Max Helm Productions

I had a chance to sit down with Max from Max Helm Productions (otherwise known as my Godson) tonight to talk a little bit about the cinematography and photography pieces that's he's been working on lately and what he hopes for it to become in the future. This came about after I saw some of his photography work lately and was super impressed by what he's doing. The natural talent that he has, especially at his age, is so impressive that I figured I should really do a little feature on him on here so I can claim I recognized his talent early on when he's famous later. We talked a little bit about how he learned to shoot the way he does and he said that a lot of it comes naturally and the rest is just trial and error. He said he just kind of knows what makes a cool shot and where the light should be, what angle to use, etc. He's also spent some time watching other people that he looks up to to see what they're doing. Seems to me he's already pretty far ahead of the curve just by knowing how to teach himself such a difficult craft. Max has really just been getting heavily into this over the last winter and is excited to find new locations and experiment with different lenses, lighting, techniques, etc over the next year. He hopes to be able to spend more time shooting street/action stuff this spring and summer since he's not really into doing posed stuff. His dream job would be to shoot for Transworld magazine since he likes action photography so much. His hero is Albert Einstein because he was "kind of weird" and was successful by doing things his own way, which is how Max wants to do it. He's also looking forward to taking some photography classes to fine tune his skills and wants to work with and watch other more experienced photographers to learn from them. Oh, by the way, dude's only 11 years old! I know, right?! With the talent and ambition he has at this age, the sky is the limit for this guy! I know you're supposed to say that about every kid, but c'mon, if your 11 year old spends the afternoon licking the window and running into trees they're probably not gonna be out of your basement for some time. This isn't all for him either, he's also an accomplished BMX racer and snowboarder. Unfortunately, he got taken out of snowboarding early this year due to a broken arm last week, but it's because he was pushing himself to get better and sometimes that happens. Expect to see a lot of skateboarding and BMX shots over this spring and summer. I'll keep you up to date on his current projects...don't forget your Godfather when you're rich and famous Max! Now, who's got a number for someone at Transworld??

Shots by Max:

 Shots of Max: