gulp, grab my Inspire 3, hand Rodrigo the gimbal operator’s remote, and with all the department keys and the clients watching, I fly down this river in front of this beer keg, a couple of inches above the water, dodging rocks and twigs, Rodrigo operating the gimbal, Henry tapping for focus on the LCD screen, and we get the shot in two takes. There was a collective breath of relief, a bit of laughter, and we crossed that location off the list. One of my favorite moments doing this work.
Big shoutout to my incredible crew - my beautiful and capable wife Hannah, and ice-cold legend cam op Michael Jennings.
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#aerialcinematography #djiinspire3 #commercialfilm #superbowl #budweiser
I shot the Kellogg Doolittle House for @hastensbeds a while back - still can’t get how wild this place was out of my head.
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#aerialcinematography #commercialfilm #cinematography #filmgrain #architecturefilm
There was a moment during the fires that really shifted my perspective. It was a time where anything felt possible, and not in a good way - evac orders everywhere, fractured access to information, and conditions that seemed to change faster than we as humans could respond to them. It really felt like history unfolding right in front of us.
One night the flames came up over the edge of a ridgeline that was less than a mile from my childhood home, where my mom still lives. Two things came between us and losing everything: a break in the winds, and a legendary effort by some of the best wildland and aerial firefighters in the world.
It hit me, rather forcefully, that our fate in that moment was 100% in the hands of our first responders, specifically the ones with the skillset to fight fire in this incredibly dangerous and committed way.
Coming from a family of aviators, what really got me was seeing the skill of the pilots. Listening to the radio chatter, you got a sense of the insane level of coordination of aerial and ground assets, as well the risk tolerance of these teams who do this work - flying, at night, using thermal and night vision to target their drops and navigate around mountains and telephone wires. This felt like courage and resolve on a level that I’m not sure I’d ever seen up close like that.
I don’t know where this project is going, but I don’t think I can stop until I’ve told at least part of the story of what these people do, and have given them a voice to talk about it.
If you know anyone connected to LAFD or LA County Air Operations, please put me in touch - I want to tell their story.
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#lafd #aerialfirefighting #cinematography
Super Bowl ‘25 Ad of the Year 🤟
Budweiser Super Bowl LIX ‘First Delivery’
Production Co: @smugglersite
Director: @henryalex
Director of Photography: Rodrigo Prieto @rpstam
Producer: @leahallina
Drone Pilot: Me
Gimbal Op: @michaeljfilm
Drone Tech: @hannahmariemills
VFX: The Mill
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#part107 #dronepilots #superbowlads #aerialcinematography #budweiserclydesdales
Director / DP: 🕺
Agency: @made_by_monks
Exec Prod: Mathew Lancaster
Senior Prod: Felicia Glover
Global Brand Lead: Craig Jackson
Global Social Media Strategy: Kirby Connell
Creative Director: María José Menéndez
Creative Director: John Figlesthaler
Producer: Anya Monzikova
Gaffer: Stan Fyfe
1st AD: Jabu Brown
Prod Designer: Jesse Benson
