I’ve been really enjoying these short creative Austin video projects lately. I set these limits on myself: available lighting only, no gear (sliders, tripods, etc); just me, my camera, and the subject. The concept is to film someone doing something they love, then conduct a short interview. These shoots last around 30 minutes, and ideally no longer than an hour, but some subjects are trickier than others. I then cut it up into 15 second Instagram videos and a 60 second Facebook & Vimeo video.

It helps to be able to have these short projects that I can shoot and have completed within hours, keeps my juices flowing and gives me a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes, I get locked into video projects that have really lengthy production cycles and it can start to feel creatively stifling when you don’t get to experiment with new styles or when you’re creating in a more collaborative scenario. So, being able to find awesome people and walk into a new environment without any idea of what I’ll be dealing with in terms of lighting and backdrop can be invigorating.

The Austin video scene is filled with artistic and amazing people to work with so you’ll see a good variety of subject matter ranging from artists, sculptors, athletes, musicians, and more. I loved making each one of these, but perhaps my favorite was Elisa, the abstract painter because there was no way to predict what she would do next, because she is so in the moment and is creating based on experience and intuition which means anything could happen next. As she’s finishing one brush stroke she may see something out of the corner of her eye to touch on next. Trying to capture this felt like I was playing jazz, it was absolutely thrilling and I think the results are gorgeous.

Check out some of the videos below, I’ve kept them short & sweet!