No, Udaho

The right side of my brain has done far more pushups and wall sits than my left. For as far back as I can remember there's frequently been a pencil or paintbrush in my hand, and then the mid to late 90s introduced me to the digital world via a bootleg copy of Adobe Photoshop. For the last two decades I've been immersed in a world of graphic design; swirling in a sea of logos, brand identity, user/customer experience, etc. Everywhere I look I find inspiration or potential - it's just how I'm wired. I might even be known to avoid patronizing businesses with terrible logos (looking at you, Edible Arrangements.)

This constant flow of creativity in my near daily life has led me to research and explore all sorts of mediums, different ways to tell a story, express emotion, aim to inspire others and grow personally and professionally.

This innate motivation to search for more and the drive to learn has introduced me to the world of film/video. I've always been enamored by documentaries, taking note of how something is shot or edited, why it was done that way and especially the score/soundtrack.

Over the past few years I've had the fortune of providing creative support to a couple of organizations, both of which focus on community outreach on some level. If you've been paying attention, you know that this is oft a topic of conversation, concern and passion of mine. One of these organizations is a local nonprofit whose mission is to help bridge the gap between law enforcement and residents in at-risk neighborhoods, and the other is one of the largest banks in the United States. More specifically, I support a team within the bank who seeks to educate communities, especially those in low to moderate income census tracts, on the achievable goal of homeownership by providing the tools and knowledge to help these dreams come to fruition. They also play a part in helping to ensure the bank heeds laws pertaining to redlining - which unfortunately is NOT a thing of the past.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity join a few members of that team in Nampa, Idaho as they were a presenting sponsor of a housing expo being held by the Idaho Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Its purpose was to inform the surrounding community of available resources to aid their path to homeownership. I was tasked with filming the two-day event to create a short video that captured its essence, which would be used to inspire other groups in the organization to either host or sponsor similar outreach initiatives in their region.

Observing the attendees' interactions with the vendors involved (banks, credit unions, real estate groups and nonprofits) proved events like these are extremely beneficial, and that this type of education is necessary to combat the many myths that often deter people from the pursuit of owning a home.

This is important work; I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to leverage my skills in a way that gives back, and have a small role in addressing and trying to mend the complicated, broken, socially defunct, divisive web we weave as a society.

Having said all that - I can't show you the video, as it contains proprietary information. BUT, I can show you this fancy photo of the rig I used to shoot - and yes that's an iPhone X.

Looking forward to creating a lot more meaningful content in the coming months!