Bob Leathers

Background

About Bob Leathers

In my previous summary I said my life was a bit of a rollercoaster. And it still is. So, here are some memorable moments from various jobs and gigs. My first job was a dish washer. I would have nightmares about washing dishes then wake up to have to go to wash more dishes. I taught myself how to drive stick shift from working for CSX, loading and unloading cars from rail cars. After a short film shoot, I was indirectly complemented by our seasoned DP (Director of Photography) for being one of the better First Assistant Directors he had gotten to work with. I had never been a First AD before or since. I maintained stability at a Starbucks I worked at that previously had a lot of tension between its partners and management. I guess I was the unofficial HR guy. I travelled to Austria (Achenkirch, Innsbruck, and Vienna) to shoot a passion project on one of my favourite instrumental rock bands, edited in Hungary and Bulgaria. At one moment I shed a tear while I was editing in Castro Bistro in Budapest when I realized I was experiencing one of the most beautiful working moments I have ever had. I worked on environmental remediation on an inactive volcano on one of the furthest remote Alaskan islands, living in an abandoned Naval base for a short time. 72 hours a week of moderate but environmentally intense weather. Working at Whole Foods, I entered a competition on who can split an 85 pound parmesan wheel the fastest. I, who had only split four wheels prior, competed against someone that has been doing this for four years. I won, and there is glorious video of it. I had the honour of shooting and editing an album promotional video with the great Argentine Jazz musician and 2015 Grammy Nominated Emilio Solla. At the end of the video another incredible Jazz musician, Arturo O'Farrill, spoke praises of Emilio,"He is like Duke Ellington." Arturo later won the 2015 Grammy for the same category. I now work at a Special Effects shop specializing in animatronics. I've learned to machine on traditional mills and lathes, to solder, to use CAD (Solidworks), to use Zbrush, to 3D print in FDM and SLA, I was the first to set up any kind of IT infrastructure, I've developed a solution to the long-standing problem of converting polygonal models to be used in CAD programs. The amount of new skills I've been exposed to at this shop is staggering. Life continues to be a crazy ride.