Oak Street Bootmakers - Made in the USA

Oak Street Bootmakers from Common Machine Prod. on Vimeo.

The craftsmanship is excellent and the smell of the small factory is an amazing collection of genuine leather including Horween Chromexel. A very cold wind blows outside of the cinderblock walls where empty fields dot the landscape of a small town called Bangor, Maine. This is where Oak Street Boots are assembled by hand. It was a great experience to meet the workers on the line; to document their pricked fingers and rough hands.

Shooting this piece with Common Machine proved to be an education into the importance of domestic manufacturing, but also a rewarding peek into the lives of the talented cobblers found on the factory floor.

Hope you enjoy.

"Not Over You" - Gavin DeGraw music video

The stars of a show can be such pigs sometimes, especially when they're about 100lbs and hungry all the time.

When Director David Fishal told me that he'd like to shoot a music video for Gavin Degraw around New York City, I said "sure!" When he told me that the day of the shoot revolved around the availability of the animal wranglers, I said, "interesting."

I've heard working with animals can be tedious or tough, but Buddy the pig brought his A-game and was often a one take wonder.

Note to self...I'm bringing fresh carrots to all my shoots for now on...it seems to get the job done!