New York | Phong & Nabila – LOVE |

2014 was one insane rollercoaster of a year for both me and for the brand. I was lucky to have documented so many weddings, travel and complete school. I welcomed in a new nephew to the family while grieving over my grandfather who passed just a few days after. It was last year in the summer when I got wind that Nabila was an avid vimeo user and video junky much like myself. She traveled quite a bit and as a result she filmed most of her travels and posted her finished pieces on vimeo. Vimeo is a great community filled with visual creatives that span from wedding filmmakers to animators to production companies to freelance artists. To my surprise that’s where Nabila found me and was able to connect with me.

Fast forward to December 7th – 10th, 2014 I found myself back in New York City and that feeling of being in city like New York is one like no other. Lights are always flashing, you can ALWAYS count on having the best food and it’s definitely a sight that I can never get out of my head. When Phong and Nabila got in touch and approached me about creating a Portrait {Film} my biggest concern were logistics. I’ve traveled to NYC before but filming in an area that wasn’t 100% native to me was both scary and just made me nervous. What could go wrong? Would weather become an issue? Were our ideas and ambitions for this project just too big? We spoke about different locations, used Google Maps & a Pinterest board to gather ideas and concepts in an effort to bridge the gap that distance created but we made it work. I remember Nabila telling me that Phong was a tad camera shy but after our 1st day of shooting (the day I flew in actually) aka “Day 0” seeing that we were supposed to shoot the day after – he warmed up to the camera just fine! We visited some iconic spots from Dubmo, Brooklyn, Lincoln Centre Plaza to Grand Central Station and one of my favorite places – American Museum of Natural History. A huge thank you to Phong & Nabila for spoiling me rotten from the moment I arrived up until I left, for being the ultimate tour guides and for trusting my vision. Less words more moving still images ~