Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Herum.
Hi Josh, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I started in filmmaking by the way of photography. I picked up my first camera when I was 15 years old, shooting my friends skateboard, bmx, and motocross. Then started to travel the world in my early 20s. I spent a year in Germany, a year in India, and a year in China, photographing all the while. When I was in China I upgraded my camera to one that had 1080p video. I thought to myself, I’ll give video a try. The result was a documentary about Hope, where I interviewed 7 Chinese people on what their definition of hope is and what they place their hope in, shooting b-roll to coincide with it I cut together a 20 minute film that won three awards at the local festival in Suzhou, China where I was living.
After that experience, I fell in love with the art. I was so used to telling stories through single images and now I had 24 frames per second along with audio, music, editing and other tools to tell a story. From China, I moved to Nashville in 2014 and lived there for a year making some even shorter documentaries about local artists and started to get hired by people to make videos for their companies. Very small stuff for little money, but it was a start. Then I met my now wife and moved to St. Louis where was from.
In 2017, I really decided to jump into it full-time freelance and started to shoot a lot more. The first year was definitely a grind, shooting music videos, little corporate videos, and promo stuff for very little money and wearing every hat, but gradually I started to be able to wear less hats and get bigger projects with better creative. Besides being able to make a living with cinematography, I have also tried to make a film every year. In 2017 I made a documentary film called “The Man Behind The Merferds” about a local St. Louis street artist, which screened at SLIFF2018 and won the Midrash Award. In 2019 I produced and directed a true-crime drama called “One Cold Morning” which screened at SLIFF2020.
I continue to get hired as director of photography on narrative and commercial projects, the most recent was for a local multi-location restaurant, Mission Taco Joint showing their process of making their tortillas and chips. I am excited for those pieces to come out soon. A bit more personally; I own a house in Ferguson, where I live with my wife Hannah, son Emerson (2), and new born daughter Haven. You can find my work at www.joshherum.work.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been semi-smooth, I would say I would like to work more frequently and that it takes time to get to where you want to be. I have had some great experiences thus far but would love to work on sets where I have the budget to create the exact look I desire and that hasn’t been the case yet. I am always limited by budget.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a cinematographer and director.
When I am hired as a cinematographer I am responsible for the visuals; this includes camera, lens, lighting, composition choices, working with a crew to accomplish the director’s vision and collaborate to make the visuals the best it can be for the specific project.
I am also a director because there are projects that I want to produce and direct and no one is hiring me to shoot them, so I make it happen and bring on a cinematographer.
I would say my specialty is narrative filmmaking, it is what I love to do, tell stories, drama, longer than a 30,60,90 sec commercial spot that is selling a product. I also gravitate towards mini-documentaries that can be lucrative if they are branded content.
How do you define success?
Being able to do what you love with the least amount of limitations.
Contact Info:
- Email: joshua.herum@gmail.com
- Website: www.joshherum.work
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/joshherumdp
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/joshherum
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/joshherum
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/joshherum
Image Credits
Alex Allison
Addison Brush
Nick Wallace
AJ Wallace
Wil Driscoll
Savannah Hopkins
Ryan Meyer
