Just a quick upload. AND as always, contact me for use. Click the picture for the gallery. For more information about the now infamous rave, click here!
UNC Rave December 14 2010
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Tag Archives: Unique Experiences
UNC Pillow Fight December 8 2010
This semester, the now infamous rave hasn’t occurred yet. Don’t worry kiddies, the word on the street is just be around early next week. So while everyone is waiting, a giant pillow fight was fought on the hallowed grounds of an otherwise cold and silent Polk Place. On one side near the steps of the South Building, the Blue Team assembled with people whose last names started with the letters A through M. On the opposite end of Polk Place under the columns of Wilson Library, the White Team, built from all those whose last names started with N through Z assembled. At just past 6pm, the malee began…
Click Photo Below for Gallery
OBRA Cyclo Cross Series
When in Cyclo Cross County… Pictures from race #7 of Cross Crusade’s Cyclo Cross Series. As always, click on the photo for the gallery!
Sometimes It’s A Good Idea Not To Use The First Name That Comes to Mind
Oh how I love Portland, Oregon. Clean air, beautiful landscapes, and a unique, never boring culture.
I also do a lot of work in the advertising, marketing, and brand development industry. I’m all for unique and alluring names, but this one… this one takes the prize. I snapped this one day while I was about to cross one of the bridges from the Eastside into the Westside of Portland.
NYC: The Return
It’s great to be back! Like last time, it’s going to be way too short and crazy busy, but I’m at least going to visit some of the museums this time. I’m in Brooklyn this time and it’s been great. I ran around Prospect Park twice this morning with my iPod on Vampire Weekend (who I see Thursday!) and I was once again reminded why I love this city. It’s a totally different experience than staying in Manhattan in a 10th floor Upper East Side apartment with a Central Park view, but I like the view here better.
Well, last night the September 11th lights were on. We decided to fire up the grill, enjoy the early fall weather, and watch the lights until the wee hours of the morning. It’s a hauntingly beautiful display.
Veloshine Commercial
So what does three days worth of filming look like? Well here is the final cut of the Veloshine commercial! And take a look at the competition… pretty awesome submissions!
Veloshine Filming
Isn’t it odd how if you do something long enough, odd/awesome opportunities make themselves visible? Well for me, that’s how half the interesting stuff I get to do happens. This time it involved my almost excessive “hobby” of bike riding. Add in my goal of working in the ad industry and what do you get? A great opportunity and some very cool new friends.
Meet Jan Balster and Steve Murray, two photographers/filmakers who needed a bike rider for a commercial contest they are entering into. Thanks to a friend-of-a-friend connection (Irish Adrian), we connected and started talking. A few days later and my basement was once again turned into a studio.
I’d say the rents must think I’m crazy, but this isn’t too un-usual for me. For the Shimano spec ad, this same area was turned into a set for almost a week. It’s a garage (Currently filled with the project known as “Pablo Jet-Ski-Bar”), but it makes a great studio.
The best part of the experience was the chance to talk to these two and learn a little about their history and how they got where they are. And the fact that a RED Camera was involved… I was pretty thrilled.
Well, after three days of filming (including a 630am start on one day) and some pretty crazy setups (on top of a moving SUV…), it’s time for me to wait, let them edit, and see what comes out. They captured something like 2 hours of film and seemed pretty happy. I’m totally looking forward to seeing the final cut. Check out the gallery from day 1&2
Oh how I miss City life…
One of the many many things I miss about city life is the wonderful sound each city makes. Each city seems to have their own unique sound and even neighborhoods have their own sound. Take Lisbon, Portugal for example. The traditional Fado concert doesn’t really get started until 2 or 3 Am. And it’s common practice to have them in open venues… like the street! Or take my experience in Vienna, Austria. I almost never closed by windows unless it was really really cold. My neighborhood had a vibrant, often questionable night scene (nothing dangerous or anything, it’s Austria people!) and it was common to hear what my Spanish apartment-mate would call low-brow South American Spanish from midnight to the early AM. Add the fact that one of Vienna’s busiest train stations was less than a kilometer away and it was a little loud for some. Not for me. I don’t speak Spanish, never mind understand it, but I really miss listening to the raw sounding conversations of the local night population. Some people call that sound noise, but I’ll argue it’s really just spoken blues. Don’t get me wrong, I totally respect people enjoying the quiet sounds of the countryside, but I like the rawness of city-music. Well, after spending some time looking for a hi-fi recording of a city, I discovered a blog for an NYC photographer/videographer who is using his Canon 7d to record video of the Sounds of NYC. It made my day.
NYC Sounds:LIVE underground:Canon 7D,1080/24p from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.
Getting Creepy: Photo Shoot #2
Sometimes perseverance really does work. And it doesn’t hurt to have a little luck too. Well for the latest chapter of the fashion shoot, both worked out wonderfully. I got access to the Arboretum and the rain stayed away. It was miserably hot, but this is the south. Heat and humidity… what’s new?
The arboretum is everything I hoped it would be and more. We really could not have asked for a better place to shoot. So I’d really like to take a moment and thank the owner. The arboretum feels like a very personal project for him and I really appreciate his willingness to allow us to shoot.
Our goal for the whole shoot is to capture a darkness. And what better place to capture it than an arboretum full of gargoyles and unique statues! If you know the designer, it makes sense. A Femme Fatale theme oozes from the whole collection. I’m hoping my editing skills are up for the challenge! Take a look at these ROUGH examples (click the photo and no… I’m nowhere near final edits!). It’s kinda scary, kinda seductive, kinda… I like. I can’t wait to work on this project more. It’s totally bad ass.
Oh Photography… I could do this as a Profession!
Pro Photography is a crazy industry. Once you’re in, you’re good to go for the most part. It’s all about networking, being adaptable, and most importantly… being reliable. And that doesn’t just mean being on time and keeping to deadlines: it’s about producing reliable work that suits the client’s exact needs. Having your own vision and ideas about a client’s project is wonderful, but being a professional is about helping your client take their idea and making it real. In other words, it’s great to have a creative vision, but be careful how far you express it when you are being paid by a client to follow their vision. In fact, take that vision and drive and use it in your own personal projects. If it’s good work, you seriously increase your chances of people hiring you specifically for your vision! (Yes, that’s a hint) Once you get that big break, you are golden. If I ever get mine, I’ll be sure to write something about it. That will require a day… no…. week of celebration. For the second, I’m just happy to work when I get the chance and gain experience. After all, I’m totally about being a creative director at an advertising/public relations/etc firm. That’s more on the planning/leadership side, but from experience, the best leaders come from the trenches.
Well, I recently made a little investment in some new camera equipment and I’m in love with my Nikon D300. It does things I only dreamed of and the control it offers me… wow. I know full frame bodies are the future and there is a D300s, but I’m not convinced the D700/D3 are really worth the extra cost. And the D300s… don’t waste your money. In fact, buy a used D300 (be careful though!) and send me the extra money! But I will say one thing about the rumored D7000… that actually is a nice deal. It’s DX, but at 16ish Megapixels and a CMOS sensor, this thing sounds like a suped up D300. Regardless, right now, I think I’ll focus on new lenses. After all, a good lens on a entry level DSLR will trump even the best of DSLR any day when you use stock lenses. And yes, I’m easily bribed with camera gear.
This weekend I spent Sunday afternoon with two of my favorite people in the world attempting to do some fashion photography. I was approached a few weeks ago to help out with the project and of course I wanted to do it. Ever since I got to see the inside workings of Fashion Week last September, it’s kinda become… dare I say it, a pseudo-interest. It’s a very cool industry and I’ve been extremely lucky to befriend some seriously talented people working in the industry. What draws me to them is their pure passion for what they do and how they have turned that passion into a successful life, not just a job. Very few people manage to do that and it’s something I really admire and aspire to achieve.
So back to the photo shoot. It was so much fun and I’m totally thrilled to continue with it. Photography is often extremely challenging (weather, lighting, the personalities involved), but this was anything but. It’s a great feeling when you find yourself in a situation when everything clicks. I can’t wait for round two… an overgrown garden filled with creepy gargoyles. Well, after I get permission from the garden’s owner (already in the works!)
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