Over the years I have managed to win a few awards for my work. Working on any creative project leaves you feeling vulnerable, and having others in your field acknowledge your accomplishments helps offset the insecurity inherent in the creative process.

• 2006 Long Island International Film Expo Award: Best Long Island Film and Best Score for Under Surveillance
  In the spring of 2002, I answered a posting on the Long Island Film Newsgroup and volunteered to help out on a film shoot. It was just supposed to be one day’s work - for fun! By lunchtime I was the Director of Photography on this feature film. Over the course of the next year, Dave Campfield and I worked together to finish shooting this film. As time passed my list of credits expanded and I ended up as an executive producer as well. The work was challenging, but my skills as a DP grew and I am happy with the finished film - a few other people seem to like it too!
• 2005 Communicator Award: Award of Distinction for Kitchener Translation Workshop
  In the winter of 2005 I traveled to Kitchener Canada to interview a group of Bible translators and scholars meeting at a small Mennonite camp. 2 teams of translators were from Alaska and 2 were from Native American tribes in the lower 48 states. I produced, directed, edited and prepared graphics for this 7 minute video.
• 2005 Communicator Award: Honorable Mention for Katrina Response
  This short subject video was created by the American Bible Society who sent a team to Houston, Texas to document the plight of people taking refuge in the Houston are after Hurricane Katrina, and the Christian community in the region who stepped up to the challenge of feeding, clothing, and ministering to these people as they struggle to rebuild their lives. I co-produced, shot and edited this video.
• 2002 Angel Award for Kingsley’s Meadow - Eager Beaver Episode
  I was the Executive in-charge-of Production for the 13 episode children’s series that this show was a part of. I reviewed and approved all of the scripts music and designs for the series and was on set for most of the shoot. I had a lot of creative input on the project, but my main job was cutting big checks and managing contracts and delivery schedules.
• 2000 Communicator Award: Award of Distinction for LCM 2000
  This short fundraising and promotional film for Lutheran City Ministries in Detroit, Michigan was shot on a shoestring budget over 3 days. The group was doing some great work in the city and it was a pleasure to help them get the word out. I wrote, directed, shot, and edited this video.
• 2000 Houston Worldfest Award: Gold Special Jury Award for Resurrection
  I was Executive in-charge-of Production for this short film starring Jim Caviezel. This was one of my first big projects and I learned an amazing amount from the director, Merle Worth, and our first rate producer, Nina Froriep.

MultiMedia Projects

Icons and Portraits
Biblical Art and Private Devotion: A Selection from the Collection of Sandra and Robert Bowden - RealMedia
Devocion Del Pueblo: Religious Folk Art of Guatemala - RealMedia
The Holy Land Through the Eyes of Explorers - RealMedia

Video Projects - Windows Media Format

Motion Graphic Show Intro: Translating the Bible
Elementz of Life - Video News Release
ForMinistry Promo
Kitchener Translation Workshop
Under Surveillance - Indie Film
Cooking with Liz - This is a sample video project from my www.ReelHistories.com website. The stars are my grandparents and we made the video a number of years ago using my grandfather’s camcorder and a little creativity.

The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation I love animation and this is one of the best books on the subject. Frank and Ollie are two guys who really loved their work and their passion for animation is present throughout this book. The illustrations are excellent and you really come away understanding the art form of animation.

The Art Pack A pop-up book for grown-ups. Learn about form, color, motion, and perspective by examining classic works of art - and play with cool toys!!!

Streetwise Marketing Plan The Streetwise books have a very good workbook feel to them. There is room to take notes, liberal use of sidebars for extra information, and the whole book is setup in a logical progression to help you write a marketing plan. And everyone in business better have one!

The Goal My dad gave me this book. When I got my first management level job, he gave me a bunch of books he thought might be helpful (or at least impress my boss when he saw them on my bookshelf!) It tells the story of a struggling factory manager who learns that he didn’t really understand how to measure the efficiency of his factory and how his incorrect assumptions were actually destroying his business. This is a narrative format, which is unusual for a business book. The story isn’t bad and the lessons are priceless. Having worked in a factory at one point, I can relate to the way his characters have learned to ‘manage’ their business.

101 Ways to Promote Your Website - Good solid information about getting new visitors to your website. No hype, fluff, or skeevy tactics. Don’t wait until after you have built a new website to begin thinking about traffic.

Taking Your Talent to the Web: Making the Transition from Graphic Design to Web Design I’m a cross between a tech geek and an artist (with lots of other junk thrown in for good measure.) This book speaks to both of these points of view and really helped me to understand how to get my website ideas molded into standards compliant webpages.

Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player I got so excited when I first read this book. Here was a guy who didn’t wait for someone to give him a chance to make a movie, he made his own chance. Robert is always encouraging his readers to just go out and get started.

The thing that impressed me most was this: during the time when the studios were trying to entice him to sign with them, he saved the money that the studios were giving him for fancy hotels and stayed on a friend’s couch. That money put his brother through college! My kind of guy.

• Art and Photography
• Business
• Computer and Internet
• Film and Video Production
• Personal Development

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Great Sci-Fi story. My wife gave me this and I’ve already read it twice.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Cosmic hitchhikers, 2 headed galaxy presidents - what’s not to like? I’ve read and re-read all of the books, seen the tv shows, watched the movie, played the video game and drawn hours of joy from this work.

When I was a kid I used to pull a book off the encyclopedia shelf and browse through the index until I saw something interesting to read about - my pre-computer version of web browsing. Whenever I wanted to learn about something I went for a book.

Well, a few decades later now, reading is still a passion for learning and entertainment. I’m going through some of my favorite titles and sharing them here with a word or two about why I liked the book. I hope you read a few of them and enjoy them as much as I have.

• Fiction
• Non-Fiction
  • Art and Photography
  • Business
  • Computer and Internet
  • Film and Video Production
  • Personal Development

* - Thinks links are to companies with which I have an affiliate relationship. I have either used their products or services myself, or judged them to be worthy of recommending. If you click on these links and make a purchase, I will receive a commission for the sale.

1and1 Web Hosting* - I manage a number of websites and used to spend a fortune hosting each one seperately. I switched to 1and1.com and now pay a fraction of what I used to pay and the service is much better. It’s a great surprise when you get an email that says “By the way, we’ve increased the services available and we’re not charging you any more money!” I sometimes log into my account just to see if they’ve recently upgraded my service.

Amazon.com* - Great bookstore, great everything else store too! Before you buy anything, check Amazon and see if there is a used copy for sale. I’ve saved a bundle on some purchases!

Auralex Acoustics 101 - If you want to learn about how to create a sound recording room or to control the sound in a room, this extensive online tutorial is the #1 place to start. Auralex makes great sound proofing materials and also shows you how, why, where and when to use them. A sound engineer I met recommended this to me when I told him I was planning a recording room project for some of my corporate work.

Bill Myers Online* - Want to create How-To DVDs for profit? Bill has a great website full of useful articles and resources for helping you create videos. There is even a set of How-To DVDs on making How-To DVDs (how’s that for irony?)

B&H Photo and Video - This is one of my favorite stores of all time. They’ve got just about everything a film and video equipment junkie could want. Plus, there’s this cool conveyer system that moves the merchandise around the store from where you order it to where you pick it up. Stop by if you’re in New York City or visit their website. (I just ordered a huge pile of stuff from them for my day job!!!)

ClickBank.com* - Do you have an e-Book or other product that you want to sell online? Clickbank has a huge network off affiliate marketers who will sell your product for a commission. Clickbank handles the transaction and all of the payments - you just collect a check.

Clockwise Productions - Headed up by Nina Froriep, this New York based production company is amazing. I worked with them on 3 film/video productions and they handled every production challenge with calmness and confidence.

www.cypressmediainc.com - Highly recommended for CD and DVD Replication work. Their prices are good, service is excellent and quality is excellent. I’ve gotten cheaper rates but the results never matched Cypress Media’s quality.

DIY Projector Company - Make your own video projector. These guys have free plans and sell kits and supplies you’ll need to make a Go-To Video Projector!

EllenSeltz.com - My wife is a very talented actress. Check out her site and see for yourself - then hire her for your next project! (She even designed and coded this site herself!)

The Stock Exchange - Looking for Stock Photos? Make this your first stop. The images on this site are of excellent quality and they are FREE! It’s open source photography. I use images from here regularily and a few of my own photos have been accepted for distribution (it’s not a free-for-all, each photo is reviewed for quality and relevance before it is posted!)

Computer VideoMaker Magazine*- If you are a home video buff who wants to kick things up a notch, check out this magazine. They also have a great website full of helpful resources.

My Websites:

ColossalTV.com - This is the niche market site I came up with to test the concept of advertising driven web properties. I gathered together a lot of freely available articles and did a little writing of my own to get it off the ground, and now I’m waiting to see whether it makes any money.

ReelHistories.com - I started this website to help teach people how to make personal biography videos using their camcorders.

Spheres-of-Interest.com - I was recently introduced to the concept of the “renaissance mind.” This describes the workings of a person with a wide array of interests, a dynamic curiosity about the world, and a boundless supply of passion. My wife helped me to recognize that this is the type of person that I am, and I became inspired to create a website devoted to exploring how I work, my experiments in optimizing my work and home life to harmonize with my natural way of thinking, and mentoring others as they find their own way.

IncorrigibleProductions.com - When Ellen and I got married we decided to create a production company to produce our film and theater projects under. This is the name that won.

Web Development and Marketing Resources:

StatCounter.com - If you are trying to find good statistical analysis data for your website, visit StatCounter. You can get a tremendous amount of detail about your website and the basic account is free and useful. I’m using it on this site! (Check the Page Source!)

Webmaster Marketing Resources - This page has links to a number of great resources for finding and evaluating keywords. Determine search frequency, bid prices and related terms.

Web Marketing Today* - Dr. Ralph F. Wilson has got to be one of the most straight forward and helpful marketing gurus I have ever come across. His website is full of great resources and his books, reports, and newsletters are excellent.