YOUTUBE
My partner Jing and I started a YouTube channel. At first I was a skeptic, but it’s easily turned into my favorite creative outlet and platform to tell stories dear to my heart. Some of them are personal, some about distant lands and timelines, some are downright silly. It’s been a wonderful tool for sharpening my skills, opening new doors, and aligning my creative output with the type of work I want to be doing in the world. Below are a handful of personal faves.
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In 2024, tattoo artist See See Kwan tried something new. More accurately, she dove headfirst into an intensely complicated world in which she had zero prior experience: building a sculpture at Burning Man. When Jing and I met See See and heard what she was attempting, we immediately knew this was a story worth telling. So we joined the crew. The film has since gained a lot of attention, and was featured by Burning Man Project’s official media team, who we have since partnered with for some exciting collaborations.
2023 Was the bringer of many epic adventures, but none as memorable as our time in China. Over 2 months we roamed mountain and sea, quiet countryside and urban sprawls. For the first time I met her parents and stood in the terroirs of her childhood. I had lifelong rhetorics completely flipped on their head. And when we finally crawled home, we did so with over 2TB of footage. This is the first of an ongoing series of amazing stories.
Hurricane Helene infamously wrecked the WNC area, leaving hundreds of communities in shambles. It was in the media cycle for a week or two, before the world’s attention largely moved on. But it’ll be years before normalcy fully returns to those places. Being from Asheville and still living not far away, it was a clear choice to go help out somehow. I quickly realized I wasn’t alone on that.
Jing and I have a yearly tradition of packing into my tiny Toyota Prius, which I built into a camper car, and hitting the road for a month each summer. Naturally we bring our cameras. New Orleans was one of our more difficult, but fondly memorable, stops. Which is pretty much par for the course, historically speaking.
MUSIC VIDEOS
For a while, directing music videos was my greatest passion. Being a musician myself, there is no greater marriage of skills than setting visuals to rhythm and mood. It also meant tying those two communities closer together, and getting to work with many of my close friends. Becoming more drawn to the world stage and deeper, more intentional forms of storytelling has mostly turned my gaze from this genre, but it brought me invaluable knowledge that I still can apply to any project.
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Happy Boi by Doom Flamingo
Expectations by Human Resources
Soothsayer by Brave Baby
BRANDS/SPONSORS
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Being a big set director is not always my cup of tea, but it’s an incredibly rewarding feat to pull off. And when you are blessed with a talented crew, an open-minded client, and a few excellent ideas, magic is sure to be made. This campaign was planned and executed over the course of 3 months, with a cast & crew of roughly 30, and a budget just shy of 30k. Elevar was thrilled with the results,
2024 was the year of Trying New Shit. I learned to surf, survive in the desert, and repair trucks. I also got the unique opportunity to learn the art of crafting fine wool hats, from a master of the original Bolivian techniques. It’s an enthralling process. Together we hauled his mobile hat shop to music festivals across the U.S, and I snagged a couple shots along the way.
