It has taken so long but I have finally completed burning the last wedding DVD… 5 Projects and I lost count of how many hours of editing. Perhaps the most difficult thing is watching the same DVD twice. I do this to make sure I didn’t burn a dud. You fast search back and forth to make sure there aren’t any errors, and jump back and forth between chapters. This kind of testing does get tedious after a while but I think it’s worth it.

One of the biggest frustrations for me as a videographer has to be lighting. For the majority of the receptions, the lighting is set to create a nice mood with very dark conditions for any videocamera. There is a limit to how a camera can handle low light, and I always try to maintain the mood at banquet halls. I mean, who wants a blaring studio light in their face? The downside is that I can barely correct for it. Images are grainy and look really awful. I figure the most important part of a reception are the speeches. The part I like is the food, which I don’t get to fully enjoy.

Over the next few posts, I’ll be making reference to the weddings I’ve done. But for now, I’m glad to have this chunky task completed. Off to play some PS3 to cool the brain off!

In iPhoto, you can click the Enhance button for some automatic image correction. Usually it gets it wrong making the image look fairly fake… for most people, things change at the click of a button and this is just fine.

Our friend Heather is going through the Bone Marrow Transplant procedure and I am absolutely blessed by her frequent status updates on Facebook. I read them on the train in, and on the way home. It’s really awesome how this kind of internet technology is simple yet powerfully effective. And it speaks to our society’s relational disconnectedness… that’s a whole blog entry on its own.

I am praying. But not for a miracle but God’s very best for Heather. I envision a package being all prepared… wrapped, assembled, planned, full of wonder… specifically designed and destined for her. And right now, I am certain the best I can package for her is prayer.

…got to keep pressing that prayer button…

Wondering what in the world happened to me since my last post over a month and a half ago?

In the next few days I’ll talk a bit about what’s been going on but for now, I’m back to blogging. This is my self-therapy in my life of unstoppable madness. So, in a nutshell, I have been extremely busy since my last blog post. Finally things are becoming manageable and I’ve still got more on my plate to sort through.

Around this time 3 years ago, I went through a change of cars. Letting go of my Honda Civic SiR was difficult. I have a video of the VTEC kicking in on the way to the dealership and it just softens my heart. Life was a lot less busy back then and ever since the pace has revved up considerably. But not too long ago at church, all of the staff and leaders connected arms and I got myself thinking about how easy it has been to disconnect in times of anxiety and stress.

I tend to pull away from the people that can help me the most. I lock into my tasks thinking that if I just focus on getting things done, everything will be much better. Procrastination is a huge stumbling block for me, and I’ve experienced the trap far too many times in the past month. But for sure, I’m learning bit by bit. And it takes quite a bit of hits to the head before I figure things out. The lesson: sometimes you’ve got to slow down, get a bit of perspective, and then move forward. Jumping as quick and fast as you can usually hurts the head.

1/60s | f4 | Av | 17-40L@29mm | ISO1600

1/125s | f4.5 | Av | 17-40L@40mm | ISO1600

1/40s | f4 | Av | 17-40L@40mm | ISO1600

1/160s | f4 | Av | 17-40L@17mm | ISO1600

1/30s | f4 | Av | 17-40L@40mm | ISO1600

1/125s | f4 | Av | 17-40L@40mm | ISO1600

1/25s | f4.5 | Av | 17-40L@17mm | ISO1600

1/160s | f4.5 | Av | 17-40L@26mm | ISO1600

There was a time when I really tried to snap some interesting and different pics to win some sort of recognition in photo contests. But when I realized that you give up your photo(s) to be used in whatever way the contest organizers want, I decided that my attitude had to change and stopped submitting pics. There comes a time in every artist’s life when they decide whether to share their art for profit or pleasure. I’m sure there are some out there that are thinking, “why can’t it go both ways?” Well, I’m the one writing and you’re reading so just stay with me here.

I consider talents and skills to be gifts. They can be given at any time, and taken away just as easily. And if you view art as an enterprise or business, then I don’t think it’s art anymore. Like if in the process of creating you ponder how you can make money out of this thing you’re making, then I think you’ve crossed that line. It’s not bad that you’re in that profit zone, but I think that’s misusing your gift. It’s just my opinion.

Don’t get me wrong, I love photos and videos. It’s a gift that I’m passionate about. And I’m fully aware of where that line exists in my life. When I get inspired, it’s full steam ahead. I do the best that I can, and as most of you know, I am my worst critic. But where I have been lacking in is in the area of critiquing my attitude when it comes to these gifts. Trying to keep it centred around ’service’ and ‘encouragement’ is a struggle. Because at the end of the day, I cannot exercise my gifts for the money or glory.

So, when I looked at these photos, I thought about submitting them to a couple local contests. It didn’t take long for me to do an attitude check and figured they would do me much better in a frame in my home. (these were taken from my backyard after that wicked nasty storm a few weeks ago)

My regular blogging goal has obviously failed. There’s been a lot on my plate lately and it’s beginning to catch up with my bowels. I had an egg mcmuffin today for brunch and I felt awful for the rest of the afternoon. Plus we went to church this morning… and it’s been probably a good month since we’ve been to a service. So much of the past little while has been pretty chaotic.

Reflecting back on the fact that summer is over, I tried to take inventory of the good things that I’ve experienced. One of the highlights was the airshow. I have missed quite a few years of this annual event and grew somewhat bitter that I could hear the roar of the jet engines but failed to see them in close proximity. There’s something inside of me that gets really excited and gitty when the jets rumble my chest. Perhaps that’s something all men resonate with.

I found it really challenging to photograph these jets because the bright sky kept washing out the jets. Plus they zipped by fairly quickly from where we were sitting. And a note to the geeky, the focusing on the 5DmkII isn’t as good as the 50D… and all these shots were taken with my 70-200L f4.

With that, I’m pretty tired right now and just need to play catch up — with my pillow.

This was that something new that I was working on… and that’s been in the works for just over 9mths. Baby was born just before 3pm, Serena and I were there just after 5pm and couldn’t get ourselves to leave until close to 8pm, then I just couldn’t stop editing until 11pm. I think this is the kind of same-day-edit that really inspires me to tell a story in only a couple short minutes of video. And I’ll share some of the technical constraints that I mentioned in the previous post at a later post. Enjoy!

Yup. I’ve been busy. Got a few projects on the go and just finished one now that’s taking forever to render. I think it’s because I didn’t convert the file from HD to SD for FCP. Did you get all those abbreviations?!? In the meantime, I got to take a few pictures of Sarah and Rodney a little while ago and haven’t had the time to post them. So, I’ve got this one that I thought was funny.

But stay tuned… I’ve got more stuff to share done in the toughest lighting conditions ever… talking about ISO3200, +2/3 exposure compensation, grainy like beach sand…

I thought long and hard about posting this video of me making a fool of myself. I mean, some might consider it an insult to their culture. Others wouldn’t waste their time. But I came to the conclusion that if you can’t make fun of yourself, then you’re not really human.

Andre and Emily asked me to share a few words at their awesome wedding this past weekend. When I told them that I would help out in any way they needed, I didn’t expect to be asked to speak. This is the first (and probably the last) time that a videographer has been asked to share a speech for a wedding. Nevertheless, it was an honour to be able play a part in their special day. Serena and I had a lot of fun putting it together… she romanized the text and added those phonetic symbols to help me with the annunciation. She did a great job. I just made a mess of it. But I’m glad that Andre and Emily appreciated it… that’s all that counts. It’s what friends, both Chinese and Japanese, are for.

Let me know if you want to hear the rest of my speech… I have a feeling that listening to my Chinese is about all anyone can take. Enjoy!

One of the things that I love about weddings is how different each one is. Having a creative role to play is pretty excited yet overwhelming at times. It’s taken me a good week and a half to complete Jeremy and Stephanie’s wedding videos – this was quite a challenge to complete after work each day. For those technical people, the challenge was colour correction. The church was the biggest challenge with natural, incandescent, and florescent light to mix together. And then trying to do that between two different cameras — that’s just a nightmare of editing. Some people may not care or notice but I sure do and it’s very annoying.

Another challenge was with the 5DmkII footage… 1 incorrect setting and I lose the 16:9 aspect ratio. I tried to stretch and crop the video but it has to do with the anamorphic pixels. This was definitely a challenge because, again, I was dealing with light that went from cloudy to sunny within minutes… it was that crazy weather day with a tornado that touched down in Markham. That day was just nuts.

After all of that, we have a short summary of fun shots for their wedding day. In many ways, this could’ve been a SDE (Same Day Edit) but not to my satisfaction with the colour balancing and so on. Anyways, enjoy!