earsaregood and Max Ernst Capricorn, originally uploaded by earsaregood.

I was fortunate to work on a nice shoot today with http://johncarrithers.com/. It’s always a pleasure to work with John. He’s mellow, does great work and takes super hot pics of the sound guy!

I’m sitting in for camera and had John snap this shot.

This is a Max Ernst sculpture called Capricorn in the Menil private collection.

….feeling like a king!

good times

hmmm yeah…., originally uploaded by xjohnpaulx.

This is the way sound guys roll…..watch your back when the sound team get’s pissed.

“I SAID one more time for AUDIO!!!!!”

I love this pic!

Worked on the Dr. Oz show recently. It was a great shoot that had a stellar team. Thanks Scott Szabo for the booking. The Dr.Oz tech team w

as rock solid and Danny, the audio lead, was just the right combination of cool, geeky and “johnny on the spot”. Our kits were rigged perfectly and the day went by smooth as silk. Thanks guys!

“gonzo documentarianism” is what I am calling calling it. It’s the tradition of blurring the line between documentary fact and creative liberties….. allowing the process to be something the documentarian experiences, if not on camera, then as a participant in the process and allowing that presence to freely and creatively act on the subjects and environments.

About Gonzo Journalism Wikipedia writes:

Gonzo journalism tends to favor style over accuracy and often uses personal experiences and emotions to provide context for the topic or event being covered….The style tends to blend factual and fictional elements to emphasize an underlying message and engage the reader.

That’s pretty much what this documentary movie, Luminary, is going to be. Gonzo Documntarianism

17/365, originally uploaded by THEM_chernobyl_BUDS.

I always love when I see images that blow me away. This pic just takes my breath away. Experimenting with techniques is always fun, but this represents a real mastering of the process. I like the custom white balance to get the blue tones. The architecture and environment are both compelling and disorienting and really help make this image a masterpiece.

The integration of the location, the light painting, the physical action of jumping and strobing, and the concept all come together to make something timeless and obviously carefully crafted.

In other words….Holy Shit!

Recently did a job for TLC that had me running a nice kit.  I unfortunately did not get a super sexy picture of me or the rig!!!  But essentially it consisted of a 442 mixer, 744T recorder, 2 Lectro 211’s, a TC Slate, an Edirol R9 for transcription recording, and a boom.  I used a cool cable for running the TC to the Edirol…it is the Peter Engh T2 cable …I find this more convenient than the box solution, but I did have to insert an in-line pad to make the TC level from the 744T to be acceptable.

We were running TC at 23.98 that I sync’d from the 744T  to the RED but it had to be re-jamed anytime the RED powered down.  I’m like the farthest thing from an electrical engineer, but it seems like a simple fix to put a small battery in the camera to maintain the TC when changing batteries etc….but hey, that’s just me.

The shoot was pretty mellow….the only thing was they were shooting LONG takes…like 45 minutes and I did not have a boom op, I was OTS and had to hand hold the boom the entire time……good times.

I am not really 100% up to speed on the RED build numbers and features added per build, but I can report that this build did alow the camera to recieve TC, it did have a way for me to monitor my return, and it also sounded decent with my line level signal feeding it.  Camera dept had the RED audio cables which have been described this way:

“The Red Camera is supplied with short XLR-to-TA3 adapter cables. These cables have resistors built-in to change impedance and reduce signal level. When used without these cables, the Red inputs can be characterized as “-10″ level (full scale on the meter = +8.2 dBu) with 600 ohm input impedance.”

Anyway…all went well and it was a beautiful day to boot!  There’s probably alot more I could say, but I’m all typed out…..

Oh, I should mention that Paul LeBlanc was the VTR and I love that guy.  He is always super calm, competent, and helpful.  Thanks Paul!

Flickr.com is great, as most of us know I hope.  If you have been in a photographic black hole and are unaware of flickr.com then please do yourself the pleasure of checking it out….every day.  I am specifically excited about a group on flickr called “light junkies”.  This is a group….”about light graffiti, light painting, light writing, lights in motion, light effects and generally awesome lights.”  The beauty of this group is that it perfectly exemplifies what I think is the best possible scenario for learning and creative exposure.  Take a look at some of the tutorials provided at light junkies

use light graffiti in your artwork
Light stencils
Gels: an idea!!!
LED wiring tutorial
Car driving shots
homemade cathode tutorial
flash diffuser idea
DIY gel holder

Let’s take a small step back.  Light junkies was started by Trevor, tdub303, with the expressed intent to help pass along new information, techniques, ideas, and generally help everyone who wants to engage.  There are over 2000 members currently and among those there are some who engage and take advantage of this resource more than others.  Some of the best ideas and techniques are often a product of a collaborative effort by people in literally all parts of the globe:

Essentially, like many other groups, it is a tremendous resource.  Interacting with these resources has led to some very interesting digital collaboration.  I have noticed that tdub303 and Darius Twin have started a collab that involves light stencils.  Phil, Trevors’ friend and partner is involved as well, and the “sneak peaks” tdub is letting out of the Lab are impressive

I hear there might be some ridiculously awesome stop motion video on the way.  Keep visiting light junkies for updates

Been away from the blog for a minute, but here I am for the 0.0002 people who may read this.

….just shared a lecture topic with Scott Szabo for the Grammy Career Day at University of Houston.  The topic was music for film, television, and video games.  We managed to only have one sleeping person per hour presentation.

Here’s a link comin’ atcha….

Cool DIY Elwire stuff

http://www.instructables.com/id/EL-wire-eye-candy/

Just got word that Cook County, TX won Best Feature at the Hollywood Film Festival! I was very fortunate to have worked on this project through Szabo Sound and Music.  Scott did the Score, he and I collaborated on the sound design and I did the final mix……I am very proud of our work on this project.  Cook County was directed by David Pomes.  David is a great director to work with and the creative process was great.  You can read the story here:

http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=festivals&Id=2220

I was recently introduced to a cool stop motion software called istopmotion 2.   It is very fun to play with and can also produce professional grade results with the “pro” version.

Here is a link to a YouTube search for istopmotion….

Here is a link to the istopmotion site….

I plan to use this to make stop motion sequences with light painting……

Have fun!!