Multimedia Producer & Photographer

The Red Zone

Moments after two nurses in protective gear wrapped the body of a 58-year-old man who succumbed to COVID-19, the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” played over the public address system to mark the discharge of another coronavirus patient. This was April of 2020. See the full interactive here. My colleague David Olson and I spent days donning full PPE inside Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital, including in the emergency department and intensive care units, and chronicled how COVID-19 had transformed South Nassau and the way medical professionals delivered care. Health care workers portrayed a hospital under siege by a disease …

Fight Games

My respect for the art and technique of fight games runs deep, having grown up in a martial arts household, and having achieved a black belt in Judo while living in Japan. I’m a better photographer than Judoka. Here are a few moments worth sharing from my years photographing cage-side at the UFC and other full-contact events.

“Testing the Divide” Documentary

One of the most concentrated investigations of discrimination by real estate agents in the half century since enactment of America’s landmark fair housing law, our team at Newsday found evidence of widespread separate and unequal treatment of minority potential homebuyers and minority communities on Long Island. See the Peabody-winning project here. The three-year project culminated in a multi-faceted multimedia presentation, which includes a 40 minute documentary (which went viral across the countries’ realtor and fair housing communities). Our project was featured on the Daily Show and Last Week Tonight. Robert Cassidy and myself directed the visuals, and I was the …

Portraiture

Collection of environmental and studio portraits while on assignment.

FIELD WORK

Fieldwork is a cornerstone of scientific research, offering direct access to data in real-world environments. For many science disciplines, understanding natural systems or phenomena requires firsthand observation and data collection outside of controlled lab settings. Fieldwork allows scientists to study ecosystems and animal behavior in their native context, yielding authentic and reliable insights. … And it’s a daily adventure. In riparian areas, I ride on scientists’ coattails, aiming to highlight the work they do and the interactions they have with their wild subjects and natural environments.  

Weidman: Father and Fighter (Interactive Documentary)

Behind the scenes of professional MMA fighter Chris Weidman during his training camp. See the Interactive Documentary:  Experience the professional and personal lives of the former UFC champion from Long Island through this parallel video experience ahead of his title shot at UFC 199 against Luke Rockhold in Los Angeles.

The Family Circus

The quaint space beneath the canopy of high wires and hanging rings feels nothing short of family — cozy, comfortable, familiar. Each of the 500 seats inside the one-ring Zoppé Family Circus sits within 20 feet of the tent’s inner circle. Spectators who make eye contact with a clown one minute may find themselves brought into the act the next. Recently, the circus continued its 170-year tradition with four days of performances in Westhampton Beach, at the corner of Main Street and Potunk Lane. At the heart of the show is the relationship between a horseback-riding ballerina, Tosca Zoppé, and …

From Paramount to Pacquiao

In less than one year, Greenlawn-raised Chris Algieri went from boxing at The Paramount in Huntington to facing Manny Pacquiao on HBO pay-per-view in Macau, China. This was the story of his ascent. But the bravado that traveled halfway around the world with Algieri was replaced by sobering reality against Manny Pacquiao — Algieri could take heart from the fact that he went the distance with the champ. Project page

My Eddie Adams Workshop Assignment

I’m often asked what I submitted to get into the competitive Eddie Adams Workshop. I honestly don’t remember. But here’s my photo story at the Workshop. I was assigned to tell the story of Cima Bue, a local artist and mountain bike enthusiast, who in his spare time carves trails through local woods on which to ride. At EAW I was on James Nachtwey’s team, which didn’t mean anything to me at the time as I, embarrassingly, didn’t know who he was. But he went to bat for me during the awards part of the weekend. In this PhotoBrigade episode, …

“Plume: Decades of Deceit” Documentary

A story about pollution, secrecy, water and fear: How the Grumman plume has grown into Long Island’s biggest environmental crisis. Watch The Full Documentary Here I created the documentary, and produced the visuals for the web presentation.

“Life on the Bays” Documentary

Words and visuals: Jeffrey Basinger Once numbering in the thousands, independent baymen have worked in the public waters off Long Island for centuries. Now these clammers and fishermen, many in their 60s or 70s, go mostly unnoticed. So do their daily struggles. Whether in Peconic Bay, Hempstead Bay, The Great South Bay, or others, the baymen share common pains: declining clam and fish populations, lack of affordable docking, increased regulations and catch limits. They cite pollution, fertilizers, global warming and governmental disinterest as culprits. Of course, there is also the literal pain they endure from the repetitive physical stress of …

“Inside Internal Affairs” Documentary

Our 2-year investigation into Nassau, Suffolk police uncovered little accountability in 4 deaths and 4 serious injuries. Nassau and Suffolk police imposed little or no discipline in six cases, failed to act against some officers in a seventh, and shielded six officers from possible criminal charges. Read the story and watch the full documentary here  

Feed Me TV series

I was producer, photographer and editor on a number of successful episodes of Newsday’s FeedMeTV. The following were precious moments: SNL alum and comedian Jim Breuer makes us laugh while exploring the new restaurants. Singer Ashanti, Glen Cove’s Grammy award-winning superstar, takes us on a tour of her hometown. Culinary Queen Lidia Bastianich invites us on a trip down memory lane, experiencing her story through the foods of her childhood, one shop at a time throughout Queens. Neon Trees rocker Taylor Glenn and Actor Will Roland discovers places to visit in the Theater District before and after a show. Long …

“HUSH: Rhythm of a hometown chef” documentary

Farmingdale’s own Marc Anthony Bynum pulled himself out of depression as he discovered culinary arts in his teens. Known for being on Food Network’s ‘Chopped’ and for his consulting work around the world, Chef Bynum gave us a behind-the-scenes look over the course of several months, ending July 10, 2015, at the life and struggles of a chef trying to open his first restaurant, Hush Bistro, in his hometown.  

“Street Racer: Culture of Speed on Long Island” Documentary

On Mother’s Day weekend in 2014, an illegal street race on Conklin Street in Farmingdale ended in a crash that took the lives of five Long Island teenagers. Soon after, we began filming “Street Racer,” a documentary about illegal street racing and the culture of speed on Long Island. In the video, filmed over two years, Long Islanders directly affected by the fervent racing scene in Nassau and Suffolk counties share their stories. Blake Slade was 19 in 2002 when he drove his Mercedes-Benz in excess of 110 mph before a crash that killed a young couple about to be …

“The Cut: Weight Cutting in Sports” documentary

A 1973 Suffolk County wrestling champion would turn on the family dryer, disconnect the recirculation tube and funnel it down his sweatshirt. This pumped hot air onto his body while he jumped rope in his basement. Other high school wrestlers of that era would thread a leather belt down their throats to induce vomiting. Such was the price one paid to wrestle at a specific weight class. While those type of weight-cutting tactics were outlawed in New York by the late 1990s, athletes at all levels are still risking serious damage to their bodies by trying to reach a certain …

Singles

Memorable moments from my career in visual journalism.

Police Accountability

Two years of police accountability investigations resulted in a variety of deep-dive stories and videos. 6,539 Black people tried to become police officers on LI. Only 67 were hired. Suffolk police stopped, searched minority drivers at higher rates. Videos contradict police accounts of events, revealing unwarranted actions and unjustified. Most large police departments have body cameras. Long Island’s police avoid them. Police misconduct lawsuits have cost LI taxpayers $165 million since 2000.    

Teacher Misconduct

“Confidential” settlement agreements allowed more than 100 Long Island tenured educators accused of misconduct to resign quietly in the past decade. Some of the accusations were shocking — sexual, physical, and financial. Newsday’s Jim Baumbach and Joie Tyrell reviewed more than 5,000 pages of school and state disciplinary records obtained through hundreds of Freedom of Information Law requests. The project explains how the secretive system works and why districts choose a path that victims deem unfair. See the project and watch the NewsdayTV news package here. Then, more than 200 lawsuits were filed under the Child Victims Act, which removed the …

Aerial

I’ve only crashed once. Lots of emergency landing situations in my over 200 hours of flying… I’ve dealt with every technical issue imaginable at this point. But I love how aerials can add perspective to any project, and I’m always looking for an excuse to fly. I’m FAA licensed and always use proper protocol and apps when planning my flights. I use primarily a cinematic drone, but also have an FPV for specific scenarios that require unique maneuvers. To the right is a photo of me teaching students how to fly…