Been in Washington D.C. for the past few days on a directing job. Leaving today to fly to L.A. and then Hong Kong where I'll be spending the next week, directing a series of culinary films for a client. Then I'll get home and sleep for as long as I can. A lot of other stuff in the pipe as well, looks like I'll be in Los Angeles for a week, directing a launch piece for an eco-fashion brand as well as some fun directing work popping up in Austin as well. Looks like it's gonna be a crazy summer.... Continue reading

Got back yesterday from a 3-day trip to San Francisco where I was directing a micro-doc for a national brand (can't talk a lot about it just yet). I took Paul Toohey with me to shoot 2nd cam and run sound during interviews. We landed in SF on Sunday morning (the 6am flight from Austin hurt) and were going to be shooting with a chef in the city, but she had to cancel. With all this time on our hands, we decided to head to Chinatown and get some soup dumplings. One amazing lunch later, we headed up the coast... Continue reading

Directed another spot for Moretti Beer on Sunday night. My buddy Paul Toohey was there with me, shooting. We loaded in at 9pm and left at around 4am...'twas a long night. We shot at a great restaurant in Austin, Sagra. I made a short film about Sagra a while back, but since then they've moved to a place on the east side that is really nice. Made for a great location. Here's one of the product shots. Continue reading

SXSW was a crazy couple of weeks and I came out of it busier than I'd been in a while. Both panels went really well and it was really fun to be able to hang out with some very cool people. The first panel (which is supposed to be available online but isn't yet) was a lot of fun. We had about 100 people there and from the comments afterward, it seemed that people got a lot out of it which was nice. We talked a lot about creating your own online videos, finding a niche and promoting them. I... Continue reading

Everything really starts tomorrow, but I picked up my badge for SXSW this morning. Very excited to see some films and sit in on some panels. If you're not doing anything on Sunday, come check out my panel about producing video for the web. Gonna be a barn burner. Okay, maybe not. Continue reading

Having been in Austin for almost 3 years now, I've grown to love and hate SXSW. Love it, because I've seen some amazing panels and films during the festival, and hate it because for that two weeks, you really can't go anywhere or do anything without a HUGE wait. I've always been a specator for SXSW, but last fall I was asked to speak on two panels during the festival. The first panel (during the Interactive portion of the festival) is called, "Shooting, Producing, Selling : Secrets of WebTV" and focuses on creating your own content for the internet and... Continue reading

Here's the 2nd part of my interview with Will Burdette for his No Satiation food podcast. We talk a lot about how I shoot food and why. Huge thanks to Will for thinking of me for the interview...glad we were able to finally connect! Ns_151 Continue reading

My friend Melanie Haupt put me in touch with a guy named Will Burdette last year. Will hosts a podcast here in Austin that focuses on food, food news, local Austin food and more. Will was interested in interviewing me for the podcast, but with the baby and then the holidays, we could never seem to make it work. Once the dust settled on the new year, we got back in touch and scheduled a time to talk. Will brought his audio gear over to my house and we talked for over an hour about food, film and how I've... Continue reading

Here's the pilot episode for a new web series I've been developing called, "A Culinary Equation". Each episode breaks down a classic dish into its basic components, talks about them and then brings them together at the end. Shot this one here in Austin at Ramen Tatsu-Ya, a traditional ramen shop that serves an amazing Tonkotsu ramen. If you're ever in Austin, you gotta check them out. Continue reading

Lucy turned 3 months the other day, so I grabbed my camera over the weekend and took some photos in our bedroom. Been trying hard not to fill up my blog with the many photos that I take of her on a regular basis, so I hope you'll indulge me. I'll have some new short docs up in the coming weeks including one about ramen that I'm really excited about. Continue reading

My buddy Paul has some food trucks in Austin that serve high-end product, like delicious foie gras, quail and eel. We were talking about how perception plays a big part in what you eat and how, just because it's a food truck, it doesn't mean the quality is any less. So we made a little film about it. Continue reading

I got an email from Camille Styles a couple months ago, asking me to make a short film for her website. She was going to be talking to Paul Qui and Deana Saukam about their entertaining style for her, "Entertaining With" series. Normally the piece is text with photos, but she wanted to branch out and include a film to show off their hosting style. I spent the day with Paul & Deana, shopping at Whole Foods and the Austin Farmers Market, and then setting up for the party and cooking all the food. Shot the party for a while... Continue reading

Been shooting a lot with my friend Paul Qui and his merry band of cooks at East Side King here in Austin. They're about to open their first brick & mortar restaurant, taking over the back space at Hole in the Wall, and they asked me to make a short film about it. The thing about shooting with Paul and Moto is, you end up being a taster for all their crazy experiments. I ate a lot of ramen that day...seriously a LOT of ramen. Not complaining, mind you. Continue reading

Lucy's arrival put a hold on a lot of the work I was doing, but now that a few weeks have gone by and we're starting to settle into a groove, I'm picking up some of the loose threads. One of the big things that happened right as the baby was coming was my signing with The Culinary Agency out in Los Angeles. TCA is the world's first agency dedicated to all things culinary and they represent chefs, restaurants, cookbook authors and food-filmmakers such as myself. They've only been around for a year but are already been doing some really... Continue reading

I released my latest entry in the Staff Meals series, this time featuring Canlis in Seattle, WA. You can read my Huffington Post article to get the full story. Continue reading

Julie went into labor on Thurday morning and Lucy was born the following afternoon, right on her due date. She's gonna be punctual, just like her mother. I'm home, getting the place ready for her return this morning, so I wanted to put up a couple photos and let everyone know that I'll be off-line for a couple weeks while we get situated. There will be more photos of Lucy, I'm sure, but for now, enjoy these. Continue reading

I've finally updated my website and my directing reel and I'm excited about both. I liked my old site, but it was difficult to update so I found myself not putting up new stuff. My new site is very easy to update which means more stuff will be going up right away. As for my new direcing reel, it was just time. It's been over a year since I made one and in that time, I've done a lot of stuff that I'm really proud of. Continue reading

A few big things landed yesterday and I wanted to share them here. First off, I released my latest Food Narrative film, a short doc about Chefs Paul Qui & Moto Utsunomiya and the re-opening of their East Side King food truck at The Grackle on East 6th in Austin. The truck's been closed for about four months while Paul and Moto found a new, updated truck to go with their new, updated menu. The truck was painted by artist/musician Yellow of Peelander-Z, an action/punk band that is a trip to see live (seriously, they fight a giant squid on... Continue reading

Here's the first installment of the Hungry In...Austin series that I'm doing with Tolly Mosely for the Food Network's YouTube channel, Hungry. There are three of them and they all should be out over the next couple months. I'll post them up as they are released by Food Network. I'm really excited about the series and hopefull that they'll renew us for a second season. Continue reading

Contigo is the kind of place that cultivates a sense of community and with that comes regulars that feel at home when ever they walk in. Becky Willard is one of those regulars. Most of the time, Becky says she feels like an alien, but at Contigo, she feels right at home. Watch the video and see why. Continue reading

The Food Network started a YouTube channel this year called Hungry and I've been directing/shooting the Austin episodes for a new show, "Hungry In..." for the past month. The show is set to premier later this month and they've put a teaser up for it on YouTube: Continue reading

Last month, when I was up in NYC, I was asked by Tribeza Magazine (an Austin-based monthly publication) to shoot Paul Qui and Deana Saukam for their September Style Issue. It just so happened that we were all in NY at the same time (I was actually up there shooting Paul's City Grit dinner as well as a project for Major League Baseball) and so we met up on a Saturday morning in their hotel lobby (The Nolitan on Mott St.) to shoot. We shot for a few hours, and went through a couple looks, and it came out amazing.... Continue reading

I'm a HUGE fan of noodles, and in particular Japanese Soba noodles (also a big fan of ramen) and this short documentary about how those noodles are made and served makes me hungry every time I watch it. The cinematography is beautiful and I love how the only audio is... Continue reading

Contigo sources a majority of their food locally and much of their produce comes from Johnson's Backyard Garden, the largest farm in Austin. Johnson's is going to be the subject of the feature documentary, Farm-City, State which I'm making with David Barrow of Applebox Imaging. Ben and Andrew (owners of Contigo) wanted to show just how fresh the food can be when you source it locally, and okra is in season here in Central Texas, so we went out to the farm and followed a bunch of okra from the field all the way to the table. Contigo's okra dish... Continue reading

This is the second film in my series examining staff meals at restaurants around the country. In the first entry, Houston's Uchi restaurant, I profiled a restaurant that brought in food specifically for staff meals. At La Condesa (in Austin, TX), they go a different route, utilizing the "trim" from... Continue reading