2018 Review

In 2018 I experienced a lot of creative growth, but my wife and I also faced a lot of hard life events that further shaped who we are.

My first project released in 2018 was a short film I had filmed in Haiti back in November 2017. It was really neat to collaborate with the HOPE International team in Haiti to make this visual interpretation of The Lord’s Prayer, read in French by one of the clients HOPE serves.

I also had fun filming a slow-motion video booth for my friends’ wedding in Philadelphia!

The day after my birthday we found out that my wife’s father had stage IV liver cancer. We immediately decided that we should fly to Thailand to spend time with him, not knowing how long he would have before the cancer would take his life. A few days later we left with one-way tickets, not having much of a plan beyond getting there as soon as possible to support him and spend whatever precious time left we had with him.

The following weeks were a blur: sleeping in hospital rooms, meeting with doctors, and trying to make the most of our time at my father-in-law’s bedside. As it became clear that he probably only had a few weeks left, we began to discuss what it would look like for us to stay with him to the end.

Almost one month after learning that he had cancer, Saritha’s father breathed his last breath.

The following days were another blur of his funeral (a 3-day Buddhist funeral, per his request) and trying to process all the emotions of what had just happened so quickly.

In the midst of our grief, God’s grace was overwhelmingly evident to us through the loving support of our community: our church, my family, and our friends both near and far. Saritha and I have talked about how a crisis like this can bring out the best in people or the worst in people. We are so grateful for the ways that we experienced the best of people through the innumerable prayers and acts of service that we received from so many friends. We thank you all with our whole heart.

My wife is a strong and beautiful woman. There’s no other person I’d rather weather the storms and enjoy the sunshine with than with her.

March usually seems to be a relatively slower month, spent editing videos I filmed earlier and planning for future projects. This month also felt slower than usual as we transitioned back into “normal” life after spending a month in Thailand caring for Saritha’s father. I distinctly remember working on the animation for this promo video in the lobby of my father-in-law’s former apartment while Saritha took a load of his belongings to the hospital after we had cleaned out his apartment.

April was another slower month, as I edited projects and focused on honing my craft by reading educational  books and watching some training videos. I filmed and edited a simple highlight video of International Christian High School’s 50th anniversary celebration.

My friend Andrew Bilindabagabo had traveled to Burundi and Malawi with HOPE International in March, when I wasn’t able to go due to caring for Saritha’s father. I edited the first film he shot in Malawi which tells Eckness’ story.

In June, I had the privilege of shooting some product photos for Fair Trade Federation to use in their updated materials. They were so fun to work with and had some beautiful products!

After attending a portrait workshop presented by my friend, Sam Interrante, I started experimenting with light, mixing different colors and seeing what I could do with one light. I also played with some exposure tricks to capture these moody portraits of my friend, Andrew, in the middle of a bright, sunny day.

Over the summer I had a lot of fun playing with colors and lighting in new ways, creating some of my favorite portraits I’ve made yet! One of the first people I had the honor of photographing was Ned Bustard, who is an artist and book publisher.

I met up with my friend, Ricki White, at Villanova University where she’s studying and made all these portraits on a blank wall in a random study room.

When I photographed Trent & Christine Rollings, Christine was kind enough to write about their experience in a post entitled “Portrait Therapy” – it was so interesting to hear about it in her words!

Andrew and I re-edited part of a video we shot last summer into a short mood piece about one of my favorite things – coffee!

I also filmed a promo video for Beth Rudy Consulting, which was produced and edited by Vers Creative.

When Joyous and I talked about her portraits, she wanted to make some images that represent the tension she feels as a creative and a parent. Should she give up photography, a craft she’s invested so much time and money in, to focus more on her children? I admire her willingness to live in this tension and love her kids well.

HOPE International released the second video that Andrew filmed in Burundi and I edited, making a film that explores the idea of community.

I continued to explore various lighting techniques — and fulfilled my childhood dream of owning a fog machine! My friend, Trevor, and I had fun making these eclectic portraits. (Neither of us endorse smoking, the pipe just looks cool.)

Emily came over and we experimented with various lighting, long exposure, and projection!

I spent the first few days of September in Paraguay filming and photographing for HOPE International‘s general content library. The visuals I made will be used in a variety of  pieces, however one of the first finished products was a vlog-style field update video.

I had a lot of fun with my friends at Balance Dance exploring motion and light with these photographs.

Ever since I first traveled to India where I partnered with Set Beautiful Free, it’s been an honor to continue collaborating with them in their mission! This fall I filmed their annual gala again, creating a short highlight video.

I had the pleasure of teaming up with my brother and frequent creative partner, Jonathan Rothermel, to photograph and film Advance Initiative‘s annual conference. The guys at AI are great people and good friends, so it’s always wonderful working with them!

I also made this fun little video promoting careers at HOPE International.

At the end of October going into November, I traveled to Rwanda to make some promotional photographs for Urwego Bank, HOPE International’s microfinance partner.

While I was there, I added two days to shoot some fashion photos – see them all in this blog post.

I was going through some old footage of Croatia when I was there with Leadership Lab International in 2014..so, I remixed some cool timelapse footage that I haven’t really used before.

While visiting for the holiday, my friend Mary was kind enough to stand in for some more creative portrait experiments.

A few weeks before we learned that Saritha’s dad was sick, I had read When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Well-written and surprisingly timely – as a neurosurgeon who discovers that he has terminal cancer, Paul gives poignant insights on what it means to live and die well.

At the end, I felt the deep sadness and beautiful hope of his life and death. I was inspired to photograph these dying yet beautiful flowers (styled for us by Mary’s creative daughter, Eliza). Let us live our lives as well as this beautiful fading bouquet.