I was born in a small town called Glen Ellen with John Olmsted as a bulldozer-blocking-nature- crusader father, a history major mother, and one older brother.

Sonoma became our home, where despite a divorce I had a semi-normal childhood filled with paper routes, street football, computer game playing, and BMX.

I attended college in Santa Rosa and Los Angeles and have explored parts of Europe as well as 47 of these United States.

I have owned 16 vehicles the most famous being a 1966 Chrysler convertible featured in Catch Me if You Can (00:58) and Bottle Shock.

In 2017 I received a 'Real Hero' award from the Red Cross, North Coast Chapter for my efforts to preserve my father's legacy in Mendocino and across California. Link

I currently reside in Nashville and, when I hear the call, on the road.

Beginning with skateboard videos, summer camp mash-ups, and Super 8mm shorts, I have landed in the documentary world without intention, focusing on interesting people and their stories, and oral history that may be lost.

Here's the short list of films I've directed and or produced:
2012 - My Father Who Art in Nature

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1870481/

2014 - The Story of Jug Handle

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3620786/

2018 - Unprotected (Director of Photography)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8539512/

2020 - 30 Bikes The Story of Homestead Bicycles
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11045998/

2022 - A Wild Independence
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15343766/

From a young age I understood the value of stories. I loved telling and retelling stories of myself or my friends' adventures.

As I began experimenting with film I was drawn to Super 8mm, the colors and the emotion it evoked. No speaking, instead focusing on the power of music to match the visual, causing a full range of emotions and reactions.

My philosophy with documentaries starts, not surprisingly with research. Fiction films are made in the edit room, documentaries are made in the research. When the arc of the story appears, when the peak of conflict and resolution POPS out of an old picture, a letter, a revelation that slips out in an interview, those are the moments I live for.

The story then can be massaged and built, much like a house, to enhance the peak, the moment of revealed truth which of course every great story should contain.

Alden – January 2022