about the scout - San Francisco Location Scout

about

the

scout

about

the

scout

Silicon Valley native, racing motorcycles (motocross) from age 12 across Northern and Southern California. A road warrior, full of adventure since age 16, based in Santa Cruz from age 18. Studied Color Theory and Visual Composition in college while working at a commercial photo lab as a printer. Moved to Hollywood to work with the biggest names in commercial automotive still photography as a photo camera assistant, and motion picture on car commercials as a lighting tech (gaffer). This lead into my 1st location scouting jobs, scouting all across the western US while based in Hollywood. I met an actress there, we decided to get married and raise our kids in San Francisco and in a coastal town north of the city. From West Marin, I scouted and produced projects across the lower 48 + Alaska and Hawaii. Now post pandemic, we have a place in San Francisco and on the North Coast of Sonoma.
True story :). It’s mine.

Here’s a scouting story:
Whether it’s a 7AM call time at a downtown hotel to meet the in-house creative team making action video games and driving around the whole Bay Area for a week to develop storyboard background plates —
to boarding a early morning flight at SFO — Destination, a small airport in the Mojave desert to tech scout with a production team according to my previous week’s scout, and then back home for dinner in San Francisco, same day —
Or across a snow covered Idaho mountain ridge in a snowcat, looking for the best angle of the Grand Tetons for a Jeep campaign —
to an early morning drive across the Golden Gate Bridge and up the Sonoma coast, looking for the road that matches comps for the next Jaguar campaign, or for Harley Davidson —
Or off to the High Sierras for Volvo, or to Yosemite —
Oh, and did I mention?
I scout the streets of San Francisco, looking for awesome, beautiful, world class shots.
Often I find myself looking for modern building environments in San Francisco, as for a Cadillac campaign.
But producers have flown me
to Florida,
Kentucky,
and Texas
because they know I deliver the goods.

FAQs

How do you work?

Hello 🙂
How do you work, some people ask. A good question, thanks for asking. I hope what you read below can answer this question.

Since agility and flexibility are principle components of my process, I consider each request and can make just about any request work.

Below are some of the most common requests.

A potential client sends a list of locations they need, written word or a mood board. They ask me if these can be found in San Francisco or surrounding areas. If not, where would be better suited for the needs of the project.
The client knows exactly what they want to shoot and they send me there to see what it looks like now.
The client is looking for ideas. More than once, I have been flown to places I have never been, to look at locations. Just looking for ideas.

I have been approached with many ideas, these are the most common ways to get started. Once this is established and it’s determined I am available for the project, and the sflocations terms are agreed to or tailored to suit the needs of both parties, we are ready to start scouting.

At the end of each day I post the days scouting to a private password protected website for your team to review, I do this for each day I scout.
Once all scouting is done, I leave the website up for 30 days after the completion of your production.
I am also available to answer questions after the scouting is done, as well to help secure permits and or permissions to use locations scouted by sflocations, using my permit assistance as a service, service.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out using the contact form, touchBASE, say hello 🙂

# of locations you scout in a day?

Every project is different, sometimes none and sometimes many, but usually many.
For example, if you have specific locations for me to go to in San Francisco, I can scout 6-12 in a day depending upon the time of year.
Less when the days are shorter and more on longer days.
I base my day on a 10 hour day, from the moment I step out the door to the moment I post the days locations.

What camera do you scout with?

I scout with an iPhone.

Location Viewing Portal?

Each project has a private password protected website.
Each location has an address and map, time of day images were taken, contact info if available.
Compass heading and notes.

Location Management?

Currently I do not offer location management. I do offer permitting assistance with clients I scout for.
I am also available to tech scout with the production team.

Drone Scouting?

At this time I do not offer location scouting with a drone.

Video Scouting?

Scouting for stills is what I do, if you need video as well, I can do so upon request.

Rate(s) (Payment Methods)?

My rate(s) are flat rate unless traveling out of town in which case travel expense is added on to my base flat rate.
Rates(s) also change depending upon the needs of the project. If you would like to know my rates, reach out using the form to check my availability.
I accept ACH and Wire Transfer Payment for services. All jobs require a 50% advance with balance due upon completion of my work.
For out of town work all estimated travel expense are due in advance of services.

Silicon Valley native, racing motorcycles (motocross) from age 12 across Northern and Southern California. A road warrior, full of adventure since age 16, based in Santa Cruz from age 18. Studied Color Theory and Visual Composition in college while working at a commercial photo lab as a printer. Moved to Hollywood to work with the biggest names in commercial automotive still photography as a photo camera assistant, and motion picture, on car commercials as a lighting tech (gaffer). This lead into my 1st location scouting jobs, scouting all across the western US while based in Hollywood. I met an actress there, we decided to get married and raise our kids in San Francisco and in a coastal town north of the city. From West Marin, I scouted and produced projects across the lower 48 + Alaska and Hawaii. Now post pandemic, we have a place in San Francisco and on the North Coast of Sonoma.
True story :). It’s mine.

A road warrior,
full of adventure
since age 16.

Here’s a scouting story:
Whether it’s a 7AM call time at a downtown hotel to meet the in-house creative team making action video games and driving around the whole Bay Area for a week to develop storyboard background plates —
to boarding a early morning flight at SFO — Destination, a small airport in the Mojave desert to tech scout with a production team according to my previous week’s scout, and then back home for dinner in San Francisco, same day —
Or across a snow covered Idaho mountain ridge in a snowcat, looking for the best angle of the Grand Tetons for a Jeep campaign —
to an early morning drive across the Golden Gate Bridge and up the Sonoma coast, looking for the road that matches comps for the next Jaguar campaign, or for Harley Davidson —
Or off to the High Sierras for Volvo, or to Yosemite —
Oh, and did I mention?
I scout the streets of San Francisco, looking for awesome, beautiful, world class shots.
Often I find myself looking for modern building environments in San Francisco, as for a Cadillac campaign.
But producers have flown me
to Florida,
Kentucky,
and Texas
because they know I deliver the goods.

did I mention?
I scout the
streets of
San Francisco

FAQs

How do you work?

Hello 🙂
How do you work, some people ask. A good question, thanks for asking. I hope what you read below can answer this question.

Since agility and flexibility are principle components of my process, I consider each request and can make just about any request work.

Below are some of the most common requests.

A potential client sends a list of locations they need, written word or a mood board. They ask me if these can be found in San Francisco or surrounding areas. If not, where would be better suited for the needs of the project.
The client knows exactly what they want to shoot and they send me there to see what it looks like now.
The client is looking for ideas. More than once, I have been flown to places I have never been, to look at locations. Just looking for ideas.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out using the contact form, touchBASE, say hello 🙂

# of locations you scout in a day?

Every project is different, sometimes none and sometimes many, but usually many.
For example, if you have specific locations for me to go to in San Francisco, I can scout 6-12 in a day depending upon the time of year.
Less when the days are shorter and more on longer days.
I base my day on a 10 hour day, from the moment I step out the door to the moment I post the days locations.

What camera do you scout with?

I scout with an iPhone.

Location Viewing Portal?

Each project has a private password protected website.
Each location has an address (or relevant identifier) and map, time of day images were taken, contact info if available.
Compass heading and notes.

Location Management?

Currently I do not offer location management. I do offer permitting assistance with clients I scout for.
I am also available to tech scout with the production team.

Drone Scouting?

At this time I do not offer location scouting with a drone.

Video Scouting

Scouting for stills is what I do, if you need video as well, I can do so upon request.

Rate(s) (Payment Methods)?

My rate(s) are flat rate unless traveling out of town in which case travel expense is added on to my base flat rate.
Rates(s) also change depending upon the needs of the project. If you would like to know my rates, reach out using the form to check my availability.
I accept ACH and Wire Transfer Payment for services. All jobs require a 50% advance with balance due upon completion of my work.
For out of town work all estimated travel expense are due in advance of services.

FAQs

FAQs

need a scout

touchBASE 🙂

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