The Field
"North Yuke" is the documentary film company Lou developed to produce his own work. It's his way of seeing the world as defined by the stories in it. He has traveled extensively to film the people and places that create lasting meaning. "We are made more of stories than we are of flesh and blood," he is fond of saying.
Most often, his client-based and North Yuke itineraries have included developing countries.. "The most amazing stories are found where people are eager to share them. Sadly, that all too often is when people have struggled for their lives," says Lou. He's unafraid of rugged travel and knows how to capture the visual nouns, verbs and adverbs of any location shoot. His own brush with death has given him a boldness with peoples in crisis.
Lou has directed shoots in the safety of an urban office building as well as the remote challenges of commercial halibut boats and the Alaskan outback, 100mi north of the Arctic Circle.
If you get a message when you call that says he's out, just leave a voicemail, or text, and he'll reply as soon as he turns his phone back on.
North Yuke, Folsom Studio
Recently, Lou was called upon to work with the Greater Folsom Partnership in setting up an insert studio within walking distance of Folsom's Historic District.
The studio has no full-time staff. It is an 800 sq. ft. sound stage, including lights, backdrops and full blackout capabilities. Lou, with the financial support of the Folsom Chamber of Commerce, completed the retrofit of the Granite School that was made available to clients on an as-needed basis. The facility is located at 909 Mormon Street, Folsom, CA 95630.
Home Office
When he's not on location or at the studio in Folsom, Lou is usually working out of his home office in Grass Valley, CA. It's not very flashy, really, but he does have a private deck with a seasonal hammock. He is often visited by one or more of his daughter's chickens. Lou's been known to apologize for the sound of a crowing rooster during a conference call. Oh, sure it was charming... once.
Lou handles all post-production on Adobe Creative Cloud. That means his 16TB RAID array and Mac-based edit system is semi-portable and moves, as needed.