About

Hello, I'm Daniel. I love history and video so I decided to combine the two and create a business where I'm able to utilize these passions. Retro Reflections is a Houston-based business specializing in personal documentaries.

That's the short version; if you want the long version continue reading...

One evening I was watching a documentary and a seemingly crazy idea occurred to me: Could I shoot documentaries about people? Would people want to talk about their lives and share photographs they haven't seen in years so I could bring their stories to life?

The more I thought about it the more logical it seemed.

During my last two years of high school, I took a video production class. I thought it would be a fun experience - nothing more. Only now do I realize how seismic that class really was. I went from being a film buff to learning what it took to make a film. 

I worked harder than the other students who mostly regarded the class as an easy "A." Most of my classmates would just make up shots as they went along, while I had to plan everything - and I loved it. I thought I had found my calling: I would be a feature film director.

When my English teacher assigned a project that was supposed to say something about us, I had the perfect idea: make a documentary about my life.  This was before I knew about scanning pictures so I propped up family photos against a lamp and I recorded them so they could be included in the documentary. I also included clips of home movies and then added music throughout. And just like that, I had completed my very first documentary with barely a thought about making another one.

My film obsession continued after high school where I read books on its various aspects and listened to director commentaries on DVDs. For those who are unaware, director commentaries are features on DVDs and Blu-Rays where individuals involved in the making of a movie (directors, writers, actors, etc.) comment on it as it plays. For those who want to learn about film, few things compare to a director discussing their film as you see it playing in front of you. Commentaries were invaluable to me because I was basically receiving free lessons from successful professionals. I tried to incorporate these lessons into my short films, which led to substantial improvement.

While visiting my parents from college, I copied about twenty VHS tapes onto MiniDV tapes. I took the tapes back to my apartment in Austin, loaded all the footage onto my laptop and began editing. I burned over a dozen DVDs by categories: birthdays, vacations, school events, Little League, etc.

So now my parents could watch a certain birthday or vacation by selecting one from a DVD menu, instead of having to fast forward through a bunch of footage on a VHS tape. The process of editing the footage and making it available in a more efficient fashion was satisfying.

During this time, I also wrote a feature-length film script. In 2004, I dropped out of school so I could focus on making the film. While working on pre-production, I took a graveyard shift as a grocery clerk. I worked on my storyboard when I would get home at six in the morning and continue until I fell asleep. I would get up in the late evening, have a meal and go in to work and do it all over again. I was able to finish the storyboard and began working on the film. It was exciting to finally be able to work on the project until the actors - who were working for free - dropped out. 

I decided to go back to school - this time in Florida - where I could live with my grandparents while I earned a history degree. While staying at my grandparents' house, I would peruse their photo albums with great interest; it was fascinating to see the evolution of family members along with the era. I like to think of it as experiencing thirty years in thirty minutes.

During my college years I unwittingly continued to plant documentary seeds as I seemed to be interested in not only my family's lives, but everyone else's as well.

When I lived in Texas, I would read the obituaries in the Houston Chronicle due to my growing fascination with life stories. Years later in Florida, I took advantage of the university's free copies of The New York Times and read those obituaries as well. Even though the stories were brief, I looked forward to learning about the highlights and seminal events in a person's life.

After graduating, I moved back to Texas and began substitute teaching. I started production on my feature film again in the summer of 2010 and finished it the following year. I was proud of my accomplishment, but nevertheless, I failed to get the project accepted into any festivals. That was quite a defeat after the time and energy my cast and I had invested in the project. 

After that disappointment, I went from substitute teaching to a full-time position teaching social studies and Texas History. I left that position during my first year, but nevertheless found the idea of making history interesting a worthy challenge.

I didn't realize that these seemingly unrelated events and interests were the building blocks of my future. For years I had regarded film and history as passions that interrupted my daily life. After my feature film bust and short-lived teaching career, I got a 9-to-5. I made short films once in a while just to stay sharp and experiment with new techniques. And even though I had steady employment, I would still apply for video jobs. I did this for several years, which only resulted in a couple of phone interviews. Discouraged, I abandoned filmmaking altogether and opted to just watch them instead. 

And then I saw that documentary and an idea sparked...

- Daniel