Van by the River Productions

07/05/2026

While I had the studio setup last week for a couple headshot sessions, I pulled this echinacea flower in from my yard for some focus stacked macro shots. Sometimes you don’t have to go far to find something cool to take pictures of.

07/04/2026

Happy Independence Day! Fireworks at Osgood fairgrounds thanks to Brandi Merkel and the Ripley County Chamber of Commerce and Yokum Fireworks LLC!

06/19/2026

Recently guitarist Bryce Mullins and I linked up to film a music video for his latest song, “Things never change”. This is a special one, and a perfect release for Fathers Day. Great job Bryce, I know your dad is proud of the father you are, and your great talents. Happy Father’s Day to all, and may you forever swing your kids around upside down by their ankles! Never too old for that I say.

This is the song for all the sons and fathers of the worldMusic ...

06/19/2026

Last week during that first round of strong storms, I was out late hunting for patches of lightning bugs to photograph when I saw the faint flashes of lightning on the horizon. I pulled up the radar and saw a strong line of storms headed our way so I decided to switch gears and head to a vantage point to view the inbound storm. I ended up north of Greensburg near Kingston and had just enough time to drop a single camera in a wheat field, set to run a timelapse, taking back to back 8 second exposures. I ended up with about 260 photos before the front hit me, at which point it was time to go. This single photo is all 260 exposures stacked on top of each other and blended. This technique of photo stacking doesn’t always work out, but this time it paid off, even though I overexposed a bit for the lightning. And I still ended up capturing the lightning bugs I was after in the first place.

06/17/2026

One of my favorite photography events is happening right now. Lightning bugs. They emerge en masse for a few weeks every June to spawn, and in the right places at the right time, it’s a heck of a light show. It’s hard to improve on an exposure recipe when you only get to practice it but one night a year, but Monday night was the night and I think these shots are better than last years. I had 3 cameras set up running Timelapse’s, and then I took some of those Timelapse’s and stacked and blended all of the photos. What you see in each photo is a few minutes up to an hours worth of lightning bug flashes. In the first photo you’ll notice the plant is blurry and that’s because it’s moving! The Timelapse video shows it and it’s super cool. I’ll post some of that later.

06/07/2026

Last night at the Ripley County Film Festival, Brady Domingo’s film “Spare me” won best cinematography! I knew we were nominated but I’m always very critical of my own camera work. I really didn’t expect to win. There were a few other films entered that did a really good job with their visuals. Making a good film is really hard work believe it or not. From a cinematography perspective, it requires long hours on your feet and peak focus the entire time. I’ve always maintained that it’s attention to detail that really brings a film to life. A lot of little things have to all come together at the same time. The writing, the casting and acting, locations and scheduling, lighting, sound, directing, and of course the camera work, and then editing. You often find yourself wearing a lot of different hats when making an independent film. Brady does an outstanding job of lining up the right people and delegating roles, so he can focus on executing the script and scenes with the actors. For Spare Me and his latest film, Lonely Road, I handled the lighting and cinematography. Brady has a great team of talented film people around him and I’m happy to get to be a part of that. A big shout out to the Ripley County Community Foundation for organizing the film festival. I would have never imagined as a kid that someday we’d have a local film festival, or that I’d be a part of it. Pretty cool thing on all fronts. If some of you are out there, wanting to participate next year, but don’t know where to start, reach out to me and I can either bring you aboard with something we’re working on, or connect you with other film makers in the area who are also happy to help you get planted and started in film making. The Ripley county community foundation also has resources to help you get going in the right direction.

05/19/2026

I just realized it’s been a while since I’ve posted! This last month has been an absolute whirlwind and my busiest on record! The month of April had me either out of state, or out of country for half of it. And the other half was spent on set as director of photography for Brady Domingo’s new film “Lonely Road”, and handling all of my commercial client filming. It’s been non stop action and I’m glad to be on the other side with a moment to breathe! Being this busy with film work is a gift I’m grateful for, but finding the balance in it all is challenging at times. There are a lot of really exciting things to share, and some that I can’t share just yet! For now, here are some behind the scenes of production of Lonely Road. Filming will officially wrap later this month, with a scheduled release of 2027. Brady is doing great things and I’m honored to be a part of his up and comings as a film maker!