Smithymedia

Born and raised in South Africa, I had a full, Christian life there until 18, when I decided to walk away from the Dutch Reformed Church, in search of my own answers, when I was told I was asking questions I shouldn't ask. (27 years later, living in Florida, I walked back into the church, this time a non-denominational Calvary Chapel Worship Center. But this time the story is not about all that.)

Finding myself drawn to the 80s style Gothic Rock in 1989, I stayed in that for over two decades, but my band life, which started in 1991 was always hard rock and melodic metal with a Goth influence. In 1993, I moved to Namibia, where in 1997, with a few fellows, we formed Arcana XXII, a melodic metal band (etc.) that lasted til 2005. We recorded 5 CDs and several music videos. During this time, I was offered an opportunity of a lifetime by the bassist, who owned a video production company (and still does). That December (1998), was where my career as a video editor and camera operator took off. For a decade I worked at the national and other local television stations, until in 2008 I moved to Illinois and was forced to abandon my videography ideals due to the saturated market and not having my own equipment.

But since then things have changed. I am no longer a pagan, the Lord has blessed me in so many ways (camera and equipment, marriage, etc.) and now I want to devote my videographic talents to the Lord. I mean...I have been doing that in church as a media team member and worship singer from time to time, but it's not enough. There are others who want to run the church cameras. But we have our own set of cams and I have an Pro video suite on my Mac, which is under-used at this stage.

My ideal is to make free music videos and live videos for upcoming Christian rock bands, to build my portfolio. Once my portfolio is strong, I'll see where the Lord takes me. Whether it will stay free, or be at a small fee, who knows? But it will take a good while before that time arrives, I think. In the meantime, I hope to serve and be a blessing to the local Chicago Christian Rock scene.