Early Years
Born in 1977, Jason Velez grew up in the Hudson River Valley just north of New York City. It was in a high school photography class that he first started shooting and developing still photos. In college, Velez studied filmmaking under the mentorship of one professor in particular: Leondro Katz of Buenos Aires, Argentina. From 1997 through 1999, Jason was able to learn quite a bit from the avant garde filmmaker while also developing a friendship that lasts to this day.
Finding His Way
In 1998, Jason was able to start working with cinematographer Rick Malkames. The work was mainly documentary pieces and interviews. Rick as a DP usually needed the most help with lighting and Velez jumped at the opportunity to learn from him. This led to a consistency of work for a number of years. In the late 90's and early 2000's, Velez was able to work on a number of small independent features and short films as well as many music videos and commercials. As the years went on, Jason was able to build his career as a feature film gaffer and has had the opportunity to work with some of the very best directors and cinematographers in the world.
Now
In 2022, Jason decided to take on a new challenge and begin shooting films. That summer Velez shot the short experimental film VIDA for director Erika Goyzueta. In 2023, Jason was the cinematographer on EXIT INTERVIEW with Victorious De Costa directing. Later that same year, Velez worked with director Angbeen Saleem to shoot her short film BILLO RANI. In late 2023, spoken word artist King Kamayera released a short video piece for his work titled BROWN SUGAR. The video was directed and shot by Velez.
