Max Z. S. (also known as “The Imaginative Hobbyist”) is a freelance visual artist who specializes in film production, digital art design, and photography.
As an independent filmmaker, he has 12 years of experience producing short films (13) as well as music videos (2) for local artists; the cover band The Coxmen and country singer Lorne Brinkman.
Professionally, he has produced 24 commercials which have promoted events and businesses, original public access television programming, and issues within the community. He has received praise for his storytelling and having strong, cinematic quality videos with low budgets and limited equipment.
In 2013, he represented the school of Dakota County Technical College and the state of Minnesota in the SkillsUSA finals in Kansas City, Missouri, competing in Digital Cinema Production.
He has worked with a variety of digital camera operating systems such as DSLRs, the Sony HXR-NX5U, the Sony PXW-FS5M2 4K XDCAM, and Smartphones.
Max is also the creator and producer of the public access television programs; the science fiction / fantasy series Strangely Local, and the instructional series Shop’d to the Max! for Hastings Community TV.
Max is also the creator and producer of the public access television programs; the science fiction / fantasy series Strangely Local, and the instructional series Shop’d to the Max! for Hastings Community TV.
As a digital artist, he has 15 years of experience in digital art creation working with a variety of photo editing software, primarily Adobe Photoshop.
He has professionally produced over 300 designs, from logos, advertisements, infographics, and score graphics for corporations, original public access television programming, community events, and social media.
His independent work based on and inspired by popular culture has received notice from prominent people in the entertainment industry, such as filmmakers Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”, “The Shape of Water”), Michael Bay (“Transformers”, “The Rock”), Roland Emmerich (“Independence Day”, “The Day After Tomorrow”), Robert Rodriguez (“Alita: Battle Angel”, “Sin City”), Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe”), Shawn Levy (“Deadpool & Wolverine”, “Stranger Things”), and James Wan (“The Conjuring”, “Saw”, “Aquaman”), actors Ryan Reynolds, Zachary Levi, Tessa Thompson, Rosario Dawson, Hailee Steinfeld, and Josh Duhamel, comic book creators Rob Leifeld, Dan Jurgens, Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan, and Mitch Breitweiser, athletes John Cena, Jack Berndhard Hermansson, Marina Rodriguez, Beth Copeland, Natalya Neidhart, Zelina Vega, Rhea Ripley, Karrion Kross, and Lindsey Vonn, as well as reality TV star Olivia Pierson.
Max has also been a guest creator at conventions held by the Midwest Comic Book Association celebrating popular culture.
As a photographer, he has nine years of experience of producing quality images on a limited budget, using primarily his Nikon DSLR D3200 and Smartphone to take pictures, and 15 years of experience using Adobe Photoshop software for retouching photographs.
He has professionally photographed weddings (2), engagements (1), and family portraits (1).
Max’s work has been featured in the Metropolitan State University arts and literature magazine Haute Dish.
He is open to work on all kinds of projects regardless of subject, genre, and medium.
