J.Justin's photostream

After landing a lead role in Bayou Ghost at the age of 14, Justin chose against an acting career until he graduated college. After 11 years he earned a Bachelor's degree from Southern Miss in May 2005, and revived his passion to enter the movie business, but wished to learn all facets of the movie industry. He began an independent production company and embarked on a mission to write, direct, produce and edit his own independent film. Force to stop filming as Hurricane Katrina narrowed in on his hometown, he instead filmed a sarcastic prediction of Hurricane Katrina's forthcoming and then evacuated. Little did he know, Hurricane Katrina would become the basis of his first feature film. The storm destroyed his life long home and family business, including the 50 year collection of oil paintings, prints and pottery. Left with the clothes on his back and the contents in his truck, which included his video production equipment - he embarked on a passionate quest to make his movie, but not the one he first intended to make. This movie would be his Katrina Diary, a film where he pours his heart and soul out for all to see in hopes to inspire them to appreciate life and the little things, and to put closure on this chapter of his life. Since Katrina, he rapidly trained himself in nearly every aspect of post production. In addition to his college studies, he further studied cinematography, directing, producing, and read manuals in Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro, Motion and Media Management. He trained himself with distant learning courses in DVD Studio Pro, Advanced Final Cut, Advanced Final Cut Coloring Techniques and Motion. He is relentless in his studies, and has shown signs of this since an early age. At 13, he created his first book of poetry. He used one of the first versions of Corel Draw to make illustrations, and thread to bound the book. In high school, he left an imprint as the second person in the school's history to attend the International Science Fair, and the only student to attend multiple times. He declined scholarships to study science and chose to study Mass Communication at the University of Southern Mississippi.

At 18, Justin chose to serve his country, joining the Air Force Reserve as a photojournalist, assistant magazine editor and public affairs craftsman. He attended several college accredited military schools, including an intense journalism school, an advanced photojournalism school, an advanced editors course, an advanced public affairs course, and other distant learning courses. His eye for photography and knack for story telling led him to being named Best Photojournalist in the Air Force Reserve in 2004 and 2005, Best Sportswriter in the Air Force, and numerous other awards. In addition to Katrina Diary, his docudrama about Hurricane Katrina, Justin also created two different Katrina inspired posters. President George W. Bush was presented one of the posters as a gift from the city of Biloxi, Miss., and both posters have also been presented to Mississippi's Governor Hailey Barbour.