Today marks the 5-year-anniversary of Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast and the New Orleans levee breaking and flooding one of the most beautiful communities of this country.
This was easily the single most difficult assignment of my career as a photojournalist. I saw many fellow colleagues - and most surprisingly hardened war photographers - break down as they covered this story.
When you’re overseas, it’s easy to distance yourself and say: “This would never happen back home.”
But when it hits this hard - this close to home - no professional journalist/photojournalist/human being can build up a strong enough emotional wall or “professional distance.”
It took me well over a year to get over the experiences and things I witnessed during my 10 days there. I was one of the first photographers to get images out from Katrina as most were not able to get images (let alone Television feeds) out during the first few days without significant difficulty as almost everything was knocked out in a huge geographical area.
No one was prepared for what happened - what we saw - what we heard - what we witnessed.
I saw the very worst of humanity - and the very best - all in the span of minutes, several times a day.
In fact when I was asked to go back one year later, I pleaded to be sent to Iraq instead. That’s how close to home this assignment hit and how terrified I was of returning.
It was one thing to witness the disaster - but somehow even harder to go back and witness how little progress had been made one full year later.
I did eventually go back on the anniversary date to work on an essay that documented the frighteningly small amount of progress that had been made. I have to admit that I fell into a pretty deep depression as a result and had to leave after just 6 days.
But what we as journalists felts is absolutely irrelevant. I just mention it because at that point I had been a journalist for close to 15 years and documented a lot of tragic events around the world as a staff photographer for The New York Times- and this event knocked me out cold.
Can you imagine how hard this was for “regular” people who were not just witnesses - but right in the middle of all of this?
For those who missed this little controversy from back in May please read this post. The issue was with the end user license agreement for H.264 which states that the format cannot be used for “professional” distribution.
This is something we could all have worried about as the Canon HDDSLRs all shoot their footage in the H.264 format. But now: we don’t. So go back out and shoot - and always remember: as awful as some of the language in contracts often sounds at first - most of the time you can go back and discuss it with the other party. One of my favorite sayings is that “all contracts are meant to be negotiated.”
IMPORTANT NOTE (This applies to only footage that is put online for free - NOT FOR SALE. See comments below for clarification and rates.)
I am SO buying this lens... it's a pretty extraordinary lens range - especially for filmmakers and 7D users. That being said - it's also an incredibly DANGEROUS lens in the wrong hands - use this one RESPONSIBLY No portraits please! (Unless you LOVE distortion!)
I have to say I’ve rarely (if ever) seen this many products announced all at once.
For those of you who may not know - The “Canon Expo” is taking place at the end of next week - an event that Canon puts together every FIVE YEARS!!!! Basically it’s their Olympics…This is where one can expect BIG announcements.
It’s become the norm over the past few years for companies to make their big announcements well ahead of tradeshows (that way the big announcements don’t get lost amidst the hundreds of other announcements made DURING the expo…)
Sunday August 15th 2010, 3:16 pm
Filed under: Articles, Hardware
I said that I have some very exciting announcements coming in the next 2-4 weeks - that’s true!
BUT - they will have absolutely, unequivocally, NOTHING to do with Canon or a Canon product.
I just had to clarify this because several rumor sites have picked up on a quote I made (highlighted below) in a post I wrote last week and taken it out of context - even though I made it clear that these rumors were photography related not video related and would involve the iPad and iPhone.
Here’s the quote: “Then there’s a BIG announcement coming soon… something to do with Photography and iPads and iPhones… can’t wait to share that one - that too has been a 6 month project in the making… more to come soon! The goal is for all of this to happen within the next 2-4 weeks!”
Now for a lighter side of things - for your viewing pleasure in case you missed it - a series of hilarious video - w/ a reference to “Nocturne” I believe… I happen to agree with the little guy for the most part - but for the record: we did have an armed security guard, and we shot with 1D MKIVs - not 7Ds
IMPORTANT: NSFW - a lot of explicit language and evident frustration within:
More and much funnier ones below… this one is a little bit “angry” if you will…
I know it’s been a little quiet on this blog lately - my apologies. The truth is we have more info and announcements coming in the next 2-4 weeks than I’ve probably ever had since Reverie or Nocturne… I’m pretty excited actually.
We just also wrapped a 2 week shoot in Tuscany and Naples - Italy. I thought I’d throw this cool little ditty on Vimeo for you guys to share in - we mounted a GoPro HD camera w/ velcro onto our steadicam rig w/ the 1D MKIV and Zeiss CP.2s attached to it / w Preston and Boxx wireless transmiter and well a lot of stuff - all gear we’ll be discussing and listing on this site in the coming WEEK.
BTW - I have an entirely new section going up that will list - EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF GEAR I USE on productions. And as you can guess - it’s a long list. That’s part of the reason we’ve been a little quiet. Between the productions I’m working on (I’m in Vancouver right now shooting 3 commercials back to back until the 22nd during their 6-week “summer/gorgeous season”) and given the amount of gear I am planning on listing - we’ve been very very busy.
This is a video of one of my favorite allies in many of my productions - Director/DP and Steadicam operator Charles Papert (SOC) - we mounted a GoPro HD on his steadicam and let it rip. You should be able to appreciate how smooth the motion is on the camera (he’s a 20+ year veteran- been operating the steadi since he was in his teens…) and also the fine control he has on the rig with his fingers… a lot more stuff like this to come… it was well over 100º F in Napoli when we shot this - not easy for most - but a walk in the park for Charles. At one point we put the GoPro on conveyor belt - it was covered with chocolate and went through a dryer - all the time following chocolate candies … you’ll see a clip of Mike cleaning the lens after that successful experiment. I’m in love with the chances you can take w/ these cameras!
Then there’s a BIG announcement coming soon… something to do with Photography and iPads and iPhones… can’t wait to share that one - that too has been a 6 month project in the making… more to come soon! The goal is for all of this to happen within the next 2-4 weeks!
I was just playing around with Vimeo’s widgets and albums today - and I wanted to share them with you all in case you weren’t aware that they existed. This is a pretty neat ways to share your video work on your blog or your site pretty quickly and elegantly. There’s also a cool OS X Dashboard app. Check the features out here.
or another style you can use for your videos or in the case below some of the channels I subscribe to on Vimeo:
I just returned from a wonderful 2 week production in Italy. The trip confirmed that I still want to retire in Tuscany and that I am still madly in love with the Mediterranean. Seriously - this is the place for me.
We shared some unbelievable food, wine, and sites in the Chianti region of Tuscany. The second half of our trip was spent in Naples. Napoli is an amazing city on so many levels and a place that I will definitely return to - I can’t wait to go diving along the Amalfi Coast as well.
We took a boat ride along the coast and it brought back so many wonderful childhood memories of mine. I spent many summers along the mediterranean with my father, ranging from Perpignan in the south of France all the way down to Corsica.
I have a LOT to share with you on this blog regarding the gear we used on this 2 week production (for a TV pilot.) That will keep me busy for sure in the upcoming weeks on this blog as we brought quite a few prototype pieces with us - definitely stay tuned.
For now, here is a quick time lapse video of a beautiful scene from Napoli. I love time lapses as much as anyone out there - but I think that they take on an entirely new dimension once you are able to actually move the camera itself.
Jared Abrams from Cinema5D stopped by the studio on Tuesday to sit down and chat. He caught me at an interesting time, as my crew and I were in the midst of packing for our trip to Italy (leaving today!). We still had time for a good talk though, and he even got me to expound on my love/hate relationship with gear - notice all the gear strewn about in the video - we packed 22 bags for the trip! The interview is embedded above, and you can read more at Cinema5D.com. (Sorry for the poor audio quality - apparently they had an issue w/ audio on their end.)
Well… the only thing better than posting this promo would be for me to actually have it in my hands for the job I’m currently prepping for… I’m leaving for a 2-week job in Italy on Thursday!
If you think no one else out there is more excited about this than you are - you’re wrong… I am!
Details on availability: still slated for summer of 2010 - basic wireless remote for iPhone in the $1,500 range and it goes up or down (wired is cheaper) from there, depending on the configuration.
The winning image was a clear favorite - and one of mine as well. The second place image was definitely in my top 5 as well as the image of Times Square - and many picked that one as their first choice.
I personally found this to be a very interesting experiment - it’s not something I’ve ever done before - other than with other editors - usually 1-2 photo editors at most. The largest group of people I’ve ever had to do an edit with me was at National Geographic. There were a little over a dozen editors in the projection room - all weighing in on what would make it into the magazine… Presenting one’s photographs to a room of such heavyweights is an experience I won’t soon forget…
Although I haven’t had that much time to truly analyze the results - it did re-affirm a few things for me that I’ll expound on after the slideshow below…
The beauty of photography and with art in general - is that everyone experiences it in their own unique way.
When I was in my teens - I never used to understand big-name artists who refused to define their art work - or refused to have others do so for them. They liked to have other people interpret their work individually. Over the years my opinion has evolved. As I got the chance to work for large papers and magazines - I got the chance to have my images be seen by a wide variety of people, and I learned that people found beauty or interest in images for so many different reasons (beyond what the photographer originally intended.) (more…)
As I and many others guessed when this controversy popped up 
No portraits please! (Unless you LOVE distortion!)
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