Philip Bloom is one of my many inspirations as a filmmaker.

Back in the early ‘aughts, Philip Bloom figured out how to use a digital still camera to capture video and make it look like film. While the rest of us were all googly-eyed over 1080i (interlaced) camcorders coming to the consumer market, Philip Bloom was messing around with frame rates, flipping cameras upside-down for DOF adapters, experimenting with DSLRs, and taking advantage of fast lenses to create beautiful, high-definition, digital video that looked like what we were accustomed to on the big screen. Philip became known as such an innovator in DSLR filmmaking, he was personally invited to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch to showcase what the cameras could do. He filmed that on a Canon 5DmkII and a Canon 7D. More about that here…

Fast forward 20 years to an age of hyper-speed tech updates… we now have handheld mirrorless and cinema cameras that produce stunning images — images that would have been prohibitively expensive to capture not long ago. We can thank pioneers like Philip Bloom whose expertise and innovation put “cinema-quality” videography in the hands of so many people, like me. Whatever the next technological revolution brings, I’ll always appreciate Philip for that.

There’s another thing Philip did a few years back that I found incredibly inspiring: For some reason, he had the brilliant idea to interview his parents on-camera. Great idea, right? Seems simple enough now. But how many of us will actually get around to documenting the insights and perspectives of the people we love most — even with this amazing imaging technology right at our fingertips?

Well… I’m proud to say, I did.

In 2016, after watching Philip Bloom’s moving interviews with his parents, I decided to interview my own parents on-camera. At the time, I was working with crop-sensor DSLR cameras and, admittedly, I didn’t have nearly the technical know-how I have today. The videos could have been better lit, the audio could have been better controlled, I could have framed the shots in better environments. But that’s okay; I actually like to see how I have progressed as a filmmaker over the years. And I am so thankful to have that footage now.

My dad passed away in January of last year (January 2023). My mom passed away a year after that — just a couple months ago, matter of fact (March 2024). Since their passing, I have been gradually revisiting that interview footage from years ago, and I have found it to be an absolute treasure. I am fortunate to have so many wonderful memories of my parents. But being able to see and hear their stories in their own words — many that preceded my life — is priceless to me. I am so glad I filmed them when I did.

Dad was the kind of writer who took shit from no one. Not his editors, not his sources, not even his own kids… But he was a relentless fact-checker and an joyful storyteller. As an investigative journalist, he covered science and the environment for most of his career, but he was always a human interest reporter at heart. It’s characteristics like those that earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1998, and another Pulitzer nomination a few years later.

Mom was a groundbreaker in her own right. Among the first women in the newsroom of the Atlanta Constitution in the 60s and the first female speechwriter to serve a full term in the White House, she was no wilting lily herself. She covered the first moon landings and the Civil Rights Movement. Mom valued humility and reservation, but she was vocal about things she believed in as a writer, an editor, and an American citizen.

There is more of this footage to review, and I look forward to editing more vignettes like these. It’s kinda like being back in the room with Mom and Dad. I’ll be sure to post them as I have them.

Thanks, Philip.

I was sad to learn of the passing of Philip Bloom’s own father earlier this year. I know the heartache that comes with that kind of loss, and I’m sure his current task of re-editing that older interview footage is not always easy. But I am sure that Philip — like me — treasures those precious memories. Moments recalled in his father’s own words, and captured beautifully by the skilled hand and eye of a brilliant artist.