Unlike a lot of people in the Hawaii video production industry, I started my career working in post production rather than production. I spent much of my time sitting down in front of Final Cut Pro surrounded by Cinema Displays and Digi-Beta decks rather than behind a camera looking through a lens. I often spent eight of my ten hour work-day sitting in a Herman Miller Aeron chair and never really thought much of it.
One day I got curious and asked my former boss, “Why do you spend $900 on these chairs for your employees?” and his answer was something I’ll never forget… “Because they are the best chairs around and your back deserves the best we can offer. If we expect you to sit in a chair all day long, we need to provide you with the best, most comfortable, most ergonomic chair available.” It was staggering to think that my health and well being could be so directly affected by the chair I sat in.
When I started Berad Studio, I put so much effort into my camera gear and software purchases and never really gave much thought to my work space. After sitting in a hand-me-down chair for a couple years I finally decided to take heed to my former bosses advice and invest in a proper chair. I thought heavily about buying an Aeron chair but recently found something else very similar at Office Depot for a fraction of the price. (FYI: I bought mine online and picked up in-store which saved me $90)
It’s interesting to think that we invest so much time and money in the tools we “need” to capture specific moments (whether its a camera, a lens or camera support system) and often allot merely the leftovers to what we do before and after we capture those moments. I know for me, more time is spent sitting in my chair researching gear, planning out production, editing, color correcting and finishing a piece than is spent on location shooting… so I’m stoked that I finally got a good seat. Gear will come and go, so invest in the one piece of hardware you’ll always have: your body and get a good, solid, comfortable support system for it.
