While I can’t say everything we’ve shot is perfect, for what we’re doing and some of the down & dirty situations we’e been in this little gem has moved passed the HVX200 (for now) for me. The DOF & versatility of lens options alone make it an incredible tool for the $$.

Now for some details. A lot of people have been asking how we handled the audio for interviews and nat sound. I’ve found, like most people the built in mic is pretty much useless…it works in a pinch but not for professional audio quality. For nat sound we used the Rode Videomic and we we’re very surprised at how well it performed for a $150 mic. The one main drawback of the 5D2 is there is no control of the audio input and it has a built in limiter which is really nothing short of a guessing game. For the interviews our setup was a bit cumbersome. We used a lexicon micpre with a USB interface and we cut the audio straight to my macbook pro. The end result was a success but this method proved to be to bulky and impractical in a run and gun situation. For the next leg of the shoot I bought an M-Audio flash recorder which I think is gonna be the ticket. It’s small, compact and has some key features…16-24bit, WAV files, +48V, etc…it’s about the size of a deck of cards.

As far as the video goes there are a couple of short comings to mention. Of course being able to lock in the exposure is a challenge. When shooting outside checking focus on the small screen is pretty challenging. I was sort of expecting a difficult time holding the camera steady, but even with a 70-200 it proved to be easier than I thought. HOWEVER…another lesson learned is to find some sort of rig/shoulder mount system to use. You will get much better results. Since there wasn’t much time between trips, I grabbed a “Dog leg plus” from Bruce Dorn over at iDC. He makes a rig called a U-boat that seems pretty cool too. I’ll let you know how the Dogleg Plus works.

The coolest gadget I bought for this shoot was the Merlin made by Steadicam. It took some time and practice to get it up and going but WOW we got some really serious results. One shot in particular, when the guys were headed to the set there was a long walk to the set. We picked them up coming out of an interview and stayed with them the entire way. We had a 16-35mm on the cam. The shot looked amazing, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without the merlin. For the $$, it’s a great investment for this camera.

Filters…this is key to getting great DOF. We were shooting in Park City Utah in 3′ of snow with sunny blue skies. I thought an ND6 would be enough but turns out we really needed an additional 6-10 stops to really get what we wanted….lesson learned.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the results. Our next leg will be shooting back stage and live concert footage. I’m excited about this leg because we’ll really get to put the rig to the test.

More to come.

I’ve been a die hard Nikonian from day one. I must admit though I’ve peaked across the fence more than once. When I was awarded the job to produce a TV special & national spot for the upcoming Rascal Flatts new music video for “Here Comes Goodbye” I must admit my first thoughts were RED. It seemed to make sense right? Everybody’s doing it…Then I started looking at logistics, multiple locations, multiple states, etc and the budget started going through the roof! Then it hit me…5Dii! So I started gathering as much info as I possible could and thanks to my friend Dan Rubottom who pointed me in the right direction, I was so impressed with what I saw I decided to make the jump.

So I headed down to my local pro shop and trade the Nikon gear in for Canon. I must admit the 5Dii alone feels like a toy compared to the Nikon D700, so I was a little disappointed at first. It’s a little like learning a new language but I think it’s going to be worth it.

We’re shooting with 2 5D2’s and a Panasonic HVX200 as a backup. I’ll report back once the project is in the can.

Wish me luck!

Canon 5DMKii with mattebox & Rode Videomic

These artists are so used to having cameras in their faces and are so comfortable, they have no problem turning the charm on for the cameras. For me, or whoever gets hired to shoot them, we want to draw out the best looks we can get. The big question I always ask myself is what can I ask them to do that they haven’t already done a thousand times? And the answer is, probably not much.

Despite the sheer amount of shoots, liners, performances, meet & greets, the tour schedules and interviews, they always seem to be able to turn it on regardless if they’ve had a bad day…it’s their business, they show up to work and that’s what they do, and they do it well.

So far, everyone I’ve worked with have been great and willing to do whatever they can to make the project a success. Living in a glass house as many of them do I’m always amazed to see how well they balance fame with normal day to day responsibilities.

Here are a few sots from a recent shoot I did for Walmart’s Soundcheck. Faith Hill’s performance is already available, Martina McBride & LeeAnn Womack will be coming soon. FOr more of my work check out my photog site.

But, in the day to day battles of communication, phone calls, email, texting, etc…I found myself becoming frustrated. Almost a sense of dread when it came to attempting to conduct business with my iPhone. Mainly, the steps to actually get to the features. Many times, being in a hurry, trying to swipe, swipe, swipe…so many times it would bounce back for no apparent reason. Once I got in and began to type, this is where the real problem came for me…I found myself doing more backspacing and re-typing than anything. VERY FRUSTRATING!

Once Mobile Me hit, I thought I was home free with the push email, etc…not so fast. While I really enjoyed the constant wireless syncing, the mail functions never really kicked in and worked like they should. And don’t get me started on no Cut & Paste.

It’s because of those reasons, I made the move back to Blackberry land. Specifically the Blackberry Bold 9000. There are many things to like about this BB, but let’s face it, RIM is the king of push…it’s an email machine and wins over anything on the market, hands down. I love the feel of the keyboard and glory hallelujah for the cut & paste.While it does have some great functions like wifi, 3G a slightly upgraded browser, it’s no iPhone in terms of multi-media.

At the end of the day, I like my BB Bold and will use it as it should be used. But the iPhone wins the cool contest. And although I am using it less and less, I still have my beloved iPhone which I use mainly as an iPod.

Currently I am a happy camper.

Me on iPhone day 1

iPhone 3G

BB Bold 9000

Of course I took my still camera because I try not to pass up any chance to shoot. The guys were opening up for Taylor Swift so it was a big venue with plenty of lights. The Love & Theft setup was fairly simple, a HUGE backdrop with their logo (which I think rocks). So I headed down front and worked my way around the venue…from down on the floor it’s hard to get great angel but I had no choice so I snapped away.

Once I got home and reviewed the images I was surprised at how great they turned out. I put a treatment on them and sent them to the label and it seems they all dug the shots. Here are a few shots from the show.

check out my website to see more of my work.

I’ve always enjoyed brainstorming and talking about ideas. There is no telling how much $$ I’ve spent over the years on note taking programs and other various “creative” ways to put ideas down and nothing has ever really clicked for me. I’ve tried, Jott, Evernote, Bento, ToDo, etc. and believe me, those are good programs and they have their place, some of which I still use from time to time. But none of them really made sense to me, not that I didn’t understand how to use them, but there was no connection, it was more like a chore.

So a couple of nights ago I was skimming through the apps on my iphone and I came across this little program call iBLUESKY, a “mind mapping” app I think it was $4.99 so I bought it. It downloaded nicely onto my iphone, I launched it and within minutes I felt like I was floating in a creative land of bliss.

I started a mind map to launch my photography business. I can’t explain it but it was like a portion of my brain that had been dormant came to life and within minutes I had mapped out every aspect of what I want to accomplish. It was clear & direct. It made so much sense and felt as natural as breathing.

As someone who has to create on demand for a living, my mind gets jumbled up in so many directions that when it’s time to “export” my ideas, it’s easy to hit mind numbing road blocks. Ideas bouncing off walls, pinging around my brain like a thousand of those gumball machine rubber balls on concrete. There is nothing fancy about this little iBlueSky program, in fact it is a simple program with very few options, but it has allowed me to “decode” my thoughts. On paper it looks nothing like your typical outline or spreadsheet, in fact it looks like a spiderweb but for me and probably for many of you it makes total sense.

So, try some mind mapping….I’m glad I did.

Unlike other projects I’ve worked on in the past where source material was limited, it seemed like there was an endless supply of sources available to me and literally all I had to do was ask. The biggest bump in the road was when I dropped off the file of the album cover to Kinkos to have it enlarged to use as the main background. No sooner than I got back to the office and I get a call from Kinkos…”sir, we’re not aloud to print anything with Elvis’ image without an authorized signature stating you have the rights to do so.” So I hop back in the car drive down, sign the paper and all was well. I understand that they have to cover their booties.

We started shooting in July and I turned the project in on October 1. We did most of the shooting in the historical RCA Studio B. That proved to be a great experience in and of itself. We were surrounded by so much history that it was easy to reflect back on what it must have been like.

One of the cool tid bits was when we were interviewing a couple of members of the Jordanairs, and they began telling all these Elvis stories. We walked over to an old cabinet out in the studio and they started telling us the story when Elvis was trying to listen to some demos to record and the old record players weren’t working right, he got mad and kicked the cabinet so hard that he knocked in one of the panels…they never replaced it.

It was also cool to sit and chat with Milley Kirkham…she’s the lady who sang the memorable background vocal on Blue Christmas that we all hear every year. She was such a nice lady and had many Elvis stories as well. She recalled how Elvis liked to work in the middle of the night, so she would work all night and finally have to tell Elvis she had to go home to get her kids up and off to school.

Of course it was great to get to work with some of the best female vocalists in the industry. Everyone was very cool and each added their own style and personality to the project. Being in the studio, hearing the original unmixed tracks & vocals was a thrill indeed!

I was able to take some great stills and the promo turned out great. I was also asked to shoot Martina McBride as she shot the one and only real music video to come out of the project. The shots will be featured in the November issue of People Magazine.

All in all is was one of my favorite projects to work on this year, the label was great to work with and very supportive and I think the record turned out great as well. Buy it here.

Here are some shots and a link to the short version.

Wynona Judd Singing Santa Clause Is Back In Town

Gordon Stoker & Ray Walker of the Jordanaires along with Millie Kirkham

I often wonder what it would be like to be able to duplicate myself. Would I (we) be more efficient? Would I make more $$? What would it really be like? The funny thing about the movie is how Michael Keaton’s character justifies it to begin with….many of the same questions I posed. The idea seemed like a good one at the time, what could possible go wrong?

It was bad enough when he made the first copy, but when the first copy decided to make a copy, things went downhill FAST.  We’ve all seen what its like to make a photo copy of a copy, the quality falls off in a hurry. So by the time the 4th copy was made the character was nothing short of a total retard, who by the way broke the number one rule and still managed to sleep with his wife.

But back to reality for a sec, I find myself in somewhat of the same position. I have several things going on at the same time, ideas in my head that I know will work and if I could somehow find a way to duplicate myself, I really think I could get so much more accomplished.

My ongoing dilemma is the fact that my clients come to me because of, well me. And it’s a delicate thing to mess with that. So how do I overcome this dilemma and multiply myself? Good question!

I can try out other editors, which seems doable, but in the past, I’ve found myself having to hand-hold so much that it would have just been easier to do it myself in the first place. UGH! Because if this I’ve always just given up and continued to do it all myself. Which leads me to the present.

One bad habit I must shake is the “no one can do it as good as I can” one. I admit, it’s a hard one to overcome but I have hit a wall, a good wall, but nonetheless a wall. I am being forced to let go and turn some things over to other people. Fortunately for me I have found a superb Producer who is helping me to juggle all of this wonderful mess. It’s a bit like therapy but so far so good. She has found an editor who I think will be great, and while the jury is still out as he’s working his first edit job for me, I remain hopeful.

So in a sense, I am duplicating myself, I just hope it turns out better than the movie!

We’re planning another one soon. This time at an abandoned prison…stay tuned for that.

www.devinpense.com

Don’t get me wrong, (and I’m talking to my clients who may be reading this), I’m not abandoning you. Simply expanding my services not only to increase my business but to embrace this new and exciting form of creativity. I find myself having the same feelings I had when I first began to shoot & edit video. When I know I’m going to shoot stills I actually get giddy with excitement. It’s new, it’s fresh and as a creative professional it’s so important to feel new and fresh.

Having to “create on demand” for so long, taking someones ideas and making it into a video over & over and over can get very tiring. I’m not a song writer like my friend Regie Hamm, but I relate to having to come up with different ideas, different ways to tell a story, not repeating shots, etc. It’s just part of the business; that is if you want to make a living at it. So it’s important to stay fresh & new.

I was fortunate to find Todd Henry along my journey. He is the founder of The Accidental Creative. This guy gets it!  Although I’ve been doing this for years, it wasn’t until I heard him use the term “create on demand” that I began to really think about what I’ve been doing for the past 20 years. He has a great line “cover bands don’t change the world”, and guess what? he’s so right. Cookie cutter, Johnny-come-lately ideas always seems to lack luster, they’re never quite like the original.

I’ve had the chance to get to work with some really great people and be involved in some cool projects, most recently the Elvis Christmas Duets Record. Sony/BMG hired me to Produce a short & long form promo for Wal-mart and several other retailers. I never imagined I’d have the chance to stand in the RCA Studio B room where Elvis recorded so many of his hits. Now when I hear him sing “Are You Lonesome Tonight”, having stood where he stood and having heard first hand from people who were there with him, telling the story of how they recorded that song at 3am and how he nailed it in one pass, I can smell the smell of the studio, I can picture the giant reverb plates they used, it almost feels like I was there. It’s moments like that which make me look back and feel so thankful for the journey so far.

So what does a 41 year old dude like myself do to stay alive in a world full of 12 year old creative geniuses? My answer, whatever it takes. Using the BIG 3 advantages: wisdom, experience & relationships. All take time to build, there are no short cuts and nothing but time will reward you with them.

I truly believe this new found love of photography couldn’t have come at a better time in my life. It has provided me with a new perspective and creative purpose. So with the help of one of the best Producers I’ve ever known, Tiffany Fykes, I plan to use the BIG 3 to continue to build a successful video production company and launch a new photography company.

It will be my goal to use this blog as a journal of sorts, to document my new & updated journey. I may be the only one who reads it, but my goal would be to look back and see the progression, the struggles which I know will be there and to use the successes & failures to continue this amazing journey I’ve been blessed with being on.

Let’s see how things turn out. In the meantime check out my site.