It’s time for the 9th annual photographic year in review: and what a year it was. Once again, it felt both exceptionally long, yet somehow it’s already ending. As a newly defined geriatric millennial, I hit a life milestone in 2021 when I turned 40 on November 20th. Unfortunately, there’s isn’t a photograph for that moment, but here are the rest:
It had been many years since I’ve worked with puppets, but magically 2021 brought me 2 fun projects involving them. The first, pictured here, is also noteworthy because it’s the first gig that I’ve ever booked using StaffMeUp. I spent limited time on the job site before this year, but it led to some really great work in 2021. For those curious, yes, a Premium Subscription is imperative so you may send cover letters to potential employers! The other puppet job is a zany Netflix comedy special that I operated on entitled, Sex: Unzipped.
Fellow Cinematographer, Mark James, has been working with the Unreal Engine for some time now. Whenever Mark invites me to operate for him, it’s a fun experience. These 6 days were particularly eventful as I watched and learned how the system integrates our camera moves on a green screen with real-time environments. As a companion piece, Dan Mardoyan shot this short video.
I put my recently acquired vertical mounting plate to good use this year. If you’re going to shoot for social, then at least orientate the camera properly, right? After discovering that the EyeDirect’s mirror offered the ultimate selfie, I grabbed my 5D for this BTS shot. This also represents the first of many shoots with OFFICIAL and AutoDesk. Many thanks to longtime collaborators Mark Rinehart and Matt Sultan for the invites.
For somebody who loves anamorphic lenses as much as I do, I haven’t used the format enough. For Jordi Matsumoto’s music video directorial debut, we agreed that it was #AnamorphicOrBust. We teamed the ARRI Alexa Mini LF with Atlas Orion lenses for Sarah Menescal’s video for Stand By Me.
As one of the teams shooting for AutoDesk University 2021, OFFICIAL sent me to Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, and Kansas City. Subsequently, Three Mile Films briefly owned a third FS7! In the long run, having that extra body seemed superfluous and it’s no longer in the arsenal. However, I permanently added several cases to ensure that all of my gear travels safely and efficiently. 2022 will be a very exciting year for gear acquisition, I can’t wait. I’ve added several new lights already.
SkyZone has been a steady client for Runners.LA over the years. We headed to Peoria, Arizona to capture one of the company’s signature attractions: The Mega Launch. It did not disappoint! Hopefully you can find one in a park near you because it is thrilling. I couldn’t help but pause for a moment for this perfectly timed sunset selfie silhouette.
I tried playing it cool when snapping this selfie, but I couldn’t have been happier skating where the Boston Bruins practice. The Warrior Ice Arena’s surface felt incredible on my skates compared to the rough ice around LA. I’m happy my limited time playing hockey as a kid contributed to our getting more interesting shots for this scene for the upcoming travel show, Boston Rob Does Beantown.
My newest collaborator, Beverly Boy Productions, really spoiled me in the last quarter of 2021. Considering how many jobs we’ve already done together, it’s strange that I haven’t met Gordon Garreau in person yet. This photograph of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis came after a very special personal moment for me. After telling Jimmy how much one of their songs meant to me, he looked over to the grand piano next to us and shared the news that they wrote and recorded the song with that very instrument. I frantically grabbed my phone to capture the moment as he sat down and played those familiar notes to my delight. Whoever says that you shouldn’t meet your heroes never crossed paths with these legends!
Several days before my big birthday, Gordon asked if I could jump on a plane to Atlanta. Their DP just tested positive for COVID and they were in a bind. What better way to spend one’s 40th birthday than with a bunch of strangers, lots of lights, 4 Arri Alexa Mini LFs, and ARRI Signature Primes at Cinelease Studio – Three Ring in Covington, Georgia? Our phenomenal local crew skewed female. While I have more interesting photos to share later, this is the best I can do for now. This is my A camera operator, Jessica Grizzell. On our third and final day of the shoot, my talented four person Grip and Electric team consisted solely of females (we had one male the first two days). I look forward to the day where this isn’t rare.
While shooting for Lindt chocolates, I went from never having used the Sony FX-line of cameras, to using three of them on the same day. I wrote more about the pleasant experience here. While I’ve shot lots of products over the years, this is the first time that I returned from work with a metric ton of chocolate. I could get used to that!
I’d like to thank my wonderful collaborators for this bountiful year. Among those not mentioned above, lots of love to James Kapner, Adam Makowka, Andrew Baxter, Cody Smith, Joshua Allen, David Brodie, Adam Irving, Jacob Tanur, Vlad Yudin, Vin Sorrentino, Daniel Stermer, Tobin Del Cuore, Summer Wright, Mike Gattanella, Candace Higgins, Danny Harris, Chad Harrell, Dominique Martinez, Jay Allen, Nikki Byles, Ted Stewart, Chase Sampson, Erik Clabeaux, Dee Robinson, Talia Shea Levin, Jennifer Snowden, Nicolò Bossi, Grace Wells, Caroline Newberry, Ricky Beatty, Dylan Sanford, Eric Goodwin, Will Barratt, and whomever I accidentally forgot! Thanks for making 2021 memorable.
One final note, since Zoom feeds aren’t going anywhere, I’d like to give a shout out to an unsung hero of the pandemic: the Magewell 4K SDI Capture Device. Thanks for keeping the remote clients satisfied!
Happy New Year everyone! I’m writing this publicly so it will happen: 2022 will be the year of the narrative feature. Let’s do this…
For an extended trip down memory lane, here’s an index of all of the previous recaps: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.
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