Reality comes into focus through the lens.
You...
have landed on my portfolio page. Take some time to enjoy some of my recent creations. Besides photography and video productions, I'm exploring the deeper technical and artistic aspects of video editing. I am open to creative collaborations, so contact me for that, or to just say hi.
Recent Productions
Watery Wonders
When we go into the natural world, we gravitate to watery places. Water is survival but it also beckons us to explore. The valleys were cut by water in two of its forms - solid and liquid. The pulse of the earth's oceans, lakes and rivers is the pulse of its climate and the essence of its life. This celebration of water in natural places is the 5th and final video in the series on natural places.
Natural PLaces
This 5 part compilation of short videos explores the essence of natural places. Themes cover winter, water, solitude, wind and mountains. Each segment is set to relaxing and inspiring music encouraging you to drift away in the scenery and the deeper meanings of natural places to human beings.
Climbing Texas' Tallest
From a distance, Guadalupe Peak in far west Texas looks like a liesurely uphill hike in sparse surroundings. But on the ground at its base, staring up at it, you know you are in for a challenge. This is one you need to go and do for yourself because the scenery and wildness of this place will stay with you forever. Watching this video will help you prepare. And if you are an armchair hiker, hopefully this will entertain you for four minutes.
24 Hours in New Mexico's Devil Canyon, Hiking Upstream of the Frisco Box
In 2003, hikers Tom Bice and James Rishe struck out to explore Devil Canyon on New Mexico's San Francisco River. I went along and filmed the adventure with my then-state-of-the-art Canon XL1s recorder. Today, I wish the resolution was higher, and if you find the show is too pixelated when watching on a desktop browser, simply reduce the size of your browser window until the view is acceptable. For me, this was one of my most memorable trips into the wilderness. But sadly, Tom Bice passed away this year. This video is dedicated to him.
Devil Canyon is an adventure in exploration as you work your way between its massive rock walls. On our journey we discovered lots of life and nature's abundance, even in this place ravaged by extreme water levels, and wild weather. We planned our trip carefully to have the lowest chance we'd get caught by a flash flood in the canyon. The trip was in September and we had glorious weather for hiking and camping.
Follow along with Tom and Jim, get tips on hiking and camping gear and enjoy the flora and fauna they highlight. They face some tricky situations, but being well-experienced in the outdoors they keep the drama to a minimum. As you watch, you are traveling back 20 years and seeing this area of New Mexico as it used to be. Enjoy an armchair experience of hiking through a magnificent canyon with rock walls towering hundreds of feet overhead while water, slick rocks and tough terrain lay in the path.
Then, if you're getting the urge for an adventure, plan your own trip to Devil Canyon.
NAVIGATION: Twenty years ago, we turned on to FR49 from NM 12 and drove 5.4 miles where we took an unmarked track off the left side of the road. We drove that meandering, twisted track 3.5 miles before leaving the truck and setting out on foot. We had parked on a rise above a valley so we hiked into the valley and followed it to the wash at the entrance to Devil Canyon (3/4-1 mile). I don't know if this approach is still available.
Mountains
On the day this video, "Mountains," debuted on YouTube, I was climbing Texas's highest peak, Guadalupe at 8,751 feet and 8.13 miles round trip of rocky, unforgiving trail. I had prepared for 3-1/2 months, but on that morning, staring up at the challenge, I was still totally unsure I had even a chance of making it to the top. Mountains can uniquely challenge us, but like so many things in life, when we prepare to meet challenges, and have faith in our abilities, we find strengths we didn’t know we had.
This video combines some of my own mountain footage with some stock video. It starts out on a journey I took in 2017 to climb New Mexico's tallest peak, Mt. Wheeler (13,167 ft). From there, you travel across many peaks and valleys with people doing what they love to do, in the mountains. Ben Winwood's incredible "Irish Mountains" composition will make you heart soar along with nature's spectacle.
Windblown Places
The second video in the series about natural places. This one finds the beauty and messages in natural places buffeted by wind. It includes a beautiful musical score.
Winter Places/Winter Feelings
The cold, snow and ice encourage the best in us, and the worst. This short music video explores how winter affects our feelings and what it brings out in us.
Wild Life
Wild animals and birds have a lot more going on in their minds then we give them credit for. This video explores animal and bird behavior that we don't often see.
Infrastructure: America's Missing Link
A few years ago, America's civil engineers reported that every household in the country loses about $3,800 per year from inadequate or nonexistent infrastructure. It's a steep price to pay in that regard, but what of the lost human potential? This trailer for a longer show on infrastructure lays out the case.
Birds and Phones
Vertical video is gaining popularity as well as very short videos (attention spans apparently can't keep up). This is an example of a short, vertical video promoting smartphone skins with birds on them.
Other Worldly Lighting
The 2nd and third video clip in this video are public domain video clips of a coronal mass ejection on our sun. The clips come from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. These were filmed in August 2012. But, guess what? There is still periodically a hotbed of CME activity going on. These ejections travel fast, often between 180 and 100 kilometers per second.
Although the current CMEs have been polite and not messed with our electrical infrastructure too much, I’ve got a few clips in here that show examples of what can happen when CMEs resort to bullying. It’s not pretty. Imagine no lights, air conditioning or internet, and you get the idea.
BUT, CMEs also give us extraordinary aurora borealis, AKA northern lights! Which you can see at the end. So, even though things might start tense and dangerous, in the end all is okay, and we can enjoy some extraordinary natural lighting effects.