About Todd (updated 5/25/2008)
General BIO
I'm a native of Upper Michigan growing up in Marquette.
I graduated from Marquette Senior High School in 1987 and
enrolled at Michigan Tech University that same year to pursue an
education in electrical engineering and computer science,
eventually graduated from Michigan
Tech in 1993.
Throughout my college years, I learned to play the bass
guitar and have been playing in local bands on and off ever since.
Playing in bands led to an interest in running live sound and the
technical aspects of sound systems. My love of computers,
electronics and programming led to the designed and construction
of computer control stage lighting systems.
Just prior to departing Michigan Tech I took a part time job
at a new computer company, Strategic Solutions, a technology
services company then located in Hancock. In a relatively
short amount of time I went from being a party time employee to
owning a quarter and eventually a third of the company.
During my tenure at Strategic Solutions, I provided expert
technical services and gained experience and insights with
computer systems, database design, web design, software
programming, networking and many other technologies.
In 2004, I joined the team at Calumet Electronics in Calumet
where I provide full-time computer-based
design and development services. I continue to work at
Calumet Electronics where my responsibilities have expanded to include
process engineering for one of the production departments.
While working at Strategic Solutions, i helped with the design
and installation of many multi-media labs in K12 schools.
Many of these labs had rudimentary video capture and video
editing hardware and software. The video technologies in
these labs sparked my interest videography resulting in my
first digital camcorder purchase.
Getting Into VideoBack in my student days I had a friend who had a video camera. Not the
sleek compact camcorders of today mind you, but the large brick that you
threw over your shoulder and consumed good old VHS tapes. I was
amazed, it was a thing of beauty, but I couldn't afford one myself. So
I forgot all about the intriguing little toy. Then came employment, a
little surplus cash and a Wal-Mart just a few miles from home. Finally I
had my own cheapo digital video camera — how fun!
Getting Started
It didn't take long before I threw together my first little video
composition: a short trip to the airport with my friend Cheryl to pick up
her friends. The video sure wasn't much, but I had a great time shooting,
capturing and editing my first production. Of course I had to figure
everything out myself, good old-fashioned trial and error, mostly error.
You can check out this video for yourself, just click above to play it.
Action Adventure
With a little success, I moved onto my second project: a video production
entitled Safetyman. This video didn't have a thing to do with safety, rather
"safetyman" was a nickname given to one of our friends because he was always
saying things like "it only takes 16 ounzes of press to pop out an eyeball,
so you better be careful." My gang when to the Porkie's to do a little
skiing and snowboarding and we shot some video that we edited into a
little video production. This video included my first green-screen work. If you watch closely,
you'll see that the "safety man" stamp is really a three-hole paper punch.
Play the video to see how I discovered text and slow motion.
A Star is Born
It sure is fun making videos. One evening I was eating at Mancino's
with friends whose daughter, Gabby, was running around have having a
a simply wonderful time. Always prepared to get the shot, I busted out my
JVC handheld digital MiniDV camcorder and got all of the action on tape.
Looking back, I never really finished video, it just sort of stopped. That's
when I began to realize video production required a little bit of work. I was
learning that you need to take care to get all of the footage you need,
because once your back working on the computer, it's sometimes too late to
go back and get the shots you SHOULD have gotten.
The Pressure Is On
When a couple of our good friends made plans to get hitched, I found
myself promising the bride a video for the wedding reception. You know,
one of those childhood photo montages of friends and family
— a collection of a ton of pictures from
friends and family and a some video that we had collected.
This wasn't one of my little toy videos. I really needed to pull out all
the stops and put something together they would really enjoy. My good
friend Dave is a pilot with a small airplane. So we shot aerial footage
of the church. The footage was pretty jerky but it worked out well.
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