I have been passionate about capturing images since I was given my first camera at the age of six. Then in 2007 I began photographing portraits and weddings as a side career. This adventure was born solely out of the desire to create my own art and push my boundaries as a photographer. Here is a small sampling of my delve into the exciting world of professional portrait photography.
Would you like to see more?
It is said that your best camera is the one that is with you. Over the last few years I have embraced the art of mobile photography. All images here are 100% shot and edited on an iPhone.
I was recently interviewed in an article for my iPhone art.
You can read about it here.
As you’ve probably guessed so far, I am an ANIMATOR and a PHOTOGRAPHER.
Animation allows me to breath life into lifeless objects. I tell stories and sculpt emotion by posing and creating movement. It has given me a very keen eye into analyzing the world around me.
Photography draws upon the same discipline by allowing me to capture life. A good portrait photographer needs two important skills – to recognize special moments and react within a split second to capture it, as well as to help recreate, when needed, peak moments that may be too difficult to capture.
Being a photographer makes me a better animator. And being an animator drives me to be a better photographer.
Lead Character Animator
2002 – Present (16+ years) Santa Monica, CA
My first projects at Naughty Dog were JakII and 3. My responsibilities included animating the creatures and cinematics, as well as contributing to the hi-res print team.
At the end of Jak 3, I was promoted to lead gameplay animator on our first PS3 project, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. My responsibilities included leading the interactive animation team, architecting our animation pipeline, directing motion capture shoots, and developing our hero character, Nathan Drake.
My responsibilities continued onto Uncharted 2 until about halfway through the project, I moved onto managing the interactive cinematic team. Uncharted 2 won game of the year, and our team walked away with the AIAS Outstanding Achievement in Animation award.
Then in Uncharted 3, I merged both the gameplay and interactive animation teams. My responsibilities included managing the team of now 17 animators, developing the hero character, directing the majority of our team’s motion capture shoots, animating interactive cinematics, and doing my best to inspire the team to push the boundaries in interactive animation. We won another AIAS Outstanding Achievement in Animation as well as an Annie nomination for Best Animation in a Video Game.
Uncharted 4 was our studios’ swan song to the well received franchise. Now with the horsepower of the PS4, we set out to make the Uncharted of our dreams. My responsibilities as lead were mainly focused on player animation and interactive cinematics. In addition to supervisory roles, I animated Drakes completely reimagined climbing system.
I currently hold the role as lead animator on Naughty Dog’s highly anticipated The Last of Us Part II.
Photographer
Jeremy Yates Photography
June 2007 – June 2011 (4 years 1 month)
Photographed wedding, engagement, lifestyle, and children’s portraits.
Character Animator
TDRL
January 2000 – October 2002 (2 years 10 months)
My primary focus was on character animation for various animated shorts and vfx films.
VFX Artist / Character Animator
TDRL
July 1998 – June 1999 (1 year)
Digital matte paintings, character animation, modeling, texturing, lighting, compositing for various films, commercials, and a television series.
Character Animator / artist / instructor
Vision Scape Imaging
June 1997 – September 1998 (1 year 4 months)
character animation, modeling, lighting, texturing for video game cinematics. Instructor at the Lab.
Character Animator / artist
Blue Sky Software
January 1997 – June 1997 (6 months)
Lead artist on a video game project.
