10/09/10

Hi. I believe I mentioned that this blog would be moving towards more of a photography and travel and adventure blog and I would begin to leave behind the wonderful world of aus. And so I want to take a few minutes to talk about photography and my rapidly growing obsession with it. Ironically… I won’t be posting any pictures in this (hopefully) brief update.

I love photography. Or more truthfully filmmaking. Rolling a camera on some subject and trying to get the world to see things the way that I do. I’ve been reading every blog and journal and every other source of material I can get my hands on. And I do this until my eyes hurt and my brain shuts down. As my tolerance and excitement increases, the length of time I can do this for also increases. I’ll realize I’ve been perusing these sites of filmmakers and journalists for hours on end and even noticing the sun coming up occasionally. This does not help me finish strong in my last two weeks as a College student.

However, I can’t seem to help myself. I feel like I have so much to learn and I don’t want to stop. I’ve read up on the equipment and lenses and things and seen who feels what’s important to someone’s kit and everything… being on an extremely tight and non-existent budget, I find myself lusting for a lot of expensive toys I can’t afford yet. Which is fine. I can be patient. But reading all these things and seeing the potential of what each piece of equipment will add… I can’t help but get excited. Haha

Currently I’m borrowing a sigma 10mm fish eye for my Canon 7d. the reason was originally to film some Parkour guys downtown in Brisbane this morning. But for the third Saturday in a row, it rained and for the third Saturday in a row… I found no one doing parkour at the place they were supposed to be, at the time they were supposed to be there. It’s getting a little frustrating. I went around still trying to make the most of it, but eventually the feelings of dissapointment and the warmer than desirable rain made me pack up and head home meaning I only took about… 20 pictures. None of which I liked.

Aside from just reading up on lenses and “how to” be awesome with a cameras, I’ve been reading editing techniques, watching tutorials, storing information away for reference and use at a later date. But eventually all the reading and the studying and everything else will only carry me so far. I need to shoot more. Edit more. I want my computer (iMac 27” i7 with 8gb RAM) which is sitting me, nestled up in a corner back in the states missing me very much I’m sure. My laptop can get the job done… eventually. However it takes an eternity compared to my girl back home.

So I’m trying to place a focus on my film work. Shooting, recording, practicing and trying to hone my skills. I want to know my camera inside and out. Originally, I shot with Nikons because their price was closer to my budget. However, the desire to shoot 24p on the 7d eventually won out and I upgraded and began building my kit.

Currently, my minimalistic equipment bag looks like this:
Canon 7d with 1 battery.
Canon 28mm EF f2.8
Canon 50mm EF f1.8
Canon 75-300 EF f3.5-5.6
Canon 28-135 EF f3.5-5.6

And that’s it. I don’t even have a legitimate tripod. But that’s next on my list, followed by a shoulder mount, tokina 11-16mm lens and then an h4n Zoom for audio. But those are quite a ways off. I’ll have to continue to make due and borrow what I can when I can.

I feel myself getting inspired constantly from these professionals that I’m following. Their work is just so far beyond my current skill level and I want so badly to learn from them. I find myself thinking of new script ideas… playing at my weaknesses to hopefully make them strengths. Seeing what excuses to practice compositing techniques I can find (I want to make a video where I go “super-saiyan” and blow up my lap top.) and improve my skills. I’m grabbing at every opportunity I can find to shoot. I’ve been a little let down lately like I said. But I’m hopeful that these other upcoming events will give me some good content to work with.

And I’ve been trying to get into contests. I recently entered a contest here in Australia. Winner gets $50,000 to turn their web-series idea into a full fledged production. And I’m excited. Even though I entered late and my production quality isn’t on par with some of my extremely talented competitors, it’s still practice. And it only fuels me more… you can see the trailer here:
http://apps.facebook.com/moviewebfest/showentry?entryurl=%2Fcontests%2Fshowentry%2F473289%2Fnull%2F4

as some of you know, this is a trailer to a series I did for my senior project at Central Washington University. 4 short films in 10 weeks. It turned out amazing considering we had no budget, no time for errors and several things not go as planned (this is always the case though.). I was very pleased with the final product and grateful to everyone who helped out. I had hoped that maybe winning this contest would provide an opportunity to rewrite and reshoot. Regardless of whether I win or not, I would like to rework this storyline and then eventually reshoot some or all of it.

Other contests I am working towards entering have prizes such as free round trip tickets for two to Australia, or an ipad and so on. I’ve stored a lot of usable footage for this contest in particular and have two weeks to finish and get my entry submitted.

I’m also heading to Sydney soon to spend several days with some friends. I am really looking forward to this. I was nervous that I wouldn’t get to travel and see some of the places I want to. I’ve conceded to the fact that I don’t have the money to see everything I’d like… but I’m sure coming back in a few years when I’m more financially stable is a possibility. Or probability.

I’m just rambling. But I feel bad for not updating this more often… so you’re kind of getting all the thoughts that come through my head while I try to catch you up.

I get home in 6 weeks. Some of the first things I intend to do are find work and begin setting money aside. There are also some projects that I would like to do at and around my parents house. They have a lot of cans that I’d like to take in (I can keep what I get for them), and I’d also like to clear out a lot of things that have accumulated in my room and while I was gone. A lot of things I can sell and put away for use later. Like some old props that I don’t need. Toys that I probably won’t get money for, but my nephews might enjoy, or I can give them to the goodwill or something. I just find myself really wanting to place less of a financial and spatial burden on my parents. They’ve done so much for me and it’s time I at least try to start returning the favor.

I’d also like to build a jib and Slider for use on shoots. I think these pieces of equipment will be invaluable, even though they won’t get used all the time. Building them myself saves me about 90% on the total cost… and it’s fun. If you’re interested I can post the links to the DIY’s I found, and at the very least, I’ll post vids of how they turn out.

And lastly: conventions. These are huge for making connections and friends in the industry. Or industries… there are conventions going on all year in different parts of the country. I’m not currently in a position to attend these. However, there are some local ones that I’d like to look into.

Chase Jarvis (professional photographer http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/) sometimes does lighting seminars in Seattle, Washington, where you go in for a night or day, or length of time and learn several different elements to lighting off camera with strobes, or with studio lights. At the previous seminar (I guess this is more seminar than convention lol) the strobist, David Hobby (http://strobist.blogspot.com/2010/10/rosco-will-help-you-correct-for-those.html) made an appearance and helped teach as well. Both of these guys are phenomenal photographers. And I would love to get paid to do what they do…

The other one that I’m looking at getting tickets too appeals to the nerd in me more than the photographer/videographer. Comic-con 2011 tickets go on sale in November. For those of you who don’t know, comic-con is a giant convention for everything Nerd. From comic books (as the title of the con suggests) to tv shows and games and everything in between. There are short seminars where you get updates to your favorite shows and news on movies that are coming out. Can get signed pictures with some of your favorite stars and ask them questions. Realizing just how awesome it would be to attend this (finally, after having wanted to go for so long…) I asked my nerdiest friends Michael, James, and Kyle to go with me. I’m not sure it’ll actually happen. But $100 for a 4 day event in California is pretty freaking sweet… I gotta say. And that would be a great opportunity to run around with my camera and any new equipment I may have. ☺ plus there will be some other conventions and contests going on around that time.

Ok so I apologize that this got so random and disorganized. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures from the “one day on earth” shoot that I’m during on 10/10/10 to post in my next blog and I’ll actually be semi-on-topic.

Have a goodnight. ☺
James