Aubree.

My most recent assignment for Prod 1 was to create a portrait or a process. Being an overachiever, I did both. I attempted a portrait of my good friend Aubree Woods and her process as a skimmer of getting from the city to the shore.

This project was a huge learning experience as I begin to scratch the surface of documentary filmmaking. After attempting to create an image and impose my preconceived notions and assumptions onto Aubree, she politely told me "Uh, that's not me." A moment of shame came over me and I quickly changed direction.

It was a great reminder as to why I have a desire to create documentary style films. If I wanted a clean, polished and artificial story, I would head out to Hollywood. However, I want my stories to be real, raw and authentic.

We pulled everything together rather quickly, and scrambled to figure out when we could shoot. She was going home to New Jersey the weekend I had in mind to shoot and she was gracious enough to invite me into her home for the day to shoot. It was a quick whirlwind of a trip, but it was phenomenal and extremely rewarding.

With just four hours to shoot, both Aubree and I wish we could've been blessed with better waves and more time, but alas, we weren't. Nonetheless she was willing to go out in 50 degree weather, let the waves to throw her around for a few hours and be a part of this project. I'm extremely grateful.