Raised in the village of Dobbs Ferry, NY, Lewis spent many hours working with his father, a skilled do-it-yourselfer, on

various projects around the house. With his fathers’ guidance and access to a garage full of tools, Lewis was

able to learn and develop tinkering and carpentry skills of his own.

 

Outside the shop, one of the more fascinating pieces of equipment he came across was the Digital8 camcorder.

At the age of 12 Lewis debuted as the official family videographer with documentaries on his grandparents' 50th anniversary party and his grandfather's life story.

 

While watching a musical production at the school auditorium during fifth grade, Lewis spent most of his time examining the light and sound system which brought the show to life. He was intrigued. He joined stage crew club and began building sets, learning how to aim and hang lights, and how to work wireless microphones and an audio mixer.

 

Later that year Lewis became active at the school’s public access cable channel. It was there that his passions for mass communications took on a new level. TV Studio Manager Craig Meyerson, Lewis’ first TV mentor, taught him how to assemble three camera live-to-tape remote productions of board of education meetings, school plays and concerts. He learned how to properly lay cable, place microphones, operate broadcast cameras, and how signal flows between studio components.

 

Lewis took advantage of countless opportunities at Dobbs Ferry’s auditorium and TV studio complex. Those experiences fueled his curiosity and fascination with production technology and its use in the story telling process.

 

Through connections made at the Dobbs Ferry High School theater, Lewis was able to secure hands on learning opportunities at major New York City lighting, set construction, and recording studio firms at the young age of 16. He was exposed to studio lighting at the Time Warner Building on the sets of Paula Zahn Now and Anderson Cooper 360, grinded down welds for a Lincoln Center set piece, and assisted with Regis Philbin, Rod Stewart, and Steve Tyrell studio albums.

 

Lewis received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York College at Oswego majoring in Broadcasting and Mass Communication. In addition to classwork, Lewis spent countless hours at the student run TV station, WTOP-10 TV. He worked at the stations old facilities before helping move in to the new Al Roker TV Studio, learning first hand how to make a broadcast work with equipment from various time periods. Lewis experienced every duty there was from newscast director, to camera operator, to newscast producer. He was eventually elected into leadership roles as chief engineer and general manager where he oversaw an annual budget of over $40,000.

 

Between classwork, student clubs and several paid experiences on campus, Lewis was exposed to a wide spectrum of technology and the ways in which they can be applied to enhance the dissemination of information.

 

During his senior year of college, Lewis began work at the Syracuse TV station group CNYcentral. He began as a part time master control operator where he worked to ensure the right commercials and programming reached the audience at the right time. He then moved into the news department as a part time, and eventually full time photojournalist. Lewis had shot still photographs on a DSLR throughout college as an amateur and loved to document anything that happened around him. He took the opportunity to combine his love for photography and merge it with technology and journalism.

 

Lewis constantly strives to apply his photojournalism skills and high production values to every story. He has been sent across the northeast to bring viewers live coverage of the arrival of Hurricane Sandy at Battery Park, the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings in Boston, and the paralyzing snow fall of winter storm Knife in Buffalo. His passion lies in working to tell the story of everyday people through capturing compelling sounds and images.

 

In November of 2016, Lewis moved to the Midwest and began telling stories for CBS Minnesota, WCCO-TV. He shoots and edits daily general news, breaking news, special projects, features, sports and native web video stories for the Minneapolis based television station.