Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexander Glustrom.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in Atlanta but moved to New Orleans after high school and have just recently returned to my hometown after being gone for more than a dozen years. It feels like a gravitational return to come back to the city that raised me and where I have roots. My great-grandfather immigrated to the US when he was 18 and made his way to downtown Atlanta. My grandfather grew up near Castleberry Hill and he and my father both attended Grady High School. I am a fourth-generation ITP Atlanta kid who feels a lot of pride in being from the city. As a child, we lived just a block from the High Museum in Midtown, and I spent countless hours of my childhood wandering its halls enthralled by the buildings’ architecture and the latest exhibits. Across the street from the High is a Fulton County library where my brothers and I also spent many an afternoon and were close with the librarian there. Looking back, I’m sure both of these places helped make me who I am. I feel like I have been creating images since I was old enough to pick up a pencil. When I was a kid, I remember pushing long rolls of paper down the hallway and crawling along on hands and knees and covering every inch of it with intricate mazes of doodles.
In elementary school, I had a team of characters that I could draw from different angles to make cartoon adventures. In my teenage years, I found spray paint and poured all my creative energy into producing large aerosol murals with friends. Atlanta seems like a whole different city than it was back then. We took the Marta everywhere, exploring abandoned buildings, factories, and tunnels, painting in forgotten and neglected spaces that few people had the opportunity to experience. We would walk the network of abandoned railroad tracks that allowed us to travel all around the city undetected – the same tracks that have since become populated with bars and restaurants and developed into “The Beltline.” It wasn’t until my early twenties that I first picked up a camera and I was immediately intrigued by capturing images and telling stories. I began soaking up every tutorial I could find, trying to get myself on every set possible and filling up hard drive after hard drive with footage.
My first job out of college was working at the Boys and Girls Club in New Orleans’ Iberville public housing development. The Iberville projects stood in the shadow of New Orleans’ abandoned Charity Hospital and I would stare up at it in awe and curiosity. I began asking questions about the hospital’s history and about why it had shuddered. A truly incredible story unfolded in front of me and it became my first feature-length documentary and my foray into filmmaking. “Big Charity” premiered at the New Orleans Film Festival, where it won both the Audience and Jury Award, kicking off a fun festival run and hundreds of screenings around the country. One of the most memorable experiences was the Atlanta Film Festival at the Plaza Theater, the same theater my grandfather took my father to when he was young and then later brought me to see movies throughout my childhood. To have my first film play there, with my family in the audience, was a night that I’ll never forget. My second film – “Mossville: When Great Trees Fall” – took me from Louisiana to South Africa, filming in some of the most toxic industrial sites on the planet. It followed Stacey Ryan, who lost almost his entire family to cancer, as he took a stand against the petrochemical plants that poisoned and destroyed his community. Mossville was translated into five languages, won more than 15 awards, and played in festivals on almost every continent. It was picked up for national broadcast by PBS and was shown by the United Nations as a part of their session on Environmental Justice, the Climate Crisis, and People of African Descent. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4LVRdKJbIw My first directorial project since returning to Atlanta was a voting ad for the New Georgia Project that racked up hundreds of thousands of views online and broadcast across the state. (https://fb.watch/4fyqyPk-9x/) In recent years, I have begun to focus (no pun intended) specifically on cinematography as I have come to recognize that it is where I find myself best able to play to my strengths and contribute the most to a production team. Nowadays, I most often find myself in the Director of Photography position on commercials and TV shows.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve definitely had my share of bumps and challenges along the way, but ultimately I think it’s made me who I am. As a teenager, I was constantly in trouble and, looking back on it, I am pretty damn lucky that my parents put up with me and I made it out alright. I was far more interested in spray painting and hanging with friends than taking school seriously. It wasn’t until I saved up and got my first camera that I felt like I found purpose and direction in my career; however, not having not gone to film school and then joining the industry later than most, I have had a lot of catching up to do. I’ve had to teach myself so much, and through lots of experimenting and learning from mistakes, I’ve finally come to a place where I don’t feel like a complete imposter on set.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am always looking for bold, meaningful, and creative film projects that inspire people and can spark change. I love the collaborative nature of film and enjoy working with good people who don’t take themselves or the work overly seriously. Being a part of a team where each person is contributing their talents and hard work to build a final product is one of my favorite aspects of filmmaking. I still continue to paint, usually in between productions when I have a free day or two and can find a good wall. Atlanta has an incredible public art scene and I feel very lucky that I can contribute to it. My style is always evolving, but right now, I like painting large-scale images of people in the same low-key, dramatic style that I tend to create with a camera. I love playing with the science of photo-realism accented by expressive and ethereal elements. You know it’s one of my pieces because I usually frame my dark and desaturated portraits with bright and distinctive neon borders.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I am an obsessively hard worker and I feel confident in my creative vision and ability to craft powerful images and tell moving stories. I consider myself a reliable and open-minded collaborator. I am, most importantly, always learning and growing as a filmmaker, cinematographer, and as a person. I know it is uncommon to claim propensity in both the director and DP positions, but having learned the craft in the documentary space where I had to do it all, I actually do feel like I excel in and love both roles. Directing and editing my films has given me a strong understanding of story structure and emotional rhythm, how to effectively delegate tasks, and bring out the best in my team through good leadership. My experience in painting and in the visual arts combined with my infatuation with photography and cinematography has helped me develop a passion for creating impactful visuals to serve a story and the director’s vision.
Contact Info:
- Email: Alex@ajgmedia.com
- Website: www.ajgmedia.com
- Instagram: @im.ag
