I shot this music video for Green Day's "Still Breathing" a while ago, but it's still one of my favorite things I have done. I had a minimal lighting package and virtually no crew for the majority of it, so I really took advantage of the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest where we shot. Shot on an Alexa mini with Kowa anamorphic, often using diopters for the close ups. Special thanks to @baudarmutt for his direction, concept, and trust in a 20 something year old kid with no big music video experience at the time and also @beau_leon for the amazing color job.
I shot this video for Coheed and Cambria for the song “Unheavenly Creatures”. Directed by @pr_brown_bauda the video is based on the characters form the sci-fi graphic novel Amory Wars written by front man Cladio Sancez. It was such a fun challenge to bring an established graphic novel into the physical world. Claudio was like a kid in a candy store getting to see his creations in real life. In this frame we see Creature and Colossus facing off as lights pan around and flair in the background.
We took an empty warehouse and through some creative practical lighting and amazing art direction from Ariel Vita and Kati Simon we were able to make a spaceship. We also shot mostly in closeups to be able to keep the background soft so as to help hide the sets edges. We shot on Cooke Anamorphic on an Alexa mini supplied by @cslarentals . I always love the warm, organic, naturalistic image Cooke optics provide. They are clean but with character and beautiful flairs.
This shot is from a flashback of the heist gone bad and we used some good old Vaseline on a clear filter to help give the flashbacks a more dreamy look and force the lens and audience to focus on the center of the frame. There are a lot of expensive filters out there like wormhole and different donut diopters but sometimes the simplest option is the best… as long as you have a good AC to keep cleaning them off.
I love doing bottle work. Shooting bottles, cans, and beverages is a deceptively challenging dance between lensing and lighting. Something that appears so simple can take hours of careful tinkering to get just right. While you’re finessing highlights and shaping reflections, the bubbles go flat, the background actors eat the food they weren’t supposed to touch, and the sun decides to move on you.
This particular spot for Trumer had us racing through three locations in a single day. Using real environments while still delivering clean, intentional product shots was a serious challenge—but a rewarding one. We shot on the Alexa 35 paired with my Meike FF primes and an 1/8 BPM. The Meikes are incredibly clean, which is ideal for commercial product work, and they’re budget-friendly enough that we could allocate more of the budget toward the higher-end camera package. The Alexa 35 gave me all the latitude I needed for the beach setups and the later fireside moments.
Despite being all on location I thought we were able to get very composed and controlled studio quality frames. We maximized the budget and made something that truly punches above its weight financially which is always the goal for the client. I was very pleased with the end product and even though I am not a beer person, these frames do make me want one! Huge thanks to @pmacattack for bringing me on and directing!
Being a cinematographer has taken me to some incredible places. One of the most memorable was shooting several episodes of a Red Bull TV series called Away From Keyboard, where professional athletes were paired with esports players to learn from each other. For this episode, we filmed with Megan Ethell, a now 8-time world wake boarding champion, capturing her carving across the water with the kind of power and grace that makes elite athletes look superhuman. I love shooting sports, especially when you’re documenting people who make the impossible look effortless.
Another part of the episode took us a mile off the coast of Florida for a shark dive. We swam with roughly ten bull sharks—no cage. It felt wild in the moment, but I trusted the dive team, who make these runs multiple times a week. Everything went smoothly, though I was very glad we’d hired experienced local underwater videographers for the underwater shots; my own footage was a bit chaotic, as I was more focused on where the sharks were than where my camera was pointed. I did manage to get a few good shots of these impressive creatures that made the cut. This was my first of two open water shark dives I have now done as a cinematographer.
We shot on the Alexa Amira with the Zeiss Compact Zooms, filming from both the tow boat and a follow boat and leaning heavily into slow motion to highlight the action. We pushed off at sunrise to take advantage of the light and tides. Traveling for shoots is always nerve-racking, there’s no running back for extra gear, and working from small boats adds another layer of complexity, so we had to be absolutely dialed in on what we needed for the day. Special thanks to @crystal_c_collins for bringing me on to these shoots!
