IN[FOCUS]

Alright, let’s be honest here… I am not a big fan of things not going as planned. This mainly applies to shooting for fun. For our trip to Austin I was really hoping to spend much more time filming but that didn’t work out. Instead, Jon, from www.CanonFilmmakers.com, and myself were totally distracted, but in a good way. IN[FOCUS] turned out to be such a great event. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was packed with tons of presenters and while we loved that, we were just as happy to spend time with new and old friends over dinner and drinks. Also, we have become slightly obsessed with shooting timelapses and unfortunately they take a lot of time. Next time, I WILL take my Nikon D300 & D200 to do that while we shoot other stuff.

Oh, and by the way, this is our submission for the IN[FOCUS] video contest.

The film below is a collection of our whole trip from [IN:FOCUS] in Austin.
Shot with:
The 5d & 7d
My brand new Glidetrack Shooter. I was so excited to use it and I loved it! Review coming soon
Zacuto Tactical Shooter & Zacuto Z-Finder
2 intervalometers, Canon 50mm f/1.4, 16-35mm, 24-70, and the 70-200.

Click here to watch on Vimeo.

Back to the Lone Star State

This time around we came out to Austin for In:Focus.
Jon, from www.CanonFilmmakers.com, Amy, and myself flew in Friday and took a little road trip to San Antonio before we start filming.

After Jon and I completed our New York film we were really looking forward to going out to a new town and documenting a new city. So here we are I was really hoping the hotel would have a decent view so I could easily setup an overnight timelapse but looks like I’m gonna have to stand in the cold for that one. I brought a ton of gear as you can see…

Our kit for this trip includes the 5d, 7d, Glidetrack Shooter, Zacuto Tactical Shooter, Zacuto Z-Finder, 2 intervalometers, Sigma 14mm, Canon 50mm f/1.4, 16-35mm, 24-70, and the 70-200.
Today will be our first day of filming before the conference starts tomorrow and we’re super excited!
Make sure to check back for what we come up with

First snowfall

Today, Jon, from www.CanonFilmmakers.com, and myself did the annual duty of putting up the Christmas tree. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas BUT, I never did like putting up the Christmas tree. So why did I do? It reminds me of family.
We thought it would be fun to actually film the process so here it is…
Hope you enjoy.
Shot with the 5d.
Still timelapses shot with the 5d + Nikon D300
Glidetrack + Zacuto Z Finder.
17-55 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8.

Seeing ourselves.

The real reason I started a blog was obviously to show my work but, more importantly, to talk about me… I know, who wants to hear about me but I started thinking that it’s important for people to understand what I do and why I do it. It’s easy for someone to say your passionate about something but what is it that draws you to what you do and how does it consume your life every day? I think about that a lot and blame it on my analytical father and an inborn love for psychology. Thanks dad.
Anyways, after we posted our latest film from NYC we got some great feedback. Thank you. But I started to think, what is it about these other cities that inspire me so much? I touched on this in my last post but for me, when I go to a new town with the ability to film, everything changes. I hate to sound cheesy here but when I see something for the first time through a camera, it’s almost as if I’ve never see int before. Now, those who know me well know I don’t regret but it’s hard to think back to the times I visited beautiful cities all over the world without being as into film as I am now. There’s a reason for everything.
A while back I tweeted something silly about how I wanted to travel somewhere foreign to me so I could make a new film. I didn’t give it much thought then but Bruce Patterson, Cloud Nine Creative, responded quickly and said how about Philly? Now, I’m constantly filming in my town and sometimes it gets repetitive BUT, when I start to really think back, I’ve never documented my city the way I see it. What is it about Philadelphia that keeps me here? Short film to come

Hello intervalometer. Hello New York.

I just got back from a fun 3 day shoot with Queensbury Media in New York. Such a good time.
It’s funny when I go back to a place I’ve been to before and now that I revisit I’m filming with the Canon 5d and 7d… Things look so differently. I love that experience.
One of my missions in NYC was to film the town with the 7d. Luckily, along the way I had the privilege of visiting B&H for the first time… I know, I should’ve been before but regardless, I felt like I was in Disney World! I broke down and bought an intervalometer while I was there and I’m so psyched I did. Granted, Jon bought his for $34 on Ebay but after we set up an overnight timelapse of the skyline and I knew I’d be without one for 24 hours, I had to get a second one
Below is a short film of some of New York’s highlights. Hope you enjoy.
Shot with the 7d.
Some still timelapses shot with the 5d.
Glidetrack + Zacuto Z Finder.
50mm f/1.4, 16-35 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8.
Graded with Magic Bullet Looks.

Click here to check out some of Jon Connor’s pictures from the shoot on www.CanonFilmmakers.com

Photographer turned Filmmaker

Earlier this week I had the very cool privilege of speaking about what I love to do… filmmaking.
I graduated from the Community College of Philadelphia about two years ago and going back to present to a room full of photographers was an incredible experience. Ok, honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous before but once I started talking about what I know and love to do, I was completely relaxed.
It’s a funny thing… Explaining why you do what you do and what about it appealed to you to begin with.
For me, as a photographer, filmmaking caught my attention because the idea of having multiple frames per second to work with vs. the one frame I got with photography seemed like a new way to challenge myself. The ability to show movement and make it visually interesting in itself has always inspired me. Natural movement that I can document is key but having the freedom to move my camera and actually create the motion is what really keeps me coming back.

Did I mention I love to learn?

Yep… there’s nothing I like more then being thrown into an environment where you have an unlimited amount of resources to learn from. Last month, my significant other, Jon Connor from www.CanonFilmmakers.com and I went to our second Re:Frame event in San Francisco. The line up of speakers was incredible and, once again, we walked away with tons of ideas.
We took our 5d, 7d, Zacuto Tactical Shooter, Z Finder, glidecam, and glidetrack and here’s what we came up with…
Enjoy.

Click here to visit www.CanonFilmmakers.com
Click here to learn more about Re:Frame.