Before any major gear change is implemented in a production shoot, I test extensively to understand the strengths and limitations of new pieces of equipment. One of my long running tv commercial projects has outgrown the 5D, and we are rolling the new RED Epic into the production. I’ve used the Epic many times, but it is new in this context (set/lighting arrangement). So today we tested for this use in particular.

We are also looking at changing from the Zeiss CP2 cinema lenses to an Arri/Fujinon 18-80mm 2.6 zoom to be able to do transitions faster without lens changes. I LOVE this lens, it’s my new favorite for cinema work and will increasingly be rolled into my productions. The trade-of for the convenience of a zoom with such sharp glass is size. The weight of the rig just tripled. But happy to make that trade in most situations.

With the ability to jump between 5k and 4k in the Epic (and the equivalent shift in sensor crop), I can get an equivalent range to the 5D of 28mm-100mm. Perfect for my kind of shooting.

Photos after the break…

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I recently did a WWII aviator concept shoot for a film in development.

The images feature actress Ina Kopp who is a prominent name in film and tv in parts of Europe, and is now making a move to the American scene. Wardrobe by Louis Verdad.

It was fun shooting at the air field with the classic planes and all the wind and smoke. We shot in an airplane hanger and out on the runway, but space was tight as both were crowded with other planes and equipment.

These are actual planes from the WWII era. The distressed one was underwater for 40 years — set designers couldn’t build that very easily.

Had to keep our footprint small, and be in and out quickly so used one power pack (Verso) with two or three heads off of it. Played with colored gels to create subtle mixed colors in the light. Wind machine, smoke machine, and two great assistants. All shot on Hasselblad 39 megapixel.

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Among the most fun things I have done in my career as a photographer is the live demo shoots and presentations for Hassselblad, Broncolor, Livebooks, and others. After each one I’m always asked about workshops, but it has been hard to work them into the schedule.

No more. I’m clearing the schedule and creating the workshops I have always envisioned.

First up is a two-day workshop on June 25 & 26 all about Photography Production — how to plan the shoot, casting and working with model agencies, props and sets, and then all the elements around the shoot itself (working with the creative team, directing models, lighting, vibe, client presentation on-set, etc…).

I’m throwing a lot of resources into this elite workshop — including the sponsorship support of the premier camera company, Hasselblad, and the most advanced photo lighting, Broncolor. They’re going to give us an arsenal of gear to work with. My studio will become a giant sandbox to play in.

We have discussions planned on key parts of the business, and demo shoots, and hands-on instruction (your camera and/or the Hasselblad H4D cameras provided). We’ll explore both simple and complex lighting, concept development, and execution.

It’s my goal to make this a once in a lifetime experience that will rapidly take each participant’s photography to higher level. And I anticipate the dialogue started in the workshop to continue through the online platforms we’re building.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Early-bird discount for those signing up by May 23.

Details here: Photography Immersion Workshop

I like what Terry Gilliam is saying in the video clip below.

In public interviews you normally get the filtered comments that are afraid to do real comparisons for fear of offending. Not Terry. Not in his interviews, and not in his films.

And I think he makes a legitimate point in differentiating the work of a commercial success like Spielberg and an artistic success like Kubrick. My taste runs along the lines of Terry’s — good art raises questions and makes you work. No spoon feeding.

Terry himself has a body of work that is wildly inventive, takes huge risks, and raises more questions than it answers. Examples include The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, Brazil, and Time Bandits as a writer/director, and all the Monty Python classics as a writer.

Sadly, writer/directors like Terry and others in that vein (David Lynch, Darren Aronofsky, Alejandro González Iñárritu , etc…) have an absurdly difficult time raising funds for their films despite a track record of masterpieces.

Video interview after the break…..!

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Here is the behind-the-scenes video from the recent Louis Verdad Fall 2011 shoot, showing more of the team in action and more clearly revealing the production process.

Lighting was explained a bit more in the previous post with the time-lapse video, but you can see the tools in action more clearly in this one. The final images were included in the first post on this project. This is the third of the three part series on this shoot.

In the comments section of the time-lapse post, Greg asked some detailed questions which I answered there.

What comes through most clearly in this video is the range of people and talents involved in a shoot. What is not shown is all the preparation by the fashion team getting the clothes finished, and then selecting the looks and finding the right accessories. Nor does it reveal the concept development by the hair and makeup team, or the set design and construction. But seeing the results of those efforts here is a hint at the process that went into getting to this point.

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I’ll be doing a symposium with some prominent people in the industry at the Palm Springs Photo Festival, one of the leading photo festivals in the country. The panel will be on moving into film and motion work from still photography. Please join us. Here’s the official description…

HD Video PRO & Digital PhotoPro Magazines Present:

The CONVERGENCE CONFERENCE

Vincent LaForet, August Bradley and other photographers who have expanded their markets by learning how to add impressive audio/visual content to their list of client services will discuss this important new issue. Alex Tasch, Art Producer at EuroRSCG Agency in New York, Zana Woods, Senior Photo Editor at Wired Magazine and Howard Bernstein President of Bernstein Andriulli Representatives will join the discussion.  Details Here

Tuesday 3/29
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
The Blurb Stage at Korakia Pensione

This is the first of a couple views behind the scenes of the Louver shoot that I recently posted images from. The time-lapse covers most of the shoot with a frame taken every 10 seconds. It was a half day shoot with just a few looks, which is relatively short.  It gives a sense of the process on the shooting stage in my studio.

Lighting was very simple in this shoot, we wanted to clearly light the models to show the details of the clothing, though also wanted some drama with deep shadows to create mood and give the images some geometric shape.  I used a grid on the soft box and feathered it to limit the spill of the light and create some quick fall-offs into shadow on the wall. Lighting was a Broncolor Unilite and Verso pack.

A second light was used to create a pattern of light/shadow at an extreme angle on the back wall adding to the geometry and the dramatic effect. This was done with a Broncolor Pulsospot4 strobe (you put metal patterned slides inside between the lens and the flashtube, then focus to the desired degree of sharpness with the lens on the light).

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We recently shot campaign images for the LOUVER label by fashion designer Louis Verdad.  Louis and I have been working together on campaign images for years, as well as on creative projects beyond the seasonal lines. It’s always great to get in the studio when he has a new collection.

My team and I painted the set a blueish-green and splattered a deeper, bluer shade of paint over top to give it some texture and a worn, messy look while maintaining a vibrant graphic quality.  The color went beautifully with the Fall 2011 LOUVER designs — thin stripes of the same color were woven into some of the plaids.

Then we brought in some furniture with a rich golden yellow tone to liven-up the palette and give it a regal spin. The vibe felt reminiscent to me of the Hermitage museum and the city around it (St. Petersberg) where you see a place with an ornate decor and a grand history, but in a state of decay.

The floor is a painted hardwood, originally created for the previous shoot that I will elaborate on when that one is ready for release. The gold flourishes came from an elaborate wrought-iron mirror, an equally grand picture frame, and a chair with rich yellow upholstery and clear signs of wear.

Within this context, I wanted the models to portray a pride and nobility that the once newly decorative environment surely possessed in its prime, oblivious to the erosion of time.

Photos below. “Behind the scenes” media will be posted soon.

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We shot the Anthony Franco short fashion film over three days in late January and we’re deep in post production now.  Needed three days because it called for numerous location changes and a good number of wardrobe changes. We had a cast of five, a lot of logistics, and some effects to coordinate.  Looking forward to sharing more of that here when we get closer to a release date. We shot a ton of behind the scenes video as well, so will be releasing that around the same time. But in the meantime, I can share these two fashion images from the shoot (we did some quick shots of the outfits that don’t reflect the story elements).

As always, time management has been the biggest challenge, especially for personal creative projects since client gigs get scheduling priority. Everything moves at a too slow of a pace, and the film projects have even more stages and complexity to keep on track.  But I’m excited that the wide range of initiatives we have underway, including the most ambitious ones, are all making steady forward progress.

On the near term calendar I’ll be speaking at the Palm Springs Photo Festival at the end of the month on a “Convergence Consortium” panel about moving into motion work from still photography. The panel will also include Vincent Laforet and some prominent people from various areas of the industry.

Also have a couple ABC Family commercials to shoot this month, and just completed a fashion campaign shoot which I’ll be sharing here soon along with some behind the scenes material.

“Focus on ideas instead of tools (technology). Anyone can learn to use the tools, but it is the thinkers who really impact the culture in important ways. In the end the tools don’t offer anything interesting.”

Ran across that thought in a longer list of worthwhile points from Keri Smith in her “Secrets Shared” post.  Couldn’t agree more.

One needs to know the tools, that’s a requirement for entry.  But that’s not what makes an impact.  This difference in focus is what distinguishes artists from technicians.  Mastery of the tools is a mechanical process.  The ideas toward which the tools are applied is the art. Online photo and filmmaking discussion is 95% about the tools, which is completely out of whack with their importance.

Learning the tools has a clearer and more obvious path to completion than developing ideas. Idea development is messier and more vulnerable to uncertainty and criticism. It’s riskier. But it’s where the game is played by the most accomplished auteurs.

Along those lines, we have the best communication tools in history. But are the ideas being communicated through these tools any better? Are they even as good as when communication was more limited?

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“The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay beings to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre, their idealism – and their assumption of immortality.

As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But if he’s reasonably strong – and lucky – he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s élan. Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can force a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation.

He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death – however mutable man may be able to make them – our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment.

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”

-Stanley Kubrick

It’s this mission to create meaning that makes storytelling and art so important and powerful.

I’m deep in pre-production and experimentation for upcoming projects, so have been distracted from the blog.  But the things I’m working on will lead to material I’m looking forward to sharing here — both the final results and the creation process.

Along those lines, I recently came across several interesting ideas regarding the creation of ideas from Steven Johnson, author of the book “Chance Favors the Connected Mind” (via Ted Hope).  Steven lays out his premise in this particularly thoughtful TED talk below, and I think he’s onto something.

First, ideas are not clearly defined, self-contained units.  Rather they’re stringy nebulous networks with lots of branches connecting to other ideas and assorted assumptions and underlying facts and impulses.  Furthermore, ideas do not tend to happen, as is typically characterized, in a single moment of inspired breakthrough, but rather gradually as hunches evolve and mingle with the hunches of others. They fade into view rather than pop into existence, generally by examining and comparing the hunch with the contributions of others — either through direct dialogue or through research of pre-existing work.

And therefore, the best environment for generating new ideas is one in which we can mix and compare our ideas rather than cultivate them in isolation. This explains why so many of the leading writers and thinkers and artists and scientists have come out of well defined creative clusters.

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When one of my friends gets an new mobile device I often get an email asking for app recommendations.  I get this request so often I  developed a standard reply, and thought I would share that here. I think these apps are essential for people in creative fields.

In most cases these exist for other non-Apple mobile devices as well.

My Top 5 Mobile Apps

5. Sketchbook Pro - with Pogo Sketch stylus to draw. Illustrate and share your ideas.  (This is the one on the list that is really only good with the iPad).

4. GoodReader – awesome document viewer/organizer, and management tool for PDFs, Word DOCs, TXTX files, and many more. A great tool to view, annotate, re-distribute, and organize all the documents you get from clients and others on your team.

3. To Do – by far the best to-do list app I’ve seen after much testing  (I live off of this app, it runs my life).  Synch it with a free Todledo account. Stay on top of what must get done, prioritize in by various dimensions.

2. Instapaper – the app I love the most and would least want to give up. Register for free account, install “save it” buttons on all browsers where you view web pages, then every time you run across a longer article that you do not have time to read, just click the Instapaper save button on that browser and the article will be waiting for you on your iPad/iPhone (in a better format, stripped of much of the irrelevant stuff from the  web page). It creates the ultimate self-edited magazine ready to read.

1. Evernote – most powerful app ever (essentially a relational database), but takes a while to figure out how to use it effectively for your own life/work. But when you do, amazing. It is a storage place in the cloud for everything you might possibly need later without the clutter of stockpiling everything – and easy to find by “notebook” categories, tags, and text search within photos (which is incredible – take iphone photo of biz cards, receipts, wine labels, signs, handwritten notes, anything and the text in the photo is searchable).

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I hope everyone had a great holiday. I did a lot of catching up on reading and planning new projects, I’ve never started a year with so many new things brewing.

So I’m kicking off by getting something taken care of that’s a bit of a hassle but will set up the motion productions on better footing.  Our studio is switching from Apple Final Cut-based editing to Adobe Premier CS5-based editing.  FCP’s instability (looking at you Compressor), constant rendering, required file converting, poor integration with the rest of the suite (hey there Color), lack of native 64-bit (with no sign of this even in the next version), and Apple’s apparent declining interest in pro-apps makes me believe this is not a platform on which to build for the future. (more on these limitations here)

The choice was then between Avid’s Media Composer and Adobe’s Premier CS5, and we have chosen to go with Premier CS5 which made a quantum leap in the last version and seems to have the full enthusiasm and commitment of the manufacturer behind it.  With this move there is no more need for slow transcoding (with the right graphics card, more below), native 64-bit so all the processors and all the RAM on a MacPro can be used, much improved integration and far better transferring of projects between After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc…  Also finding a lot of little nice benefits along the way. Talked with a lot of  experienced video editors, and this migration path is getting more and more popular.

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Great article in the Wall St. Journal this week by the lead singer of the band “OK Go”. His assessment of the music industry is directly relevant to all media, and all creative professionals.

“We’re just moving out of the brief period, a flash in history’s pan, when an artist could expect to make a living selling records alone. For several decades… the recording industry managed to successfully and profitably pin it down to a stable, if circular, definition: Music was recordings of music. It was the perfect bottling of lightning: A powerful experience could be packaged in plastic and then bought and sold like any other commercial product.”

The same is true with movies, photography, magazines, you name it. Digital distribution, no longer constrained by the controls that can be placed on physical materials, has made the product intangible, easily replicable, and readily abundant. No more controlled packaging, no more commercial product (or a significantly reduced one).

The new path emerging is merchandising around the media, events, and of partnering with benefactors seeking something other than a direct financial return on the art/media. This last one is how art has work for most of history. Much like the model I recently discussed and am exploring for an ambitious art project, OK Go is finding brand sponsors for each of their well-defined creative projects — be it a music video, performance, or new CD.  Unlike the traditional financial backers of such efforts, the brand sponsors seek a marketing return, not a cash return on the investment.

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