From the devastating wildfires to needing major surgery on my right shoulder, things started quite ominously. While our neighborhood was spared, my heart goes out to my friends, colleagues, and fellow Angelenos who weren’t as fortunate. January 2025: a month which will live in infamy.
Thankfully the year made a major shift in the positive direction pretty early on with my engagement and marriage to Melissa! I also shot several emotional narrative films that I’m excited to share soon both directed by wonderful female writer/directors.
I hate starting the recap with such a haunting image, but it feels inauthentic not to acknowledge how the Palisades and Eaton Fires impacted my adopted city of 21 years. I snapped this at 6:54am on my way to the gym. I hope I never see clouds of smoke moving above Sunset Blvd like that again.
The National Football League’s 32 teams have made a recent tradition of creating highly anticipated schedule release videos. I had the pleasure of shooting the New York Giants’ entry. As a Bostonian, this raised some moral questions, but I made the best of the situation. You can watch our video and read more about it here.
All good things come to an end. After years creating countless hours of content for Disney’s Princess YouTube channel, they rebranded and reorganized, and our services became obsolete. I had never had a recurring gig like this — they’re pretty rare — and shooting quarterly since May of 2023 felt comforting. It’s sad knowing we won’t get the gang back together every few months.
In an effort to keep things fun on set, I bought fake mustaches for the crew after seeing how big a hit they were with my family when my niece and nephew visited days before the shoot.
On April 3rd at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, our short film, Gracie Turns 15, premiered at the 25th Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival. I wrote a detailed account of the film’s origin story, which features Ging Chen’s wonderful BTS photography. After our packed premiere, Ari Somerfield and I decided to make it available online for free. Enjoy!
Building on the success of last year’s Create Your World web series, Disney ordered a follow-up, Care For Your World. We reunited almost the entire team to shoot this spiritual second season.
Of the five production days across town, shooting at The Gentle Barn had the greatest impact. As a vegan, I loved how they banned all animal products from set. I also got to know the founder, Ellie Laks-Weiner, and hope to collaborate with her and her team again.
Our stills photographer, Jiro Schneider, perfectly captured my camera operator, Max Schmige enjoying the company of an emu while gathering b-roll.
After this fun shoot with Rob Lowe for American Greetings and their Smash Ups e-card campaign, I finally refreshed the photography galleries on my website and added a new section for this type of work: “On Set.”
While we didn’t get to talk, he holds a special place in my heart from Tommy Boy. This classic scene came true in my life thanks to Melissa sharing her two wonderful brothers with me.
Back in February of 2013, I shot a promo for Jamie T. Moore, who made a rare appearance in the director’s chair. In most of our collaborations, he’s the EP or Producer. I’m thrilled he brought me back over twelve years later when he returned to direct the Subaru Loves Learning campaign featuring Max Greenfield.
Here’s a brain twister: my cinematographer friend Josh Allen recommended me for a job shooting the football star who shares his name. What are the odds he’d be unavailable to meet his “twin”?
This is extra funny to me because after the quarterback won MVP in 2024, I added that to my Josh’s contact info: Josh Allen CSC MVP. Sadly, Pepsi never released the content, so I can’t share anything.
Thanks to back-to-back handheld vertical gigs, my rig is now fully dialed for 9×16 work.
Natalie Avital and I had been scheming to shoot her short film Chili Cheese Fires for nearly three years, and it finally became an anamorphic reality in July. It’s a very special script, and we paired it with some beautiful visuals. I’m really excited for this one.
Collaborating with Aubrey Smyth is always a joy. Thanks to this multi-city pharma job, I crossed something very California off my bucket list: Lake Tahoe. The timing, however, was intense. After shooting all night on a short film, I took an Uber straight to Burbank Airport, met Aubrey in Reno, and we drove to the lake.
You can see the excitement as I ran into the water for the first time. After shooting the next day, we returned to Tahoe, and I ended up with 26 hours surrounded by incredible scenery. Who needs sleep?
In a full circle moment, my final job of the year brought me to Altadena, documenting the Habitat for Humanity rebuilding efforts. Huge thanks to Mark Edwards for the great photo.
I also learned something I’ll carry with me: it’s tradition for volunteers to sign the studs inside the homes they help build. I’m inspired to find an event nearby — and if you are too, you can learn more here.
It’s impossible to recap the year without including a few personal moments, so please excuse me for stretching beyond the usual 10.
On March 22nd, I brought Melissa back to the bar where we met and proposed, under the pretense of casually documenting the day. I promise I don’t usually walk around with an Insta360 and a selfie stick on a Saturday afternoon.
I’m so grateful that my talented friends captured the moment with two still cameras, and a video camera (Sara Jackson, Dalton Gaudin, and Josh Allen CSC MVP). I used the abundance of great material to cut this little video.
The year ended in the best possible way. On 12/13/25 (notice a theme: 3/22/25 — if you don’t see it, it involves addition), I married the love of my life, Melissa Thompson.
Our incredible photographer, Jorden Alexander, captured so many perfect moments, but this one outside our downtown venue is our favorite.
Moving forward, I’ll include 10 work images and 3 personal ones in honor of my new job title: husband. Why 13? This is my 13th recap, I shared 3 personal images here, and our anniversary falls on the 13th.
Feeling nostalgic? Continue down memory lane with these links to the twelve previous yearly recaps: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013. What’s your favorite shot of the bunch?