Hi there! My name is Christian Hundley and I am a photographer, a cinematographer, and a nomad. I have been in this field for a large majority of my life (12 years and some change) and I don’t see myself getting out of it any time soon. Over the last few years, I have begun to wonder about what comes next in my life & career. But first, a little bit of context:
I started this journey as a child. For as long as I can remember, I have always loved telling stories. And I’ve tried telling stories in a large variety of ways. I made a limited-run comic book series out of Walmart notebooks, recorded my screen while I played Club Penguin & cut together little stories with voiceovers, I even “animated” using MS Paint at one point! Then when I hit my middle school years I took a liking to the skateboard. All the cool kids did it and I wanted to be one of the cool kids (obviously). I did that for a few years and of course, I had to tell some kind of story. I got a little camcorder for Christmas & I immediately began using it to record… you guessed it, skate videos. This was my first real experience using a camera to tell a REAL story. As I write this I am realizing that this was the first time that I was able to dive into the world of documentary filmmaking… I’ll get to that in a second.
Getting back on track… when it was time for me to go to high school, I was given a sheet of paper that showed me all of the cool classes that I would be able to take as a freshman. One of them stood out to me; Student Filmmaking. Of course, I had to take the class… it was going to teach me all that I wanted to know about making the BEST skate videos out there. I signed up for the class & within the first week of my Freshman year, I joined the high school’s media club and began a journey that would lead me to where I am today.
That was a little over 12 years ago now & the kid that wanted to make skate videos has become a full-time photographer, cinematographer, & creative director. Oh, and he also owns a production company that he hopes to one day be worthy of an Oscar or two.
Anyways, what does any of this have to do with the first thing I said? Well, when I was that young kid I had set some pretty big goals for myself. They were as follows:
Go to Film School
Live in Los Angeles
Work in Film/Television
Use a Camera Full-Time
Travel the World (With a Camera)
Simple enough, but as a kid with my background it seemed like an impossible feat. And guess what? I accomplished every single one of those goals. Within 12 years & all of those being a young adult with a lot of barriers between myself and the endgame. So, that brings me to my point.
The day that I accomplished those goals I fell into a bit of a vortex of confusion. I had accomplished all of the goals that I had set for myself so many years ago and I didn’t stop to think, “What’s next?” And I’ve sat on that question for the last year and a half of my life.
I live in Denver, Colorado now. I run Art House Creative, a small documentary-focused production company with clients in the music, art, & outdoors space. I also take freelance work as a photographer and cinematographer for a variety of projects. I have helped start and sell two startups as a creative director. I feel like I’m on top of the world most days. I have become the definition of success that I imagined for myself. And yet… something was missing.
So I went on a little soul-searching adventure across the world. I backpacked the United Kingdom & then journeyed out to Qatar, in the middle east, to watch the World Cup with a close friend of mine. I still haven’t processed that journey yet. I just got home and settled this first week in January 2023. As I’ve begun to unpack all that happened I am reflecting on the thoughts and notes that I compiled on my trip and one of the big ideas that came out was… this. This blog that I am titling, is “Documenting Hundley.”
The plan is to make it more than just a blog. I want this to be a place where I can share my story & the stories of my travels & people that I meet along the way. It’s quite literally a handwritten account, documenting my journey as I document others. Pretty cool, right? I don’t know if this will grow into anything. All I know is that for me, it is a way for me to express my thoughts, my emotions, and my experiences in a raw and unfiltered way.
If you found this right after I completed it or years down the road, just know that I am glad you are here.
Thanks for reading.