Lan and I hung out in the RVIP Lounge at the LA Film Festival this past Saturday with Hayden Black, Kestrin Pantera, Jonathan Grubb, Batgirl (the dog) and a few other cool people.
We didn’t really spend much time at the festival, and it was the day before it ended… but we did walk past the big Hellboy II premiere party as they were still setting up. Very fancy…
Here are a few shots from the day, I actually didn’t shoot that much.
When Mark and Candice Brooke contacted Lan and I about shooting a promo video for their photography website we were totally stoked. Their photography is top notch and they are definitely a force to be reckoned with amongst the wedding photographers we know.
Part of our video called for some unique shots of them that we were going to incorporate into the intro… a way to quickly and without words show their personality and fun demeanor. Luckily we all chose an awesome spot to shoot the video… so we decided to do the photos right there as well.
Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot… you can see the rest when you watch their video (which Lan did an amazing editing job on) here!
Well, the concert went off without MUCH of a hitch. We ended up starting almost a half hour late due to audio issues, but once we got started the show was awesome… and both the live and the internet viewers had a blast. After the show we went out to the back balcony (Keats’ place is awesome!) and had snacks, pizza and conversation. All in all… awesome night.
I shot a few photos outside… love the metal siding background thing. Unfortunately it was only about 5′ tall so I had to sit people down… but it worked out. I’ll post more shots to Flickr tomorrow or so.
Most of the people who know me probably also know Paul Dateh. Most people who know me also know that I am gifted with musical talent. Er… yeah. Talent.
Paul Dateh, on the other hand, is blessed with ACTUAL musical talent. That’s why one of his You Tube videos has had over a million and a half views. That’s why he’s being suddenly flown all over creation to play. He is recording a new album, which is coming out this year. And he’s funny.
And you get to see him. Free. From the comfort of your own home. In your underwear or even naked, if you so choose.
Tonight, May 25th, 2008… at 5PM Pacific time, Paul and guitarist Ken Belcher will be playing an intimate set, in front of a small live audience, that will be broadcast live over the internets. Yes, you read correctly, the internets.
Go to live.pauldateh.com to check it out. You’ll be able to chat live with other viewers and also ask questions or make comments that Paul will be addressing during breaks between some of the songs. Ask him some cool things… like “why is the sky?” or “where do babies go in the night?” Questions of meaning. Questions of substance. Questions whose answers will validate your very existence.
So set an alarm, invite some friends over, and when 5 o’clock shows up, bask in the glory that is music.
Here’s an amazing animated promo that Paul made. Cutting edge graphics are the name of the game, folks.
I received my new Alien Bees ABR800 ringflash last Wednesday… and have anxiously waited to have time to try it out. Finally yesterday I came over to Lan and Bonny’s garage… set up some lights… and did a quick shoot. So far I really like it. I do need to make sure to not overuse it… but when you have something new that’s inevitable. All the shots below are with the ringflash and 2 strobes behind and to the left and right of Bonny… at about a 45 degree angle or so. It took some time to get it right, and I was adjusting throughout… but I’m pretty happy with the way they are turning out.
One thing I didn’t realize that I’m going to have to rectify is that I definitely need an ND filter… many of the shots were done with the ringflash set to minimum power (1/32). Some were still too bright, at ISO 100 f/16. It definitely reminded me that I need to clean my sensor, though. Damn that thing’s dirty… shooting wide open all the time I tend to forget that.
Eddie Grey is an awesome personal trainer out of Studio 1 on 1 in Venice. Keats, Lan and I shot promotional photos of him on Thursday, and here are some of my favorites.
As it turns out, the body builder types we see gracing the covers of insecurity-inducing magazines at the checkout stand typically go through quite a bit for a couple weeks before a photo shoot… Eddie educated me a little bit on this. No amount of carb dropping or forced dehydration, however, can fake what’s not there… Eddie is the MAN and he is in SHAPE.
You can also see Lan’s images here.
We went to San Luis Obispo yesterday to help a friend and aspiring wedding photographer, Bonnie Tsang, who was shooting her second wedding. We went mostly as support and to do a little second shooting… but we also took the opportunity to shoot a little video that we’ll be putting out in the next few weeks.
I’ll probably post a few shots from the wedding one of these days, but here are a few shots that Lan and I did in another room during the reception when everyone was pretty much stuffing their faces… typically not the best time for photographs.
I am deathly ill.
Ok that might be a slight exaggeration… but it does feel that way. I haven’t felt this sick since I had malaria… and that’s saying a lot.
Anyhow… besides the sickness it led to, WPPI was awesome. Shootsac did very well (which was the only true goal I had for the trip) and I met lots of great people. Ally Stepp was one of our volunteers and she turned out to be very cool. Lee was of course fun and great. Hanging out with Orbie Pullen, Rebecca Meredith and Aaron Dieppa was one of the highlights of the trip (oh and thanks to Orbie for teaching me to play craps). I met some great people at Becker’s party and tons more at the booth itself. Too bad I can’t remember half of them, but luckily I got business cards!
The craziest thing from the trip besides the blackout was that it was snowing on the drive to Vegas. Actually… snowing is an understatement… it was practically a mini-blizzard. I haven’t seen snow come down like that since I was but a wee lad in upstate New York. Crazy.
I didn’t really have much time to shoot anything while we were in Vegas outside of the video we did at Becker’s party… but I did snap off a few stills while we were testing the the new Arri fresnels I bought (they were brand new and I had only turned them on once) while we were still in our room the night before the big event (see below). I love these lights! I chose a 650W and two 300W. I got barndoors for each of them, a couple scrims and filters… and a really nice softbox that works perfectly with the 650W. You’ll get to see some examples of our final lighting setup on the B School Blog soon.
Lee Keller, Ally Stepp, Bonny Pierzina:
Ally Stepp and Lan Bui:
The drive home was uneventful and a little sad… there has been months of buildup to this event… I literally did nothing more than prepare for it for the week and a half preceding it… and then suddenly it was over. Keats had warned me it would be this way, but I didn’t believe her. It’s not that I don’t have anything to do… there’s lots to do with Shootsac, there’s lots to do on The Bui Brothers side of things… and I even have some Vu Bui photo shoots coming up. But I feel a bit lethargic despite all that… then again being deathly ill may have something to do with it.
Jay and Ryanne are East Coast transplants documenting the green and geek communities in the SF Bay Area. Both are ex-television producers and editors who were born anew into the videoblogging world in 2004. Ryanne is the Co-Author of Secrets of Videoblogging; Jay is the Co-Author of Extreme Tech: Videoblogging. Both are the Co-Founders of NODE101 an open source collaborative effort to teach videoblogging around the world.
They are, to me, a representation of what is great about new media. They met through videoblogging, and are two of the biggest new media evangelists I know. They contacted Lan and I, wanting photos that can capture their personalities… taken by someone who they can be comfortable around. Here is a preview… just a few selections I made while browsing through them. I’ll be posting the rest to flickr when they’re done.
See Lan’s previews HERE.
Paul Dateh is an amazingly talented musician and vocalist. I had the pleasure of meeting him at Pixelodeon where he played a great set, similar to the main video on his site. Awesome stuff. I can honestly say I’d never heard hip-hop violin before… and if someone were to mention it to me I’d be confused… but after hearing him play… and live nonetheless… I can say it’s awesome.
Paul contacted me not long ago to do some portraits of him for promotional materials… and here are a few of them:
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