Welcome to Lost City Pictures

My name is Jeremy Leach and, as the owner of Lost City Pictures, let me be the first to welcome you to our website.  Although we are a relatively new production company, this website represents a body of work that I've cultivated over ten years in the visual arts as a filmmaker and photographer.  Please feel free to peruse the frequently updated articles here on our "Home" page and in the "News" section, check out the photographs, review the company mission statement and personal bios, and watch a variety of video clips in the "Reel" section.  Questions?  Upcoming projects?  Please feel free to contact us.  Thanks for visiting!

The Go Cart - Part 1: The Beginning of an Adventure

In the fall of 2006, I was contacted by friend and fellow filmmaker, Wendy Snyder MacNeil, owner of Sunset Hill Films, to begin work on the first in a trilogy of children's films. We had worked together two years prior on an experimental Super 16mm film, The Lost Bird, and had kept in touch over the years.  After what felt like a long respite, Wendy was excited about the prospects for her new film.  Her sister-in-law, Rebecca Upjohn, an acclaimed author of children's books, had already written the script.  Casting had already begun and a setting had been chosen - the film was to be shot during peak foliage on a farm in Southern New Hampshire near Mt. Monadnock. Her family friend, David, owned this fully operating farm in Chesham, NH, and it was located down the road from where Wendy had spent her summers when she was young.
     Along with fulfilling the duties of running the farm, David raised Border Collies with his son, Colin. [more]

Retrospective: Sarajevo Roses - Part 1

It was July 2001. I had recently left a safe haven, the walled city of Dubrovnik on the Dalmation Coast, and headed east to the Bosnian border.  At the time, Bosnia-Herzegovina was a country the Lonely Planet dedicated a whopping four pages to, four pages of sobering travel warnings of inherent dangers including unexploded land mines and violent crime.  After a particularly difficult conversation with my mother from a pay phone about why on earth I wanted to travel into Bosnia, I crossed the border on a bus and after a few days in Mostar, a heavily-shelled city in the southwest of Bosnia, made my way to Sarajevo.
     As I reluctantly navigated Sniper's Alley, the exposed main boulevard leading to the heart of Sarajevo, I struggled to understand my surroundings.  I had witnessed a lot of graffiti, a surprising amount in English, the tags included names like Tupac, Coolio, and Biggie, big hip hop stars in the US.  I began to wonder how the influence of these American hip hop moguls had infiltrated this isolated and strife-ridden pocket of Eastern Europe. [more]

Camera Wars: Prosumer v. Professional - Part 1

As a filmmaker, I have worked with both prosumer and professional cameras in a variety of different shooting situations.  In fact, sometimes it feels like I'm working with a different type of camera every time I'm on a shoot.  Over the past few years, the smaller, prosumer cameras have become increasingly popular on a wide variety of projects, replacing larger, professional cameras on industrial films and documentaries as well as feature films and music videos.  Undoubtedly, the small camera revolution has forever changed filmmaking and the primary arguments for using small cameras are quite convincing.  Their size makes them a great choice for the discerning filmmaker who requires a camera system that is portable, unobtrusive, and travel-friendly.  When used on multi-camera shoots, they are ideal for capturing cutaways and details.  And most importantly, they are budget-friendly and their heavily advertised, film-like image quality is excellent considering the cost. [more]

DADGAD

Looking back, I've come to realize that music has always been an important part of my life.  As a child, I started playing violin, and as I got older, I moved onto piano and trumpet.  Needless to say, the violin lessons in second grade were a challenging endeavor for teacher and student alike as my best friend, Ryan Lupoli, and I struggled to overcome our uncontrollable laughing fits.  Playing together side-by-side in front of our teacher, we simply couldn't get through a lesson without cracking up.  In an attempt to restore our teacher's sanity, we were finally separated.
     At my mother's insistence, I began playing piano in elementary school.  After a brief reprieve in fourth grade to play the trumpet, an instrument I enjoyed but didn't have the faculties for, I returned to the piano and continued lessons throughout middle school.  After battling through my adolescent years, struggling to find time to practice classical piano, I ended piano lessons and focused on Science and Math and the overall "fitting in" process of high school. [more]