Tired, but it was soooo much fun

Finally I’m done – exhausted, but the last couple of months have been amazing!  Not only have I moved ShutterClass into its new home at Lightdrop Studios, but I’ve also just finished working on 3 different short film projects!!  Even better, I filled very different roles on each one:

  • Tropfest project – Director of Photography, responsible for all primary camera work as well as solving some of the more interesting lighting challenges 
  • Tropfest project – Gaffer, with quite a bit of 1st/2nd AC and Grip assistant work.  This was a great project, we even got to work on location in Melbourne CBD, closing down half a laneway to get the outdoor shots we needed
  • Footage for SFX project – I worked closely with a good friend who’s turned into an amazing SFX editor, and together we pulled together some very cool footage that he’s turned into a simply amazing little 3 minute short.

I wish I could say more about all of these projects, but they are being entered into competitions (Tropfest Australia for two of them) and I’m not permitted to say much.  Don’t worry though, as soon as they are announced to the world, I’ll be updating here!

I had the best time on all 3 projects, and I would work with all of them again in future without hesitation!  But in the meantime, I need to prepare for the Intro DSLR Filmmaking workshop that I’m hosting on Saturday, it’s booked out and should be a fun crowd.

Motion Pictures and dSLRs, some thoughts…

I had a video sent to me, by a motorbike fan friend of mine – the movie is called “Joy Ride“, by Sandro. It’s an interesting little movie because I’m a rider (just sans bike atm, had to sell it and haven’t replaced it yet…) and a photographer interested in film (but not actively shooting film).

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5D MkIII in the wild?

Reputable sources are pointing to the 5D MkIII (or maybe a 7D MkII at a remote stretch) has been seen in the wild – literally!! Read on for more detail!

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Head ‘splode, BRB…

My head just exploded, and it wasn’t because of something coming from Chase for a change!!  Just so you all know, I also follow a bunch of other amazing photographers and videographers – they tend to say less, and simply speak with their work!!  One of those amazing people is Vincent Laforet.  You may recall he was the first to record 1080p on a DSLR with his short film Reverie (which is a great watch if you’ve never seen it!).

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Taking rubbish photos? Phones and education…

Everyone here knows of my man-crush on Chase Jarvis (just hit the tag cloud, he’s the most common topic on this little rambling site!), it’s almost like he has a sixth sense for posting something right as I’m thinking/experiencing it!!

For example, over the last couple of days I’ve been pondering the idea of formal photography training. On one hand I think I would like to “round out” my photography knowledge with a little more theoretical substance – I can talk most of the tech but I sometimes wonder if I know enough, or if my knowledge is really as comprehensive as I pretend it is! But on the other hand, Ansell Adams said it best when he said “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs…” – surely if I take enough images I’ll eventually hit my groove and know what I’m doing??

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Optics, Filmmaking and Triggers

There’s been quite a bit of news lately on various things relating to photography (although, nothing really new or exciting from Canon, apart from more confusion over 5D Mk III film vs still and the inevitable 1Ds Mk IV non-existent camera (*yawn*). But I digress, Gizmodo ran an article on high quality optics with a title I love – “Cameras are for Christmas, lenses are for life” – Amen to that!!

What really surprised me was that the lenses I lusted after are actually the cheapest cine lenses you can buy!! Who would have thought 7 Zeiss compact primes costing $US 21,000 for the set would be called “cheap”!! Still, $C 25,000 for a single Leica Summilux does make the full Zeiss set look like a bargain!!

The article highlights the same advice I give to all photographers who ask me what they should buy – lenses last a lifetime, save your pennies and buy the best glass you can tolerably afford!! It will serve you far longer than any digital body ever will!!

On other things, my camera axe first tests resulted in a note from a reader who mentioned a project on Kickstarter called TriggerTrap. It looks interesting, will be half the price of the Camera Axe, and should have most of the features. I think the one thing that surprised me was that the laser light sensor and a basic piezo microphone are on board – that was the one thing that annoyed me about my old trigger, I had to keep the unit itself close to the action!! Although the ready-built “pro” version is intended to be water resistent, I’ve learnt from bitter experience that the best place for your trigger device is as far away from the action as you can get it!!

On the plus side, the TriggerTrap has a USB interface so that other funky things can be done!! I’m a bit of a tinkerer, so I liked that idea and wish my Camera Axe had the same!

Check out the Kickstarter page and get your hands on one on the cheaps (it closes in a couple of days!)

More Chase, and DIY Professional?

Everyone who reads my ramblings knows I have a thing for Chase Jarvis – he lives the notion that photography is a business, and I have to admire that dedication to his business!! Just because he happens to take an OK image every now and then certainly doesn’t hurt (and Chase, should you ever read this, I really mean “mind blowing awesome image”!!)

But I digress – Chase is doing my head in again, with his throw-away pearls of wisdom!! In a post he did last month (yes, I’m slightly behind on my RSS feeds), Chase suggested photographers should “Stop trying to get everyone to like your work”. He makes a great point, and it’s like Chase is talking DIRECTLY TO ME!!!

How many of us have an awesome idea for a shot – and then over a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, that brilliant idea loses its shine, puts a few doubts in your mind, and before you know it – you hate it! I’ve bin’d so many ideas using this process, it’s a wonder I ever shoot anything!! (Stop laughing at me, I do actually shoot sometimes!!). But Chaswami is correct, I need to “quit with my shifty eyes” and stop looking at what everyone else is doing – and just get on with my stuff!!

Here’s hoping I can convert this concept into more spontaneous shoots – some of the best images I’ve seen and admired came from that breathtaking idea moment being immediately followed up with some action!!

On a side note, I was impressed with the idea of a cheap PVC Flash Bracket for off-camera flash photography. However, what are the chances you’ll ever do a second fashion or catalogue gig if you used one of those on a commercial project!! It’s annoying and irrelevant, but commercial clients will notice cheap gear – it shouldn’t make a difference to the photos, but it will make a difference to the number of zeros you can put on your invoice!

Camera Axe first tests

Finally got a chance to test out the Camera Axe I purchased (and built) a little while back. I’ve been itching to try out some commercial advertising style product shots using water splashes – the picture in my head was along the lines of this ad from 2009 (and I realise that Coca Cola spends a bucket load on editing in post!).

Liquids are good at misbehaving – they never seem to make the shape you want! But they do have the advantage of making other cool shapes you never expected! Read on for more!

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Lytro, where did you come from??

Ummm, wow?  This one completely took me by surprise, and I will open by saying that a whole lot more investigation will be undertaken before I get too excited.  On the surface, the Lytro sounds like weird voodoo camera magic, and maybe it is!  Continue on for more…

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Got me a new axe!

Back in late 2008 (yes, that long ago!!), I invested in a Universal Timer – you can still buy them, and they are a very cool bit of kit! For the uninitiated (and those who don’t bother clicking through the many links I provide!), the Universal Time is effectively a remote control trigger for your DSLR, on steroids! It takes input from different types of sensors, and fires a couple of attached flashes! Read on for the details…

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