Andy Shipsides

Andy joined Abel in 2007. As the NY-based Camera Technology Specialist, he is responsible for many of Abel’s training programs. Andy also serves as the technical editor of this blog.

Born and raised in Orlando, Florida, he received his Bachelors of Science in Digital Arts & Sciences from the University of Florida. He received his MFA in Film & Television from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

His thesis film Bottleneck received a screening at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007. Andy was also a finalist for the 2007 Student Academy Awards. Recently, he directed a music video for Lin McEwan’s song Now I Know, which won OnStage.com’s award for Best Pop Music Video. Andy’s Vimeo Channel »

Anna Feil

Anna made her film debut in He Knows You’re Alone (1980) in the role of Flower Girl. She has not appeared on-screen since, preferring to work behind the scenes, primarily as a researcher and editor.

Anna earned a B.A. in Anthropology with Great Distinction from McGill University and a Graduate Diploma in Communication Studies from Concordia University, both in Montreal, Canada.

Anna began her career at Abel as a Rental intern in the summers of 1996 and 1998. In 2003, she joined the web and marketing team, a post she retains to this day.

Claire Orpeza
Claire Orpeza has been Abel New York’s receptionist extraordinaire since December ‘07 and has recently expanded her role to that of Marketing Assistant. Originally from Connecticut (by way of the Philippines), she graduated from Drew University in New Jersey as an English major with a minor in Sociology. In her continued effort to conquer the tri-state area, she finally moved to Brooklyn four days before her twenty-second birthday.

In her free time, she enjoys photography, going on adventures with her puggle Phineas, and playing 80s new wave hits on her ukulele. Her digital life is cataloged here: quirkyrocket.com.

Girvan Calder II

Girvan has been a member of the Abel Service Department since 1996. He began as an Aaton camera electronics technician and was named the NY Service Manager in 2003. Born and raised in New York, he moved west in 2007 to head the Abel LA Service Department.

Girvan holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (1995) from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. He has served a technician and consultant on Scrubs, Sex in The City and NFL Films productions.

Ian McCausland

As one of the original staff members of Abel, Ian was integral to the formation of the company’s rental department back in 1990. Ian reprised this role in 1997 when he moved out West to launch the rental department of Abel’s Burbank operation. He currently serves as Abel LA’s Camera Technology Specialist.

Ian holds a BA in Film from New York University’s Tisch School of Arts. His credits include the 1999 Black Sabbath concert video The Last Supper and the 2008 Smashing Pumpkins documentary If All Goes Wrong.

Most recently, Ian shot and edited a short-form documentary about vintage travel trailers called Aluminum Skins, which was screened at the 2009 Phoenix Film Festival.

Jamie Alac

Jamie is the lead Phantom Technician at Abel NY.

Originally from Perth, Australia, Jamie has worked as a camera operator on projects such as the West Australia Rally Car Championships, Drivetime TV and The Garden Gurus. He has also worked as an underwater camera operator, shooting the Tom Hoad Water Polo Cup, as well as a documentary about Australia’s spectacular Ningaloo reef, Ningaloo Dreaming.

In his free time, Jamie enjoys filming sports such as snowboarding and surfing, and is a practicing still photographer.

Jeff Lee

Jeff Lee joined Abel NY’s sales team in 2009. Hailing from New Jersey (but born in NYC!), he attended Rutgers’ prestigious Mason Gross School of Arts where he concentrated in both photography and filmmaking. At Abel, he makes use of his training every day, providing personalized support for his clients and helping them choose the right gear for their projects.

Additionally, Jeff is an accomplished still photographer who has been a featured Gawker Artist. He enjoys working on cars, cuddling puppies, and the occasional jelly donut. His photo blog can be found here.

Jesse Rosen

Before coming to work at Abel, Jesse was a client; he purchased the Aaton Super16 camera with which he shot Trans. The film was shown at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival where it won an award. Since then, he has worked on many film and television projects, including Martin Scorsese’s blues documentary Lightning in a Bottle, as video engineer, and several documentary projects as cinematographer.

Jesse is Abel’s Director of Technical Development, a position that allows him to combine his background in computer science with his love of filmmaking. He is responsible for evaluating new technology and bringing it into the company and to its clients.

Jorge Diaz-Amador

Jorge Díaz-Amador joined Abel as the LA based Optical Technician in Jan 2010.

He is known in the industry for his technical expertise, and as a longtime proponent of high quality small format acquisition and quality optics.

A native of Miami, FL Jorge holds a B.A. in Communications (Motion Pictures Major) from the University of Miami (1991). He has completed the Cooke Optics S4 service training program in Leicester England, and the Carl Zeiss service training program in Oberkochen, Germany.

Jorge worked as a camera assistant and cinematographer for years before transitioning to technical service. His Director of Photography feature credits include Southern Justice (2004) and Never Look Back (1998).

Juliet Verni

Juliet joined Abel’s Burbank office in 2005 as a rental assistant, one of seven employees in that office at the time. When the company moved into a larger building, she also moved into a new role as a Digital Cinema and Broadcast Technician. Her knowledge gets put to good use, whether in a one-on-one training session with a client or teaching the HPX500 class to forty.

Juliet earned a B.A. in Film at Emerson College in Boston where she was nominated for Best Cinematographer and won a Best Advanced Film Evvy Award and a Best Director Award. She continues to work as a technical supervisor and digital imaging technician on concert, commercial, and feature film shoots. She is also the founder of Abel LA’s Cheesedog Fridays.

Mike Nichols
Before joining the rental department at Abel Cine Tech NY in June of 2008, Mike was the head of production for a commercial production company in SoHo, Zooma Zooma. Zooma Zooma was co-founded by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi and Joseph Mantegna.

Mike earned his B.A. in Film Production at Brooklyn College, where he was the president of the Film Society. His first professional job was as a production assistant on the Robert DeNiro film, “A Bronx Tale.” In 2000, he was invited to the Cannes Film Festival as part of Kodak’s Emerging Filmmakers Program and has attended the festival every year since.

Currently, Mike is finishing up post on his directorial debut, a 2 perf 35mm feature “BreadCrumbs.”

Mitch Gross

Mitch has been the Applications Specialist at Abel Cine Tech since May 2006 and is a respected voice on industry blogs and discussion boards.

A Director of Photography by trade, Mitch has been working in the New York film industry for more than fifteen years. He recently completed principal photography of his twenty-first feature film, Get Faamous.

His credits also include dozens of short subjects, documentaries, commercials and music videos, as well as two television series. His work has been screened and has won awards at festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Edinburgh and New York.

Moe Shore

Moe just joined Abel after 23 years with Panavision as VP of Product Development and recently as VP of Technical Marketing and Strategy. While at Panavision, he was responsible for many different products from 3perf film to Phantom HD to the HD Initiative, which involved deploying digital cameras and optics throughout their worldwide rental inventory. He managed strategic relationships with companies like Sony, Kodak, Canon, Panasonic and Abel Cine Tech. Prior to that, Moe was a film and video editor at WGBH-TV and developed laser disc games for Atari.