Here is my latest directing work for iBobber. I hope you enjoy the video, laugh out loud, and suddenly feel the urge to buy an iBobber. The fishfinder that syncs with your smartphone or tablet. 🙂
Big thank you to Fred Hammerquist, Alex Lebedev, Jeff Siegel, and Sage Price.
I am looking forward to doing a lot more directing in 2016. Merry Christmas everyone if I don’t talk to you in the next week.

Director: John Keatley http://localhost/keatleyphotos
Co Executive Producer and Production Company: Vacation Theory
Co Executive Producer: Redeye
Cast: Allen Fitzpatrick and Jake Ynzunza
Wardrobe Stylist: Alexis Steinman
Hair & Makeup: Haley Olsen
Gaffer: Casey Schmidt
Color and Sound by Post Nuclear http://www.postnuclear.co
Music Provided by Epidemic Sound http://www.epidemicsound.com/
Special thanks: Nina Kaseburg and Fred Hammerquist

Wow, this is so exciting! Introducing our new digital download from DEDPXL and Zack Arias. Ta Da! I spent 3 days with the DEDPXL crew last Fall filming this video. We put together some great shoots ranging from simple portraits to some conceptual work with a set build. This video series takes you through my personal life, career, failures and triumphs and also takes you on-set, behind-the-scenes to see some of my methods, gear and techniques as well as a full day of shooting. It could not have turned out any better in my opinion.

This short trailer gives you a good idea of what to expect. Thanks for taking a look. We have been overwhelmed by the positive response. Head on over to DEDPXL to download the full video now and enjoy!

Huge thank you to Zack Arias and Bernard Brand for all of their hard work on this. I am really proud, and happy to be a part of it.

2014 was a big year for me. It was the year I began directing professionally. I intended to start off with a series of self-produced shorts to build up my reel, but just after completing Glory Days, things took off. First I directed a series of commercials for the Sounders 2014 season with Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, and DeAndre Yedlin. Next up was a little music video for Fences + Macklemore called Arrows. Then I was off to Cincinnati for Vita Coco with Giovani Bernard. Which brings me to this video, the final project of the year. It was a labor of love, and well worth it, I might add.

My friends at Hammerquist Studios came to me with the idea of doing a pro bono video project for the 2015 International Children’s Film Festival Seattle put on by Northwest Film Forum. We had a blank slate, and the opportunity to create something great for a good cause could not be passed up. The first thing we did was get writer Jeff Siegel on board. He came up with about 6 really awesome ideas, but there was one that jumped out at all of us right away. Rather than read about it, you should really just watch how it turned out. There were over 50 people who generously gave their time, materials, creativity, and money to this project. I wish there was time to detail and describe the many amazing things each person did to make this happen. The energy on set was amazing because everyone was there because they truly wanted to be. Thank you to my amazing team, and thank you, Hammerquist and Northwest Film Forum, for trusting us to make this awesome video.

Directed by John Keatley
Written by Jeff Siegel
Agency / Hammerquist Studios
Starring Rachael Kevin and Everett Moss
Spencer Norris / DP and Editor

Produced by: Lillian Brunner, Taylor Reed, Nichelle Keatley, John Keatley
Art Direction: John Lavin, Becky Mohrlang
Cast: Sara Coates, Kathleen Boyle, Kunwar Singh, Julie Ellis, Aiden McCoy, Hallee Olsen, Cadence Whittle, Anthony Herrera, Etri Ajbour

Sound Designer: John Buroker
Sound: Sam Martinez
Music: Wesley Slover
Colorist: Kevin Adams
Voice Talent: Dave White
Gaffer: Scott Jonas
Costume Design: Ron Leamon, Gerard Parr
Hair & Makeup: Haley Olsen, Akemi Hart
Wardrobe Stylist: Alexis Steinman
PA: Jonah Kozlowski
Casting Agent: Tami Wakasugi
Set Builders: Becky Mohrlang, Stephen Klineburger, Natalie Hammerquist, Sean Tully, Jeff Aitken, Adam Hunt
Special Thanks To: Vince Klimek, Kaleo Quenzer, Dave Drummond, Fremont Studios.

Here is a little something we cooked up just for fun. I find that is often the best reason to create. Just for fun. Directing has gradually become a huge part of my creative process in addition to photography. When I was in high school, I bought my first video camera. I took it everywhere with me. Video was actually a passion of mine well before photography. Somehow, along the way as my photography career took off, video was something I lost sight of. Thankfully directing has come back to me in the last couple of years. In the past, I would go through my journal of ideas and think, “How do I want to make this a photograph?” Now, as I am thinking about a possible project, I am able to ask myself, “What is best for this idea? A photograph, a video?” Or maybe something else completely. Whatever it is, as long as I am creating, I am happy. Below is a still I also shot on set. I just couldn’t help myself.

A very big shout out and thank you to our amazing crew for making this video come to life. I can’t thank you enough!

Taylor Reed, Sara Coates, Isla Keatley, Andrew Franks, Kort Havens, Spencer Norris, Jonathan Houser, Jon Anderson, Nate Taylor, Alexis Steinman, Jennifer Popochock, Dennise Larson, Mikie Magnusson and Zoe Rain.

Behind the scenes images by Zoe Rain. Thanks Zoe!

Here is the first behind the scenes video of Arrows by Fences featuring Macklemore. This is so fun to watch for me because the last 2 months have been such a blur. As you can see, all of the sets were built in a warehouse and shot on green screen. Ian Hubert, Nate Taylor, and Ian Goode did such an amazing job bringing this to life with stunning imagery and VFX. I hope you enjoy it.

If you haven’t seen the actual music video yet, here it is: Arrows - Fences feat. Macklemore

“Arrows” by Fences featuring Macklemore and produced by Ryan Lewis. Directed by Jason Koenig and John Keatley. It’s hard really to put into words what I am feeling right now. We literally just finished working on this video and I haven’t had time to clear my head or process what has just happened. It has been 2 solid months of hard work for so many talented people, and I am incredibly proud of what we all created. First and foremost I want to thank Fences, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, my co-director Jason Koenig, and my wife Nichelle and our kids.

It goes without saying, but this has been an amazing opportunity that I am very grateful for. I also made some wonderful new friends along the way. It is worth mentioning that the sets for Arrows were all built in Seattle. Pre-Production, casting, filming, and all post production was done in Seattle. Seattle pride! I hope you enjoy the “Arrows” music video as much as I enjoyed working on it. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for lots of behind the scenes pictures and videos.

I have directed a few small film projects in the past few years, but what a project to get thrown into the ring on. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. This is just the beginning. John Keatley - Director / Photographer. I like the sound of that.

It’s official!!! Jason Koenig and I directed a music video for the song “Arrows” by Fences featuring Macklemore and it comes out this Monday! Holy Smokes I am excited about this. You will be able to see it on Youtube, so get ready. More soon. Thanks for watching!

Home stretch! It is almost time, and this MTV News post is a nice little teaser that something amazing is about to drop. Stay tuned. This is what making a music video 24/7 looks like.

This is a portrait I recently shot of my good friend and colleague Eric Becker, who is a director / documentary filmmaker. For over a year, Becker has been working on his film, Sound & Vision, which “explores issues facing the nearshore environment. It is a film about the oceans, told through the stories of people working to clean up, protect, and restore habitat in Puget Sound and beyond. The film is scheduled for release this fall.” I really like this portrait, because it hints at the chaos of documentary filming, while capturing the beauty of the Puget Sound that Becker’s film strives to preserve.

I was lucky enough to see the film at a pre-screening not too long ago, and it is really beautiful. Not your typical everybody freak out, we have a problem documentary, but one that explains a problem and offers hope, as well as a call to action.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, Becker and I will be leaving for the Philippines with Arts Aftercare next week. I can’t believe it’s almost time to go.

Retouching by Gigantic Squid.

I hinted at a fun assignment I was working on last month on Twitter, and now I am excited to to be able to share the images with you. I had a lot of catching up to do when I first got the assignment to photograph Murray Stenson from Art Director Jane Sherman at Seattle Weekly, but it didn’t take long for me to find out that Murray is widely regarded as the best bartender in the country. Don’t believe me?Just ask Esquire, Playboy and Tales of the Cocktail. It felt like when you get a new car, and all of a sudden you realize that just about everyone else on the road has the same car as you. As soon as I got this assignment, it seemed like everyone I knew was going out to get a drink from Murray. Apparently I was the last person to know. I was quite excited to not only photograph Murray, but to also have a drink from him.

I did the shoot at Canon, which is a new bar in Seattle where Murray works, along with an all-star group of bartenders led by Jamie Boudreau who is also the owner. There is a bit of a wait to get in, but I can tell you the wait is well worth it. I filmed a short video of Murray mixing and explaining how to make an Absinthe Julep, which you can see below. And yes, I did get to drink it after we were done filming. Someone had to, and I didn’t want it to go to waste. We did have to do 2 takes, but thankfully my assistant handled the second one since we were dealing with 124 proof. For what it’s worth, I made sure the video was the last thing we did so my pictures wouldn’t be out of focus.

Although Murray has been written up in many other magazines, this article is the first time he has told his story. It was written by Mike Seely, and is a really fascinating read. Here is the link to the article if you are interested. Along with the video, I also included a few behind the scenes pictures at the bottom.

Thanks to Jane Sherman for working with me on this, and thanks to Murray and Jamie for being such gracious hosts and subjects. Photo retouching by the fine folks at Gigantic Squid.

Behind the scenes pictures by Lonnie Webb.