To see this video at 1080p go to SmugMug by CLICKING HERE.

“Hurry Up and Wait” - these are words that I and every photographer / filmmaker / surfer - you name it - live by.   It was a mad dash to get everything ready for this trip - people flew through winter storms, prototypes were assembled last minute and gear was shipped from all over the country.   And then you get here.   And no waves.  

I knew that this might happen - and that’s why I gave myself close to 3 weeks to pull this off.  Nonetheless - it hasn’t made the wait any easier.   I can tell you that waiting for weather as a photographer is one of the few truly stressful parts of the job - but when you have a film crew with you - it just gets amplified exponentially as you’re no longer the only person waiting.   This isn’t my first rodeo - and I’ve had to wait a long time before (in fact I had to wait over a week to make a single frame the last time I was here on the North Shore to cover the Pipeline Masters two years ago.)   My 18 years of experience has taught me to simply let things unfold naturally.  Certain things just can’t be helped along… Truth be told: I still can’t “relax” even in Hawaii when I’m “waiting” for an assignment to come together.

The fact that we’ve also faced some tough weather and a power outage hasn’t helped, but stress aside - we’ve been having a good time.   We don’t have a single clip of Jamie surfing yet - but it looks like we might just get lucky as a swell is headed our way.   For now I hope you enjoy a very quick cut of what we do have - mostly of us waiting.  For the waves.  And Jamie to explode off of them.

Next I’ll put up a behind the scenes piece/tutorial on how important Neutral Density Filters are with these digital cinema cameras and how they’re absolutely essential if you want to differentiate what you are shooting with your Canon lenses from what you see coming out of standard HD video cameras when shooting in daylight.

To view a larger video of this click here.

Here is the first installment of our behind the scenes footage.   I will be detailing every piece of gear used as we go through this production - and tomorrow I will post the model numbers etc. of what we are using as I’m sure a few of you might be interested in those specifics.   I was planning on doing that in this post - but it’s late and we’re a little behind given the 18-hour island-wide power failure, so stay tuned.

Well the power is out on the entire island tonight… Posting this from my iPhone - we made it just in time to my favorite restaurant Lei Lei’s for a candlelight dinner. We can’t charge batteries overnight so we might have to take tomorrow off.. Aw shucks! Bad weather forecast anyway and we just shot almost all of our interior shots today.

Here is one of the shots from our first day of filming Jamie O’Brien on the North Shore of Hawaii.   To view the 1080p High Res click here. (You DEFINITELY WANT TO DO THIS)

It’s been pretty fantastic to get a chance to know Jamie, his dad and crew - I really think that this project has wings and I think that it’s fitting to start off with this shot from our first day of shooting.  It was shot with a Canon 5D MKII and a 24mm Tilt-Shift lens mounted to a radio controlled helicopter.  Tabb Firchau is joining our motley crew with what is definitely one of the coolest toys that we have on hand - a radio controlled helicopter that can fly inches off the ground and through very, very small openings.   Tabb specializes in video and still aerial footage and travels regularly across the globe.  He just came back from a National Geographic assignment where he almost got eaten by a shark - but that’s a whole other story…

We’ve had an interesting few days here in Hawaii - the weather played havoc with a lot of our travel plans (it took more than 48 hours for our editor to make it out here from Toronto - he got to spend a night on the floor at O’Hare) and our crew’s lost baggage stories have been almost comical given their frequency…  Meanwhile we’ve been tinkering with a lot of our new toys from a variety of companies - most of them prototypes.   It’s been a steep learning curve at times and that’s to be expected when you’re the guinea pig trying to use multiple prototypes together for the first time - to give you an idea: soldering was involved!  (I won’t say to who’s gear though…)  But we’re finally up and running and in full swing.   I’ll be posting the first behind the scenes video tomorrow some time (thought I’d give our editor Ryan Hughes a good night’s sleep before throwing him into the mix) and we’re planning on showing you every detail of how this and other shots are being produced. (more…)

Canon's 800mm 5.6 coupled to a RED One Camera with a RedRock Micro lens support system.

Allow me to introduce the Big Kahuna.

I mentioned that I was working on a few prototypes/gadgets for this production with Jamie O’Brien - here is one of the first things that I can share.

The Red EOS Mount by Wicked Circuits was created by Andy Lesniak and Richard Wardlow.  It allows you to control both Iris (Aperture) and focus control of any Canon EF Lens mounted to a RED One  (Link to Wicked Circuits to come.)   This will allow us to shoot 4K, 3K and 2K footage at up to 120 fps.  The lens (w/ the crop factor) will be the equivalent of a 1280mm 5.6 and up (depending on the resolution we set.)   Needless to say - I can’t wait to see what this looks like on the beach! (more…)

Pipeline Masters 2006 ©Vincent Laforet

I’ve been unusually quiet on the blog because I’ve been in pre-production for the past few weeks gearing up for a pretty fantastic project.    I will be filming a short narrative film on one of the world’s top surfers Jamie O’Brien over the next 3 weeks on the North Shore of Hawai’i.   Jamie is an incredible talent who grew up on the Pipeline - one of, if not the surfing mecca, and the final spot for the sport’s Triple Crown competition - the Pipeline Masters.  I had the pleasure of photographing this amazing sporting event  for The New York Times Magazine’s PLAY two years ago - and have been trying to find a way to return to ever since.  When Jamie’s manager contacted me the day after “Reverie” was released on the web asking if I’d be interested in collaborating on a project together - the project was very quickly afoot. 

Jamie is a free surfer who is forward looking and very focused on the future of his sport and helping steer it back to its roots.   He is also a very successful competitive surfer (although that is not his main focus,) and gets to  travel the world as he chases the world’s best waves and is keenely focused on producing awesome imagery of his own - both video and stills.   Jamie is one of the first surfers to have his own production company.  He lives the dream of every surfer, few contests, just surfing and traveling where the waves are best at any given time.

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I just got back from the EOL APA event that took place in Los Angeles last night - and it was pretty fantastic.  It was well worth the cross country round-trip.  

There seemed to be great interest out there on behalf of photographers who were contemplating making the jump into video/film.   While there is a lot to learn in terms of the nuances between shooting a still vs. moving image - I think that one of the biggest hurdles for most will be post production.

Therefore  I wanted to let you in on my little secret:  Ripple Training.    I met Steve Martin (the person behind Ripple Training) two years ago at NAB - we were both there as guest speakers for Apple - at the time he was helping to announce Final Cut Studio 2, and I was there to talk about Aperture and my experience with it.   Steve and a few of the other experts out there (many of them the actual product managers for many of the Apple apps) gave me one on one training during the lengthy breaks back stage - and you’d figure that with that kind of tutelage that I’d be an expert at these apps by now… but I can tell you that there’s ALWAYS more to learn.

As I find myself jumping into video/film now - I felt that I needed a refresher course and a more in depth understanding of workflow etc.  I’m not a big fan of books - they’re often too bulky to travel with - and I just love video tutorials.   I found myself asking quite a few friends who work at/with Apple where the best source for such information could be found - and quite a few of them kept sending me back to Steve’s Ripple Training series.    (Note: I use Apple’s Final’s Cut Studio 2 to cut/grade/export my video - and the Ripple Training series focuses on that product.) (more…)

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This will be the first of many tech tip posts on the 5D MKII and video in general - specifically aimed at still photographers making the jump to video.

First - I got my 5D MKII production camera yesterday(yep I had to wait ’til yesterday to get mine…:) and I also received a battery pack.  One small details that I didn’t know about (because I only use 1D EOS series cameras for the most part) is that you can use AA batteries in this pack - should you run out of the rechargeable ones… again - this is common with most of the Canon cameras outside of the 1D series - but many pros might not know this.   And given that the Canon 5D MKII batteries are hard to come by - I thought I’d share this simple tip.

The second tip that I picked up is that the WIFI base to this camera will allow you to trigger the camera’s video on and off remotely (when you’re connecting (pairing) your computer to the camera via WIFI.)   Most of your won’t care about this - but to others (ME) that’s a big deal.   Currently - if you have LiveView enabled and the camera in video mode - if you plug a pocket wizard or other device into the camera and trigger it - it will trigger a still frame - NOT the video.   And that’s a problem for some of the stuff I’m working on.  I also hear that the Canon IR trigger will also do this (start and stop the video function)- the more expensive and newer one that is - the LC-5.  UPDATE: THE LC-1 works as well.

That’s it for now. Time for some zzzzs.

The big thing in the photography blogosphere this morning seems to be David Hobby’s front page post - “Four Reasons to Consider Working for Free.”  

Chase Jarvis brought it up on his blog.   And even Moose Petterson rushed in to post as I am here - I’ve got to run out the door.  

But here’s what I will say (quickly) - talking about, or getting involved in any online discussion about “working for free” is like tying Kryptonite to oneself.  It is a LOADED question and discussion.

I’m very very much against working for free.   In fact I don’t like people working or interning for me for free.  It’s just not good business.  Period.

That being said - there is value is what David Hobby is saying.  But it needs to be CRYSTAL CLEAR:  if there is an INCREDIBLE assignment - where there TRULY is no funding behind it (either due to the people putting it on - or these days the economic reality) AND it is a portfolio/career builder - THEN and only THEN should you consider it.

Big name actors do occasionally work for free, so do big name talent in all areas - IF THE PROJECT is AMAZING - and not backed by a HUGE company sitting on cash.   This is a VERY IMPORTANT DISTINCTION.  

IF YOU ARE WORKING FOR FREE - simply to get “a” job - you risk destroying the entire business for everyone.   In fact - your dream job - that you do for free - will be a job that some qualified person will no longer be getting paid for.  And you’ll hurt that person’s chance of feeding their family in accepting to do that job for free.  It’s quite that simple.  

That being said:  you do AT TIMES (and that’s the key - this is 1 project a year at most maybe - as Chase is suggesting - and I agree to that) need to develop your book - expand your horizon and your book - and roll the dice.  I.E. - I’m a qualified to do “x” but have never done and proven that I can do “y” - so I’ll do it for little or nothing - BUT - one time only - AND I RETAIN THE RIGHTS!   i.e. - you and I can use it for self-promotion and so can I.  BUT you can never generate any profit for it - if you do - we split it.   If anyone makes ANY money - we all benefit - that’s KEY.

You can see why this can very easily get very complicated - and dangerous.  Some people - such as Chase Jarvis - know how to navigate these things.  And make sure that if that “free” awesome assignment somehow become a hit - he’ll be able to profit in it - and not get caught feeling left out.   

What worries me - is that most of David Hobby’s readers - are not pros.  And when they offer to do things for free - they don’t have Chase’s business acumen.  And they may do more harm than good to our industry - that is already struggling.  If everyone starts working for free - it’s OVER for everyone.  So I think we need to make this more clear out there - and help define this more carefully for everyone - both for the pros and the advanced amateurs.

So if you want to - do it max once a year.  That’s my suggestion.  DON’T LET IT BECOME A HABIT.

And by the way:  this is coming from the guy who shot a little film called “Reverie” and did it “for free.”  Canon did not pay me - or fund anything.  It was something that I did on my own.  I spent my own money to fund the production - and reeped great professional benefit from it.  It was a big win for me and my career - no question about it.  I own the work and copyright OUTRIGHT and made that clear.

BUT - when Canon asked to use the video after I produced it.  I made sure they paid.  And they paid well.  A  lot more than I would have made had I been commissioned to do the project in the first place.  That’s the important part here.

This was supposed to be short … now I’m late and have to run out the door.