"We photograph things in order to drive them out of our minds. My stories are a way of shutting my eyes"
— Franz Kafka
"Bugs were the dreams within virtual reality"
— Jaron Lanier
At a young age I began taking photos as an excuse to justify my curiosity. Since then I have expanded into various realms of storytelling using creative technology as my toolset. My output spans documentary, installation work and the emerging hybrid breed of immersive and interactive technologies—what unites all of these musings is a desire to take people there.
After graduation from Colorado College with a degree in Philosophy, I was honored to receive the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, giving me the opportunity to carry out a year long independently designed project on Asian cinema titled 'The Empathy Machine: Exploring Global Cinema's Transformative Potential'. My unscripted year as a fellow took me to China, Japan, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Russia and Mongolia where I watched films in solar powered yurts and penned film reviews in the smoggy basements of underground Beijing film festivals.
After returning stateside in 2016, I began shooting and producing immersive media in Brooklyn, NY, mostly with my friends at The Endless Co. As a 2017 Google VR Jumpstart Fellow I traveled 4,650 feet below ground to a decommissioned goldmine turned particle physics laboratory in Lead, South Dakota. The resulting VR experience LUX SINE has been featured at various film festivals including Camden, True/False and Chelsea Film Festival. This partnership with Google also led to {THE AND} VR which premiered at IDFA Doc Lab 2017.
In 2019 I began a collaboration with Co-Director Alvaro Morales and the Undocumented Migration Project to launch Virtual Exhibition of Hostile Terrain 94. This project was generously supported by IFP, Verizon Labs, and a community of spirited Kickstarter backers. The installation and virtual exhibition launched across 100+ cities in 2020-22.
The course of my commercial work has taken me to Japan to build out four unique experiences at Super Nintendo World and all the way to outer space where the Monks and I built a Master Chief robotic arm that the Twitchiverse took over to grapple prizes. As an Experiential Producer, I act to ensure our team delivers the best user experience and product possible – all while using never-before-done technological wizardry. It’s always a wild ride and I fight every step of the way to ensure we can all be proud to stand behind the work.
When not lost in research, plugged into the metaverse, embracing my passion for moto-touring, or deep in the wilderness, I serve as a Sr. Experiential Producer at Media.Monks.