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Dax Roggio

Dax Roggio

Dax Mackenzie Roggio is an editor, videographer, photographer, voice artist, private pilot, and managing director of Packafoma Philms. He lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife, Liz; their son, Kieran; and their daughter, Maisy. Liz is as an attorney at the Center City law firm of Dilworth Paxson.

LinkedIn: Dax Roggio   Vimeo: DaxRoggio   Flickr: DaxRoggio   Voice123: Dax

Wawa Welcome America Festival: Live aerial coverage for CNN and NBC

Packafoma and Toryville Productions once again teamed up to provide live event video of the 2024 Wawa Welcome America Festival for CNN’s national special, The Fourth in America. Live musical performances from Kesha and Ne-Yo entertained thousands of Philadelphians, who filled the Ben Franklin Parkway from Logan Square to Binswanger Triangle. The concert was followed by a uniquely spectacular fireworks show over the Schuylkill River, Boathouse Row, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. FAA certificated UAS Pilot, Dax Roggio, and producer, Tory Stagnaro, maintained real-time contact with CNN’s Atlanta control room and NBC’s Philadelphia control room simultaneously to provide both outlets with live drone shots of the concert and fireworks.... More »

Drone work for CNN Heroes television series

Aerial video provided by Dax Roggio, Packafoma Philms: Meet the CNN Hero working to stop violence and rebuild lives on the South Philly streets where he once sold drugs. Tyrique Glasgow is the founder of Young Chances Foundation headquartered in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia... More »

Tangles in Time: Live performances and short films premiering in September

Tangles in Time is a series of live performances and short documentary films that intimately explore the lives of people suffering from dementia and the life-altering challenges faced by their care partners.... More »

Capturing Kaplan: Alan Kaplan interviews top CEOs

A 12-hour shoot with a 5 AM call time on an icy winter morning in Conshohocken….It could have been a miserable day! But my crew and I actually had a lot of fun working with Alan Kaplan, founder and CEO of Kaplan Partners, as he conducted one-on-one interviews with some of industry’s top movers and shakers.... More »

How to move your Capture One preview cache to an external drive in macOS

One of the most pleasant surprises of going 100% Adobe-free has been the switch to Phase One’s Capture One, my favorite Lightroom alternative. Capture One 12 is faster than Lightroom, has more powerful tools (including layers), and does not require a subscription! Here’s a great trick to reduce the size of the Capture One catalog file by moving the preview and thumbnail image cache to an external hard drive.... More »

August in Chicago: Polk Bros. Fountain in Navy Pier Park

Photos from Navy Pier Park and the Polk Bros Fountain, which opened at the entrance to Chicago’s Navy Pier on July 23, 2016. The Polk Brothers Foundation seeks to improve the quality of life for the people of Chicago by reducing the impact of poverty and providing area residents with better access to quality education, preventive health care, and basic human services. Photos by Dax Roggio... More »

Design Matters: Chicago Architecture Foundation

Sneak peak: CAF photo shoot. The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) is a nonprofit cultural organization with tours, exhibitions, programs and events for all ages. Their mission is to inspire people to discover why design matters. Photos by Dax Roggio... More »

Premiere Pro is dead (to me). Long live DaVinci Resolve!

In an alternate timeline, no pun intended, Final Cut Pro 8 was a brilliant upgrade to Apple’s storied non-linear editor. FCP 8 introduced cutting edge innovations, 64-bit performance, and Apple’s trademark interface refinements without sacrificing existing features or compatibility with FCP 7. Six years later, with Avid in bankruptcy, Apple built on the runaway success of FCP 8 with FCP 9, an app so flawless that its users ascended to a higher plane of existence, their cinematic visions inspiring peaceful resolutions to all the violent conflicts on Earth. But here in this universe, Apple released FCP X, and I switched to Adobe Premiere Pro.... More »

Another Shea Roggio billboard photo spotted in the wild

If you have ever seen a billboard ad for Drexel University’s business school, you have seen Shea’s photography. This one was discovered on Rt. 1 outside of Philadelphia. Shea was also the Director of Photography for the school’s broadcast television commercial, which aired during Prime Time on ABC and Comcast SportsNet: This is your business lab.... More »

Springsteen, Hillary fans celebrate equality in birthplace of nation just hours before Pennsyltuckians elect racist, sexist dipshit

Photos by Dax Roggio. Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi perform for a packed crowd of Hillary Clinton supporters in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, followed by speeches by President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton.... More »

Voiceover excited me and terrified me. I thought I was going to be really bad at it. It was so freeing and fun to not have to wait for 10 minutes between every setup. They just throw you a direction, and you just say it.

Anna Kendrick

A budget is a method of worrying before you spend instead of afterwards.

Anonymous

If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

Anonymous

It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Anonymous

Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off indefinitely.

Anonymous

Once there was a time when all people believed in God and the church ruled. This time is called the Dark Ages.

Anonymous

The meek shall inherit the earth. They are too weak to refuse.

Anonymous

Tell me whom you walk with and I will tell you who you are.

Anonymous

We’re too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.

Anonymous

When you’re up, your friends know who you are. When you’re down, you know who your friends are.

Anonymous

A professor is one who talks in someone else’s sleep.

W.H. Auden

I swore I wouldn’t drink if I saw today,
But now it is tonight and it’s time to play.
I try and I try not to turn a bottle up,
But a party ain’t a party if I ain’t fucked up.

Basehead, I Need A Joint, Not in Kansas Anymore, 1992

Mankind is divisible into two great classes: hosts and guests.

Sir Max Beerbohm

Why she had to go, I don’t know,
She wouldn’t say.
I said something wrong, now I long
For yesterday.

Beatles, Yesterday, Help!, 1965

Luke’s just not a farmer, Owen. He’s got too much of his father in him.

“Aunt Beru,” Star Wars, 1977

The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.

Humphrey Bogart

We are very serious about not taking ourselves seriously.

Levaughn J. Brown, PAVE the QUAD!, April 1, 1996

I thought I had mono once for an entire year. Turned out I was just really bored.

“Wayne Campbell,” Wayne’s World, 1991

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

George Carlin

An Italian woman does not believe she is loved by her lover unless he is capable of committing a crime for her.

Chamfort

To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous.

Chinese Proverb

She missed him the days when some pretext served to take him away from her, just as one misses the sun on a cloudy day without having thought much about the sun when it was shining.

Kate Chopin, The Awakening, 1899

Everybody wants to see justice done — to somebody else.

Bruce Cockburn

the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds…

e.e. cummings, untitled, 1923

Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer.

Ed Cunningham

There’s nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view that I hold dear.

Daniel Dennett

I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.

Charles Dickens, Hunted Down, 1859

It is not known with what weapon World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

Albert Einstein

’Twas a woman who drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her for it.

W.C. Fields

She found she was now changing [radio] stations even when she found a song she liked. She had come to enjoy the quest for a good song more than the songs themselves.

“Suzanne Vale,” Carrie Fisher, Postcards from the Edge, 1987

The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one’s work seriously and taking one’s self seriously. The first is imperative. The second is disastrous.

Margot Fonteyn, 1976

Happiness is being where one is and not wanting to be somewhere else.

Michael Frayn

People always say to me, “When you get to the NBA, don’t forget about me.” Well, I should’ve said back, “If I don’t make it to the NBA, don’t you forget about me.”

William Gates, Hoop Dreams

Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

“God,” clearly referring to masturbation, NIV, Job 40:14, The Bible

It is always a simple matter to drag people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

Hermann Goering

Masturbation is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s nothing to be particularly proud of, either.

Matt Groening, Basic Sex Facts For Today’s Youngfolk, Life In Hell

Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people’s characters.

Margaret Halsey

I’m a Buffalo wing magnet, a sandwich fanatic, a cheesesteak guy. But I’ll only get a cheesesteak in Philadelphia. No one else does it right.

Kevin Hart

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

L.P. Hartley

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money.  Then take half the clothes and twice the money.

Susan Heller

The film is made in the editing room. The shooting of the film is about shopping, almost. It's like going to get all the ingredients together, and you've got to make sure before you leave the store that you got all the ingredients. And then you take those ingredients and you can make a good cake — or not.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can stay in a week.

William Dean Howells

Optimist: A fellow who believes what’s going to happen will be postponed.

Kin Hubbard

I’m not a capitalist, I am a creativist. I want to make money so I can create things. Suddenly all these people have come along who want to create things so they can make money.

Eddie Izzard

What a sense of superiority it gives one to escape reading some book which everyone else is reading.

Alice James

Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.

“Joel,” Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004

People who take issue with control of population do not understand that if it is not done in a graceful way, nature will do it in a brutal fashion.

H. Kendall

You are going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

“Obi Wan Kenobi,” Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, 1983

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands during challenge and controversy.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The only thing we have to fear is beer itself.

Willy Keible, PAVE the QUAD!, Oct. 1, 1993

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr., March 25, 1965, Montgomery, Alabama

What is important to a relationship is a harmony of emotional roles and not too great a disparity in the general level of intelligence.

Mirra Komarovsky

There is really no drinking half as enjoyable as daytime drinking, when the sun is out, the bars are empty of dilettantes, and the afternoon stretches ahead of you like summer vacation.

Tim Kreider, Time and the Bottle, New York Times, March 30, 2009

I grew up in Los Angeles, and I’ve made movies all over the world. I’ve been in New York, Norway, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, London. I’ve been in all these cities, shooting away in the winter, thinking, “People who choose to live here are insane.”

John Landis

No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats, approximately one billion Chinese couldn’t care less.

Lazlo, Chinese Relativity Axiom

Good judgment comes from experience; unfortunately, experience comes from bad judgment.

Barry LePatner

All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be.

“Screwtape,” C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 1941

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

Abraham Lincoln

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.

Mary Little

When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.

Abraham Maslow

And if I ever have myself another chance like that,
I’m gonna grab it and I won’t look back.

Morphine, I Had My Chance, Yes, 1995

Just because you’re paranoid,
don’t mean they’re not after you.

Nirvana, Territorial Pissings, Nevermind, 1991

Any idiot can face a crisis; it’s the day to day living that wears you out.

Clifford Odets

I have become — comfortably numb.

Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb, The Wall, 1979

Being an editor is like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, except that there are 20,000 pieces in the box.

Steve Pomerantz

There’s an old proverb that says just about whatever you want it to.

Old Proverb

They predicted a wonderful future for him if he would only learn to take life seriously.

“Mary Tyrone,” Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, 1940

We also know how cruel the truth often is, and we wonder whether delusion is not more consoling.

Henri Poincare

If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it — maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

“Rick,” Casablanca, 1942

This job would be great if it wasn’t for the fucking customers.

“Ronald,” Clerks, 1994

Silences make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts.

Margaret Lee Runbeck

It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas.

Carl Sagan, The Burden of Skepticism, April 1987

I don’t want to scare you…but I can very clearly see you dying nobly, one way or another, for some highly unworthy cause.

“Mr. Antolini,” to “Holden Caulfield,” J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, 1945

I’m afraid that some times
you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win
’cause you’ll play against you.

Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, 1990

Alcohol: The cause of and the solution to all of life’s problems.

“Homer J. Simpson,” The Simpsons

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

Upton Sinclair

I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.

Mark Twain

I never let schoolin’ get in the way of my education.

Mark Twain

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again — and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.

Mark Twain

The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are right.

Mark Twain

Why does life feel to us as we experience it, so desperately urgent and yet so utterly pointless at the same time?

John Updike, Roger’s Version

Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.

“Bokonon,” The 1st of Bokonon, Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, 1963

Foma! Lies! A pack of foma!

“Bokonon,” Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, 1963

Nothing.

“Bokonon,” What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?, The 14th Book of Bokonon, Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, 1963.

I was in show business [as a soldier in Vietnam], trying to get a big audience for the Government on TV by killing real people with real ammunition, something the other advertisers were not free to do. The other advertisers had to fake everything. Oddly enough, the actors always turned out to be a lot more believable on the little screen than we were. Real people in real trouble don’t come across, somehow.

“Eugene Debs Hartke,” Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus, 1990

KV: Lee, I never asked you, but what kind of education did you have?
LEE: Just high school, but it was a good one.
KV: That’s the story of my life too. I went to a good high school, and everything was noise after that.

Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer, Like Shaking Hands With God: A Conversation About Writing, 1999

He always said he would never take his own advice, because he knew it was worthless.

“Mona Aamons Monzano,” referring to “Bokonon,” Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, 1963

Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.

Evelyn Waugh

We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us, but for ours to amuse them.

Evelyn Waugh

If you don’t get up, you can’t go back to bed.

Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men

Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.

Steven Wright

If triangles had a god, he’d have three sides.

Yiddish Proverb

For whatever you’re doing, for your creative juices, your geography’s got a hell of a lot to do with it. You really have to be in a good place, and then you have to be either on your way there or on your way from there.

Neil Young

Dax Roggio, Shea Roggio, Cameron PearceDax Roggio, Liz Roggio