My current filmmaking interests involve exploring alternative approaches to documentary film practice, specifically: portraiture and ethonography. By embracing improvisiation, open-endedness and ambigiuity I hope to engage in a documentary form which emphasizes collaboration, and allows the subjects to shape the filmmaking process in a more active way. Additionally, I hope to share these projects as a way to bring together a variety of communities and offer a space in which people can create friendships and community with each other. Currently I am in the process of working on a film about my family’s beloved potato salad recipe with these thoughts in mind.

While that film takes root, I am finishing an experimental short titled, Slinky, which I once abandoned years ago and now finding myself returning to. The film expands on some of the thoughts from my earlier film practices and closes a chapter of my filmic inquiry. However, most of my effort has been devoted to finding a home for my first feature film, She Dreams In Color.   

While each director I work with is different, establishing some form of friendship before we begin collaborating is key to establishing trust and comfortability. I believe that the praxis of filmmaking should consider not only the time we are preparing and filming, but more importantly hold value for the time when the crew and team can rest, share, and be social. With these values understood, the creative process can begin. The role of the cinematographer is not static and the values of my collaborators shape how we create together. Sometimes I am responsible for conceptualizing the frame entirely, other times I am required to interpret strict directions, overall I aim to stay flexible to what will serve the film’s goals.