Was there a particular moment that you recognized that filmmaking was not just a hobby, but that it would become your life’s work?
It was actually through winning a film festival that I realized that filmmaking was more than just a hobby. The moment in which people recognize you and your work as something valuable is life changing. I was fortunate enough to have that happen to me at a younger age which allowed for me to pursuit a living in the film industry.
What makes a good director of photography?
It takes a lot to be good at anything. As a matter of fact, I don’t even think I’m “good” at anything yet. I’m constantly learning and developing as a creative and my thirst for knowledge and improvement is what drives me to create better and better stories and visuals. A good director of photography is someone who is observant, precise, creative, tech savvy and never quite satisfied with anything. However, more important than anything else is your role as a storyteller. Anyone can point a camera in a certain direction, but to recognize why you make your choices and how that affects the story is what makes a good cinematographer. It’s not about the lighting and the haze or the lens and the camera, but what you can achieve with the tools you have available and how you sway the audience with said tools.
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life creating film?
Be prepared to sacrifice the rest of your life. A career in the film industry is not so much a job as it is a lifestyle, a lifestyle that requires more work than you can put in at rates that are lower than you can afford. So the only thing that’ll keep you moving forward is that burning passion you have for your craft. If you don’t have that, don’t try. Because it won’t be worth it unless you’d rather die than doing something else.
What makes a great film?
The best films are the ones that we remember, and the things we remember are emotions. If a film can make me feel something and evoke an emotion in me it has succeeded.
What are some of the movies that influenced you professionally?
I think every movie I watch influence me in one way or another, be it good or bad. Professionally speaking, I’ve been inspired by movies such as Into The Wild, The Prestige and the more recent Call Me By Your Name, to mention a few.
If there is one thing that would make the film industry better, what would it be?
I think that the film industry here in Los Angeles specifically is all about whether or not you are busy. It’s always about whether or not you are working or not, but is being busy really being happy? I think that we occupy ourselves with a lot of different things that might not be as satisfying as we had hoped for them to be, but there’s a choice to keep going or not. Perhaps if we focused more on whether or not we are actually genuinely happy with our lives the industry would be a little more nuanced. Perhaps we’d see more of the new and interesting types of movies that speak more valuable words than that many others do.