By: Julieta Hernandez Photos Courtesy of: OBSRV. Media
When you look closer, everybody has a story. Seeking out and telling those stories is how they come to light; and, usually, the people who find those stories have a story of their own.
Miguel Diaz of Sofa Couch Media, Eric Alaniz of CC Visuals, and Carlos Tamez-Mendez of CTM Productions: visionary dudes that make the dream team. All experienced documenters, the crew came together when Diaz reached out to commercial photographer, Tamez-Mendez, and aesthetic photographer, Alaniz, to find a way to tell stories about the community a little differently.
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“That’s what OBSRV. is doing: lifting the envelope on each individual and really just allowing us to view inside their lives, temporarily,” Diaz said. “I’ve always wanted to do a mini documentary series just like this, but I never had the right type of team or people that came across in my life that could actually pull it together.”
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The guys at OBSRV. Media come with mics, cameras, and questions. The storytelling series of narratives that wouldn’t otherwise get told serves as an interactive give-and-take between our community and the people in it. The stories are told by the guys who couldn’t do it alone, so they pushed their talents together to put forward a new type of story-telling media for the Coastal Bend area to live through.
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“Anyone can take a camera and point it at someone, and ask what their story is. But we kind of wanted to give it more life,” Alaniz said. “I think as a collective, we work well together, we bounce ideas off each other, and it just makes everything come together magically.”
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Back To Life Photography is Alaniz’s photo project child. Beginning with wedding and concert photography to create his own style of capturing lively, dramatic moments out of both real life and fantasy, Alaniz and his eye for the shutter made a perfect addition to the vision of OBSRV as a whole.
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At CTM Productions, Tamez-Mendez highlights brands, people, and the things they do with the focus adjusted just right. With his history of professional photography and video work, Tamez-Mendez has worked with business owners in the area to find the special part of what they offer, and make it glow.
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And, well, as Miguel Diaz puts it, everyone falls into a role: and there’s room for everyone to sit with him at Sofa Couch Media. Creating platforms for locals and their business with a knack for design and marketing tools, SCM is all about bringing people up using their own talents… SCM just highlights it. The latest extension of SCM is its docuseries child, OBSRV., which is pushing the power of collaboration between these guys who know what they’re doing well enough that they can do it even better together.
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“Not only are we providing a platform for individuals, but within ourselves, we’re able to ‘flex’ our skills that we have, but can’t always showcase in our own professional edits that we’ll do for our clients,” Diaz said. “With the level of creativity and expertise that each of us bring, we’re able to put together a pretty good production.”
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The mini docuseries is about bringing everyone up to the top, and displaying everyone’s talents. The docuseries has told all the stories we wouldn’t have had a deeper perspective on, if video journalism didn’t thrive on a deeper perspective. The founder of the Menstrual Movement, the owner of Chicas Rock, and a girl who breathes fire: all different stories, different passions, long interviews and overnight edits.
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“Showcasing individuals and their passion for what they do, giving back to the community in a digital format, I think that helps both us and them,” Tamez-Mendez said. “For instance, we did Marcus, the Bird Man. That one got a lot of views, a lot of shares, and I’d like to think that’s helping out his business, Feathered Friends.”
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With a prospective future of growth and expansion, the team of three has hopes for the collaboration as well as their own personal visual endeavors. To learn about the passions, reasons, and talents people hold in the community, check out the past docuseries episodes on their Facebook or YouTube page, OBSRV.
Contact
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OBSRV on Youtube and Facebook
