Shooting at MIT for ITN with Janet Wu — ©2016 Daniel Jacobs

I've worked in TV and video production since 1995.

Since 2005, I've been a freelance D.P. (Director of Photography - i.e. cameraman) based in Boston. Previously, I worked in news, where I learned to work fast, light when necessary, and shoot for the edit.

My career has given me a wide range of hands-on experience in many aspects of video production. My specialties: DP, lighting cameraman, shooting video, lighting, ENG audio, linear and nonlinear video editing, field producing, still photography.

I've shot all kinds of projects including documentaries; network programs and news; live shots; travel, home improvement, reality, fishing, and cooking shows; as well as surgeries; corporate videos; and multi-camera events. I also work as a field audio technician.

Note that I can light and shoot for many different styles. Often I do all the camera work, lighting, and sound while working with a producer.

I am comfortable working as a one man band, in a small crew, or with a large group. I am familiar with nearly every camera available from high end full-size broadcast HD cameras to DSLRs and HD palm-corders.

I'm available with or without my own gear.

“I love working with Brian Henderson. A great friend, an amazing videographer — and more.” - Tim Estiloz, entertainment reporter

Featured

Tutorial: Working Remotely or Remotely Working?

Everything you ever wanted to know about how to film remote interviews, but were afraid to ask!

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the USA in the spring of 2020, we all had to learn how to leverage technology to keep working. One of the things I’ve learned to do is to be able to feed a producer / director / interviewer the actual camera image and audio via the internet so that they can interview subjects from anywhere in the world in real time and see the actual shot.

WGBH

NOVA: Particles Unknown

WGBH

An episode of NOVA about neutrinos that I helped shoot in 2020 will finally start airing!

NOVA: Particles Unknown

Outnumbering atoms a billion to one, neutrinos are the universe’s most common yet most elusive and baffling particle. NOVA joins an international team of neutrino hunters as they try to capture an elusive fourth form of neutrino. Their results may force scientists to redraw their blueprint of the subatomic world, the Standard Model of physics, and change our understanding of how the universe works.

WGBH

Tutorial: Pro tips for video chats

I'm a TV cameraperson. Here's my "pro tips" for video chats on the web.

I basically treat them like I do a live shot or an interview:

1: If you turn the brightness up on your computer screen, it makes a nice key (main face) light. Avoid bright lights or windows behind you. The computer's camera will try to expose for that, and then you look dark if not silhouetted. Make yourself slightly brighter than the background, but not so much so that it looks like you're sitting in the dark.

People I Have Shot

One of my two camera interview for Bloomberg.

C300 — with Susan Bryant.

One of my two camera interviews for Bloomberg.

5D iii — with Susan Bryant.

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For ITN Productions.

C300. — with Tim Estiloz and Susan Bryant.

Sony EX3 + external recorder for that 10 bit 4:2:2 look.

Making the best of an uninteresting conference room. :)

100 mm at f 2.2
C300 on the "Wide Dynamic Range" Picture Profile.

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Locations

With Frank Coakley at Fenway Park

Live shots with the Weather Channel in a blizzard.

Filming NSYNC + The Backstreet Boys at a local ballpark

Interviewing rapper Chameleon with CNN's Nick Valencia in Kampala Uganda, 2006

Guatemala, 2010

Haiti, 2011

I'm happy to travel. I have shot in most states of the USA and in various countries around the world.

In August of 2011, I recorded all of the location sound for an independent short film in Haiti.
In January of 2010, I traveled to Guatemala to DP a pilot for Wayfarer.TV, a reality style travel show for teens.
In 2009, I visited Nairobi, Kenya to help teach a class on video production to slum residents, and to produce & shoot a film about a hospital in Kaimosi.
In 2006, I traveled to Uganda to make videos for NGOs.

I've also traveled in China, Tanzania, Jamaica, and Europe.

Earlier in my career, I spent nearly five years working in CNN's headquarters in Atlanta primarily as a video editor and field audio technician. I learned my lighting skills from some of their most senior photographers.

After that, I moved on to Hartford, CT (market 27) where I was a photojournalist and live truck operator for the award winning WTIC Fox 61 News at 10 for three years.

I always bring along my can-do attitude.