Gallup man wins emmy award

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — John Sandoval is a big believer is in following one’s dreams.

Growing up in Gallup, he was encouraged by a close and loving family, good friends, a strong faith, and a supportive community. Although far removed from the professional film career he has pursued, Sandoval believes those positive experiences in Gallup have provided a solid foundation for his success today.

Sandoval, who was home recently visiting family for a Thanksgiving get-together, has a brand new Emmy on display in his house — the result of his camera work for a PBS news report.

As a news cameraman, Sandoval has filmed interviews with President Bill Clinton and the Dalai Lama, shot inside the Space Shuttle, and covered hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters. As a sports cameraman, Sandoval filmed Michael Jordan’s last professional basketball game and was on the court when Jordan made his last shot as a NBA player. In the field of entertainment television, he’s been the lead cameraman for the television show “America’s Got Talent,” and one of his upcoming projects will be the new show with Ozzy Osbourne and family.

“I consider myself pretty lucky,” Sandoval said in a recent telephone interview.

For the Emmy Award he won in September, Sandoval was the cameraman for an eight minute information segment that was part of KCET’s nightly news series “Life and Times.” Sandoval’s winning piece, “Jessica’s Law Fallout,” explored the problems created by California’s 2006 Jessica’s Law that requires convicted sex offenders to not reside within 2,000 feet of a school or any park where children gather.

The law is making it difficult for convicted sex offenders who have served their time and paid their debt to society to find places to live, Sandoval said. According to news reports, the law is also pushing sex offenders underground, making it difficult for law enforcement officers to adequately track them.

The reporter for “Jessica’s Law Fallout” found one homeless convicted sex offender living outdoors near a lake, Sandoval said. In order to protect the man’s privacy during the interview, Sandoval said he didn’t film the man’s face, but rather used a hand held camera to film very tight close-ups of the man and the Global Positioning System tracking device he wore. That approach to filming made shooting the piece different from typical generic news pieces, he explained.

Sandoval, a 1985 graduate of Gallup High School and a graduate of the University of Southern California Film School, said he has an extensive background as a news cameraman, from his early days working as a graveyard shift photographer covering fires, auto accidents, and homicides to working as a staff cameraman for CNN.

A freelance cameraman since 2001, Sandoval said he currently works in news, entertainment, sports, and reality television programming. He hopes to “keep climbing the ladder” and move up to director of photography positions and also to produce his own film projects.

Sandoval’s parents are Frank and Rose Marie “Shorty” Sandoval of Gallup. Even though neither of his parents went to college, and his father didn’t graduate from high school, Sandoval said his parents supported the career goals of their children.

“God bless my parents,” said Sandoval, who explained that one year his father worked 360 days in order to pay for his children’s college tuition.

In addition to Sandoval, his brother Louis is an artist and screenwriter. Sister Toki, an attorney, is currently recovering from serious injuries suffered in an accident earlier this year. Sandoval credits her recovery to lots of prayers from family and friends.

Sandoval admits that growing up in Gallup didn’t expose him to many different career possibilities. However, he said, Gallup provided him a strong sense of community, and his family instilled in him the importance of hard work, spiritual faith, and family.

For youth who have career dreams bigger than the small communities they may be living in, Sandoval said he believes in the value of plugging away at one’s dreams.

“Find something you love, no matter what it is,” he said, “and focus on that.”