Video backdrop series, part 3: "Follow"

Part of what made this project so much fun was the open-endedness of it. The band had the final say on what stayed and what went, but otherwise I had all the freedom I could want, allowing for my own artistic expression to be layered on top of their music. The vision for "Follow" was one I set out to construct deliberately. There was a feeling I wanted to convey and, while I did struggle with getting the flow of it right, I'd say the results were more or less successful.

This one can be filed in the literal category -- not literal in the sense that the lyrics are directly translated to the screen but rather in the sense that most of the images are identifiable as what they really are. The band said they wanted abstract, but in this case I took a risk and gave them figures on a moon-drenched beach, rolling (then crashing) waves, and even a lifeguard stand. These images were meant to create a sense of place... and it was a place I like to be. In fact, I was at this same location enjoying a bonfire under a full moon a few nights before the shoot. That was the inspiration.

This shoot involved some low-light photography, which is always tricky. You don't realize how dark the world can be until you take a camera outside after the sun sets. Some of my images turned out grainy and/or blurry. For consistency, I degraded the good shots to match the bad ones in post-production. This gave the video a kind of vintage film look that appears like a stylistic choice rather than a shortcoming. Maybe.

The snippet below is my favorite single shot from this backdrop. It's 45 minutes of a rising moon condensed into 20 seconds. It was a tricky shot because I didn't know exactly where or when the moon was going to come up, what arc it would be following, and what exposure I needed on the camera. And I only had one chance to get it right. I learned that shooting time lapses of sunsets are much easier than moonrises.


And here's a clip from the show. This recording turned out only so-so, but you can see a few shots from the backdrop in it and hear some of this wonderful, emotionally complex song.

Video backdrop series, part 2: "Six Keys to Walking Safely"

Some of the backdrop videos began with a clearly defined vision that I then attempted to materialize the best I could. Others were born from experiments with the camera where I simply captured what looked cool and later decided how the footage would be used. "Six Keys" falls into this second category.

R and I were heading out to a show that was part of the city's Old Spanish Days Fiesta, and I decided at the last minute to bring my camera along because at that point in the project everything was a possibility for use. The clock was ticking and I only had concrete ideas for about half of the songs. So I taped some traditional Mexican dancing at this Fiesta show because the color was too vibrant and the motion too constant to pass up.

I spent quite a bit of time editing the footage into a big, multi-layered swirl to go along with "Six Keys," one of the band's faster paced songs, and was pretty happy with the results... but somewhere in the process I lost sight of the original goal for these videos. Sometimes when doing this type of work I become obsessed with the details and forget about the bigger picture. I didn't really think about whether it any sense whatsoever to associate Spanish/Mexican dancers with the music; I was too busy choosing the right dissolve transition between flamenco and hat dancing.

I showed the resulting video to R; she didn't like it. I showed it to the band; they weren't crazy about it either. I loved the original video (I still do), but it wasn't right for this purpose. The images needed to be more abstract. Nobody wanted to see faces or colorful skirts or sombreros. Once I took a step back from the editing, I agreed.

But I wasn't ready to throw away the work I'd done altogether. My solution was to blur the images beyond recognition. The color and motion would remain mostly intact, but the detail would be obscured to the point that it looked like you were watching a reflection in a puddle.

A shot like this:

... became this:

At first it felt like a shame to cover up all of the detail -- for one thing I could have edited quicker if I had started with the blur -- but I liked the idea that there were hidden images in the backdrop, vaguely calling to mind some of the local heritage and perhaps subliminally telling the crowd to get up and dance :-). The revised backdrop works for me. What it's missing in dimension and clarity, it makes up for in fluidity and mystery.

Here's a short clip from the concert to give you an idea of how the backdrop looked in action:

Video backdrop series, part 1: "Where the Game Begins"

I'm going to try something new (and possibly even more self-indulgent than usual) on this blog over the new few weeks/months. I'm going to post an entry for each of the backdrop videos I created for ThreadSpinner's album release concert in which I describe -- and show clips and/or stills from -- the videos and discuss some of the thought and work that went into making them during August and September of this year. There will be 10 parts to this series in all, so this could take me a while, but some of the descriptions will be less detailed than others and most will probably read like a stream of consciousness. Let's see how it goes. And don't worry, I'll still be mixing in some regular blog entries as well.

If you have no idea what video project I'm talking about, you can read more about it here and here. Let's get on with it then...

What better place to begin the series than with "Where the Game Begins." This is not the first video I made for the project, but it was the easiest. Some of them I struggled with for hours and hours, trying to get the look and feel right, but not this one. I literally spent 15 minutes shooting it, 15 minutes editing it, and then put it away until it was time to synchronize it to the click track. I didn't second guess myself because this one just felt right, and I needed to rely on intuition if I was going to have time to finish ten of these puppies.

The reason this one was so simple is because the whole thing was caught in a single shot. All it is is a blurry close up of a candle flame flickering roughly to the beat of the music. It starts off as an unrecognizable little spark in inverted black and white. As the song builds, the image gradually grows more flame-like, and then in a key moment, it switches to color and the audience should finally realize what they are looking at: a fire that complements the burning passion in the heart of the song. Well, that was the idea. I'm not the most subjective critic.

I really loved the moment of that switch to color. This song was played pretty early in the show, before the audience really knew what to expect, so this was the point when they were shown that the video was indeed timed to the music. I'm a little surprised we managed to pull that off actually. If the images had been half a second ahead or behind the music, the moment would have been missed altogether. Timing-wise the entire show went off without a hitch.

The clip from the performance below contains only the second half of the song -- it starts right before the "switch" -- so you miss a lot of the build up, but check it out to get an idea of how the backdrop video was used in the show. I can't stop watching it myself.

Stranger in a strange land

Sorry that blogging has been kind of low on my priority list lately. The last few months have been a mix of being really busy and being really lazy -- I'm pretty sure one causes the other -- and neither is conducive to stopping for reflection.

I started my new job on October 19th and kicked it off with the aforementioned three-week stint in Minnesota. The office is in downtown Minneapolis, but because this trip was only partially corporate-funded I slept at my younger brother's place in the very surburban Maple Grove. It was nice having an extended visit with my bro. We played some pool, drank some Irish whiskey, listened to AC/DC, etc. Can you tell he's a bachelor? Anyway, I really appreciate his and his roommate's hospitality, as three weeks is a long time to put somebody up.

I drove north to see my parents for my first weekend out there. The rain let up enough for my dad, older brother, and I to get to the hunting shack to cut the grass in preparation for the hunting season. My mom cooked some meals for me that helped break up three long weeks of eating unhealthy restaurant food. On Sunday my grandparents had me over for lunch and later I got to see my little niece in Duluth. She had no idea who I was, but she was all smiles anyway. These moments, along with some additional reconnecting with friends, were what made the three weeks away worth it on a personal level... but just barely because, man, did I miss my life -- and my wife -- in Santa Barbara.

Luckily, R flew out to see me for my second weekend away. We rented a hotel room downtown and shut the rest of the world out for a good chunk of our time together. We did get out for a walking tour (during which R took the cool, surreal photo of me above in the new Guthrie Theater), comimos unas tapas, and saw Paranormal Activity, which didn't quite live up to the hype (I recommend seeing Where the Wild Things Are instead). It was a low-key Halloween, and I'm still kicking myself because we didn't take our annual "mimic the pumpkin" photo. But I guess we were too enamored with each other at the time to care.

I could ruminate some more on the new job, but this blog once again feels too public for that. In short, it's going pretty well. Being at the office to meet the people and begin to learn the systems was absolutely necessary. There were moments, however, particularly while driving in traffic through the gray or navigating the skyway like a rat in a maze, when I started to doubt the decision. It felt like such a different world out there. There were shades of the past and possibly hints of the future in that trip, but more than anything it reminded me of how much I love my situation out here and how I'm not ready to let it go. Fortunately nobody is asking me to give that up yet, so I think taking the job was the right move. It's a career boost and has some definite long-term potential.

See some more pics from the business trip here.

Sequoia

R and I spent two nights in Sequoia National Park about a month(!) ago. I would have posted this entry sooner, but I've been business traveling since then (more on that in a future entry) and didn't have access to photo editing software while I was away. And an entry like this absolutely requires photos posted along with it.

The camping trip was great. I'm surprised it worked out as well as it did, considering how spontaneously we planned it. We went in the middle of the week -- pretty late in the fall -- which made for some serious solitude. We passed only two other people during the five-mile hike to Emerald Lake, where we spent our second night. The campsite was at 9200 feet, making for some brisk weather and great views.

I've been trying to expound on the trip, but I find myself restarting again and again. Maybe too much time has passed and my thoughts have lost focus. The bottom line is I enjoyed being out in the woods again. The mammoth features of the rugged terrain, the unpredictable weather, the howling of wild animals... it makes a person feel powerless to nature, yet rewarded for surviving a few days among it. The experience was quite a contrast from my urban weeks that followed. I think maybe that was the point.

More photos from the adventure are posted here.

P.S. We saw the largest tree in the world (not to be confused with the tallest tree in the world). Apparently Sequoia trees are the larger ones in terms of mass, but Redwood trees actually grow taller. Those are at another park.

Gardens and Villa

Gardens and Villa was the opening act at ThreadSpinner's EP release show earlier this month. Since I had my camera with me, I taped a few of their songs and edited this little piece for them. It's a passionate, entertaining performance by the band that is worth checking out. I hope to work with these guys again sometime.

ThreadSpinner videos are coming soon... But first we're going camping.

Last day

Today is my last day of work for Oracle. I've decided to take a position with a company based in Minneapolis, although they are going to allow me to work from Santa Barbara as well, so the change should be mostly transparent to you.

It's not a dramatic shift in careers or anything, but coming to the decision still took some soul searching and a fair amount of lying awake in bed. I already have a great situation going here, so changing anything makes me nervous and puts it all at risk. But I think this is the right move, one that could even better satisfy both my short-term and long-term goals. As usual, I don't want to discuss all of the details of the arrangement on here, so send me an email if you would like additional info.

One of the benefits of this new job is an occasional paid trip to good ol' Minnesota. In fact I'll be spending three weeks there beginning October 19th. Yes, that is a dreadfully long time to be away from R, and she is considering a weekend trip there herself to visit me, but the opportunity to be on-site for an extended period of time seems totally necessary in order for me to get a good start with my new company before I make the shift to "virtual employee." It will also be a good chance to catch up with some old friends and family during my off-hours. I'm especially looking forward to seeing my new niece again!

The pic at the top of this entry is from a movie I made with some friends back in 2003 based on a short script I wrote about a guy who quits his job and later receives a mysterious phone call. I may have played it for some of you before. It runs about sixteen minutes, which is simply too long for anybody to watch on the web, so all you're getting now is the above poster and this foreshadowing quote from the movie: "Two weeks. It’s all over in two weeks."

Maybe the quote would have been a more relevant two weeks ago.

Release

The title of my previous entry, Unveiling, may have been deceiving because, while I did announce the project, I didn't show you what it looks like. Unfortunately, unless you joined us in the theater last Friday night, you won't get to experience the full effect of ThreadSpinner's one-of-a-kind album release concert. It's as simple as that.

If my video backdrop is never viewed by anybody ever again, I'd still be happy with the way things played out for the 130 people in attendance. There's something to be said about a one time only event that sticks in your head and is shaped by the gaps in your memory. My contribution helped heighten the excitement and drew a distinction around this particular concert by a band that is already plenty awesome without any kind of "video enhancement." It was an amazing night that I won't forget any time soon. I'm so happy to have been involved in an outright art project such as this.

But of course the preservationist in me couldn't leave it at that... So I taped the concert. Now my plan is to edit together my footage of the band playing in front of the backdrop with footage from the backdrop itself to create (1) a full-length DVD for me and the band and (2) some clips for the web. For now, you can check out a few still frames I grabbed from the video right here.

Keep checking back as I continue wth the multi-part unveiling.

Unveiling

I think it's okay to report on my latest project now...

Here's the deal: I've been working with the local band ThreadSpinner to create 40+ minutes of video that will be projected on a screen behind them during their theater concert / album release party happening this Friday, October 2nd. (I was originally going to plug the concert to help sell tickets, but I just received word that it is now sold out!)

This project is much different from the music video I assisted with earlier. The video here is not meant to hold the audience's attention all by itself. Rather, it will (hopefully) enhance the complete live experience. The music is still the #1 priority. Seeing the band playing on stage is #2. My contribution, along with the lighting setup, is meant to add to all of that without distracting the audience.

It has been a challenge to NOT draw too much attention to the video. The goal has been to keep it abstract, showing colors and motion rather than objects or people. How do you capture an image without really capturing an image? And how do you make it interesting enough? I've put a lot of thought into it. My strategy was to begin with real objects, preferably ones that involve some kind of motion (sprinklers, ceiling fans, Mexican dancers, etc) and distort them so they just beyond recognition. I'd love to show you some examples... but not until after the show... and even then, only with permission from the band.

In some regards, I failed at keeping things abstract. During my recent infatuation with photography, where the goal is usually to capture the world as vividly as possible, I trained myself to find proper lighting and make sure the focus is set appropriately, so this project was counter-intuitive. It helps to know the rules if you are going to break them properly, but I'm still learning those rules... So some of the results are more literal than others. I'm telling myself variety is good.

My working title, The Sweater Project, originates from the band's name. I was trying to think of something that is spun with thread similar to the way my video was "spun" by the music. Yeah, I know sweaters are probably made with yarn or wool or something, so this may have been a stretch. Work with me here :-)

Despite some of my humble negativity above, I am very proud of this work. Its debut will be a big night for me. Some members of the press will be included in the 130 attendees at the event. I think I'd prefer if they made no comment about the video over a negative one in their reviews. We'll see. I'm rather nervous about putting my work out there. I've never had the chance to do something quite like this before, but I'm glad I have it now. This is the kind of thing that makes life interesting.

I'm hoping to eventually get some of this video online and viewable by the public in one form or another. It's something I need to talk to the band about after this all blows over. They are understandably conscious about their image and don't want some crazy guy going and posting clips of their music all over the place.

I gotta go make some dinner. I'll let you know how everything goes sometime next week (regarding the show, not dinner).

Sea lions, sunset, and moonrise

Hey there. I just had these photos lying around and wanted to post something today... so there you go.

LOTS on my mind right now regarding my career and the usual array of life decisions, but I'm not ready to discuss it in this forum quite yet.

As if you need another tease, I will be sharing some details about The Sweater Project soon. Stay tuned!

Vows by the lake

R and I flew back to the Twin Cities last weekend to attend the wedding of some good friends, Emily and Brian. I didn't take a single photo, but I did shoot 2.5 hours of video (you're looking at a still from the footage above). So I guess I have my next editing project cut out for me.

We slept in some cabins at the wedding site in an effort to save money and to stay close to the bridal party. R was the bride's personal attendant, and I wanted to be available to record as much of the weekend's on-goings as possible. We didn't get a lot of sleep, but otherwise everything worked out really well. The weather was beautiful, and so was the wedding.

In addition to all that, we found time to hang out in our old neighborhood in St. Paul and also sit down for lunch with some family members. It was a treat to see them on an occasion other than Christmas or the 4th of July for once, even if it was a little rushed. I'm glad they made the effort to meet up with us.

Despite loving California so much, we do miss Minnesota quite a bit. I'm reminded of the positive points each time we go back. I’ve been thinking a lot about the future this week and there are no clear answers on where I would like us to be in a few years (or if it will even be our choice), so let me get back to you on that.

Night Chorus video

If you're a friend or family, you've probably already seen a plug from me on one social network or another, but I wanted to post ThreadSpinner's first music video here as well.

I'm just blown away every time I watch it. I don't understand what's happening in the video any more than you do, but what's important is the atmosphere it generates. You feel the joy, the heartache, the freedom... and then leave it all behind to discover a collective energy and beauty somewhere deep in the night woods. If it's possible to capture on a recorded medium the rare moment during a live show when the pieces come together and hit you square in the heart (a moment mentioned by me just a couple of entries ago), it happens in this video at the climatic point when the crowd rushes to the stage to find Sarah Ziebarth belting it out and the band ripping it up.

This video opens the door to a place I very much like to return to.

I wish I could claim the video work as my own, but the credit goes to director/mastermind, Matt Walla, who had the vision, tools, and talent to pull this off beyond my expectations... and my expectations were high. I was Matt's assistant for much of the production and wrote about it briefly here. Also, FYI: If you look closely near the end of the video you might catch a glimpse of R dancing/cheering in the crowd.

ThreadSpinner's exceptional new single deserves mention as well, but I'm going to wait until after their upcoming album release party (which I highly recommend attending, by the way) to share my thoughts about the music. The band's buzz should be at a fever pitch around that time. And rightfully so.

Recent concerts, part 2: The National

Following Billy Corgan at Muddy Waters, any other show would have been a let down, even one in a smallish club such as The Wiltern in LA. That's where we saw one of my favorite bands, The National, the following Saturday night. By normal standards, the show would have been quite good – and I did enjoy it – but in some ways it left me wanting more, mainly because it was just a normal show and now I’m slightly spoiled.

I like The National because they seem like regular guys… maybe a little more bruised and definitely more talented than regular guys... but guys coming from a 30-year-old, white collared world similar to mine. From what I’ve read, the music doesn't come easy to them. Recording their albums is a difficult process, reliant on incredible work ethic and patience. The band members also apparently get nervous before performances in a way I doubt somebody like Bono or Mr. Corgan could relate. The National is pretty popular in indie circles, but they’re not a huge otherwise, so playing in LA had to be a big night for them. I expected them to give it their all… and they delivered.

I can't tell how much of it is an act, but the lead singer carries a persona of a man who really messed things up… maybe failed as a spouse or a dad, turned to booze, and exorcises his demons through the songs. They are not clean subjects to sing about, but the imagery is vivid and relatable and the production on their albums is outstanding. I fell in love with their latest, Boxer, the first time I heard it. Working backwards and exploring their prior albums was a treat every step of the way as well. The first time I heard the song "Slipping Husband" I practically had to pull over the car because it required all of my attention. It’s a song that builds to an explosion of anger – anger that feels perfectly placed and earned.

The concert included most of the songs that I expected. They were passionately performed, but sometimes too passionately in the sense they lacked some of the subtlety and restrained tension of the album versions. It seemed like at least half of the songs broke into those violent outbursts that only occasionally, fittingly punctuate the albums. They were all performed well and demanded the audience's attention, but at times the harshness was draining. Although I typically like my music dark, I still appreciate a certain amount of levity during a live show. (That said, too much comedic banter is a greater offense; I've seen shows ruined because the performer wasn't taking the show seriously enough.) Anyway, I'd see them play again, but at this point I'm more anxiously awaiting a new album.

As long as we were going down to LA, we decided to leave a little early and visit the Getty Center first. We had never been, and it’s one of those places you have to check out, especially if you live close enough. The setting is quite modern and scenic with great views of the city. We toured a few of the galleries (containing mostly classical art) and took some photos on the grounds (see a cute one of m'lady below). Our friend Paul came along with us as well. Afterward the museum, the three of us met up with a few other friends for dinner near the concert venue before heading over to the show together. It was a good day that reminded me how awesome it is to be close to a city like LA.

Recent concerts, part 1: Billy Corgan

We attended a couple of concerts during the last week. The first was quite an amazing, unique experience. It was put on by Billy Corgan (front man of The Smashing Pumpkins and hero from my teenage-plus years) and a few of his friends (Dave Navarro from Jane's Addiction included) at a coffee shop named Muddy Waters here in Santa Barbara. Yeah, a coffee shop. I couldn't believe it at first either.

Tickets sales were limited to 100, making for an intimate show with an artist I once saw headline in front of crowd of 100,000 on the streets of Minneapolis in the late 90s. I've seen him play a few other times as well and waited all day to "meet" him once at an autograph signing, but last Thursday sort of makes all of that irrelevant.

R and I arrived 20 minutes before the show and ran into actor Paul Walker on the street talking to somebody about how he wanted a ticket. That's right -- we were going to a show that Paul Walker couldn't get into. I had bought our tickets online a week earlier after seeing an announcement about them on Twitter. Strangely they were on sale two hours before they were supposed to be, giving me an advantage over anyone who didn't bother to check early.

The venue for this concert was not much bigger the living room of our condo. Billy and the band suddenly appeared at one end of the room, warmed up for a few minutes, and started playing. There were no stage lights (practically no stage at all) and little amplification. The sound quality wasn't perfect, but it was better than I expected for the space.

The first set of songs was on the quieter/folksier side. Maybe I'm getting old, but that's the way I prefer it these days. Billy was trying out new tunes and playing some covers rather than relying on Pumpkins hits or even his previous solo material. He is known for moving forward rather than repeating himself, even if it displeases the crowd. He didn't have to worry about that in front of this group of mega-fans. At one point somebody shouted "Play whatever you want Billy!" rather than requesting a tune. That was refreshing. I'm more than willing to put my faith in an artist to pick out the right tunes.

The second set was electric and pretty much set the place on fire (we had the sweat to show for it). One thing I always I liked about the Pumpkins is that even their harder rocking songs have strong melodies behind them. That's what sets them apart from a metal band. They also have such dynamic range – slow to fast, soft to loud; sometimes within the same song – that makes for an incredibly compelling listen, even the first time through.

The entire show is available for listening here, if you're interested. There are a few places where I can actually identify R chatting between songs in the recording. We were only three rows back after all.

The complete performance was outstanding, but if you’re going to pick only a few songs to check out, I really recommend "Widow Wake My Mind" and "Freak." Those were two specific instances when I became totally lost in the music, eyes welled up and heart full. Finding moments like that is the goal of every concert-going experience for me. It's unfortunate they occur as rarely as they do.

On top of all that, we got to meet Billy afterwards. He was standing around outside, chatting it up with people, posing for photos... no security, no lines, just a gathering of people cooling off after a warm show. What a night it was! A week later I still can't get the experience out of my head.

See a few more of my photos from the show here.

And read a review from the local paper, as well as some additional audience comments, right here.

Radio silence

I've been distracted lately. During the last month or so my mind has not strayed far from the video project I'm putting together. The blessing and the curse of the project is that it's not your typical scheduled film shoot. Most of it requires little preparation -- which, don't get me wrong, is nice -- but having so much creative freedom makes everything and anything a possibility for capture. The act of narrowing it down is a big part of the challenge.

The other part of the challenge is making it look cool. There's a trick to avoiding cheesiness in video production, and I haven't fully learned it yet. Above all, the results of this project need to be visually appealing. I'm taking a photography-centric approach, shooting in broad strokes, and trying to follow my gut on the editing rather than getting too wrapped up in perfectionism. It's kind of like the opposite of the eighteen Bud Light videos I made; those didn't have to look like much, but I edited the heck out of them, stressing over every cut. This time I don't have the luxury of editing frame by frame because the final product is going to simply be too long (and my free time too short). If this all gets done (and I'm going try my hardest), I should have about 40 - 50 minutes of finished video. I still have a ways to go, so don't expect a lot of blogging for the next month.

I'm enjoying myself. In some ways I feel like I'm returning my roots, as this is most similar to the kind of meandering, moods-focused, music-inspired work I attempted to do way back in my early days with my dad's camera and two VCRs. (Hopefully my current work is an improvement, but we'll see.)

My deadline is near the end of September. After that I will have some stills to share with you. Eventually I'd like to rework some of the footage into a shorter, web-friendlier product, but that's pretty far off right now.

I'm not sure if all of the secrecy is needed, but I'm going to keep it up just in case. Plus, building anticipation is fun, even if I'm just setting everybody's expectations too high (and by everybody, I mean the three people who read this blog). Maybe it's too late to come up with a code name, but I'll give you one anyway. For now, I'm calling it The Sweater Project.

Marblehead

We flew to the other side of the country last weekend to attend the wedding celebration of S&Q, whom we became good friends with during our time in Delaware. When you move away from friends you sometimes wonder if it's worth the effort to keep in touch. With S&Q, it is. They are a fun couple who appreciate art and adventure in a way similar to us. It was great seeing them, along with some other old friends and some new ones too.

Our red-eye landed in Boston at 8:30 Friday morning and then we drove north to the little coastal town of Marblehead, Massachusetts for an eventful weekend. The ceremony itself was exclusive to immediate family and the wedding party, but there was no shortage of activities to keep us occupied. We took a ride on a lobster boat, participated in a scavenger hunt (we won!), competed in a newlywed game (we won again!), lounged by a pool, ate some good meals, danced to live Irish music, and even had the chance to explore some neighboring towns (e.g. Salem and Gloucester). It was well-planned and well-executed weekend thanks to Q and my lovely R.

Here are a couple other notable occurrences from the trip:

1) We ran into a girl who lived on R's floor during their freshmen year of college. I knew her too. She just happens to be married to one of the groom's best friends from high school. So let's get this straight... We went to school with this girl in Minnesota. She now lives in San Francisco, CA, but she was attending a Massachusetts wedding for a couple her husband knows from Delaware. Not sure if you followed all that... the bottom line is that we couldn't believe it was her. This was definitely a situation that called for the overused "small world" statement.

2) Maya Rudolph (from SNL and Away We Go) showed up poolside at the bed & breakfast we stayed at. R and I were the only ones out there when she and some guy -- possibly her director husband, Paul Thomas Anderson, who was disguised in shades and a hat -- walked out to take a photo of the courtyard. Maybe he was scouting locations or something. According to the IMDB, Maya is in Marblehead shooting a new Adam Sandler movie. Anyway R said to her something along the lines of "Do you want me to get out of the way [of the photo]?" And Maya, standing right over R's shoulder, replied by saying she was trying to get out of the way too. It's funny how our brushes with celebrity typically happen when we're away from southern California.

I didn't go crazy taking photos during this trip, but you can see what I have here.

Untitled

Good evening. Nice of you to join me for the continuation of this one-sided conversation. Not too much is new, but I figured I'd drop you a line just because this blog needs one last entry before the month ends (I'm cutting it pretty close).

Last weekend was busy. We attended three BBQs, a happy hour, and a dinner party. It's good for me to get out and socialize considering I spend so much of my time during the weeks alone. Not that I mind working on my own... I just need to cultivate relationships with others once in a while lest I forget how. And there are some amazing people to meet around here. Take this dinner party we attended in Summerland for instance -- everybody there was so interesting, successful, and friendly. The food was great too. We sat out on the porch after the meal and soaked up the dimming glow of the sky with a view of the ocean. It was my kind of scene.

I've been practicing with my video camera during a couple of the evenings this week. The still above is from some test footage that I managed to transfer to my computer in high definition (click on it to see all of its detailed glory, shadows and empty space and all). I've been shooting in HD since I got the new camera, but every time I transferred footage to the computer, I had to down-convert it to standard definition. So painful! This week I got a new, spacious hard drive and found a plug-in for my editing software, finally allowing me to edit in HD. It's yet to be determined if my PC can handle processing it for sure, but I'm going to give it a shot on my next project.

Speaking of my next project... it's beginning. I met with some people -- who's own art I really admire -- last night to discuss it. I'm sworn to secrecy for now, but I'll share some details in the coming months. This is an exciting one. It will feel good to dive into something I'm passionate about after exercising with a series of smaller projects recently. I'm hoping my practice with still photography will pay off now as well, as aesthetics will play an important role.

The project does not yet have a title. I'll try to think of some kind of code word for it soon.

Clash at Lost Lake

Here's another in my series of stop motion experiments. They don't get much more off-the-cuff than this. We spent about 15 minutes planning and shooting it. R snapped the shots while my little bro-in-law and I did our best gravity-defying kung fu maneurvers. I strung the photos together in Monkey Jam and then imported the resulting file into Adobe Premiere for some tuning. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out... all 22 jittery seconds of it.

Lakes and prairies and people

There's something about Minnesota in the summer... the long-lit days under big skies, the fresh air, the sounds of loons while we sleep... It's hard to believe this is the same place we visit each Christmas, when the world looks so gray. Our vacation this July was dipped in equal parts blue, green, and gold. If the weather doesn't worsen one of these years, our perception of Minnesota might become rather inaccurate, shaped by a streak of lucky weeks.

I really enjoyed seeing our families. As much stress, money, and travel time it takes to plan and execute these trips, they always end up being worth it. Thank you very much to our hosts for taking such good care of us! The rides, the food, the comfort, and the catching-up are much appreciated.

Many a photo was taken (801 to be exact). See some of them here. I would normally be more discerning and keep the gallery smaller/stronger, but I couldn't bring myself to exclude many shots of our niece and nephew. The little darlings are so dang cute. They remind me of why I like to take photos in the first place and make me want to have kids of my own (one day).

The Winnipeg Folk Festival -- our trip within the trip -- was awesome this year as well. It had the best line-up of musicians I've seen in my five years of attendance. My absolute favorite performance was by a band called Okkervil River (you've probably already heard me yakking or tweeting about them). I had been listening to a few of their albums off and on for the last couple of years, but their concert on Saturday night still took me by surprise. I've never seen a band win over an initially uninterested crowd they way they did. The front man's "this moment, right now" speech during the final stretch of tunes captured the energy of the night and cranked the volume. It brought people to their feet, rushing to the stage with hands in the air. My list of top 5 concerts needs to make room for this one.

One last note: My little bro-in-law and I shot a quick animation test during our time on Lost Lake. Sorry, Nate-dog, it's not ready yet. I plan to work on it this weekend and will post it shortly thereafter. I'm anxious to see it too.

My niece Elise

It was such a pleasure to finally meet my beautiful new niece, Ellie, this past weekend. While she was around, taking pictures of anyone/anything else seemed irrelevant. I have a bunch more and will be posting them in a gallery next week, after we return from our trip.

We spent the holiday weekend on the Iron Range, and I'm working from our parents' houses Monday through Wednesday of this week before we head up to the Winnipeg Folk Festival with R's family. We'll be back in California next Tuesday. Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage.

Mud Brothers

How's this for a fun old film? It was recorded by my dad way back in the day, and I think it's a brilliant little piece of storytelling. The idea of capturing real moments like this (and attempting to manufacture them once in a while as well) is one of the reasons I wanted to get into video production. You are looking at some of my inspiration.

I always thought this clip would make a good character developing flashback in a larger work, possibly to demonstrate the start of a character's corruption or something. I'm not saying that's what happened to me in real life, but in some ways this does respresent my relationship with my older brother and our separate personalities. I think this piece speaks for itself.

I added the Smashing Pumpkins soundtrack and the feathered edge to increase the dreaminess of it. That's what it feels like to me when I watch it: a dream or a faded memory. I'm so glad I have this one preserved.

Solstice weekend

Well, the weekend was as full as predicted. The Solstice festival on Saturday was sort of overshadowed (at least in my mind) by the music video shoots on Friday and Sunday. We did attend the parade, but to be honest, I thought it was a little dull. Last year's parade, being that it took place two days after we moved into town, seemed more eye-opening and odd. It was quite a first impression; this year felt more like a rerun. I'm glad we didn't invest too much time into waiting on the curb for it to start. We were actually a little late because we were busy "getting our wine on" with some Newcomer friends. I enjoyed socializing with them and continuing to make use of our porch. It sure beat facing the crowds at the beer garden in the park.

After the events in town we attended two BBQs. One was with R's coworkers, which made for a good opportunity to put some faces with names, not to mention eat some excellent food. The other party was at our friend Paul's house. We were worn out by this time and didn't stay long, but it was worth the stop. Paul and company are hip people and it's always a pleasure to hang out with them.

Back to the video shoots... It felt great to be on a set again, to witness somebody's artistic vision materialize, to help where I could... mainly in the form of crowd wrangling, set design, grip work... anything I could to make the director's job easier and allow him to focus on the creative stuff. It was a role I will gladly accept, especially when I stand behind the project as much as this one. Friday night -- with its fog machine'd trees and extra large crescent moon -- was the perfect setting for a party, and I'm pretty sure that translated onto the footage. I can't wait to see the results.

I was busy during the filming and didn't take too many of my own shots, but check out what I have in this gallery. Note: the people playing instruments in the photos are NOT the band. They were just some extras goofing around during a break. You'll have to wait a few weeks to see the real stars.

Time rides a bullet train

After tweeting so much lately, writing a blog entry feels like a lot of typing. I'm forgetting how to form a paragraph. Twitter is definitely easier to keep up-to-date when you are short on time -- a situation that applies to this week -- but I'm not ready to give up long form blogging altogether.

This weekend looks packed to the brim. I’m excited to be helping with the previously mentioned music video tonight and most of Sunday. I met with the director and gaffer on Wednesday to go over the shots and help set up. They have a giant, self-lit, fake moon that we hung from a tree. It is going to look so awesome on camera, floating over the heads of the band. I can't wait to see this come together.

Tomorrow, we have multiple BBQs to attend in the afternoon/evening, plus some people are stopping by our place for a drink before we head down to the Solstice parade and festival earlier in the day. I’d still like to get the house cleaned (or at least organized) before then. That will be my job tomorrow morning while R prepares some food for the BBQs. It’s all about teamwork.

The last few weekends have been a little quieter. We've been attending more Newcomer events, most notably a luau and another trip up to wine country. Otherwise, we’ve just been enjoying the start of summer: potting plants (pictured above), going out for coffee or dinner, biking to the beach, hanging out on our porch, etc. Can you believe that R and I moved here one year ago from today?

R had her wisdom teeth removed a few weeks ago. The recovery period was as unpleasant as a person, especially one with his or her own extraction experience, might expect. But she handled it well and followed the doctor’s orders to a T. Plus, she looked really cute with those puffy cheeks. Unfortunately, the camera was off limits during this time :-(

I do hope to take a few photos this weekend. The parade is sure to provide an interesting subject.

Campus Scope ad

Check out this clip that aired on my college campus' TV station circa 1999... and has been rarely seen by anybody since. A guy named Stephen did most of the work for this one. I helped mainly with the concept and by sharing my wondrous acting ability with the world. As long as we're laying down some sarcasm, I should also mention how great the buzzed sides of my self-given haircut look. See for yourself.


I digitized this video, along with some old news packages I made for Campus Scope (our monthly college news program), from a VHS tape a few years ago. And I just recently unearthed the files on my hard drive. It was fun to pull them out, see some of the old sights around campus (like my dorm room in the video above), and fondly remember the early days of my hobby.

When you watch this you have to keep in mind it was made before digital video cameras and nonlinear editing software were available to students like us. Today you can probably shoot a better looking clip on a cell-phone. The editing here was done on a reel-to-reel tape machine. I remember spending many hours in that editing suite, usually late at night because that was the only time it was available. Sometimes I would sneak in and work on my personal projects as well. I don't think that was allowed on the school's equipment, but I made a point of never asking because I didn't want to know for sure. One of my favorite old shorts, "Marco Polo," was created during these times (that one has yet to make its internet debut).

I was so thrilled by the process back then. It seemed like anything could be made interesting if you put it in front of a camera. Distorting time and mixing images via editing was like a magic trick. It's kind of a shame now that I have a decent camera and my own personal editing system, and here I am NOT constantly using it. Maybe I'm running out of ideas. Maybe the pressure of my day job is sucking the life out of me. Maybe I'm worried that I don't have the resources (e.g. people, lights, a smooth tripod) to make anything that will look good enough. But rising standards or a lack of time should not be an excuse; I need to get out there and shoot something new.

There was one interesting development this week... I was asked to assist with a music video shoot happening during an upcoming weekend. It's for the local band Threadspinner who, as you probably know, I'm a big fan of. Once again, it's not my own project, but the group of people involved with the video and the music are incredibly creative and it is an honor to get the chance to work with them. Also, from what I've heard of the shoot so far, it sounds right up my late-night-atmosphere-loving alley. I'll let you know how it goes.

Not desperate enough…

...but airing on a nationally televised program anyway!?!

Remember the "YARD" video I posted a few entries ago? It didn’t win the contest, but we received an email from the promoters saying our submission was “one of [their] favorites” and they want to play it in an episode of Desperate Landscapes on June 25th! They asked me to send a copy of the video with the LOST music/sounds removed, due to copyright concerns.

Unfortunately we don’t get the DIY Network, but I noticed that Hulu airs the show. I’m extremely excited to know that something I shot may be appearing on national cable. (This will top my Restaurant Week ad which only aired locally.) I’m trying not to get too pumped until I see it actually happen, but let’s hope this does indeed come to fruition.

I'll be watching.

Rose Overload

One of the things I've been wanting to use this blog for is to share some videos that aren't necessarily my finest work. Some might be home movies (like the recent kite and skiing videos); some might be clips from short films I made years ago; and some might be new, experimental pieces that are stepping stones between more major projects (see the example below). I don't want to post all of these "B movies" on Vimeo or YouTube because if somebody Googles me, I'd prefer they come across the pieces that I am most proud of rather than these lesser works. By posting them on my blog instead, along with a brief explanation, I feel like I can retain more control of my image and keep my better output from becoming diluted. Yeah, I'm narcissistic like that.

The clip below is my first experiment with some free animation software called Monkey Jam. It's an easy-to-use program that basically takes whatever images you give it and plays them one after another, allowing you to put together some simple stop-motion.

For this one, I imported 200 photos of flowers snapped in our condo's rose garden, added a few titles, picked out a Depeche Mode song, and voila...


Fun stuff. I already have a second animation test in the planning phase. The new one will be more true to the concept of stop motion and, if all goes according to plan, will feature our good friend R. I'm excited!

Web address

Just a quick note... If anybody out there is still using www.jeff-finc.com to access this blog, please update your bookmark to be www.jeff-finc.blogspot.com instead. I decided not to renew the domain name since my old website no longer exists. The auto-forwarding will stop soon and you might not find your way here. This blog is my website now (and has been for the last year or so).

Sorry for the boring entry. The next time I post I will have a new video for you to make up for it :-)

Memorial weekend in photos

The long weekend was wonderful. We spent it around home, which is by no means a let down when home is Santa Barbara. We more than managed to keep busy. Rather than try to describe everything we saw and did, I'm going to let the photos do (most of) the talking.

We attended the Flight of the Conchords concert. It sold out a while ago, but more tickets became available the day of. We bought them an hour before the show and actually ended up with decent seats (my cell phone's camera, used for this shot, makes everything appear farther away than it actually is, I swear). An ex-James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, was also in attendance, sitting with his family only a few rows ahead of us.

The next morning we marveled in the amazing plants at Lotusland. I snapped a bunch of photos, the best of which can be seen here.

R got to try out her new bike (color still subject to change) when we went for a long ride in the afternoon.

We walked up to the Mission and saw some talented chalk artists at work during the I Madonnari festival.

The first of our two boat rides over the weekend was set up through our Newcomers group and featured a tour of the harbor in a fishing boat built in 1917. According to the Maritime Museum, Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn once fished from this same boat. We were the only Newcomers to show up for the event, so it became our own private tour.

Our second boat ride was the next day. A friend from church took us sailing along the coast. R woman-ed the helm for part of the trip, as pictured above.

We wrapped up the weekend with a picnic near the Mission, allowing us to check on the progress of the street art as well. We drank Chardonnay with strawberries and some specialty cheese that really knocked our socks off.

I love this town.

The birthday princess

R turns 29 years old today. The little lady is away in Minnesota this weekend. Her 10-year high school reunion was last night and today/tonight she will be hanging out with one of her best friends. She'll return in the early afternoon tomorrow, and then I'll get my own chance to celebrate with her. I'm devoting some free time this weekend to finding the perfect gift and baking a cake.

Obviously I didn't take this photo. Credit probably goes to R's mom or dad. I found the scan in my files for our wedding video. What a cutie.

A kite blowin' out of control on the breeze

My parents gave me a power kite for my birthday last month. These are the kites that people use to pull them across the snow or water on skis or boards or whatever they can find. Mine is a slightly smaller version that is used in the more traditional sense, although I still want to try it in some really high winds and see if it can get me airborne :-) It's a really high quality kite with two strings tied to it, allowing for some stunt maneuvers if you know what you're doing (I don't yet). R and I gave it a shot the other weekend and took these photos in addition to the video below. Check it out.

Mist trail

This weekend we’re dealing with the weather being too dry (see my previous post). Last weekend it was too wet. I guess that’s the difference six hours in a car can make.

We were looking for adventure last weekend, and that’s exactly what we found. We also fulfilled one of our goals for 2009 by succeeding at an overnight backpacking trip. In retrospect it was a modest goal, but the idea of sleeping in the woods -- far enough away from our car to make the situation slightly dangerous – requires a certain set of equipment and knowledge (not to mention an open weekend) that we simply didn’t possess until recently. It didn’t hurt that we camped with some friends, at least one of whom really knew what he was doing.

We drove up to Yosemite National Park after work last Thursday night and got there pretty late. We set up camp near the car and hit the sack. It started raining shortly after, but we stayed dry that night thanks to a sea-worthy tent.

It took us a while to get going the next morning because we wanted to cook a big breakfast and had to pick up camping permits, rent bear canisters, etc. We were on the Mist Trail by late morning. The first few miles were strenuous and included passing by two huge waterfalls that gave the trail its name. The spray of the falls soaked us first… and then it started raining.

Our plan was to hike 13 miles to Merced Lake on that first day and then spend the next two days hiking back, with a few detours, at a more leisurely pace. Well, about 10 miles in we realized we weren’t going to make it to make the lake. The rain was really coming down. Setting up camp and making some dinner before nightfall was becoming increasingly important, so we found a place next to an absolutely roaring river and pitched our tents in an all-out rainstorm.

Each of us was shivering that night (maybe SoCal is softening us up). We cooked dinner in our tents’ vestibules, which is not advisable because of the bear situation but necessary because we had already skipped lunch and we needed to put some calories back in via a hot meal. Afterwards, the dishes were done in a mad dash to the river in an attempt to keep the last of our warm clothes dry. What a night it was! I felt so miniscule in the dark, surrounded by the enormous rock structures and the constant power of white water. Nature could have just wiped us off the face of the earth.

Sleep was sporadic. Our self-inflating mats seemed a little low on air. I had to flip my body over every half hour or so because that's about how long I had before the ground made me sore. R ventured out of the tent at one point to use the ladies room and found there was fresh snow on the ground. I'm surprised I didn't notice a sound softer than rain drops hitting the tent during that time. It was a long night, but I sort of enjoyed it -- it gave me time to think. And how often do we get time to think anymore?

We would have kept going on the track to Merced Lake if the weather had been sunny the next morning. All of our clothes were quick-drying and would have been fine by that night, but the rain was still coming down as hard as ever. We packed our wet tent into our wet backpacks along with our wet clothes. One of my shoes was half-filled (half-empty?) with water. I put it on anyway. It’s easy enough to stay warm as long as you’re moving, so we moved the 10 miles back to the cars.

Facing defeat wasn’t easy, but that’s what we did. It was a rewarding trip in its own right, but I would feel more satisfied if he had made it to the lake. That’s still hanging over us, and I think it will be worth making another attempt one day.

I did still have an awesome time. Yosemite is an amazing park, on par with New Zealand in sheer breathtaking-ness. As usual my photos don’t do it justice -- partially because it’s hard to be an agile photographer with a backpack on, partially because the moisture kept me from pulling out the camera as often as I would have liked, and partially because there is no way to truly capture a place like that with anything other than your own eyes.

You can see the fragments I did capture here.

Jesusita Fire

Santa Barbara is on fire again. This one is hitting even closer to home than last fall’s Tea Fire. While we were making dinner last night, a cop knocked on our door and told us we had to evacuate. R managed to find us a hotel room down in Carpenteria, so we finished dinner, packed up the car, and put the growing plume of smoke behind us. When we woke up this morning our area of town was no longer under mandatory evacuation (a warning is still in effect), so we came home. Now we’re both at work, monitoring the news, hoping this thing gets under control soon.

Rather than attempt to capture images of the fire myself, I’m going to point you here for the most impressive photos of it I’ve seen.

Peace out

We found this rock design on a hike up the Hot Spring Trail the other weekend and I just had to share it. Well done, unseen hikers.

This week has been a bit of a rush again as we prepare for an upcoming weekend getaway. I'm going to keep quiet about the details of the trip until we return in order to avoid repeating myself later. But if things go according to plan, you can expect to see some spectacular scenery in an upcoming entry.

R and I are also celebrating our fourth wedding anniversay this week. Today is the actual day... and we're spending it working and then taking a six-hour car ride. Preparing for our trip has been our top priority this week, but we did go out to dinner at Bouchon, one of the best restaurants in town, on Saturday. Additionally, last night we opened a bottle of sparkling wine to drink with some strawberries, Thin Mints, and an awesome episode of LOST. I love a woman who is willing to indulge me with a little sci-fi, even on an important occasion. It's just another reason R still melts my heart after all these years.

Let's plan on catching up again when life quiets down a bit. Right now I have a bit of an outdoor adventure to attend to.