Today is the 31st of January. As if I could have planned it, Nomad’s Land isn’t making it out the door today. I had said January 2010. I joked in my mind that that would end up being 11:59:59pm on January 31st. I joked and laughed nervously.
I think I need to go away for a few days.
Nomad’s Land will be finished soon. If I can find the time to finish it. Which would be the days away that I really need. I have too much stuff going on.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkz-YSD0erQ
By the way, the video was all edited with Sony Software, both the music and the video using Sony’s ACID and Vegas software.
I’ve been tasked with creating a five minute video for a rather large trade show coming up soon in Las Vegas. The format of the video will be a combination of HD video, stills, and a score, all of which I’ll be shooting/composing/editing together.
I need to have the video done within two weeks so I need to shoot all photos/video this weekend.
I have two models already lined up and I need one to two or even three more. I’m looking for female models between 18-25. If you’re in the South Beach/Miami area, please contact me immediately(!!!) and send me a link to your portfolio.
I’m going to make final decisions on models by Friday, January 29th by 6pm. Shooting will take place on Saturday and Sunday depending on schedules.
Please pass this information along to anyone you know who might be interested. There is no pay involved, however, all models will be getting rather significant exposure in front of an audience comprised of entertainment industry professionals. Also, you’ll receive copies of all processed photos as well as a copy of the video which you can use in your portfolio.
Shortly after I published this video, the gnome disappeared. If you have any information about his known whereabouts, please contact me. No questions asked.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSVJlp-vq_I
I’d like it to win for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason is that I want it staying on SFDB’s sidebar as Post of the Year for a year.
And I want it on that sidebar for three simple reasons:
1) We forget. We forget about issues of substance sometimes. And we forget humanity sometimes. In everyday life, we forget.
2) Exposure. Maybe it’ll make a difference. Maybe in someone’s life, it’ll have a really positive effect.
3) SFDB gets a lot more traffic than I do which goes back to reason #1 and #2.
It’s important. I made the video because it matters to me. And it matters to everyone. If not, it should. And for however much I am judged for the rest of my photography/videography, this isn’t something that should fall into the wash.
I’ve gone tit for tat on this, so to speak, in trying to get people to vote for it. On my flickr account where I receive the most traffic, I’ve posted a photo from the video (actually, two) and encouraged people to take the time to vote. I draw a certain audience and I want it out there. This is one of the photos posted (the other one is nude), also one of the primary stills in the video.
It’s funny, a long time ago when I first started shooting models, a friend and I were joking about my tagline. We thought, “Come for the models, stay for the homeless,” was catchy.
I wish that were the case.
And so there. Tit for tat. It matters to me and I can reach a very broad audience. I want this video to be the 2009 Post of the Year and fill that space on SFDB.
I’ve been telling people not to blindly vote for the video. Perhaps, upon reading the other posts, they’ll see another post that they feel is more appropriate for 2009 Post of the Year. By all means, vote for that one.
But seriously consider South Beach, Paradise. Homelessness isn’t something that unusual. Poverty isn’t anything that unusual. In South Beach and in Miami, it’s a little more pronounced because here you have this obvious dichotomy; a world of luxury filled with lush landscapes serving as backdrops for the destitute and the poor. And so here, homelessness and poverty are all the more dramatic. And, in truth, it should never be anything less than dramatic. We forget sometimes. I want this video to be a reminder of that.
As some of you may remember, last year when I arrived in LA after being on the road for 35 days, I fried my Mac. I bought a laptop while out in LA and then had to go through the process of getting software again.
I remember sitting at a coffee shop at a beach far south of LA and I got an email from the promotions manager of Sony Creative Software. He had read of my situation, was a fan of my work, and offered me a copy of their professional video editing software, Vegas.
Hero.
I. Love. Vegas.
During that brief period when I was using the Mac, I was using Final Cut to edit video. Final Cut has a rather steep learning curve, but Vegas is easy to use pretty much right out of the box. Every video I’ve pieced together since June of last year has been done in Vegas.
Lately, I’ve been using some of Sony’s other software, ACID Express to create tracks for the videos rather than using existing music/songs.
For both those of you who don’t do web development and for those who do…
I think what would be rather impressive for their site is a listing of some of the larger online businesses/sites which use MySQL as their db backbone. As a developer, you can look at any number of sites and say, “Yeah, that’s PHP/MySQL.” And it’s not just small fellows. It’s all OVER the web. All made possible BECAUSE of open source technology.
When I was in North Carolina over the holidays in ’09, I knew that January would be a busy, if not chaotic, month. It is. It has been. I’ve had a lot of stuff I’ve had to do. And now… well, we’re closing in on the final minutes of the game.
Two weeks. I’ve told my neighbors that after today, I need to go into seclusion. I doubt that’s going to happen. But I can’t do any shoots before February, and I can’t deal with Flickr in the slightest (a good hour of every day). I need my contacts from Facebook. I realized I really need that. I may have to set up an emergency account. Facebook is that important to me. But I have to find a cave to hide in for a bit. I need to step away for a couple of weeks.
So, even though I sometimes go a LONG time without posting on here for no good reason, I’m going to go a short time without posting for a few good reasons. So we’ll talk soon.
This no-communication rule does NOT apply to Christie and Ginger. Obviously. And of course, Alec and Zach. And, you know, if you’re not on that list but want to talk, then that’s cool, too. For example, Kevin: yes, we DO need to get together (sorry I haven’t responded yet).
Something else I wanted to share. The new photos and video that I’ve been sharing since January? I’m shooting now with a Canon 5D MKII.
Ask me if I’ve been pleased. I am. January has been sort of an experimental month for shooting. The 5D MKII shoots beautiful, beautiful video. 1080p resolution, 30fps HD kind of beautiful. Yes, Scott is pleased. I’m sooooo ready to begin doing focused shoots with it.
Anyway, here are some sample shots taken this month including photos I took yesterday with Ginger in a shoot during Art Deco Weekend on Ocean Drive. (From Ginger + Sativa, Art Deco Weekend shoot)
I’m still experimenting slightly with getting the camera to do what I want with it in terms of video, and it’s all been pretty all over the place, but I’m REALLY excited about starting to shoot moving pictures now. With the exception of the Winter’s Day video, the background music is composed by me as well. Here’s what’s going on:
