Rediscovering My Passion...

It feels odd to say that I miss the 4am wake up call.  I used to crave nothing more than to wake up well before the sunrise, pack my gear and head for the hills.  I would place myself in any number of scouted vantage points or insanely find myself sneaking around the location of a recent, rumored bear sighting… (I'm not recommending sneaking up on bears!). It has been well over a year since I've been out shooting for the love of it.  The last year has been one of professional development and true self searching, but not once have I gone out for an unpaid job, or gone out for the love of capturing images. I've been far too consumed with a full-time teaching job and running a company that is growing faster than I can keep up with onside of teaching. I've found my teaching job, as fun and fulfilling as it is, to be similar to a governor on a car putting a limit on how fast I can go or, grow professionally. This September I will find myself turning 30… And, I know, I know… My older friends keep telling me I'm still young… But time doesn't stop, nor slow down. It seems 1 hour has become a fraction of one task and I feel that two weeks go by without me even noticing. I guess, when all is said and done, I want to look back and say... 

The Pace of Nature from Voortex Productions on Vimeo.

Retrospective - 2012 Reel

It's been a very full year!  Looking back, I realize just how lucky I am to have such an amazing network of artists, friends, clients and mostly my crew, Greg and Skarlet.  We have big plans for the next few years and I feel nothing but gratitude to have the oppertunity to do what I do.  Enjoy this glimpse into the world of Voortex Productions 

Retrospective - 2012 Reel from Voortex Productions on Vimeo.

Austin Texas - LIVE on location music video

I DP'd this project for North 40 Productions.... Shot live in Austin Texas over the course of 7 days.  One of my favorite shoots of 2012. Thanks, North 40!  

Welcome integral member...

I'd like to formally welcome Greg Mares to the Voortex Productions team. Greg's fresh style, vision and eye will be of high value here.

A couple of shows at Caffe Mela that I've done recently.

From the Source - Radio Story

Koho Radio invited me on the air to talk about From the Source.  You can listen here.  

From the Source - Olympia Coffee Roasters Sourcing Coffee in Central America

Rarely have I been offered the opportunity to explore something so unique, so specialized and so beautiful.  Traveling to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala with the only objective being to capture the process of growing, harvesting, and processing the best coffee from the region was intimidating to say the least.  I knew it was going to be fast paced and full of off the cuff decisions about how to cover different scenes and locations.  I traveled with world class coffee buyer, Oliver Stormshak, one the owners of Olympia Coffee Roasters.  Though he was a huge help to me with gear, I really wanted to be as little of a distraction as possible while he did the work he was there to do.  In the hotels we would talk and strategize for the next day's events, and while on location I would often disappear in search for content and shots. Several times I found myself alone with people who did not speak english and I (ashamed to admit) speak close to NO spanish.  Though I did learn one phrase that led to me capturing many of the portrait shots, "¿Puedo grabar" means "Can I record?" I think I said that phrase an average of 100 times a day.  I learned a lot of phrases on the spot when it came to ordering food or asking general questions, but I forgot them immediately after saying them.  I would get SO excited when I was understood trying to speak spansih.  

I have 100s of shots that did not make this first film, not because I didn’t like them, but perhaps they didn’t have the right content to tell the story.  I plan to edit together 3 more short pieces about each country specifically in the months to come.  Stay tuned, and if you’d like to learn more about Olympia Coffee Roasters visit their website.  

Central America, here I come

Two New Videos

I've shot two bands recently that were extremely inspiring to me as an artist.  I find music to be the most effective tool for finding inspiration.  Both of these artists do exactly that.  Enjoy!

2 New Channels

Featuring all the live gigs I shoot at Caffe Mela

Featuring all the music videos I shoot.  

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