I have always had some aversion to labels. I equate that to being good at many things. I am thankful to be good at those things, but it becomes hard to explain what “I do” without it seeming like I do everything. …because I happen to do a few things well.

I am going to start our storytelling journey with music. Music is my first creative love. I have been creating music since 2003. I started as a drummer in my early childhood, but my “main instrument” for the majority of my life has been guitar. I have always gravitated to rhythms and rhythm guitar over lead guitar. (shocking coming from drums, I know) In the early 2010’s, I started my journey into computer music and music production. This is where I really found my stride in music as a career. I went to college for music production and engineering. I was overly qualified and experienced in most of my classes. (This came from my desire to create and learn while in bands through high school.) So much so that the professors had me help teach rather than attend the classes. With this came some really great relationships. I am very grateful to say: I am an ableton artist. I quickly started working in local studios and fell into live sound engineering.

During that time, I started writing music under the name ‘whostaylor’. My music is available on your favorite music streaming platform. (or click here) In December of 2019, I challenged myself to write a song a day. I did it! I decided to go into 2020 writing & releasing an ep a month (1-5 songs). This made it’s way all the way through September. That amount of forced creation had a pretty large negative effect on my creativity. I am typing this in early 2023 and I have yet to complete any form of song worth releasing. Although, for the first time in years, the desire and creativity is welling up in ways I have never experienced. Outside of my personal music career, I have had the opportunity to write pieces of music for a few different companies. One of the most exciting being the volume and eq adjustment sounds for one of fender audio’s speakers. I also run live sound (front of house and in-ears), and mix and master music a few times a month.

Let’s dive into photography next. Growing up, I didn’t understand photography or cameras. I didn’t understand why I had such a hard time taking “good” photos. It was frustrating. So much so that I was adverse to cameras for years. That changed in mid 2017. I bought a camera. I was tired of feeling like I was “wasting” all my time on video games or something less “productive”/creative during periods of musical writer’s block. In August of 2017, while on a trip to Oregon to see the solar eclipse, Nicole (my wife) asked if my camera could take video. “Because that is more interesting than photos of me skating". We tried with that camera through the rest of the trip. It didn’t go well.

Once we got home, I sold that camera and bought a new one that was far more versatile. This was the beginning of a new era for me as a creator. Being comfortable with a camera and having new capabilities to capture things in motion… My life was changed. I had no idea it would lead me (and us) to where we are today. Since then, I have shot some cool photography projects. (like: drool magazine, fender audio, key street, super73, plants and coffee, hyundai) For most intents and purposes, my photography is more for me and the memories than work. You can typically find me behind the lens of my leica or various film cameras at disneyland.

Remember just a second ago when I said “my life was changed”? Well, here we go! Videography. After upgrading my camera equipment in late 2017, many hours spent experimenting, and posting my progress on the internet; my friends started to ask how much I charged to film stuff. Honestly, the rest is history, but that that isn’t a very fun story… I started filming little projects for friends, my wife’s skating, and my own enjoyment. After that caught a little more steam; I spent a couple years working for an electric bike company (super73). I was in charge of all content. Contracted, in-house, big campaigns, little social videos, you name it, I had a hand in it. I learned a lot during my time there. In early 2021, I left that job to work full-time with Nicole. We have a company called tnfiore. Since working full-time for “myself”, I have worked on a number of really neat projects big and small. (like: fender audio, detroit tigers, hyundai, music videos, rd abbott) If you haven’t, check out my reel. It’s a really good example of my favorite parts of some of my favorite work. I did all this while maintaining the day-to-day operations and content creation for thatnicolefiore.com with Nicole.

As we continued to share our work with the world, we caught the eye of black magic design. (they’re a video camera, hardware, and software company.) We became black magic design creators, and thus began my dive into color for video. This journey is still in its early stages, but that’s not to discredit my “eye” for color. If I had to pick what my strong suits are for video production, I would have to say: editing first, color second, shooting third. Bear in mind… This is like asking me to pick a favorite star wars movie; or for some like picking a favorite child. I can do it, but they’re all my favorite. Let’s sum it up by saying: I like capturing stuff on video. Whether that’s with a digital camera, film, or something else. There is always an abundance of stuff to be captured, and I look forward to whatever “stuff” gets to be next!

Finally, to bring our journey here to a close... You came here to learn more about me, right? Not just the work stuff? Cool. Me too! I teeter the line of being laidback while maintaining professionalism. I tend to keep my cool when adversity strikes; while managing a joke or two in the process. I would far rather smile at you than frown. I take my mental and physical health seriously, but not too seriously. Let’s put it this way… You don’t get a tattoo with your cats piloting a ufo on your arm while taking things too seriously. I really cherish people and relationships. I have moderate obsessions with: craft coffee, tiki cocktails, apple products, tech stuff, synths, baseball (go dodgers!), hockey (go ducks!), fashion, music, space, movies, fish, and plants. Oh.. did I not mention star wars? huh... (I have a few tattoos of that too.) I wear glasses. Fart jokes break me, but real farts are mostly kinda gross. Nacho libre, ace ventura, and dark knight are my top 3 movies (outside of star wars). Inside of star wars, the last jedi is my favorite. If you disagree now, one day you won’t.

I have two cats. (Fred and Kevin) Kevin is a girl. She’s cute as shit. I’m married to Nicole Fiore. I could not ask for a better life partner and business partner, honestly. (It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and my answer still doesn’t change.) I have full stormtrooper armor. Specifically, the original ‘a new hope’ stormtrooper. I also have shoretrooper armor. (the beach bad guys from rogue one) When I’m not behind a camera, I'm probably in front of a computer screen. If I’m not either of those places, I’m definitely at disneyland. If you made it this far, I feel like we’re basically best friends now! Send me a message on instagram or on my contact page here and let me know you read the whole thing. That’ll be cool. You can tell me something awesome about yourself too! I would love to hear about you!