FAQs
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
The first thing I do is listen to what the client wants. I try to listen between the words to establish what it is they hope to get, and then I give them realistic opinions about what we need to do to accomplish what they want to capture. Whether it's stills or video, I try to explain the technical possibilities (and limitations) about their vision. I pride myself on having the absolute highest technical abilities on the market, but I am also a creator and can find ways of telling stories that the client might not have imagined, so the initial exchange is to establish how wide the possibilities are before defining our technical limitations such as lighting or timing or whether the drone is permitted to fly in their neighborhood.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I taught photography for Boston University in 2013-2015. I apprenticed with one of the area's most successful commercial photographers, and I have shot more than 1.3 million photographs since 2002. I've taught photographers how to shoot videos and edit them with sound and graphics using their full-frame DSLR cameras. And I still continue to teach Lightroom and Final Cut Pro to pro photographers.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
I did journalism for a dozen years worldwide, and realized I needed to illustrate my stories. I made several movies, and realized I needed to know how the camera worked if I wanted to have any say about the visual aspects of my movie. I had done just enough to be knowledgeable but not expert, and when the digital cameras came out in 2002, I started from the ground up, learning how light works and how cameras control light so I could produce any kind of image I needed for my own projects. I spent years shooting the aurora borealis in the Arctic, for instance, and by doing this learned how to shoot in the dark, literally. As a result, I can coax a lot more out of bad lighting situations than most photographers.