Tucker Walsh
"My passion for studying other people and cultures with my eyes led me to the perfect visual tool: a small Canon Rebel film camera. I received this birthday gift shortly before a trip to Kenya at age 13 where I would insist that my luggage be hand-checked to preserve every canister of film (despite TSA informing me again and again that my Kodak 400 ISO would be just fine in the x-ray)."
"I continued studying photography in high school and also gained an interest for politics. By the time I applied for college, I knew “photojournalism” would be the perfect marriage of my passions. And what better place to study photojournalism than the Corcoran College of Art + Design, half a block from the White House. The first semester of college, then Senator Obama was elected president and nearly every college student in D.C. ran to the White House to celebrate. I remember dancing with happiness and, most of all, taking pictures. Capturing history as it was happening was the biggest adrenaline rush I had ever experienced. It was the perfect combination of intense pressure and an intimate front row seat to the most important story happening on the planet."
"Even though I was studying photojournalism, there was this new wave of work popping up online called “multimedia,” which combined the power of photography with the intimacy of audio. Multimedia took still, frozen moments and gave them texture and context. Curious to try this new medium, I pursued an internship with The Washington Post video department my junior year of college. Being a photography student, I literally had no clue what I was doing. But I loved it. I dove in headfirst and figured it out on the go."
"I would get an assignment in the morning, then head out into the city alone and have maybe six hours to shoot, produce and edit a two minute film that would then be posted on the front page of The Washington Post website for thousands to see."
"After a summer internship with NPR’s multimedia department, I convinced my school to allow me to spend my fall semester as an intern in Brooklyn, NY at the award-winning multimedia production company, MediaStorm. It was an invaluable experience that taught me the art of editing and how to construct an emotional narrative. One of the projects I worked on, A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan, was nominated for an Emmy, which was a huge honor.
"I finished my last semester of college back in D.C., and about a week prior to graduation, I got a call out of the blue from Ari Kushnir, the CEO and Executive Producer of m ss ng p eces asking if I was interested in being a director for them. At first, I thought there was some misunderstanding, as I had little experience in the film and commercial industry. But Ari saw potential and a few weeks later I was headed to Brooklyn to start what became a two year position as in-house director and creative assistant. During that time, I learned the ins and outs of the commercial world and quickly built my reel. Now, 2 years later, I’ve officially joined the m ss ng p eces roster of directors and gained commercial representation. When not directing, I’m working on an interactive documentary as well as writing my first feature length script about veteran suicides."
"Today, whether I’m in a blind man’s lonely apartment in Maine or at a London photo shoot with a superstar athlete, I stand behind my camera lens, embracing the lessons I learned as a kid, determined to capture the essence of another human. I try to travel into my subjects’ worlds to understand theirs natures, their cores - what makes them feel most alive. I know that if I can capture a piece of someone’s soul, the rest will come easily. It’s the core of my subjects that I always strive to make the core of my films."