Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Do Want!!!

Kendra has a huge crush on this videographer/cinematographer named Russell Brownley (Russ's Vimeo Page & Russ's Website) and I have to admit, the man knows his stuff. He produces very professional videos and loves the "Super 8" effect (complete with film burns) almost as much as I do.

Anyway, point being we saw that he did a documentary on a bike manufacture in Zambia called "Zambikes". Zambikes has recently started production on hand building bike frames out of local bamboo. I can't express how much these bikes impress me and how much I want one. I love biking and I love most anything that is handcrafted.... except for wicker anything. I mean c'mon people, find a hobby.

I suggest you watch this video that Mr. Brownley made and check out his website and/or Vimeo page.

Zambikes Preview from Russell Brownley on Vimeo.

Monday, June 28, 2010

*tear* A Dream Come True

Thanks to my friend Curt (curtnova.com) I have been given the opportunity to help a company he works for called Push Play Productions. They were in need of another camera operator and Curt gave me a call. I was thinking that I was going to be using one of their cameras, which is always a joy to use a nice camera but I knew that they didn't own anything extraordinary or anything that I haven't had the opportunity to work with before.

So when I got to the location and saw what cameras we got to work with I nearly wet myself. I had my hands on a Panasonic AG-HPX 500 all day and it was really hard to not smile the whole time. Never really been a part of a real production and it was so much fun. Below I included a picture of the camera I used and YES, I purposefully left the price tag visible.



Best part about this situation is, that I get to go back for three more days of playing with this camera.

Running On Fumes

Lately I've been so busy and stressed that I have done all of the following in the past week:

  • Stayed up for more than 48 hours continuously while editing and burning projects to DVD's.
  • Found out that my DVD burner and or DVD program is on the fritz.
  • Nearly pulled out all my hair trying to figure out where all the memory on my MacBook Pro keeps going. It's only 150GB hard drive but I'm very organized and it seems that it's constantly full and I'm not sure why.
  • Had my time and effort volunteered to help out with editing a video project I didn't shoot that nearly ended in disaster due to the aforementioned computer problems.

And all of this while working a 45 hour week at my regular job and being constantly attacked by a bombardment of seasonal allergies.

Aside from being stressed and running on fumes, this last weekend I went with Kendra and two of my good friends Mike and Fletcher to Blair Lake and camped overnight. Needless to say, a case of assorted micro brews and a midnight trip to a nearby natural hot spring is exactly what I needed to recharge for the rest of the week I have ahead of me.

Blair Lake at dawn.

Fletcher pumping Mike full of Giardia.

A peek over the edge of Hell Hole. 200ft straight down.

Our hike out from Hell Hole, we stumbled upon a scene from Lord of the Rings.

Mike decorating the forest.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Busy

What a past month I've had! I have been working a ton and trying pretty hard to focus on getting more video jobs going.

Just a few weeks ago I filmed a Orthodox Jewish wedding and finally was able to finish the editing. Now it's just a matter of getting the DVD menu finished and sent off to the client. The wedding itself was unreal and nothing like your traditional Christian wedding. It was a non-stop party and I was running around from shot to shot. Needless to say I've never been so tired and worn out at a wedding. The bride and groom are a super nice couple and I hope they like what I did and maybe recommend me to a few of their friends. (Shameless self plug)

All this time sitting at my computer editing is starting to actually pay off though. I'm becoming more efficient with my editing and learning new things. I really would like to talk to a few pros to try and figure out some new things or maybe even find a class to help broaden my repertoire.

You can check out the wedding video just below or if your feeling adventurous, just go to my new website HERE. (Huge thanks to the lovely Kendra Handke for whipping up a lovely website for me.)

Eric & Lynne from Jesse Tobler on Vimeo.