About five years ago before I formed Valley Creek Productions I decided it would be a good idea to interview my grandfather on video.  He was  getting up in years and I wanted his history preserved. I knew he served in Korea and a little about his early history but a lot of the other stories he told I had never heard before and were new and interesting to me.

Since this was before I started the videography business I used a consumer camcorder with a wired lapel microphone and sat him down. Over the course of a few hours I asked him questions. I also sat down with my grandmother to get her take on some of the stories he told.

All of the film from Korea and Japan was shot by my Grandfather. We had the 8 mm film transferred to DVD a while back. Almost all the photos are his too. This project was several years in the making. partially because I was only working on it in my spare time and partially because I was working hard to find photos from old family albums that would match what he was talking about.

As I wrote on the cover of the DVD I gave out to all of our family members, this film will preserve these memories and stories for the next generation.

Below is a link to the interview. It’s broken into 5 segments to make viewing easier and runs a little under 60 minutes. I hope you enjoy viewing a little of our family’s history. If you’re interested in doing something like this for your family contact us for more information!

https://valleycreekproductions.com/InHisOwnWords.aspx

Update: My grandpa passed away on January 13th. He was an great man and I am so happy to have known him. On our last visit a few weeks ago we got the family together to show everyone this video.  He was so proud and happy then and I’m glad I got it done in time for him to see it. Afterwards we took a family photo which I added below.

Shooting video at family events is something we do best, and it’s especially fun when it’s my own family. Back in June I shot my cousin Tim’s high school graduation from Susquehanna Valley High School in Conklin, NY. 

Video is one of those things that I’m always happy to shoot when I’m around family and friends during special occasions.  These are memories that will only get more valuable as time goes on.

A few years back my mom had all of my grandfather’s Super8 movies transferred to DVD.  Watching those now is so amazing for me.  Being able to see my grandparents in their prime and my mom and uncles growing up was very interesting. I’m glad I’ll have those videos to watch for years to come even as I create my own.

Check out Tim’s short graduation video up on our website in the family events section.

Tim and I after his graduation in June