I’ve found that a successful shoot hinges on three fundamental steps: understand the story, craft the best visuals possible in unpredictable circumstances, and anticipate how each shot fits into the final cut. Two skills that I’ve developed in other endeavors have served me well in filmmaking. I started working in audio recording before I was old enough to drive a car, and as a news reporter I’ve interviewed hundreds of personalities and published 1000s of written articles. Both of those experiences inform the way I shoot. The audio experience allows me to readily cover that essential base on any shoot, while the journalist in me works at drawing out the subject’s real story.