Now I am worried. This is going to be a second post in a row that is negative! Well, it ends well but it covers a rather unpleasant episode which took place last night. The setting is my living room and imagine every possible surface covered by any number of papers, clothes and gear. I mean even our little terrier is struggling to blaze a trail through to the kitchen, this place looks like a bomb went off.
We had spent most of our rainy Sunday going through lists and doing checks on various electronic goodies. This story really begins when the Bescor light and batteries were plugged in to the wall. Now, I would wonder about anyone who would not immediately check all elements of an order the moment it arrives, especially when electronics and workshops are in play. Richard and I had check the light and were satisfied that it worked with all the bulbs and batteries. We plugged the light into the small battery which came as part of the kit but also the two larger batteries we had added to the order. With each connection to a battery there was a reward of luminance and we packed away the kit with joy. It was Friday night and things were looking good in the on-camera lighting department. I like Bescor.
Move forward to the snowy Sunday afternoon and our recheck of the light and batteries. I run down each battery to almost empty and we both confirm that each of the big batteries lasted around an hour and the smaller kept up for thirty minutes. Here is right about where the negative inspiration for this post begins. According to the instructions the batteries will cause the LED lights on the chargers to illuminate until the battery reaches a maximum charge. The paperwork also states that it will take about twelve hours for the big batteries to recharge. “Plug ‘em in as soon as you get in the hotel room each day.” Thanks Babe, worked that one out myself 
But wait, what is this? The batteries were plugged in for no more than twenty minutes and the LED went dark! How can this be? Could Bescor be playing it safe and suggesting twelve hours when in reality it will only take twenty minutes? Seemed a bit overkill. I tested the theory by plugging the light back in and enjoying five minutes of relaxing glow. At this time the other big battery has been unplugged and reconnected to the wall charger in a spirited effort to keep the LED on. Crazy I know, what on earth could it be? We plugged other devices into the outlet and it came up fine. With both big batteries plugged back into the chargers we started to come to the realization that this was not going to work and Richard might need to start hurriedly searching through websites and reviews. Keep in mind that I leave Reno on a plane Tuesday morning, this leaves only Monday to order something and have it overnighted to Oakland before my flight to DC on Wednesday. And I would ideally want to put a new light through the paces at least around the hotel for one day. This Travel Channel Academy workshop is something that I have been looking forward to a very long time and it would be a bummer to have my lights fail. Yes we tried the charger that came with the smaller battery, nice try. We pronounced death at 7:30 PM at placed an order for a Cool-Lux softlight that sounded incredible on both the website and the forums reviews that Richard found.
So there you have it, my second negative post! And directly following the first negative post, simply awful. But no matter, the new Cool-Lux SL3000 are on their way to Oakland according to the tracking number and I feel pretty confident that everything will work brilliantly. I am actually very stoked to play around with the SL3000 because it is designed to give cinema-like soft lighting. Sounds like this light could really give my workshop videos a pop. Might need to take back all that stuff about this being a negative post, it’s all good at the time of this writing. I will update the blog tomorrow to let you know how the lights work or why a freak ice-storm has grounded all UPS planes across the country! Now there I go again.
November 11th, 2008 | Tags: Bescor, Cool-Lux SL3000, Journalism classes, video-editing | Category: Journalism classes, humor | Comments (13)
Let me start off by apologizing for the lack of new posts since last month. I have a lot of work to do to get back on my blogs good side! I figured I would start my comeback off with this cool photo that we took in San Francisco. I was finishing up my last day at Aron Ranen’s workshop and Richard walked down to Pier 39 from getting off Bart at Market Street. It took us about an hour to walk back up to Bart and we used the opportunity to snap some pics with the Horizon Perfekt. I am still learning how to properly use this awesome camera.
Ok, I have to rant here. Normally I avoid negative typing because I always have doubts about how my tone will be received. On this fine day I am throwing caution to the wind. My rant is directed towards the camera shop, Sarbers Photo in Montclair, Oakland. This would be the second set of film rolls that I have brought to Sarbers for development. This will also be the second time that they have screwed up my order. The first time they messed up involved cutting my negatives after I had specifically asked them not to do that because they were shot in a panoramic camera and I use a flat-bed scanner to get them digitized. I had also requested that no prints or cds be made from my negatives. Basically I left the shop having ordered six rolls of film be processed and nothing else. Well, one week later I had a fun grab-bag of photo goodies. I had contact sheets for two of the rolls, three cds of scanned images and four of the six rolls had been chopped up into nice little strips. Of course the strips were not exactly nice because they contained a mix of partially cropped images. Total nightmare!!! I was quite upset and left the shop feeling discouraged. I had really been looking forward to seeing my pictures and this outcome was a total let down. I did not pay for any of the order and left with my unplanned artistic expression in hand and frown on face.
Why did I then bring my next set of rolls to them if they were so bad? Great question, I am still working that one through. I called Sarbers back and asked to speak to a manager. I explained what had happened and how hesitant I was to bring my business there again. He was very confident that it was a freak accident and probably a new girl who was no longer under his employ. I know, I know, classic manager doing damage control but it did win me over. I brought six new rolls to them and requested nothing special. I was crazy clear to the gentleman behind the counter, just process these rolls in normal color chemicals and then put them in a cardboard round. No cutting, no scanning, no printing. Seems easy enough for anyone to follow right?
Richard and I went in to pick up our negatives surrounded by a cloud of negative suspense. Our fears were realized when the guy came towards us with our negatives and said,” So we cross-processed these.” Huh, that’s odd because never had the option of cross-processing come up? I inquired as to how this very important call had been made without consulting the customer. He told me that that was what it says on the canister. It is true that some of the fine print on the film case recommends cross processing for an artistic effect. So these guys had decided that maybe my photos needed that extra something, how helpful! The manager become involved once Richard requested a conversation with some one in charge. If and when our business calls for a dedicated manager to be retained I will have a better concept of who not to hire based on my encounter with this moron. I will spare you the play by play from Richard and this guy “talking” but basically he admitted his shops fault but refused to do anything to rectify the situation. We left without paying and with our photos, one way to look at it is this shop is the best deal in town. Yes you get your photos developed for free and you get any number of artistic extras for free too! Hadn’t really visualized your picture in a cross-processed way? No bother, these guys will take care of everything? Already invested the cash for a photo scanner to save on having the shop charge you for creating worthlessly small jpegs? Silly you, these guys know that you need both even if you don’t.
Ok, so there it is, my rant. I will never bring any business there again and I will try to warn others about the chop shop of Sarbers Camera in Montclair.
Now let’s have some positive posts about the latest happenings!
November 8th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (3)
I am perma-giddy for this workshop that I am attending this weekend. It should be a fantastic introduction to filming and editing with Final Cut Pro. I found the website for the school a few months ago while research anything related to video editing online. The name of the school is DV Workshops and I am extremely excited for the four day crash course. Richard and I will down in the Bay Area for four and a half days starting on Friday.
The workshop will begin with two days of shooting and lighting. We will cover everything from story-boarding to interview techniques. I am very anxious to work with the lights and gain experience. Lighting has been one of those things that plagues some, ok all, of my footage up to this point. More »
October 8th, 2008 | Tags: journalism, learn video editing, video journalism | Category: Journalism classes | Comments (11)
I got my first rolls of 120 film back from the shop and I have to say that I am pretty stoked to see how they turned out. Out of twenty shots there were only about four pictures I really liked but from what I have read about Holga cameras on the net this is normal for a beginner.
This picture is of me in front of an ad on the side of a building near the Fifth Street Garage in SF. I think it turned out great and kudos to Richard for holding the camera still. Both of us are getting used to the manuel shutter and timing the exposures but when I saw this one on the contact sheet I started to feel like we might be getting somewhere.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Please check out the rest of the photos that made the cut and were scanned. Here is the set on Flickr and if you are so inclined please leave me feedback.
October 4th, 2008 | Tags: holga, Photography, portrait | Category: Journalism classes, Photography, family | Comments (9)
I just finished my fourth Ashtanga Yoga class a few minutes ago. I really love the way I am feeling so I wanted to share my feelings with everyone.
I have only had experience with Bikram Yoga and I loved the way it made me feel, with Ashtanga Yoga practice I feel as though I am doing more than just a set of asana’s or postures.
Ms. Cross, my Ashtanga Yoga teacher, explains thoroughly throughout the class how to do each pose. I really like this because I feel safer than I did when I practiced Bikram Yoga because while the teachers did explain the poses it was never thoroughly explained, it wasn’t until I had been practicing Bikram Yoga for a while that I didn’t feel the need to look at the person standing in front of me to know what I was supposed to do next. More »
October 3rd, 2008 | Tags: ashtanga, Bikram Yoga, yoga | Category: Bikram Yoga, Styles of Yoga, yoga | Comments (3)
We spent the last weekend down in the SF Bay Area so that I could attend a yoga conference on Saturday. Richard, needless to say, did not accompany me to the conference but he did hang around downtown and waited for me to finish up. After the morning events that I really wanted to attend both of us walked around the financial district and Market Street.
We took photos with our new Lomo Horizon camera. This thing rocks! It has an amazing 120 degree capture and takes incredibly saturated colors. Both of us are very new to the film world and it is quite frustrating not having a LCD to instantly show me how the picture came out. None the less, I am having a blast learning about this new art.
Here is one of our favorites from that day. It shows a street singer who was simply mind-blowing. She sang opera and really attracted a massive crowd by the time we walked on. Looking at the photo I see that there is more light at the top than I would have liked. Oh well, the digital part of me says it is a simple fix in Photoshop but the new film part says I should have made the aperture slightly smaller or maybe a UV filter? It is fun seeing two completely different schools of thought when it comes to getting the best image possible.
Another camera that I recently bought is the Lomo Holga. It is a toy camera in every sense, both plastic and cheap. But it is the quirks of the camera that enable it to take artistic photos. The film that the Holga takes is 120 and it was tough to find a shop that develops this format. We are hoping to have these pics scanned and up on Flickr this weekend, please check back to see how our first Holga pictures turned out.
Another example of the humor I find in exploring this new aspect of photography is the Holga. I spent a ton of time online researching the Holga and the entire Lomo world of photography and I was extremely excited about the potential pictures I could create. I dragged Richard from website to forum posting all in the effort to show him what I had found. He was equally excited by the possibilities of such an artistic camera but immediately saw a problem in getting the pictures developed quickly and affordably. We ordered the Holga and a few rolls of film from FreeStyle Photo in New York, they are a fantastic company to shop with and have excellent customer service. By this time I had a pretty good idea of how to get the photos developed and an estimate of how much this new venue would end up costing and I was not exactly smiling. Never the less both of us were stoked and went searching around for effects that we could use once these new film negatives were scanned into our Mac. Then Richard stumbled upon a Photoshop effect called “Lomo” by the artist Michelle Black. It basically takes any digital photo and Lomo-izes it! Richard turns to me and says,” See babe, we can either buy film, take tons of pictures and then develop them to get a great image or we could open Photoshop and hit Control H.” What a smirk on his face!
Control H, unbelievable.
October 2nd, 2008 | Tags: Horizon, lomo, Photography | Category: Journalism classes, travels | Comments (5)
This afternoon I had my second Ashtanga Yoga class. There were only about 17 students in the class today and I over heard my teacher saying that there were 22 registered. The class started with our teacher Ms.Cross reviewing the Syllabus with us and she was very specific about how to get a passing letter grade. She was also quite clear about the importance of attendance, she mentioned again that K.Pattabhi Jois has a saying that Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory. I know this to be true for myself because as a child I used to play the violin and was constantly reminded by my father who has a real passion for music that “practice makes perfect.” I have heard that saying many many times throughout my life. Ms. Cross also told us that she will be touching on some Yoga Philosophy as well. I am very excited to hear what Ms. Cross has to say about this subject and I also have some questions I would like to ask her.
After Ms. Cross finished up with the Syllabus we started on a standing meditation, we focused on our breathing; counting our inhales as well as our exhales. I love deep breathing exercises myself because I can really feel my body relaxing and if I meditate for long enough, my mind finally starts to relax as well. We must have been standing for a few minutes when Ms. Cross asked us to slowly open our eyes. Ms. Cross then asked us to start walking counter-clock wise but to continue to focus on our breathing. We must have walked for almost 10 minutes, just our bare feet hitting the wood floor and still we were all focused on our breathing. The energy in the room had slowly changed in those ten minutes. Each student came into the room with a lot of energy and by the end of our fifteen or so minutes of meditation, everyone was more quiet and definitely more focused.
We started practicing the beginning series and must have done that a few dozen times by the end of the class. I really started sweating while we were in the middle of class, we were all doing our own beginning postures, but our class wasn’t really doing it in unison. We didn’t do any finishing meditation, we only stayed in corpse pose for a few short minutes at the end of class. Ms. Cross mentioned that normally we would stay in Shavasana for longer, but she got carried away with the asanas. Maybe on Tuesday we will spend more time at the end of our practice laying in Shavasana.
It was a great class and everyone seems to have a real genuine interest to learn about Ashtanga Yoga. I am stoked, I really am loving this style of Yoga.
September 30th, 2008 | Tags: ashtanga, yoga | Category: yoga | Comments (1)
We are getting all of our computer equipment set up properly. I recently purchased a used scanner from someone on Craigslist. I know buying electronics second-hand and paying cash can be quite risky. I was fully prepared to turn around and walk away from the deal if there was anything that spooked me. The lady who sold me the Canon Canoscan 8800 scanner was very nice and had the receipt showing it had only been purchased a few weeks ago from Best Buy. She let me plug it into my laptop and try it out a few times. I am super pleased with the transaction and feel pretty proud of the money I saved us. Richard was so sure I was getting ripped off. Big smile on my face for that one! Here is a scan of a photo which Richard’s mom took when he was only a few months old.
The photo is one of literally thousands that comprise the annals of Richard. Richard’s mom, Bettie, was and is an avid photographer and has a vast collection of images. Both Richard and his sister have volumes of albums of pictures organized by years of their childhood. In addition to the photos there are hours of video tape, showing everything from candles being blown out to introductory swimming lessons. The first time I laid eyes upon this library I was amazed. I instantly felt an additional facet of respect for my mother-in-law because I greatly admire people who live for their children’s happiness. It is my humble opinion that too many parents either live “with” or “through” their children instead of “for” them.
Looking through all of these albums and tapes has really been a fun venture. Richard is also having a great time walking down memory-lane. I am having so much fun hearing all the stories about his childhood. Plus, I am know looking at photographs and video in a different light due to the classes I have been taking. Instead of just liking a picture I am beginning to understand what it is about the image which resonates with me.
September 26th, 2008 | Tags: family, Photography | Category: family | Comments (2)
This is a very special photo in Richard’s collection. He took this in Uganda when he participated in a small tour to visit with the Mountain Gorillas. He was up and at ‘em well before dawn and hiked through jungle on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Unfortunately the pictures he took did not turn out the way he had hoped. The darkness of the jungle and the bright sunlight coming from behind the gorillas made for some disappointing photos. This one is probably the only one that he would say is any good. The group of three tourists and seven armed-trackers spent one hour with a rather large group of gorillas. There were babies and about twenty other members of the family.
Richard has a very funny story of asking one of the guards if he really thought it was necessary to have so many machine guns for protection from such powerful, but seemingly calm creatures. The soldier smiled and said that the AK-47s were for the guerrillas, not the gorillas. Needless to say that drove home the reality of where we were in the world at that moment.
I think I speak for both Richard and I when I say that Uganda was a really special place for us. We spent a couple weeks traveling through Uganda and found the people especially friendly and warm towards us. I decided not to go see the gorrillas (I wish I had now!) but I stayed back in Kisoro and walked through the market which was fairly small, but there were many women out selling their food and traditional fabrics. I really enjoyed looking at all the brightly colored fabric that many of the women were selling, it’s much to bold for me, but looks beautiful the African women.
September 26th, 2008 | Tags: Africa, gorillas, Uganda | Category: travels | Comments (1)
Today I went to my first yoga class at the college. The style of yoga that we will be studying is Ashtanga. Here is link for more info. I had an amazing time and really enjoyed the teacher’s style. Richard and I trying to figure out how to record and edit our first podcast. We figured the class and my initial reactions would be an interesting topic for our first recording. Check back later today to see if we get it all sorted out.
September 24th, 2008 | Tags: ashtanga, yoga | Category: yoga | Leave a comment
