Mont Ripley opens today and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there thinking about skiing and getting ready for the season. Here’s a short video that pretty much visually describes what I’m sure a lot of people are feeling at this time of the year.
Happy Holidays!
Just thought I would share this video I stumbled across. Personally I think it’s pretty sweet. The story is quite simple, and the use of high-speed cameras make it into a mini-adventure. Shoot on over to Vincent Laforet’s Blog for more information and some behind the scenes video.
Later.
Holy Crap! I need to see this movie. Who would have thought we would ever see the day when bike movies looked as good as the stuff you see in the theaters.
Here’s a cool Nike Soccer Ad I stumbled across today. Sometimes I feel that Nike is one of those huge take over the world mega companies like Microsoft… but unlike Microsoft they do an amazing job with their advertising. I’m always super impressed with the stuff they put out. They do a great job really capturing the emotion of the different sports they promote… this video is no different.
Check it out.
CANON Commercial – Freeze Tag from Saman Keshavarz on Vimeo.
SONY “Eye Candy” – Behind the Scenes from Süperfad on Vimeo.
Recently a photographer that I admire, Chase Jarvis, wrote a post about what he calls “Making Sausage”. What he’s referring to is all of the behind the scenes work that goes on to make the beautiful product you see on the screen or in print. Take mountain bike and ski photography and videography for example. Most people only see the sweet overhead following shot through the huge spruce forest, or the perfectly lit night cliff drop with star trails in the background. However, what we didn’t see was all the work rigging the cable so that a camera operator could follow the bikers through the woods. We also didn’t see the other 50 times the riders ran the course and all of the things and problems that had to be dealt with. We don’t get to see the long hike in with bags of photo and lighting equipment, the running back and forth adjusting the lights, or any of the test shots that turned out like crap. Chase’s “Making Sausage” comment refers to the idea that if we did know what went on behind the scenes we might not find it so appetizing.
Anyway, here is a video interview with the guys who created the new Old Spice commercial and some info on how they did it.
Later.
Not much to say as it’s getting pretty late. I just wanted to drop a couple of images from our walk around winter carnival this evening. We didn’t hang out all that long as we are supposedly getting up early to make the 16 hour drive to Ottawa for Winterlude. What we saw wasn’t all that horrible. However, it did seem like things have quieted down a little since years past. I don’t know if it’s because the snow hasn’t been that good or if it’s just that I’ve been to so many of these they are all starting to look the same… but it seemed to me that the student groups weren’t very into the statues and that there weren’t that many one-nighters.
Anyway, let me know what you think of the images, and if you have any thoughts on this years carnival I’d be glad to hear those also.
Later.
Some random dude twirl’n himself some fire!
So, this morning I was planning on getting up early to wander around town looking for unique vantage points of Mont Ripley. One of the things that Nick wanted us to focus on when thinking of and creating images for our project was how close Ripley is to town. Ripley is pretty unique in that it isn’t an hour away, or 20 minutes, or even 10 minutes away. It’s pretty much right in town. And this is an important part of Mont Ripley’s identity. Anyway, as soon as I stepped outside this morning I knew that I was not going to accomplish the things I set out to. However, that didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to go for my walk anyway just to see what I could see.
The fog was quite thick this morning and with the low light of the early morning really made for some interesting scenes around the waterfront and downtown. I headed out with the Sigma 120-300mm f2.8, a 35mm f2.0, and a 50mm f1.8. I ended up only shooting with the long lens as it was on my D300 when I left the house and as thick as the fog was I didn’t want to change lenses. Most of these images were shot towards the 300mm end of the spectrum at f2.8, iso 800, and 1/200 shutter speed.
I really love the way a telephoto lens sees the world. It cuts out all the extraneous. It brings your background and foreground together. It creates emphasis and separation… I really enjoy it.
Anyway, I had a good time shooting this morning and I really like some of the images I came away with.
As always… let me know what you think.
More to come…
“If you can’t give your dog wine… how can you keep from drinking alone?”
– Ene, Mari’s ema (mother)
“Only the mediocre are always at their best.”
– Jean Giraudoux
