I guess you should be slightly suspicious of a blog the very next day, since I have been slacking of late. Tonight has sucked, there really isn’t any better way I could word it (and several worse that I’ll omit).

I was just wrapping up eating dinner, which was turning out to be an amazing meal. Went with a couple friends and they were serving really good food for a change. To add to it she was there tonight, walked past her in the commons stopped over and talked for a minute, not more then a couple minutes after I got back to my table and took a swig of milk did my phone ring. Answered it and talked to Chris Jones, let him know I got the weekend in Duluth set up for him and he was taken back. Leaving me very confused as to what is going on, proceeded to ask what was and found out what happened last Saturday.

One of my biggest mentors, John Koskinen (worked for ESPN and NFL films), past away from a heart attack on Saturday. I had to have been in shock for at least a half an hour before the harsh reality hit me. He was such a vital part of forming me to who I am today. Before him I can’t think of anyone who truly had followed his heart and passion. He was a shining example that it does work, that you can look forward to your work, even if at times it got hard to be gone so much. When it seemed like I didn’t have a clue what I was doing with my camera he would show me, he had some way of just having it all make sense. He kept me motivated through the first film, telling me what I needed to be doing all along the way.

Indirectly Jon is a core reason why I’ve been able to accomplish so much. Every time I would get one step of the process done he was asking me when the next one would be ready to check out. Not to mention how he always seemed to show up on the most ideal days to film for us, and from watching his footage I learned a lot about composition and different ways to follow with the camera. Without a doubt, every time I touch a camera I will be reminded of him and what he did for me so generously.

He was an amazing man, please pray for his family and friends in this hard time.

Take Care and May God look over Jon’s soul,
~paul