This series was a massive undertaking:  seven hours of television, and I was challenged to be the director of photography for one of three primary field teams.  Traveling to far corners of the globe, each shoot involved the same level of prep and logistics that is usually required for a complete hour of television, yet each story was only going to average about ten minutes of actual screen time.  From the beginning, the concept was to try to tell very personal stories set against epic cultural backdrops.  

I was paired with series co-creator and co-director Michael Davie, and for each of our stories, he and I would typically meet for a few days at my place and work out a rough shoot outline.  It was an engaging combination of narrative-like storyboarding mixed with the uncertainty of real-life situations.  For each story, we could choose one or two special tools to help add an epic feel to the cinematography, and it was a nice puzzle deciding which story needed a helicopter or a dolly and which one needed a jib or a drone.  Yet we also could not lose sight of the crux of these stories, which were very personal moments that required classic unobtrusive handheld vérité cinematography, just going with the flow.  So we were careful to be very selective in when we would use the "toys" so that they would enhance the story without intruding, rather than just blindly spicing the show with some flash.  In the end, it was really satisfying to see both techniques work together and create sequences much as they had been imagined back at my place so many miles away. 

"Sleek photography"  -Variety

"Lavishly shot" -Hollywood Reporter

"Breathtaking aesthetics... stunning cinematography"  -The Atlantic

(complete series or individual episodes available on iTunes, Amazon, and DVD)

 

Segments for which I was the DP:

• Kumbh Mela - Episode 1 (addl. cinematography John Benam, David Shadrack Smith) 
• Aboriginal Dreamtime - Episode 1
• Land Diving - Episode 3 (addl. cinematography Bryan Harvey, Michael Davie, Andrew Strenio)
• Jain Initiation - Episode 4 (addl. cinematography Nick Midwig, Michael Davie)
• Buddha's Birthday - Episode 5
• The Way of Saint James - Episode 6 (addl. cinematography Michael Davie)

Other films...