Graphs of light.
Drummer for Son Lux
My friend Josh and I worked on a video project last year for a non profit called Bogg. They distribute meals to neighborhoods Continue reading
I went to Mexico to shoot some videos for my friend Chris. These are some of the photos I took while shooting the videos. Continue reading
An amazing story being told with film.
A week ago I was on top of a mountain in Monterrey hanging out with kids at a camp and I was having the time of my life. I had traveled to Mexico to shoot a documentary about the Back2Back location there and to help tell the story of the people involved with it. I am still unsure exactly what happened to me there. I have come back a different human and I’m not sure how I feel about it but one thing I know for sure, I will never forget the people in Monterrey. I have yet to put to words what goes on in my mind when I think about this trip which is weird because I almost can’t stop thinking about it. I know that soon I will be able to gather these thoughts and I will tell the best story I can about these people and the family that they have in Monterrey.
Lately I have been having a hard time expressing my creativity in a trackable way. I have not mixed audio consistently for about 3 months so my attention has been focused mainly on photography and videography. I have sort of hijacked my Instagram account and turned it into a feed for some of my favorite photos. I really dig Instagram for this use. I realize its probably a little annoying for my friends since Instagram is widely used as a social media platform centered on photography. However, the artistic community on Instagram and the company itself are very different. Take a look at the Instagram Blog, its not a collection of posts about selfies or pictures of cats. Its a collection of posts by a company thats focused on art.
Now I am not ignoring the fact that the platform of Instagram is mainly used for social media. However, I have chosen to do something different with my account. Learning the balance between trying to be a professional photographer and shoving it in my friends and followers faces and the opposite of that in being a photography enthusiast and being able to share some of my photos with my friends has been an interesting thing to figure out. You just cant bleed the feed. Thats what Tumblr’s for. So basically, if you want to see some occasional photos of the places I’m at and the things I’m doing, check out my Instagram, If you want to see all of my photos, check out my Tumblr.
I cant promise that all of my stuff will be amazing or even good but I want people to see them and to give me some feedback. I want to be a better artist and think about art with a larger perspective and in a larger spectrum. That cannot happen if I am not creating things and putting them out there for honest feedback.
This video came at a time when I was starting to make videos, ironically, and it helped me grasp a larger idea than just “get nice camera, get nice scene, shoot nice scene, have nice footage for cool video”. I always felt like making videos or movies had a deeper motive than just aesthetic value but was never really able to comprehend what it was. I had started conversations with some of my friends who have been making films for sometime and the key ingredient was always “the story”. It came full circle after I saw this short video of some pretty successful film makers and it really gave me a tangible grasp on telling stories with movies.
I grabbed my buddy Josh’s camera at our Super Bowl Sunday service and snagged some pictures. Watch the video here.
MICHAEL MONGIN 
