a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”
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I started freelancing in 2012 here in Nashville, TN. Since then I've done music videos, headshots, weddings, album covers, stop motion, real estate, corporate, animation, live music, all manner of social media content, event coverage, conferences, Youtube content, national broadcast TV ads, and, of course, a bunch of documentary video.
I'm proud to be a swiss army knife. I think a good documentary cinematographer should be.
From Stills to Motion
I became infatuated with still photography in my high school darkroom, and that continued into college where I studied fine art photography. As my professors led me into narrative and storytelling with stills, motion became a natural next step. At first, my video work was very photo-based. I was melting photo prints with Drano and shooting timelapses and stop motion. In my final semester, I shifted my minor to cinema studies as I started shooting video with my Nikon D90 and 16mm film on Bolex for my cinema classes.
2007
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2011
2011
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2013
Early Docs
As soon as video became a permanent fixture in my life, documentaries entered the picture. I loved street photography because I loved falling into deep conversations with strangers. It was only natural that I start filming those conversations.
In 2013, my love of filming strangers culminated in a 1000+ mile walk across the state of Tennessee with two good friends. We documented the journey and the many kind folks we met along the way with a Canon 6D and a backpacks stuffed with hard drives. It was a crash course in entering someone's home and world with a camera and mic rolling.
Videographer For Hire
I went full-time freelance in 2013 and In 2016, I joined forces with Anthony Simpkins and John Taylor to form a production company, Five Folds Creative. We filled our calendar with every video and photo gig we could seize. With a huge variety of work, I'd look at every job as an opportunity to experiment and develop as a professional....try a new piece of gear, a new filmmaking technique, a new genre of content.
I documented an international music tour for Dierks Bentley. I shot million subscriber specials for the Binging with Babish Youtube channel. I shot in stealth mode for Samantha Bee's Full Frontal as she bought a literal armful of assault rifles. Every project was different but the priority was always learning.
2013
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2022
2016
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2022
A Mini-Doc Every Week
My partner at Five Folds Creative, Anthony Simpkins, had started a Youtube channel in 2011, and a couple of years into our partnership, we decided to bring the channel under the umbrella of our partnership, From there, Anthony and the talented artists we featured blew the channel up well over 100,000 subscribers and 100 million views. I supported the effort as a shooter, administrator, occasional editor, and leader of the work-for-hire half of our business.
Shoots were off-the-cuff, undermanned, and almost always no budget, but we managed to bottle up magic at a rapid pace, releasing new videos weekly. When you move that fast, you have to roll with what you got and embrace serendipity.
In the fall of 2022, I went back out on my own to focus on documentary shooting.
I'm pretty bad at posting, but you can occasionally get updates from me on Instagram. I'm more of a grab-a-beer or coffee or phone chat kinda guy. Hit me up. I'd be happy to hear from ya.