a taste of blinker

From a recent trip to visit Mom, on the occasion of her 93rd.

and then there was this one

After an afternoon looking at photo exhibits, this might be the best photo I took during a clearing afternoon.

another single

Early spring on a walk-around in town. The red brick architecture from that day is too easy.

more bright-field

Using what I learned back here to preserve a rather stunning bunch of tulips.

more TMG

Here's what I did for five days back in January, scurrying around in the background.

Video by Brian Wimer

5 x 5 break

Amidst my concerns with learning how to use software, and rotoscope accurately, has come this weekend's Vimeo project: 5 shots, each five seconds long = a twenty-five second movie. Even I can handle that. Which led to these initial entries:

and

No great investment to watch. In fact, watch 'em twice!

"The Nature of Photographs"

A second submission to the Vimeo 1 minute movie.

 The rules:

• exactly one minute long
• no camera moves
• no edits
• no credits or music

Something I've been/not been working on for 10 - 11 months. Probably time to learn some lines. Am I repeating myself?

Adrenaline Film Project 2011

For those who don't know about the Adrenaline Project at the Virginia Film Festival, watch this short. We documented this year's entrants and got our film into the running.

A lot of coffee - a lot of lost sleep.

An impressive effort from Brian Wimer, who edited this film, shot material about several of the participating groups, and wrote the script for the audience award winning Attack of the Trailer. I followed three teams during their shooting, and spent some time in the Digital Media Lab in Clemons Library at the University of Virginia where all the teams gathered Friday night/Saturday morning, til 5pm Saturday, for their editing.

on the other hand

Boston in July? Why not?

We'd never been, but it wasn't on a whim that we travelled this far into foreign territory. Months ago, after acquisition of one of motion picture technology's most favored devices - a Steadicam Pilot - it was recommended by one and all that a workshop should be included along with the Steadicam. The workbook is a great start, but the hands-on approach is a quick way to vault up the learning curve. At the time, the Boston workshop was the closest time wise as well as geographically.

In the few months between signing up for the workshop and actually attending in Boston, I've been able to get in a good bit of practice, find various balance combinations that do or don't work, and employ the device in the production of a short film, the self produced "Walking With Roscoe."

While the location of our hotel was less than ideal for direct access to famous tourist sites in Boston (it was chosen to be within walking distance to the workshop), public transportation in the Boston area is superb. The CharlieCard, which can be purchased in all the subway stations, permits access to the subway trains as well as the buses. It keeps an electronic record of the fare paid initially, rides deducted, and can be replenished electronically as many times as desired. Something this intelligent is bound to help immesureably with getting people to use public transportation. Which the Boston area residents surely do. Buses and trains are nearly always full, and they run on a frequent schedule.

It would seem that all the classes and workshops I take I already have a fairly good grasp of the material prior to arrival. This seemed to be the case with this workshop as well. At least I know the theory. The practice requires A LOT more practice. What our instructor, Director of Technical Services at Steadicam, Peter Abraham was particularly emphatic about is learning to use the Steadicam to carry a camera in a manner that truly emulates how a human witnesses the present. Or at least be aware of the manner of human presence, to create movement that contradicts the smoothed, rounded corners, short cutted way we travel through life.

Day 1 was theory and basic movement.

Day 2 was practice operating three different shots designed by Peter that permitted us to branch out and work in various spaces around the Rule/Boston Camera facility. Shot 1 was with the Panasonic AG-AF100 Micro 4/3 camera on a Pilot rig, and utilized a Don Juan move in the middle of the shot. Shot 2 used some large Panasonic video camera & lens on the Zephyr rig in low mode, camera flipped upside down and the monitor up top. A lot of gear to move around, it never felt very comfortable. Shot 3 was with a Sony PMW F3, a Zeiss 18mm CP2 prime, on a Scout rig. This was our Grand Prix shot, the only one recorded during the weekend. In fact, everyone looked pretty good.

And it was pretty nice to return home and be able to offer some Steadicam work to someone else the following day.

stage 4

corner

More to  come, 180º from this spot.

another decade

click 'er for biggerAt last there is some thaw from the past few weeks of freezing temps. Enough that the ice on the Loftlands pond has mostly disappeared. A gorgeous gray day reveals the intensity of the colors of the landscape.

This may be the first image out of the 7d that I'd like to see printed on paper, but instead I'm using it as a sketchpad for what else it might be: yesterday I took the Linhof out and used film to record the same location. Although another day of warmer temperatures has melted the ice almost completely. And of course the light was quite different, so it's hardly the same photograph. This is good enough for now.

3 sibs 2010

KW, JHW, RW

Only a year ago, this is what we looked like. Remarkable progress, I'll have to say.

I asked for readers to share their family photos last year. Unfortunately no one took me up on it. How about this year? Anyone?

how much more expert do ya want?

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Ever the wise-ass, and having a hard time taking seriously any serious taking voice of authority, my recent chance encounter with a member of the local fourth estate was one of the more enjoyable random moments that's taken place recently. Probably suspecting that I was a barely compliant participant, my interviewer kept the session short. Probably best, in the long run. After all, they're looking for entertaining sound bites, not memorable wisdom. I was rather incredulous that I was being requested to voice my thoughts about the topic of snow shovels. I mean, really. This passes for journalism? Where can I get one of these jobs?

It goes to show that there is next to no chance of being "discovered" in a big box store. This is the reason I patronize my local hardware store, in this case being Martin Hardware, in Charlottesville. You never know quite what sort of an encounter will take place there. But you can be pretty certain that you'll get the item that you need.

f-o-r-d pt. 212

What does happen to road kill? No doubt some have wondered what became of Mephitis mephitis. It doesn't go to waste, that's for certain.

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The day after taking this photo, when I passed by again, there was nothing left. The system was doing it's part to clean up the remains. The only evidence of the demise of this animal is an odor that lingers in the area, not from any body parts, but from residual oil deposited on the pavement at the time of death.

wow

What happened to me? No more still photography, basically. The GD Canon 7D has taken over my sensibilities, and Final Cut Studio the rest of my waking hours.

Here's the product of the latest marathon.

Who's Afraid of 50? from Man Made Wilderness on Vimeo.

A party last night, and in less than 24 hours it's online. It's been a long time since I stayed up til 5am working on a project, but this morning seemed to be the time to do it. Maybe there was something in the food last night that kept me awake. Or maybe it was the enchantment of cinema...

Update on Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 08:39PM by KMW

A new version available already, to fix some duplication that was missed in the early hours this morning.

welcome to NJ pt. 2

click 'er for biggerApparently it was a slow day. Or more likely the officer was new to the job and needed some experience. Details of my encounter with the CSX police can be found here. I was warned because I was supposedly within 24 feet of a railroad track. This photo is pretty good evidence that I was on the edge of the road, probably about 25 feet away from the track that runs down the middle of a public road. But who's quibbling? Believe it or not, the railroad was not what I was photographing. I probably won't be returning to South Kearny, N.J. any time soon.

another instance of my inability to conform

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This is a photograph that could benefit from an audio component. Or at least it would make the reality of its nature more immediate. But as I wrestle with what it is that I want to do with a motion picture capture device, it is fairly obvious that what "typically" works is not a collection of still images, even complimented with sound. The question that is posed by director Peter Watkins in his critique of the media and film making, is whether we can find other means of communication through visual media that transcends the hegemony of the three act structure of virtually all story telling.

This extreme crisis for global civil society AND for the environment, falls into six principal areas under examination: • the role of the American MAVM [Mass Audio Visual Media], with their disastrous impact on global politics, social life, and culture • the somewhat less obvious, but equally dangerous role of the MAVM in most other countries • the role of global media educators (encouraging young people to enter the mass media as acquiescent professionals, or to accept the mass media as passive consumers) • the role of film festivals and of film makers themselves • the complex role of the counter-culture movement • the role of the public.

Crucial to Watkins' analysis of the MAVM is his examination of the Monoform:

To explain to new readers: The MONOFORM is the internal language-form (editing, narrative structure, etc.) used by TV and the commercial cinema to present their messages. It is the densely packed and rapidly edited barrage of images and sounds, the 'seamless' yet fragmented modular structure which we all know so well. This language-form appeared early on in the cinema, with the work of pioneers such as D.W.Griffith, and others who developed techniques of rapid editing, montage, parallel action, cutting between long shots/close shots, etc. Now it also includes dense layers of music, voice and sound effects, abrupt cutting for shock effect, emotion-arousing music saturating every scene, rhythmic dialogue patterns, and endlessly moving cameras.

He proposes alternative ways of viewing (see especially this section of his statement), and that the entire process of media production become more democratic through subjects and audiences becoming involved and a part of the means of communication.  After all, the word implies some sort of two way process, rather than the simple passivity of a silent audience in a cinema or on the couch in the living room.

Can a lone landscape photographer find a way through this minefield?

power people

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Perhaps time to find out where they go? In our case, the coal fields of south Virginia and West Virginia.

being neighborly

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As flat as this composition might seem, there is a density to it that reallty draws me in. It says a lot about where we live. The four man made objects in the man made landscape attempt to exert their presence over the surrounding vegetation. But there is little doubt that those four objects and the infrastructure they represent have a limited lifespan that will require constant maintanence.

beware

click 'er for biggerObviously this one didn't make it. Unfortunately, a common end for these ancient reptiles.

At this time of year, these guys - Terrapene carolina - are occasionally seen crossing the thoroughfares. Since their habitats are usually only 200 m. in diameter and have become so fragmented, it's not surprising that they may be seen trying to cross a road. And since they mostly live in the grass and forest leaves and dead trees, it's not likely we'll see them anywhere but on the roads. They don't stand much of a chance against vehicular challengers, so I make a point of lifting them out of the way and helping them on their journey. It's best to move them across the road, because removal from their locale will spur them to engage their homing instincts to return to their natal grounds, possibly searching unsystematically for the rest of their long lives. A thirty or forty year life span is not uncommon for this species, and it's believed some have survived to 80. But long term survival prospects look dim due to habitat destruction, slow growth rates for individuals, as well as slow reproduction (a female may lay 100 eggs in a lifetime, but it's estimated only 2 - 3 will reach maturity.)

Read more about Eastern Box Turtles here.

Here's one I moved out of the way recently while walking in Loftlands.

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