1958
The craft was inherited.
Steve grew up inside a family where cameras were part of ordinary life.
01 · 1940s
Three generations behind the lens
The Lineage
This work was part of the family before I understood it.
My grandparents, D.A. and Kenneth Nissle, made photographs and home movies when personal documentation was still unusual. At Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles, they turned attention into something people could hold.
My father carried the craft into fine portraiture. I carried it into documentary work. The tools changed. The instinct did not: notice what matters, preserve it carefully, and help people recognize the story already there.
02 · 1940s
A day in the life...
From the family archive
Kenneth filmed D.A. moving through an ordinary day. There was no campaign or audience. He simply understood that ordinary life becomes important when someone takes the time to notice it.
This section lives underneath the footage so the film can open the memory first. The words simply give context to what the camera already preserved.
03 · 1940s–1950s
Clifton’s · The working archive
Photography was part of the experience.
At Clifton’s, a visit could become a souvenir. Patrons were photographed while enjoying a meal, and left with a small record of having been there. The cards, the shop, and the people behind them show the work as it really was: personal, immediate, and made to be kept.
04 · 1945–1947
05 · Late 1950s
The life around the work
The archive holds more than a profession. It holds the people living inside it.
06 · 1958–Present
The through-line
Documentary is the inheritance.
My grandfather preserved ordinary life. My father carried the craft into fine portraiture. I brought the same attention into documentary storytelling for businesses and the people behind them.
1970s to present
The craft became portraiture.
My father carried it forward through fine portrait work and a lifetime of photographing people carefully.
2010 to present
The craft became Narratv.
I use documentary film and photography to help people recognize what is worth preserving in the work they have built.
07 · The reclaiming
The Story I Had to Reclaim
Remembering my story changed how I hold yours.
Narratv did not only grow out of a family inheritance. It also grew out of a season when I had lost the clearest sense of who I was and had to learn how a story can be buried, rewritten, and slowly reclaimed.
My wife, Abegail, has been part of that return. Her presence, honesty, and influence helped me see that remembering is not nostalgia. It is the work of choosing what is true now, then living from it with greater courage. Her work with Kismet and Satori guides people through their own journey of remembering.
That experience changed how I sit with a founder, ask a question, and recognize the moment when someone hears their own story clearly again.
08 · The camera kept moving
The Camera Kept Moving
Three generations later, the work continues.
Today the sets are larger, the tools are different, and the work travels farther. But every production still begins with the same act of attention.
These are the rooms around the finished videos: the conversations, the crews, the light, and the care required to let someone be seen clearly.
09 · Today
Today
Narratv, built by NGN Pictures.
Narratv is the practice: a cinematic story and media consultancy based in Phoenix, Arizona. NGN Pictures is the production company beneath it, named for three generations of Nissles who kept the cameras running.
The clients and industries have changed. The standard has not. Know the person first. Then create the media that lets other people feel what is true about them.
16+Years in production
300+Clients served
21+Industries
10 · Present day
What clients have felt
The work is measured by what becomes clear.
“Nolan did more than create beautiful media for us. He helped us understand what was worth saying, why it mattered, and how to communicate it in a way people could immediately feel. The final work looked elevated, but more importantly, it felt unmistakably like us.”
“Our business had grown far beyond the way we were presenting ourselves. Narratv helped close that distance. The work finally reflects the experience, intention, and standard we have spent years building behind the scenes.”
11 · What comes next
The next chapter
Every story on this site began with someone deciding theirs was worth telling.
The lineage is not about repeating what came before. It is about carrying the same care forward, and turning it toward what matters now.