Websites, brand identity, and media production for coastal businesses and destinations.

Project Need

The Mendocino County Tourism Commission needed a media production partner with genuine local fluency — someone who could respond quickly to field requests, draw from an existing visual library of the county, and produce original campaign content that actually looked like Mendocino. Generic stock photography wasn't going to work for a destination whose entire appeal is its specificity.

Approach

Fiscal year 2023/2024 retainer covering on-call photo and video production — drawing from an existing coastal media library or going into the field for original captures on request. Produced video footage for the "Magic Is Real" OTT advertising campaign, distributed across streaming channels and on screens at Sonoma County Airport. Cover photography for the 2024 Mendocino County Visitor Guide, the primary print distribution piece for the region.

Visual Direction

Destination imagery that captures the specific light, atmosphere, and character of Mendocino County — fog-draped headlands, village texture, coastal color. Photography that comes from knowing the place well enough to be in the right spot at the right time.

Project Need

Studio Ramsay needed aerial cinematography for Episode 8 of Knife's Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars — a high-production documentary series following Gordon Ramsay as he investigates the pursuit of Michelin Stars. The episode featured Chef Matthew Kammerer at The Harbor House Inn in Elk, California: a remote coastal property on a rugged stretch of the Mendocino Coast. Getting the aerial footage right required both technical capability and knowledge of the local terrain, tides, and conditions.

Approach

Aerial cinematography on location at Elk, California — sea arches, coastal cliffs, and the property itself captured across a full production day. Footage integrated into Episode 8 of the series, which premiered on Apple TV+ in October 2025.

Visual Direction

Cinematic coastal aerial — sea arches, Pacific cliffs, ocean light. Footage that required knowing the coast well enough to anticipate conditions, position the aircraft correctly, and deliver broadcast-quality material on a production schedule.

Project Need

The Beachcomber Hotel Group needed cinematic background video for the websites of three Mendocino Coast properties — Beachcomber Motel, Surf and Sand Lodge, and Beach House Inn. The video needed to communicate the feel of each property immediately, before a prospective guest reads a single word of copy.

Approach

Video production at each property capturing the coastal environment, light, and character of the guest experience. Background video deployed across three hotel websites — providing instant visual immersion that no static image can replicate.

Visual Direction

Pacific light on the water, ocean-facing architecture, the specific mood of each property at the right hour. Shot to distinguish each hotel rather than produce a generic coastal reel.

Project Need

A family-owned design-build contractor with 26 years in Mendocino County had built his own website on Wix — and it was undermining him. His messaging centered on design expertise and in-house capability, but the site's own graphic design contradicted the claim. A builder advertising design sensibility needs a website that demonstrates it. When your clients are high-net-worth homeowners investing in a custom build or ADU, the website is part of the first impression — and a Wix site with muddled messaging doesn't clear the bar.

Approach

Took the project out of his hands entirely — rebuilt from scratch in custom code (replacing Wix) and restructured the site around six clearly defined build categories with a process walkthrough, project gallery, and strong owner story. Produced original photography and video for a cinematic homepage hero — new media to match the new design. Free estimate CTA woven throughout. Also consulted on media buys to get the new site in front of the right audience — because a better site only converts if the right people see it. The design direction was drawn directly from his building aesthetic: a near-black palette with warm, material-toned gold accents that echo the wood and steel of his finished homes, paired with bold typography and a clean architectural layout. The site was built to feel as considered as the structures he delivers — because a contractor who sells design sensibility needs a homepage that proves it.

Visual Direction

Warm and craft-forward — completed project photography that shows the quality of the work across custom homes, ADUs, remodels, and outdoor builds. Layout as solid as the builds themselves.

Project Need

An established artist needed a quiet digital home where the work leads — with clear paths to gallery, bio, and contact — plus a place to publish and promote his recurring annual events.

Approach

Portfolio-first structure with restrained navigation, large visual moments, and a direct contact path for collectors and gallery interest. Annual event pages updated on a scheduled basis as shows and events are confirmed.

Visual Direction

Minimal, gallery-like presentation that keeps the artwork central and avoids over-designing around the pieces.

Project Need

A multi-generational logging family had pivoted into wildfire mitigation and built a custom excavator attachment unlike anything on the market — faster and more effective on steep, rugged terrain than conventional equipment. The owner believed he was the only one who could do what he did. He was right, but he had no IP protection, no brand presence, and no strategy for turning a unique capability into a scalable business.

Approach

Consulting led to the identification of a patentable invention and a referral to an IP attorney — resulting in patent protection on the excavator attachment and a licensing strategy that opened a revenue path beyond direct service work. Simultaneously: documentary-style brand videos telling the family's multi-generational logging story and demonstrating the machine's efficiency on rugged mountain terrain. Web copy, visual identity, and brand voice developed from the ground up. The videos were deployed at Napa Firewise conventions on a large-format screen — and a high-value contract with a prominent Napa vineyard was secured on the spot. The right message, the right room, the right proof.

Visual Direction

Forest-forward and cinematic — documentary framing that honored the family's generational roots in the land while positioning the technology as genuinely category-defining. Trust built through story, not just credentials.

Project Need

The Mendocino Coast's #1-selling real estate agent — over $20 million in annual sales — needed a full visual identity: not just a website, but a complete brand presence that matched her market authority and communicated the distinct character of each Mendocino Coast community she represents. Buyers relocating to the area often have no feel for the differences between towns. That gap needed to be closed before they ever browsed a listing.

Approach

Full brand build: logo, photography, video, copy, and a highly customized site developed over multiple years of ongoing collaboration. Two standout features define the experience. "Get to Know the Coast" gives each coastal town its own full-bleed background video — a mini film that places buyers inside each community before they browse a single property, making place legible and emotionally real. "Navigate Escrow" transforms the homebuying process into an interactive nautical-themed journey, demystifying escrow step by step using the Mendocino coastline as the visual metaphor — turning a process that intimidates first-time buyers into something they can actually follow and look forward to.

Visual Direction

Original coastal photography and video woven into an editorial brand identity — ocean light, village character, redwood atmosphere. Each town rendered distinctly. Refined typography, personal authority, and custom interactive features that no off-the-shelf real estate platform could replicate.

Project Need

Real Estate Magazine is a long-running Mendocino County institution — a print publication with over 150,000 copies distributed annually across the coast, Anderson Valley, and inland to Ukiah and Willits. More community paper than trade publication, it covers local businesses, events, personalities, and property listings in equal measure. The publisher needed a robust online home that honored the magazine's 30-year legacy while giving advertisers, readers, and real estate professionals a practical digital resource.

Approach

Magazine-style site architecture that mirrors the publication's dual identity: a community gathering point and a comprehensive property and advertiser directory. Editorial content, listings, event calendar, and an archive of issues brought together under one roof. A simple CMS lets the publisher upload and archive each new PDF issue without technical help. Advertiser resources — media kits, ad specs, and authorization forms previously sent as email attachments — are now hosted and shareable via a single link, cutting out a recurring friction point in the sales process.

Visual Direction

Editorial coastal tone that reflects the magazine's warmth and community character — not a sterile listings portal. Layout and typography that feels like a publication worth reading, not just browsing.

Project Need

A premium short-term rental perched above the Mendocino Coast — with a hot tub overlooking the Pacific, a beautifully designed interior, and a setting that no OTA listing photo was doing justice. The property was competing on platforms that flatten every rental into the same grid of thumbnail images. The owners needed media that showed what it actually felt like to be there.

Approach

Photo and video production focused on the experiences that make the property specific: the hot tub with its unobstructed ocean view, the warm, designed interior with its arched bar and wine fridge, the light and scale of the space at the right hour. Video captured for direct booking and social use — footage that communicates the feeling of arrival and stays with a prospective guest after they've closed the tab.

Visual Direction

Warm, interior-led imagery balanced with the drama of the exterior setting. The goal was to make the property feel like a place with personality — not just amenities. Every frame chosen to close the gap between the screen and the experience.

Project Need

A local media brand needed to present photography, video, aerial media, and web services as connected creative capabilities.

Approach

Service-forward brand site that shows production value, clarifies offerings, and gives clients a direct path to project inquiries.

Visual Direction

Cinematic coastal media direction with aerial imagery, simple service framing, and visual proof of local production quality.