Creative Media Man | High-Functioning Goofball
I am a man who creatively can’t sit still. By day I am a Producer/Director at Iowa PBS and by the rest of the day I am a proud father of two wonderful girls and a husband to a lovely wife. Somewhere between those roles I use my time tinkering with creative media equipment, writing and producing short films, creating YouTube content to share what I’ve learned, and just loving life.
If you’ve clicked around my online presence you’ve no doubt seen I produce an eclectic array of media. Besides professional media producer and husband/father, I am a musician, a filmmaker, a columnist, a documentarian, a runner, a cinephile, but above all else I am a pragmatic optimist. No matter if I’m given the coolest opportunity in the world, a seemingly milquetoast role, a troubling situation, or an outright disaster I always look for the way to make the most of it and do it efficiently and effectively. I believe in the power of collaboration and actually doing the thing you talk about doing.
Since 2009 I have only worked in non-profit or government work so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that being of service is of big importance to me. I plan to work in public media as long as it will have me but on the side, I hope to share my skills with any project that piques my interest. I live to create things but I also love to work with others to help them create things. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in either my video, audio, or written content, please reach out and let’s see if I help you with the project in front of you.
My Regular Gear
Every project is different, and over time my gear evolves, but in general these are weapons of choice (at the moment) to produce media and where you can find them on Amazon:
Sony A7s – https://amzn.to/3tCmGJT
BlackMagic ATEM Mini Pro – https://amzn.to/3aNJ0aK
DJI Ronin S – https://amzn.to/36XPDWP
Shure SM27-SC - https://amzn.to/3aR7M9J
Audio Technica AT3035 – https://amzn.to/2MS9nUO
ZOOM H6 – https://amzn.to/36WRWto
Pavotube 6c – https://amzn.to/3rHknmZ
Rode RodeLink FM – https://amzn.to/3a3n9g6
MacBook Pro (Late 2015) – https://amzn.to/3q8Tyre
GoPro Hero 7 Black – https://amzn.to/2LxGixk
Adobe Creative Cloud
Apple Logic Pro X
One last thing... Affiliate Links
Look, I come from a journalist background and the overwhelming majority of my career has been in non-profit or government work so I believe in brandishing a code of ethics. One of those is transparency where it is appropriate and important. With that in mind, you should know I use affiliate links when possible.
For those who are don't know, affiliate links are a way to forward website visitors onto an e-commerce site and in the process kickback a referral payment to the original website post. For some this may seem sketchy, and I get that. Some people make a living simply off posting referral links to high-priced and popular items and is not cool. I won't be doing that, ever.
I will only post referral links to things I use myself in media production. You won't see a link for a KitchenAid mixer on any of my posts unless I somehow get into regularly producing cooking show content.
I will not become a full-time YouTube, a gear-only channel, an unboxing channel, and should the opportunity for me to produce a sponsored video I will clearly post that is the situation.
Finally, as a former technology columnist I hope you'll notice I am more than happy to share the ugly truth when I encounter it. All of this is to say, trust is important and I hope to continue to earn yours.