Where I am and where I’ll be
It’s so cliche to state (especially on this blog) that I’m chasing after what makes me happy. It seems like that has been the topic since I started documenting my adventures back in 2007. I’ve always had a plan – I was going to be a music video director photographer film producer documentary filmmaker. I’ve always expected myself to have a plan and frankly I’ve achieved a lot with one. It’s not that I’m not interested in film anymore because film still plays a huge presence in my daily life. Film employs me, it excites me, but it also burns me out. Film and photography will always be part of my future, but taking a step back is what I always needed.
What’s more exciting than having a clear plan is not having a plan at all. It’s the first time in my life where it’s difficult to state exactly what I’m doing and where I’m going – yet I couldn’t feel more comfortable. I don’t have a stable job and I don’t have a single focus. I don’t know what city I’ll be living in three months from now. But that’s okay. This is the time to experiment with life.
I’ve stayed employed and part of the music industry over the last two months while working on this project. It has been one of the most exciting projects that I’ve ever worked on.
I’m also running this company full time. I completely forgot what it was like to start up a company like I did eight years ago with The Media Collective. We celebrate even our smallest achievements, work through countless battles and make friends all over the world. It’s exciting.
Who knows what is coming next – but that is okay. I am happier than I have ever been. I wake up with the excitement of not knowing who I’m going to meet and where I’ll be a single week from now. I have no idea where I’ll be next week. That is exciting.
October 8, 2011 2 Comments
In an industry of cool at the age of rebellion.
I’m not sure that anyone actually reads this blog anymore, but I continue to post because it has acted as a safe haven for me since 2007. I hold my blog close to me – I’ve posted throughout ups and downs. I started posting when I left high school and moved into my aunt and uncles house in Santa Barbara. I continued as I joined the video team at Warner Bros. Records, onto my first cross country trip, my first time outside of the United States, my year at Emerson College, my transfer back to USC, my first multi-camera live cast, my first video submitted for a Grammy nomination, my trip back to London, Paris and Berlin, my first trip to Asia and numerous trips back and forth to the east coast.
I’ve made and lost a lot of friends along the way, but most importantly have learned a lot about who I am. Consequently, I do not communicate with a lot of the people in the photographs anymore, but they’ve all influenced me, shaping me into a better, more aware, knowledgeable person.
These are people and places from the past three years that I see as moments of my greatest learning… All in an attempt to greater understand who I am.
September 11, 2011 3 Comments
A reading list from a friend who is traveling abroad for a year. Feel free to follow along.
September 5, 2011 Leave a comment
A feasible promise to myself:
- Eat 60% locally grown foods
- Consume dairy only when absolutely necessary
- Exercise/attend the gym four days a week
- Work only 50 hours per week
- Take a mid-week (Wednesday) break when possible
- Listen to one new album in its entirety each week
- Cook one full meal from scratch each week
- Only take on jobs that fit me well and allow growth
- Celebrate victories, accept losses and move on
- Enjoy being 22
August 31, 2011 Leave a comment
The night I learned to live alone.
I was uncool and I was no older than seventeen. I pulled up to The Standard on Sunset Boulevard around 6pm after I was sent to go interview an artist for a collection that the record label was releasing. I was only familiar with a single song that the artist performed. This song, however, was huge. It made him one of the largest electro artists at the time. I wasn’t particularly interested in electro, but I went wherever my client asked me to go.
He was clearly high and careless (or rather, carefree). He had a couple of bottles of alcohol on the hotel room’s desk and a view that overlooked the pool area. He was cooler than me in every way. He was several years older, a couple of inches taller, he wore clothes that made him stand out and his job was to perform to three thousand people every night. We talked for a couple of minutes while I prepared my equipment. It was clear that he was uninterested in the interview. He much rather talk. He had a sold-out venue’s full of diehard fans waiting for his arrival. It didn’t matter at this point, because he found a friend. He was just as alone as I.
July 7, 2011 1 Comment