Greetings Fellow Steemians!

My name is Alexander Cole and I wanted to write a bit about myself and introduce myself to the Steem Community.

Let me start off by saying that I am thrilled to be a part of this community. The concept of rewarding content creators and curators directly without having to use a medium like advertising or television, social media, and other centralized platforms seems like a slice of justice.

I, like many other Steemians I suppose, found Steem through their respective interest in the Crypto Space. I had recently invested in Ethereum and was gathering white papers for breakfast reading and stumbled across STEEM. I bought some coins on Poloniex and began interacting with the community, first by reading and viewing posts, commenting and upvoting, and I am now transitioning into contributing back content to the community. Below I will provide a text about myself. Having done this exercise has helped me to understand better what I can contribute to the STEEM community, and I will write below what I plan on sharing with the STEEM community. I hope my life experiences and skill sets with help contribute to a well-rounded and intelligent community, and that my content will ultimately be a positive force that will contribute to helping the STEEM community cultivate their intellect, build their skill sets, share ideas, and create dialogues that are of interest and importance. Let's learn and earn together!

A brief summary:

WHERE:

I currently live in Los Angeles, California, in the Hollywood Hills. I moved here in 2012 after living abroad for two years in Bilbao, Spain and three years in Brazil.

WHAT:

My job title is a bit fuzzy, but what best describes my unique skill set is “Multimedia Artist”. I work as a Photographer, Cinematographer, Camera Operator, Assistant Camera, Assistant Director, Editor, and Producer. I have worked with international advertising agencies, production companies, music labels, artists, photographers, directors, and cinematographers on multiple continents and on a wide variety of projects that include:

• Narrative Films
• Music Videos
• Commercials
• Documentaries
• Cover Stories
• Television Shows
• Fashion Films
• Photography Campaigns

WHY:

I moved to Los Angeles when I was 26 years old to continue pursuing my career as a filmmaker. What I found was a diverse city jam packed full of cars and people from all over the planet. Culture shock is unavoidable. I find it to be an inspiring, fast paced city that holds something for everyone. The difficulty is finding where you fit in, and it forces you to look inward and question who you are at your core. I didn’t really have a plan when I moved here, other than to work hard and weasel my way in to the entertainment industry while working with cameras. I am sure that many of you have preconceived notions about Los Angeles, and many of those rumors are actually true. People here are and can be superficial, fake, and opportunist. Sitting in traffic sucks, and the traffic is actually worse than you can possibly imagine. The city is crawling with the homeless, and if you find yourself after hours in the wrong neighborhood, it can be dangerous. But what you don’t hear about are the potentially life changing experiences, encounters, and inspirations that only a city of this size and diversity can provide. Every day is unpredictable, and it keeps things fun. The weather is about as good as it gets anywhere. It is sunny most days of the year. Moderate coastal temperatures never let it get too hot or too cold. There is the ocean where you can surf and sun, the mountains where you can ride snowboards and ski, mountains to climb on and camp in, deserts to explore, highways to ride motorcycles on and escape, great music, awesome food and films, museums filled with incredible art, a vibrant night life and dozens of townships with their own little slice of unique culture and history.

WHO:

I was born in Tucson, AZ on March 12, 1986. I am classified as a Caucasian male. However, as is typical of many “Americans”, my genetic background is quite diverse. I have roots in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, England and Cuba, to mention a few places.

Growing up in the Southwest in the 1990’s was a trip. I am from a middle class working family, my mother is a Geneticist and my father is a Real Estate Appraiser. I was lucky enough to be able to travel at a young age. This definitely helped to broaden my horizons and piqued my interest in cultures, languages, and people early on. We travelled to Mexico quite a bit due to its proximity to our southern border, and was lucky enough to explore Europe as a teenager with my Grandparents.

I studied Communications and Spanish in college at Northern Arizona University, transferred to the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain and studied my last year of college abroad. This experience was a complete eye opener for me. I backpacked around Europe solo, took week long caravan surf trips living out of a van, and experienced different cultures and people. During this time, the United States was in the middle of the Bush Administration, and American “Exceptionalism” was already turning sour. The Europeans were not buying it anymore, and the wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan were a source of heated debate. It was this experience living abroad that brought me the most meaningful education of my young life. I was given an outsiders perspective on my own culture and country, and it helped not only to humble me, but to build interest in gaining new perspectives and ideas.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t until after I graduated from college that I fell in love with learning. Life is funny some times.

I returned back to the states after spending two years abroad, travelling, learning, experiencing, partying, surfing, perfecting my Spanish speaking ability, teaching English and working for a local production company. I was also watching documentary films

I returned home to get a job in San Diego. For a brief stint, I thought I had life all figured out. Then the 2008 subprime market crashed and all hell broke loose. I walked in to work at my month old job to learn that I had been laid off with 90 other employees effective immediately. I couldn’t even get a job bagging groceries in San Diego, so I was forced to move back home to Tucson, AZ.

There I was able to get a job working for Verizon wireless as a cell phone salesman, and was also working part time as a video editor. I spent about 80 hours a week working over a 2 year period. Things were starting to look up; I was saving money and planning on buying a house.

Then one day, during a game of pick up basketball at the University of Arizona gym, I tore my ACL in my left knee. I didn't have health insurance, so I had to spend 8 months hobbling around before I could get my knee surgery. In that time my life changed. My girlfriend at the time dumped me. I was struggling at work, and felt like my life had lost its purpose.

I was reading Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” at the time. When I finished the read right before my surgery, I had an idea. I didn’t want to buy a house, and live in Tucson. I was going to purchase myself a plane ticket to Brazil. A one way, open ended ticket. The plan was to rehab my knee in 6 months, and to inspire myself to heal, the plane ticket would force me into my next adventure.

I focused on getting healthy, and liquidating my possessions, selling my car, moving out of my apartment, and I set my sights on Florianopolis in Southern Brazil.
That summer I moved to Florianopolis, and to make a long story short, I had another transformative experience. I found that if I am able to set a goal, I would undoubtedly achieve it, even if I didn’t have everything all figured out before hand. I spent a year and a half living right next to the beach, surfing most mornings, teaching English, and working in a local production services company.

After my house was robbed, my laptop, camera, and other critical possessions were stolen one night, I decided to move to Rio de Janeiro, and continue working in film production. There I worked on my first television show, my first feature film, first music video and first commercial, all in the Portuguese language as a foreigner.

After almost 3 years in Brazil, it was time to come home. I had to start from scratch, and compile my interests and come up with a plan. I moved to Los Angeles with the idea of pursuing my passions with the goal of one day striking back out into the world to experience and adventure. But now it was time to get to work.

After working for over 5 years on various projects and grinding as hard as possible, I got a job that took me back to Rio de Janeiro to shoot documentary footage for the coming Olympic Games. On this trip, I fell in love with a girl. After a year of dating long distance, and travelling back and forth, I married her in May 2017!

My Interests:

I plan on contributing my combined experience, knowledge, ideas, perspectives and skills to the Seemit Community. My passions are diverse and I personally feel like Steemit will give me an opportunity and a platform with which to help others while simultaneously researching and exploring topics that are of interest to me. I would already do it by myself, but I feel like being able to help others while helping myself seems like the way the future SHOULD be!

• Storytelling

I am passionate about the craft of telling stories. Whether this be visual storytelling or in the written form, I will share my experience and knowledge in this field to help others who are passionate and interested in learning about how to craft better stories.

• Filmmaking

I have a great deal of experience in this field and I will contribute articles from topics ranging from critiques of works in the filmmaking field to how to’s and tips and tricks that I have learned along the way. This includes how to work freelance to how to pick the next camera for your upcoming project, to techniques on editing and color correction.

• Books and Coffee

I read voraciously. I will share with you relevant titles and my personal reviews of important that everyone should read. I have amassed a library of over 800 books and will share with you all my curated selection!

• Graphic Novels

I am a graphic novel freak. Living in the capital of graphic novels does not help my habit. I will share with you my curated selection

• Photography and Camera Porn

I love taking pictures and will share posts ranging from reviews of current cameras to techniques to taking better pictures.

• How To Be a Better Man || Lifestyle

I have traveled to 5 continents. I speak 3 languages fluently. I am married to a gorgeous Brazilian woman. I am not rubbing it in. I want to help share my success and the things that have worked to bring me happiness in my life with you all, and the things that I wish I would have done differently. I am still learning and evolving. I am no expert in the field, but I spend a lot of time thinking about how to be a better man. I also want to help people that are attempting to navigate the choppy waters of life, finding love, and how to be the best version of yourself.

• Taking Adventures

I ride a motorcycle. I camp. I surf. I party. Life is short. Lets have fun

• Crypto Currency and Financial Independence

I am working diligently on achieving financial independence. Crypto currency is what brought me to the Steem Community. I want to share my strategies and best practices with you all, and also to create a dialogue about this topic as it is fundamental to my goal of being able to raise a family one day.

• Music

I produce DJ sets. My wife and I are huge fans of electronic, world music, jazz, blues, and anything with artistic and musical merit. I will share my findings from the ether here with you!

• History

Because those who do not know History are bound to repeat it’s mistakes.

• Art, Design and Philosophy

We are all artists. Whether we pursue the art of business, the art of living, the art of loving, the art of thinking, visual art, creating music, or just pondering our existential condition, everyone has something valid to contribute. I can’t wait to share my art with you all, and to see what you all contribute!

image courtesy: contact@esbjornnord.se

• Sci – Fi and Speculative Fiction

Like I said, I am a huge nerd, and I froth over Sci-Fi everything. Expect me to weigh in on everything related to this topic, as well as share my writings and ideas in this field.

Thanks again for you attention! I hope to be a valued contributor and curator and to give back to the Steem community, since you have all given me so much already. I appreciate all of your comments, questions and feedback. I really hope to make a positive impact in the Steem community.

STEEM ON!