If you know me you’ve probably realized I may be a little OCD when it comes to certain things.  Editing video is one of them.  As I scroll through my vimeo collection I can’t help but notice the evolution of my videos.  Three or four years ago I started making videos for my website BooneBoulders.com.  It was more about getting psyched with my friends than anything else.  I didn’t have a clue about filming, editing or climbing for that matter.  The only thing that was required for a climbing video was to make sure you’re shirt was off.  Flex those muscles on that V3 you’re cranking!  As time when on I heard about a remier of Dustin Chamber’s “Satisfaction” at the Dragonfly Movie Theater & Pub.  It was at that moment I thought to myself “Damn, if those guys can have people show up to watch a video for the second time, surely I can get some folks to come out for some new footage.”  I had just bought a new HD camcorder and had a ton of footage already stashed on my server.  It was time to get to work  –in Sony Vegas Pro.  I struggled with codecs, compression, aspect ratios, formats and a slow computer.  I remember barely getting the “Back to the Basics” final copy rendered the night before the premier.  I teamed up with Eric Crews (he showed The Obscurist) and “A Night of Bouldering” went in the books as a success (even raised some money for the CCC!).  It also happened to be the night I found out I got a job in South Carolina.  Around the same time I met some really cool people at the core of the climbing community in Boone.   For this I am forever in debt.  These folks showed me the ropes (pun totally intended).  When I started climbing I was a boulder toad to the strictest degree.  “Ropes just aren’t my thing…the is no way you could have this much fun on a rope.”  Wow.  What a gumbyfied loser I was back then.  I started climbing routes and getting really psyched.  Destinations opened up that weren’t in the horizon before.  I began to experience what North Carolina offered as a whole.  My outlook on climbing began to evolve.  I was more psyched on climbing than I’d ever been in my life…

Then I moved.  South Carolina.  Ouch.  No more Grandmother night sessions, no more afternoon Dump routes, no more living close to a plethora of rock, no more.  For me, it was gym climbing and injuries that awaited.  Ouch again.  For the first few months I was crushed.  Soon enough I wrangled my emotions and hit up the local gym.  It didn’t take long before I met a cool climbing partner named Ryan.  The pscych was back!  The gym combined with weekend trips back Boone was enough to keep my climbing appetite in check.  Meanwhile I started meeting more people in Columbia.  I met a dude named Mike Bergen who happened to be a professional photographer.  He started showing me some photography stuff and I was hooked.  My video production skills (if you could call them that) were flipped upside down and turned around.  I invested in a DSLR and the rest is history.

Moving to Columbia has actually been a blessing in disguise.  I’ve had to find the strength to stay motivated like nothing I’ve ever experienced.  It’s so easy to get down, especially when all of your friends are crushing at 2:00PM on a Tuesday, but I have to stay positive.  It’s made me a better climber and a better person in general.  At the moment I have a bum finger but that can’t keep me from filming, can’t keep me from editing.  I find it very rewarding to create videos for organizations I believe in.  I’m not a professional videographer nor a strong climber, actually far from it.  I’m Far From Home Productions and I’m psyched.

ASU Promo/ CORE Showing – November 2nd.  Be there.