Reconnecting with Old Friends and New Voices on the Documentary Film “Upstream, Downriver”

I’m excited to share a project that means a lot to me. “Upstream, Downriver: Uniting for Water Justice” is now playing on local PBS stations, and I was the director of photography for the segment filmed in Navajo Nation two Septembers ago.

The film highlights communities across the U.S. that are on the frontlines of water justice, and the Navajo Nation is one of the places where that issue is especially urgent. Around 30 percent of homes there still don’t have running water and the segment follows hydrologist Crystal Tulley-Cordova as she works to bring clean water to her community.

This project was directed by Maggie Burnette Stogner, someone I’ve been lucky to work with many times over the years. Back in the early 2000s, when I was starting out at National Geographic TV and Film, Maggie was already a top-notch producer. She believed in me early on and since then has brought me in as DP on several of her freelance projects, including productions for the Smithsonian. I’ve always loved working with her.

A few years after I graduated from American University’s MFA film program, Maggie became a professor there and founded the Center for Environmental Filmmaking. For this documentary, she brought in a number of AU students and alumni to be part of the crew. It was a real full-circle experience—reconnecting with Maggie, collaborating with my AU community again, and meeting a new generation of filmmakers coming up through the program.

Filming in Navajo Nation itself was an incredible experience. The landscape is beautiful but challenging, and the subject matter carried real weight. I leaned on natural light and handheld camera work to keep things authentic, with the goal of showing the resilience of the people we filmed while staying true to their environment and their story.

Now that the film is out on PBS, it’s rewarding to see this story reaching such a wide audience. It’s more than just a documentary—it’s part of an ongoing conversation about equity, infrastructure, and how we value something as basic as water.

If you get a chance, check it out. And if you’re looking for a DP who thrives in documentary settings—whether that’s in remote landscapes, busy city streets, or anywhere in between—I’d love to connect.