Shooting Video in New York City

A still from a Brooklyn Bridge time lapse during a 2014 fashion shoot.

I'm not a city fan, but NYC definitely leaves you in awe.

This city is rough. It's crowded. It's loud. You'll never get good audio on the streets doing interviews and everyone always wants a piece of the action. You have to have permits and special permission from EVERYONE. The city. The store owners, the homeless guy in front of the subway station you're shooting at. Literally everyone has a stake in your finished film. The companies I worked for never wanted to get these special permits so it was always run and gun. This included never getting to use a tripod or a stabilizer because that meant "Professional" which equaled shooting permit required. As soon as a tripod leg hit the floor at Grand Central Station, the police were onto me. Same thing throughout Lower Manhattan and in Brooklyn shooting the Brooklyn Bridge. It's frustrating but part of the game. I shot this Soho fashion partnership between OtterBox and Christine Bibbo Herr a few years back and it actually worked out fairly well. Luckily Christine had permission and special connections with a lot of the business we featured in this spot which helped a ton.

On average, I was traveling to NYC two times a year and I felt like I was getting to really know the city better and better each time. Being from Idaho, it's easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated, and each day I'd return to my hotel exhausted yet energized. The city had a strange way of doing that to me.

There were no bed bugs in this classy hotel since the accommodations in Soho are top notch.

My last trip to New York was to shoot the OtterBox around the world spot known as "Pass it On" where we sent a cell phone around the globe and shot it in different environments with different folks. This was my favorite shoot since we were working with the talented Thai chef known as Chef Bao Bao. Bao Bao was incredibly down-to-earth and very humble. Her story was one of searching out the American dream which was very inspiring. I ran the 2nd unit on this particular shoot and we ended up with a great piece shot by director/dp Adam Bove, and edited and produced by the awesome production company known as "Friends of Mine." Love that name.

Working with Celebrities

I've been fortunate enough to work with a few high profile folks throughout my career and it definitely adds on a few nerves before ever hitting the record button. My first celebrity shoot was for a combined Denver Broncos-OtterBox in-game ad titled "Salute to Service" which was run during the Broncos regular season at Mile High Stadium. The spot featured Bronco's legendary running back Terrell Davis who played from 1995-2001 and was a Pro Football Hall of Famer and helped the Broncos to major super bowl victories in 1997 and 1998.

As someone who admittedly doesn't watch a ton of football (as in ever, ever, seriously, just the Super Bowl once a year) I felt really awkward asking Terrell questions between takes but I soon realized what everyone secretly knows which is, "This guy still has to put pants on one leg at a time". Translation: He's a regular dude! I instantly began to relax and fell into the mindset of getting Terrell to shine on camera. He took instruction very well and even shared stories about golfing inside of his buddy's mansion in which he, "Broke a bunch of chandeliers and it got pretty wild." Could I relate to this? No. But it was hilarious hearing what the rich and famous do in their downtime.

Terrell Davis takes a break between shoots to show some love.

Flash foward a few years later and I'm scheduled to work with Super Bowl legend Peyton Manning. PFM I thought to myself. A guy who most dudes would sell their soul to hang out with. And here I was, not a football stat to lean on. Luckily but also strangely, Peyton's agent informed us that since he was slated to make big bucks on the shoot, he didn't like small talk. "Seriously. No damn small talk guys." That was the advice we were given when working on set. I get it. The dude is all business and he doesn't want to waste your time or money. Copy that. However, even when the meter is running, there's still downtime moments of hooking up a microphone to his shirt (awkward since I'm 5'4" and could barely reach his neck line) and moments right after takes to provide feedback on how he's preforming as on-camera talent. Oh well, here's a gem for you guys to laugh at. Notice the height difference:

The real deal even though we both look like cardboard cutouts.

The next few high profile shoots involved action sports stars from the X-Games. I was slated to work with X-Games gold medalist Jarryd McNeil, and olympic athlete and X-Games gold medalist Bobby Brown. Talk about down to earth folks. All of the action sports guys, in my humble opinion, were way easier to work with than any mainstream sports athletes. They had a lot more to lose and put a lot more on the line. As in...well...death. They could die every single time they step out onto the track or the slopes. The same can't be said for football players and you can guess who gets paid more.

I was stoked to snap a selfie with Jarryd right after he won his 2nd X-Games Austin gold medal. The man crushed it. We took him out to dinner as a LifeProof-sponsored athlete and it was really neat to meet his parents and girlfriend who get merit badges for sitting through countless early morning training sessions, over 200 plus days on the road traveling to and from competitions, and for always being the most rock solid cheerleaders for Jarryd. I walked away with a new appreciation for action sports athletes, and even more respect for their families.

Jarryd McNeil and I celebrating some Aussie Gold! Yes ESPN named me "Seve Veals" which sounded Scandinavian.

Bobby Brown visiting Fort Collins before Winter X Games.

The last few times involving celebrities in my career meant meeting Morgan Spurlock at the NAB Vegas Trade show while listening to a talk he gave about his production company: Warrior Poets. He is one of the coolest people I have ever met and he really works his ass off to ensure that each and every one of his films or TV shows has meaning and resonates with folks. Basically, not producing garbage, which 95% of content makers could take a queue from. Morgan took time to meet his fans and really engage with them on what makes content compelling and inspiring. Below is a rookie mistake for Selfies 101. The ole cross-eyed staredown.

I have a turkey neck in this photo but Morgan is looking sharp.

Continuing with inspirational celebrities, I was incredibly humbled to work with Erik Weihenmayer, a man who lost his eye sight from a very young age but was determined to continue living life to the fullest. He started rock climbing and kayaking and was the first blind person to summit Mount Everest along with all the remaining 7 summits of the world. Not only that, Erik kayaked the entire length of the Grand Canyon! I have a film about it on my site which you should definitely check out because this man is incredibly motivating. In his spare time, Erik takes veterans suffering from PTSD on mountain expeditions to counsel them on living as handicapped individuals. Very cool.

Erik and I at his office in Golden, Colorado.

A few years later, I was fortunate enough to work in Mexico City with Mexican TV hostess Aly Villegas. She played a starring role in our Symmetry Series portion of OtterBox's "Pass it On" campaign. We followed Aly through a day in the life of hanging with friends, sight-seeing in CDMX, as well as a fun shoot that culminated on the helipad of the Hyatt Mexico City. You seriously can't make this stuff up. Aly was very kind and fluent in both English and Spanish which made for a very fun shoot. Here's a photo that Aly took while instructing me on how to take a proper selfie. I swear I'll learn one of these days.

Aly Villegas and I after the morning shoot in Mexico City. My Mexican mustache game could use some upgrades.

Our crew wrap photo on the helipad of the Hyatt Regency Mexico City!

Pilgrimage to Pyramid Lake, Nevada

This has been on my bucket list for a long time now and I finally was able to put a weekend together with a buddy of mine to make it happen. Pyramid Lake is an alkaline lake set in a large basin east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range northeast of Reno, Nevada. The native Lahontan Cutthroats grow to monumental sizes and the current record is north of 40 lbs out of Pyramid with catches regularly exceeding 20 lbs.  We weren't able to get into the big boys, but we definitely enjoyed nighttime streamer fishing along with an incredibly tough day of fishing in driving snow and wind. Here are some highlight photos from the excursion: 

Experimenting with light and darkness

On a recent trip to Twin Harbors, Minnesota, I was fascinated by the large-scale, industrial operations that take place, almost unnoticed to locals every single day in the Great Lakes area. I wanted to try and capture these relics of modern industry and the size and scope of the equipment involved. Here are two photos from the iron ore loading facility based in Twin Harbors. I enjoy shooting at night due to the fact that it brings out a sense of ominous character to things that would otherwise seem pretty mundane during the daytime hours.

Twin Harbors Iron Ore Processing Facility.

The lighthouse watching over the harbor activities.

Busch Beer's Latest Advertisement

Well let's face it. PBR has totally cornered the hipster beer market. Maybe it's the blue ribbon, maybe it's the smooth, unfiltered taste, but either way, they're making millions off college students across the U.S. So what can other urine-tasting beer competitors do about this? Two words: smear campaign. If it works every 4 years during the presidential election, it’s bound to work now. Luckily for Busch, I've already created a brand new campaign at no charge, and it is ready to cut into PBR's profits at a moment's notice. This spot was filmed with the Sony FS 700 at 480 fps and post-production work was done in Final Cut Pro 7 with color grading completed in Adobe Speed Grade. Enjoy!

Elena LaGoo's MS Project & Fundraiser

This past month I’ve had the honor and the privilege to work on one of the most meaningful projects of my entire video career. My coworker Elena LaGoo approached me about creating a video to help tell the story of how she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis or MS and she wanted it to also serve as a fundraising tool on her Community Funded webpage. The idea was to raise approximately $20,000 for her to travel to Panama City, Panama in order to receive a game changing, stem cell treatment. The research trials have not only helped MS patients, but also some of the participants have even noticed that they can walk without pain and their overall condition and quality of life has drastically improved thanks to the experimental treatment. Since it’s not available in the U.S. due to politics and bureaucratic red tape from insurance companies, Elena was forced to take out a loan with her husband Charlie with the hope of visiting this ground breaking research facility all on their own. So check out her story, and if you’re able to donate, please send a check to:

525 Fox Glove Ct. Fort Collins, CO 80524

100% of these donations go right to Elena LaGoo and as of today, she is at ¾ of her $20,000 goal! Thanks everybody.