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Nice to Meat Ya: Josh Comninellis

“The Angus Report.” It might seem like quite a leap for a man who set off for college with dreams of producing Christian films, but media specialist Josh Comninellis says the two paths have more in common than one might think.

1800418_10152262066472697_924751772_nAs part of the video team that shoots and edits the American Angus Association’s weekly news program, Josh says one of the most rewarding parts of this part-time gig that turned into a career opportunity is getting to know the rancher members he serves.

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to get an idea, a taste, of what they do,” he says. “I’m inspired by their attitude, work ethics and ideals, and I’m constantly taking away things that I want to apply in my own life.”

The first time Josh walked through the doors of the Association headquarters in St. Joseph, Mo., he was unemployed, soon-to-be married and knew nothing about agriculture.

“Everything I know now is new,” Josh says. Working part-time while earning his degree at Missouri Western State University, he joined the staff full-time earlier this year.

JoNACT_AAA Building Tour PHOTOS_2014.11_128_c01DSC_6497sh says he’s learned the details, “like when someone asks for B-roll of a bull, a steer or a heifer, that they’re all different things.”

But he’s also had the chance to shape some broader philosophies on food.

“Where I grew up, it was just a given that large-scale food production is bad, and we took for granted how our food was raised and who did it,” Josh says. “Now I see people who work very hard.”

Whether he’s on-location, shooting producer interviews or listening to their stories while editing, Josh said he’s using his time and talents right where he was meant to.

“Now I’m so much more fascinated by capturing real people’s stories,” he says. Those that show up on “I Am Angus” and in other breed productions are “so beyond anything we ever made up in school.”

DSC_0135Fridays usually find Josh setting up cameras and lighting and later shooting the in-studio portions of the weekly TV show (which takes an average of 3 hours each week). Another day he might be doing some graphic design and digital animation, working on the show’s advertisements. Still another and he might be shooting video at an event or on a farm.

“Everybody does whatever is necessary,” he says of the team that has grown since he first started. Then the majority of the small staff shared one computer and produced video out of an old darkroom-turned office space.

“It was basically a closet,” he says. Now, they have a basement studio, office space and many more people to keep the show going. Of course, someone washing dishes upstairs can halt production downstairs where the water pipes run right by, just as a Harley zooming past or an ill-timed lawn mowing near the basement windows can do the same.

“We have some unique challenges,” he says. But the allure of CNN or FOX isn’t calling Josh away from the breed and job he’s grown to love.

Cattle videography and producer interviews isn’t exactly what Josh had in mind when he got his first camcorder and desktop publishing software in 9th grade, but sometimes things work out in ways we could never imagine.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

PS–Catch up on this whole series with these links:

 

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