Archive for January, 2010
mexico was good. here’s a few quickies.
+ while we’re abroad, here’s a spot of fine french filmmaking as well, la blogoteque. their off kilter style has produced an array of ‘take away’ shows with stark results. they’ve filmed Sufjan Stevens playing on top of a church, Arcade Fire in an elevator, Sigur Ros in a restaurant, Phoenix in front of the Eiffel Tower to mention a few.
in line with our upcoming volunteer work for last year (we’re late) with NYPAW in nyc, here’s a fantastic organization called Students of the World (SOW) in Austin that also works with children affected by war. can’t paste the trailer here but they have a powerful looking film coming out entitled the children’s war. there’s more on their site as well as a gallery + info on how to contribute.
cheers forest.
whitefish, mt
1: the check is in the mail
2: your stuff is nice
3: you’ll get work from your website
4: do this one job cheap + there’ll be more at a better rate
5: i’m totally into your idea
6: that (sensor, processor, card) will be big enough
7: you can write that off
8: it’s ok, i dropped it on the grass not the pavement
9: when it dries out it’ll be fine
10: there’s enough light
i wrestled in high school. it wasn’t my life but it was a great thing for me in many ways.
one thing i vividly remember is a coach who was surprisingly experienced + shared this with us. his career had been cut short due to injury and he turned his focus to teaching the one thing he was passionate about. it came through loud + clear.
though a large guy with a ton of brute strength he wasn’t one to necessarily use it. he was as much about the head games as he was about the physicality of the sport.
in particular i remember his story about dedication + what it takes to succeed. he told us about a former opponent of his, russian i think, who later went on to train for the olympics. wanting to be an olympic champion he realized he had to think like a champion.
he would go to practice with the rest of the olympic team – twice a day for 3 hours each time. but, he reasoned, his opponents wanted to be champion’s as well so they probably put in another hour after their team practice on their own. so he did the same.
as he thought about this though, he realized that he as only one among many potential champions. if they all did an extra hour then they were all potentially equal. his solution was to practice yet another extra hour, alone on his own.
the key to success is hidden under the alarm clock – ben franklin
apparently they’re here. at least in terms of the future of media.
if at first you do succeed – try to hide your astonishment. harry banks
new tools are refining our workflow, from camera to output, like never before. on a near daily basis there’s great new ideas to test + possibly put into place. that’s not to say that everything i like is adopted immediately or even at all but you’ve got to stay on top of anything that propels your work. it’s not about having the latest but possessing the tools + knowledge to put your vision into reality.
inklet is proving to be a super cool idea though i’m waiting for it to expand a bit before diving in. price looks right + the maker seems dialed into what we’re after so let me know if you grab one.
google is always throwing a wrench in tech plans so never count them out. though still in beta you can ask for an invite for their retooled phone service (they bought out a working company awhile back) that promises to ring all your phones at once, email text versions of your messages to you, allow conference calls + for the spy in us all even record calls.
the other side of the adding new equipment conundrum is simply making better use of what you have. one nearly universal application here is lightroom. not only is the ver 3 beta out now with some fluid additions + changes but you can also retool your workflow with tools that are in place now. here’s a great example via the guys at the lightroom lab on keywording.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Keyword Sets from David Marx on Vimeo.
here’s a few damn good reasons it’s solid to have friends into visual media as much as you are (you geek).
1. they can double check your licenses – just had a photographer contact me this am to let me know he found an image of mine in a full spread ad use + wanted to make sure i knew it.
2. they can provide tearsheets – see above.
3. they can find work for you. everyone needs a solid person of the same skill level as themselves that can be recommended if need be.
4. we all need collaboration + the occasional business understanding.
5. bounce ideas off before they get out of hand.
6. solid way to get feedback that doesn’t include the word ‘nice’.
7. share beers after swapping who has the stranger mac tech stories.
8. who else understands that RAW is your file format not something less + that the relationship between aperture numbers + the size of the corresponding hole is counter intuitive but totally logical.
9. they almost always know what that one mystery button on your camera/computer/phone/hard drive does – thanks juan.
10. you can never have too many geeks on your team.
completely unrelated though you might think he was a friend of mine, mark taylor, a talented shooter out of london has put together a new feature on his blog he calls inspired fridays + will be showcasing various influences. he’s starting off today with yours truly. cheers mark.
welcome to the future. 2010 is here + we’re ready to kick it off with a bang.
in addition to a growing roster of clients/partners/work, myself + team are back this year with our week of donated non-profit time. can’t think of a better way to start the year. after our initial foray last year (more here) we’re refining + continuing our Project HELP efforts.
it all started with this quote i read a year ago;
