I have a bunch of equipment, from several cameras, lots of lenses, every type of light, reflectors, stands, a gimbal, a motorized slider, jib and an assortment of grip. I also shoot a ton of things, from scripted material, interviews, b-roll of all kinds and plenty of multi-cam setups. I even shoot my silly little movies and whatever idea becomes pressing that I find I must shoot.
I might be more of a gear-head that seems to be evolving into a cinematographer. When I talk to my more “official” cinematographer friends, they seem to know a whole lot more than I do and I learn so much from the most subtle of conversations about the moving image. This unraveling has prompted me to to do some retro-learning… looking back and discerning what the heck I’ve been doing all these years and doing better. I’ve been known to say, “I’m not a filmmaker. I just fumble around with light sensitive recording-equipment and entertain myself.”
The majority of the really interesting and creative concoctions I produce, are ideas I have or I might be driven by a compulsion to just get out and film something. Every so often I’m hired as a director of photography for a project or simply a camera dude for some clients. Sometimes I show up nervous and frazzled because I have no idea what the heck is going on. It always seem to somehow come together. I should have gone to school for this stuff. The three months at the New York Film Academy doesn’t seem to count.
I do so many parts of production, in what I’d like to think are equal in skill level. I write, shoot, edit, animate, color, mix audio and sometimes to sound design (I really enjoy sound design. It’s seeing with the ears). I’m seriously interested in all those things. I’m not saying I’m “very good” at any of those things, just competent enough to pay some bills here and there with end products.
But I do find myself crossing my fingers that my production friends, as they advance in their respective careers, call on me to shoot some of the cooler things. I recently shot a series in California in January, 2020 and I had a blast. It kinda made me feel like I know what I’m doing.
So call me what you want, but call me if you need a camera dude for a project, with hopefully the right budget. I need to feed my gear obsession, my kids and myself.
