Who is the 1 Person Crew?

Hi! I’m Eduardo.

Long story short. A long time ago I studied and worked in architecture until one day I realized I wasn’t an architect who liked photography, but a photographer who loved architecture. So I got an MFA in Photography, moved to Chicago to start an Architectural Photography business, and also got a job at a camera store where I had access to the latest professional gear. That happened precisely when the transition from analog to digital was starting to change the photo and film industries forever.

I greatly enjoyed playing with digital backs, troubleshooting, and installing servers (I know, I’m a geek!) so I moved to New York City, and worked as a high-end digital tech, helping well-known fashion and commercial photographers, major corporations, and even museums enter the digital world. I kept getting shooting assignments, but less in architecture and more with travel (fine with me!), while teaching photo and video at the School of Visual Arts, the International Center of Photography, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. I guess I like being productive.

Some of my wonderful clients.

Always hungry for new self-imposed challenges I got into video editing (Final Cut 6), read obsessively about Cinema (still do), and produced LOTS of educational content, music and corporate videos. The projects, tools, budgets and crews got bigger and bigger, until June 2015 when I won an Emmy Award as a director of photography.

Emmy Award Ceremony 2015

Then everything got huge, and fast-paced, and non-stop, and increasingly boring. Nobody tells you this, but the bigger the production, the less creative freedom you have. After a while I needed to recharge my creative soul, so I wrote a book and convinced my wife to take some time off to travel together. What started as a 6-month Sabbatical ended up being an incredible 18-month journey around the world. If you think that’s crazy, you are right, yet even crazier was to be invited to present a TED Talk, and share the global cultural trends we witnessed!

TED Talk 2018

Being a director of photography is difficult enough. Adding the roles of producer, director, gaffer, screenwriter, editor, colorist, sound designer and IT support, and things can get very stressful. I knew wearing several hats at once would be hard, but I had no other choice if I wanted to document our once in a lifetime journey.

Frustrated by the lack of tools and techniques for small crews working with tight deadlines and budgets, and the abundance of unreliable educational resources, the 1PersonCrew.com was born. To avoid serious mistakes one must identify key steps and simplify them, down to the least amount of gear, software and time required. That’s exactly the kind of content I’d like to share here and on the educational content I’ve produced for many companies, including LinkedIn Learning.

Right now churches, gyms, doctors, architects and even conferences are using video to stay connected. Also, anyone involved in documentaries, weddings, corporate and sporting events, education and training, behind the scenes, journalism, and even music videos and indie films could benefit from a “how to do more with less” approach. My main goal is to learn together from our hacks, tips, mistakes and successes. Sounds good? Let’s go!