Video

Drawing on my journalism background, I create documentary-style videos showcasing the work of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, its many partner organizations, and the occasional freelance client. I shoot with a Sony FX30 mirrorless camera, Nikon and Canon DSLRs, iPhone, and GoPro; edit in Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro X; and use Adobe After Effects to create motion graphics, animations, and effects.

Rediscovering a Special Place (2023)

For generations, people in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood grew up playing and exploring nature at a former reservoir before the site was closed to the public. Led by residents, a collaboration between two nonprofits made the space a wildlife sanctuary and a community asset once again.

Crafting a Sustainable Future (2024)

Through a partnership with Contemporary Craft, a Pittsburgh-based arts organization, I interviewed two sculptors about their pieces in a 2024 exhibition dedicated to reckoning with the emotional reality of climate change.

Cleaning Up Kittanning Run (2024)

A watershed restoration effort in Altoona, PA created an opportunity for PEC to pursue multiple overlapping interests in acid mine drainage (AMD) remediation, reclaimed mineland reforestation, carbon sequestration, and outdoor recreation.

Just Getting Started (2023)

PEC was part of a 2023 event marking the remediation of 100 orphaned and abandoned natural gas wells, a major source of climate-changing methane emissions in Pennsylvania, under the administration of Governor Josh Shapiro. This was a last-minute assignment that I was able to turn around for use on social media the same day.

Healing Through the Land (2023)

To complement a colleague’s conference presentation, I was asked to create profiles of community initiatives that receive funding through a PEC-administered grant program. The result was a fun and energetic piece animated by vivid colors and dynamic motion.

Special places: Bartram’s garden (2021)

Produced for an environmental awards dinner, this video juxtaposes idyllic outdoor scenes with commentary from the awardees to capture a truly unique slice of Southwest Philadelphia.

how to regrow a forest (2020)

PEC’s reforestation program focuses on reclaimed mining sites — a highly specialized niche rife with acronyms, jargon, and red tape. This piece makes use of simple handmade animations and motion graphics to unpack a convoluted regulatory backstory and educate viewers on some finer points of forestry science.

a riverfront community (2020)

As part of a foundation-led redevelopment effort in the Hazelwood section of Pittsburgh, I was asked to create a synopsis of the planning process around its public greenspace component. By interviewing community members along with project planners, I sought to balance residents’ concerns about gentrification with their hopes for the neighborhood’s future.

pec at 50 (2020)

A commemoration of PEC’s 50th anniversary in 2020, this piece was assembled from historic imagery, podcast audio, unused B-roll from other projects, handmade motion graphics, and my own voice narration.

Landscape

While I was reviewing footage from a recent hike, my 9-year-old daughter brought me a recording she had made of a piano piece she was practicing. With the addition of some simple instrumentation it became the perfect score for this moody collection of seasonal imagery.