I saw that OPB was searching for Senior Camera Operator/Editors as I was planning a two day trip around Oregon to see how large of a variety of nature footage I could capture in just 48 hours. I thought that this trip would double as a great opportunity to introduce myself to the team at OPB, so I’ve put together a video to serve as my cover letter. I hope you will view this short video in place of simply reading my cover letter, but for your convenience I’ve included a written transcript as well.
Technical Notes:
All Oregon footage was captured on May 4th and 5th, 2018. Most was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, but some is from a backup Canon Rebel T6 that I had prepped at all times with a telephoto lens. Sound captured via shotgun mic and a Zoom H4N. Please excuse any suboptimal audio quality, as I was not able to monitor the inputs while I was also on camera. Edited in Adobe Premiere. Oregon Field Guide graphics mimicked using After Effects.
Additional Work Samples:
In addition to the video above, I'd also like to highlight two pieces that are relevant for the Portland arts component of this job. I did the videography and the editing for both of these pieces.
Video Transcript:
Hi, I’m Steve Nolan, a camera operator, editor, outdoorsman, and arts enthusiast who would love to join the team at OPB. Ever since moving to Portland a few months ago, I’ve been itching to get out and explore Oregon with my camera. I decided to challenge myself with a two day trip to see how much footage I could gather from this incredible state where scenery changes so quickly. When I saw your job listing I thought this trip was the perfect opportunity to show you what I can bring to OPB, in the style of Oregon Field Guide.
I grew up in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, camping at least once a month with the Boy Scouts and dreaming of becoming a National Geographic photographer. Through the beautiful mountains and lakes all around Arkansas and throughout the South, as well as the vibrant art scene in downtown Hot Springs, I developed a strong love for both the outdoors and the arts very early in life. While Arkansas doesn’t offer anything quite as dramatic as Mount Hood here, those rolling hills and deciduous forests really hold a special place in my heart.
After getting my MFA in Digital Filmmaking, I moved to New York City to try to make it in the film industry, but I quickly discovered that I liked more intimate stories and smaller crews. I ended up working in marketing and running a small music video business on the side. Music videos sometimes gave me an excuse to get out to exotic locations such as Iceland, Yellowstone, and New Jersey, but living in New York City I really missed having easy access to the natural world.
The moment that I first visited Oregon several years ago, I knew I was going to end up moving here. It has the perfect combination of arts, culture, and the outdoors that I grew up with, all on much larger scale. I’m so excited to bring the professional skills that I cultivated in New York to the Pacific Northwest, and hopefully specifically to OPB.
My educational background has uniquely equipped me to be flexible out in the field. In undergrad I learned the fundamentals of camera work in detail, from pinhole cameras to daguerreotypes, ending with darkroom photography.
This has equipped me to pick up almost any camera and be comfortable using it within a matter of hours. I joined an MFA program in Digital Filmmaking after that which focused on giving us all the skills we needed to make a film from beginning to end as independent filmmakers. Through grad school I ran the equipment closet, renting out cameras and giving advice on how to use them. This was an especially exciting time as DSLRs had just come out, and I was able to teach the students as I learned myself. I also ran the camera in studio for AETN—Arkansas’ OPB equivalent—filming various concerts as well as talk shows for the live broadcast. All of this education experience armed me for a career where no matter what the client’s video needs were, I could almost always say, “Yes, I can do that.”
In my years working in marketing at VTS, I learned a lot about working as a team and executing on a long term vision. When I first started at VTS it was a video company, so I was scheduling shoots, and then I became the Head of Post-Production. I set up and maintained a footage server in order to make it easy for my team to edit a high number of empty office walkthrough footage. When VTS pivoted from video to software, they decided to move me to the marketing team to make use of my other talents. We had a small in house video team that I directed, more or less, but we were so small that more often than not I would find myself running a sound mixer or jumping behind the camera. If you can’t always get a producer out there I’m equally comfortable working on my own or taking direction from somebody else.
Programs like Oregon Field Guide and Oregon Art Beat provide a greater sense of community, both with other humans and in the larger natural world. It almost goes without saying that journalism that isn’t beholden to corporate or political interests is even more precious than ever right now. I would feel extremely grateful to bring my professional skills to OPB, to help in its mission of “giving voice to the community, connecting Oregon and its neighbors, and illuminating a wider world.” I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity to learn and grow with the team at OPB, and I hope I’ll be meeting you soon. Please contact me with any further questions or considerations that you have, and I’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you for your time,
Steve Nolan
heystevenolan@gmail.com
718-909-7286
www.heystevenolan.com