Brad Elsberg’s decade-old video and photography business often boils down to helping farmers quickly forget about all the gear he brought.

“I’m always looking for the heart and the emotional connection of a story,” the Elsberg Studios principal said.

He emphasizes “being very relational” as well as “the connection with our clients, and our ability to not make people frustrated with the media process.”

Decades of experience in faith-based and other nonprofit sectors helped Elsberg and his wife, co-owner and frequent interviewer Alyce Elsberg, develop their gentle approach.

Increased urgency is apparent.

“Everybody needs to tell their story,” Brad Elsberg said. People who raise money have known this, but “for so many years, agriculture didn’t realize it needed to tell its story, helping people understand the gravity of what they are doing and how agriculture works.”

Such efforts have increased public awareness that farmers and ranchers practice conservation, care for their land and animals, take a long-term view and produce something of widespread importance, he said.

“Farmers love their property,” Elsberg said. “Dairy farmers love their cattle.”

About six years ago, he produced a video at a south-central Idaho dairy that had grown to about 15,000 head and a crew of 150. “It was still family-based,” Elsberg said. “I learned a lot telling that story.”

His subjects have ranged from farm families and agri-tourism to key industries, and from irrigation delivery infrastructure and noxious weeds to road safety during the growing season.

“A lot of it has been in agri-tourism and, from the other side of ag, urbanization,” Elsberg said.

About 70% of his work is videography, the rest photography. Video work — recently 60 to 70 projects a year — has transitioned toward shorter pieces, many of which suit social media platforms. Photography is moving away from basic event documentation.

“I still get calls for branding photography, magazines and brochures,” Elsberg said.

He came to what is now Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, to study speech communication and broadcasting. He and Alyce met there, marrying between their freshman and sophomore years. Alyce went on to work as an elementary teacher and children’s pastor.

Brad worked as a photographer and videographer for Church of the Nazarene headquarters for 10 years, and the university for 14 years following a stint with technology company Garmin.

Starting in the early 2000s, side projects for Rick Waitley and Roger Batt, who lead several agriculture organizations, set the stage for the eventual formation of Elsberg Studios. By early 2014, “it grew to what we realized was a full-time business,” Elsberg said.

Brad Elsberg

Title: Co-owner of Elsberg Studios, Nampa, Idaho

Age: 56

Education: Speech communication and broadcasting studies, Northwest Nazarene College

Hometown: Royal City, Wash.

Residence: Nampa

Family: Wife, Alyce (co-owner of Elsberg Studios); two adult children

Hobbies: Media, collecting Walt Disney and Disneyland memorabilia, building puppets.