When I was in 9th grade, I stumbled across photography. I became the school photographer for my high school’s yearbook and newspaper. I went on to a University to get a Bachelor of Science degree in still photography, as I wanted to pursue a career I enjoyed, rather than just working for money.

Upon graduation from college, I ended up back in my hometown landing a job as a video photographer for the local television station. This first video photography job was great, as I didn’t have to spend all that time developing film and printing photographs in the darkroom anymore. (I soon learned about the hard facts about video editing!)

My television news photography career lasted just over 10 years filming news stories in Victoria, TX, Colorado Springs, CO, Spokane, WA, and Phoenix, AZ.

After getting married and starting a family, I eventually came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to continue living that hectic, unpredictable life of chasing after the news. What also hit me was the realization, that almost all of the stories in a TV newscast are bad news. Over time, my heart began aching to tell “good news.”

I ended up leaving TV news for video production. I was pointed to a wonderful man in Colorado Springs, Colorado, MaxPaul Franklin of IMS Productions. For over 11 years I was on staff at IMS where I filmed/edited numerous stories for ministry clients. MaxPaul and the staff at IMS taught me how to find “the heart of a story.” This is what really got me excited about living…telling the good stories of people and organizations making a positive difference in the world; and doing so in an emotionally compelling way. This became my passion.

September 11 had a profound affect on me. I was on a “one-man band” filming assignment, making a complete circle of the globe filming in the Ukraine, Kenya, India, and the Philippines. When the terrorist attacks hit America, there were questions, confusion and fear…is this only the beginning? What if there are more planes to be targeted? Do I come home? Do I continue on with my filming assignment?

Only one conclusion could be reached…continue! To abort the assignment would be exactly what the enemy would want to happen. I came to realize that, in a world full of evil, the “good news” in the world needs to be communicated all the more.

After 9/11, contributions receded for most non-profit organizations. With that being the case, many of these organizations needed help all the more. Now, more than ever they needed to showcase their positive work, however, it was now much more difficult to do so.

That’s what motivated me to leave the excellent film and video production company I was with, and to go out on my own. That way I would have less overhead and could serve these ministries in a much more cost-effective way. And that’s where I am today… an independent filmmaker with a little production company called Global Reality.