My thoughts on Tom

Theresa was kind enough to let me say a few words and share some of Tom's work on this blog. I'm Mikon Haaksman and I had the good fortune to work with Tom at Gotham Image Works. For those of you who attended the memorial, you would have heard our boss David Skalsky give a eulogy. He, like all of us at Gotham, miss him every day.

I got to know Tom several years ago when I was a freelance editor. We hit it off like two long lost friends pretty much immediately. His drive for what he did, his enthusiasm, and his great attitude made being Tom's friend very easy. We shared a deep love of music and spent many hours discussing and listening to every genre you could imagine. In fact one of my last visits with him, I played some Jack Johnson from my portable music player. We didn't talk too much - just listened to the upbeat music.

Tom loved to shoot video. Many of you know that - but I have to say it again - because he REALLY loved to shoot video. I enjoy it too, but not to the extent he did. When, in our weekly meetings, we would learn of an upcoming shoot, Tom would perk up. It didn't matter if it was a small shoot with a couple interviews or a week long trip to Midland for an oil company. Tom was always up for it. As an editor, a great videographer is worth his weight in gold. You want to get as much material as possible so that you have a lot of choices. Most of us going on a shoot might come back with one or two hours of video from a full day shoot. Tom could shoot 4 or 5 hours easily. Nothing would stop him except a dead battery or bad weather - both of which he always came prepared for. He always liked to tell us, "It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." A simple statement perhaps, but so true - especially in our line of work.

Our clients, and people Tom did work for on the side, all seemed to like him. His friendly demeanor could put a nervous executive at ease for an on-camera interview, or a small child would open up and smile for the camera with Tom's coaxing. It is a gift that comes in very handy. We meet all types of people with all sorts of personalities in our business and our job is to make them look great on video. With Tom around, it always worked out that way. And this is still evident by the outpouring of condolences to our office in the last several weeks. Some of our clients, who we hadn't worked with in a while, called to say just how special Tom was. One of them was a woman who works for a beer distributor in Galveston. She and I spoke after the service and after hearing from her how much she liked Tom and working with her, I had to tell her that I wanted to thank her too - for selfish reasons: she allowed me many opportunities to work with Tom while he was doing what he loved to do. I can't count the hours we spent traveling around the state in his or my car, listening to music, talking about life, and then shooting video of any and every thing you can imagine. Those days on the road with Tom will live with me forever. And I was with him one of the last times he got to go out and shoot.

Our beer client was sponsoring the Galveston Biker Rally. Tom, Robert (from our office) and I were to shoot some of the events of the rally for two days. We had so much fun out there - shooting loads of footage, enjoying the sights, the sounds, and the crazy atmosphere. Please see the linked web gallery of pictures of Tom working.

But Tom liked to do other work as well. As you all know, he was very socially conscious and he tried to create projects "that mattered." One of these projects would turn out to be a documentary about Hurricane Katrina's devastating effects on New Orleans. A couple months after the storm during the holidays, I was returning from New Orleans for another documentary. I had spent two days looking at the total devastation of some of the city's neighborhoods. I had never seen anything like it. All of us on the crew cried as we worked. The raw emotion of seeing people's lives turned upside down was difficult to take. Naturally I called Tom right away. I told him we needed to put something together that would show people what it was really like there. A few weeks later, Tom, Theresa, my wife Misty, and I went to New Orleans. They all reacted just as I had. Tom grabbed his camera and began shooting everything he saw. We spent a full day documenting the devastation.

We had an opportunity to interview a few people - one of whom was my own step father - Charles Borne. Charlie had been diagnosed with cancer in 1999 and was working through it as best he could. He was not too keen on being interviewed, but agreed to play some music for us on his piano - in his storm damaged home. He and Tom took a liking to each other and we got some of our best material from those hours with Charlie.



About a month later, Tom and I returned to New Orleans to finish up the documentary. Once again, we met up with Charlie for a nice night on the town in the French Quarter. Charlie loved music as much as Tom and I and was also an accomplished and gifted musician. So naturally, we went to listen to some great live music. It became a memorable night for all of us.

But here is where the irony sets in: Charlie was a retired neurosurgeon. And when I learned of Tom's condition, I immediately called Charlie. He told me to be sure to give his number to Tom if he had any questions or concerns. I later learned that Tom's neurosurgeon was an old friend of Charlie's. Sadly, Charlie lost his own battle with cancer this past December. He'd had a good and fortunate life that was rich and storied.

And it now means that much more to me to have been a part of this Katrina documentary. It has become very personal on so many levels and I thought the best thing I could do is to share it with you. And remember: when you watch something Tom shot, you are seeing what he saw - what he wanted you to experience as well.

Tom, I miss you each and every day. I miss your friendship, the fun we had on the road, and your love for your craft.

-Mikon

Click here for the documentary.
Click here for the web gallery. My favorite is the last one. Robert took the picture while they were in Cancun.