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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.