I think this was one of my most challenging videos to date, there were many new technical obstacles which I had to either work around or figure out.

(here is a link to the video if you haven't seen it yet)

One of the most challenging things though, was not technical at all. I have a lot of respect for Julian Garner as an artist, I've always found him to be a pretty insightful and creative person, so I felt a lot of pressure on myself to produce a video that not only accurately reflected him in a honest way, but also to create a video that was visually interesting that could fully give him the recognition he deserves. So many times I've seen videos where the subject matter is extremely interesting and but the video doesn't do it justice.

I found it funny listening to the things he talked about in his interview about being a creative person and never really knowing if what you are creating is something that other people will like. The curse of second guessing and over-thinking is apparent amoung all of us, especially those of us who create things for a living, this is something I definitely struggled with throughout this video. It was nice to hear that someone I held in such high regard had similiar thoughts.

All that aside, I thought I should elaborate on some of the technical obstacles and details about the production of this video.

Gear specs:
This video was shot entirely on DSLRs, the interview consisted of two cameras basically one of top of the other at different focal lengths. Audio was recorded externally using a boom with a shotgun mic and Roland Edirol audio recorder.

I used a several lenses for my b-roll footage in order to have a wide range to choose from. I quickly learned while shooting this, there is only so much you can watch of someone getting tattooed before it gets boring. Being able to shoot the same scene from several different perspectives helped me to get a lot more usable shots.

The lenses used:
(All nikon lenses)
60mm Macro (the entire intro was shot using this)
50mm f/1.4
14-24 f/2.8

24-70 f/2.8 (most used lens)
70-200 f/2.8 (This lens was only used once or twice for b-roll, but mainly was used during the interview.)


 

Audio Specs:

Probably the most challenging part of this video was the audio. It was the first time I recorded external audio for such a lengthy production. The interview was about an hour long and with two cameras that meant syncing audio for both and then syncing the two cameras together for editing. When shooting the interview I had someone to help start and stop the cameras each time there was a question. This made it easy to see what question/answer was where when cataloguing the footage, but it also made for a shit ton of clips. x2.

Syncing all of this up manually would of taken me weeks.

To do this automatically I used a two programs called Pluraleyes and Dualeyes by Singular software. I learned of these from a very talented video creator, Phil Bloom, he has a pretty great blog and creates a lot of “how to” tutorials. I definitely recommend checking him out.

These programs work astonishingly well, it was almost too simple. It was literally like: Select clips, select audio, press okay. The software then creates a new video file with the synced external audio, a file of just the audio trimmed to fit, and keeps the original. All the new files are nicely renamed and put where you want them.

It took all of about an hour, from downloading the software, doing a quick test to get the hang of it, to having it all in my new sequence. It was pretty amazing. I used the same software to match up the two camera angles on top of each other for editing.

This is the only place I ran into problems, as I quickly learned the second camera I used which I set to match the framerate of my other camera during the interview (24fps) was actually (23.98). This caused some of the video to be out of sync with one another, it was really apparent in the start of the video and less so near the end.

In all honesty, I'm not experienced with this kind of stuff to even tell you a solution should you run into this problem. If someone out there knows a way to fix this if it happens, a message in the comments below would be greatly appreciated.

The worst part is, I got some of it fixed, in a crude way I'm sure, but after I sent my clips to be colour treated they came back a little out of sync again. But since they were rendered already in colour, I couldn't slip/slide them back into place. Really frustrating.

In the end it all worked out, but it was definitely a new set of problems, one that is created from using the DSLRs to shoot video. The audio input and controls on these cameras are absolute shit, and you should never use the onboard mic ever. At the very least, plug a shotgun onto your camera, but have fun trying to monitor your audio while doing so.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the result, there is always somewhere to improve and learn from, and that's the whole point of doing these little personal projects, right? Make mistakes on my own time so when you're a paying client these little hiccups (hopefully) won't happen, and if they do, you aren't completely blind-sided by them. And I hope that maybe someone will be able to read this, and be able have an idea of some of the problems they could potentially run into.

If you have any input, comments, questions please leave them below. I would love to hear from you, whether it's advice or criticism, I'm happy to get it!

Julian Garner - Tattooer & Artist from Bryan McNally on Vimeo.

Those of you who had followed it previously saw me talk of great things to come and less pontificating about my work and life. I guess when I can't talk about my work, I have nothing else to talk about? Horrible. Such a ego-centric photographer. Typical.

I'm now making a mid-years resolution to do AT LEAST one blog a week. Here is me pretending you care. Chances are this is the first time you've actually been to this dark corner of the interweb and might be thinking to yourself, "blah blah blah, who gives a shit"... I know I would.

I guess this is one of those, "if you put it out there publicly, you have less chances at failing" as it reflects your general integrity etc. etc. So if you are reading this in a year from now as you have just stumbled upon my website and there aren't any posts after. You can judge me as a failure. If you are a prospective client, you can assume that I have no "commitment".

Maybe I'm just bitter.

So with all the necessary guilty conscience stuff aside - We can all move on.

Thank you for reading this far.  

Here are a few from that collection :)

I thought I would do it some justice this year and attempt to capture the many elements which, to me, make it Winterlude.

The idea behind this was taken from a video created by a fellow named Sam O'Hare. He used a Tilt/Shift lens, primarily used for architecture or product photography, combined with the new video features of DSLR cameras such as the Canon 5D MKII or Nikon D3s, and made a unique miniature looking video.
I'm sure it's been done before, somewhere, but his videos are the first I've ever seen it used.

I figured I would hop on the ole' meme bandwagon and shoot a little video about Winterlude. I felt the style would really suit the festival by highlighting the shear volume of people who temporarily come out of hibernation to enjoy the many things Winterlude has to offer, while keeping it in a playful childlike theme.

Take a look, and if you happen to like it, share with your friends and enemies. Check back later this week where I will post a more elaborate blog on the process of making this video. (tech specs, humorous realizations about the human species, etc.)

Finally, I want to thank Peter W. from Henry's for convincing the powers that be that I had a good vision. Well... I don't really know what he said, to be honest, but whatever it was, it was worth them lending the lenses. I'm ridiculously broke, so without him, this really never would of been created. Now, whether that's a win or a loss in itself is an entirely different question!

If you ever need to purchase camera gear, talk to Peter at the Bank st. Henry's location, and if you ever need rentals, check out Headshots as well.

View and share! Hopefully the the photos will go back to their rightful owner.

Quick blog for a quick photoshoot.

Last month I blogged about, Bob, my new bearded friend. If you didn't, check it out here! While reading that blog if you weren't distracted or repulsed by my seemingly strong obsession with bearded men, you may have noticed that I had explained how it was a 10 minute photoshoot. 

Here is the second of this unintended series. This shoot actually took 2.5 minutes, but I guess from set up to tear down I could say it took a total of ten minutes. 

This specific shoot was a total of 11 images.

I find these exercises really liberating, it's a change from my usual shooting style of "overshooting, over-tweaking, and over-obsessing". It takes me back to those old times when I shot film, albeit a short time, it reminds me of a time when you only used 2 or 3 rolls of 12 shots per shoot.

Here is my top pick from this shoot. I think it best represents the person I was photographing.

I've been doing quite a bit of research on many topics from getting debt free to techniques to travel on the cheap etc. This first post I wanted to share and article that a friend of mine shared with me.

From an article found on the Gizmodo site, this guy explains how he is travelling around the world for a mere $418. He basically explains how using rewards miles, such as aeroplan and airmiles have allowed him to purchase 35000 miles worth of flights for next to nothing!

I have been collecting aeroplan miles for the last few months after getting advice from my friend Meghan. Since I've been collecting these miles, I've attained 25,000 in less than 6 months (17,000 of which I've earned in the past two months). I've only recently started to really figure out ways how to collect miles more frequently without changing anything to do with my spending habits. For example, I'm not just buying things because they give me miles etc.

I'm still just entering the rabbit hole that is travel hacking and have a lot to learn still.

I stumbled upon this other blog which as a lot of really great information on getting out of debt as well as an interesting article on Travel Hacking for Noobs along with many other really informative and entertaining articles. It's definitely worth checking out.

From those two articles, you have a lot of great information to get you started on travelling the world for free! (or as close to free as possible)

If you have your own personal travel hacking success stories, share them in the comments below!

While travelling along some back roads in North Eastern Ohio two weeks ago, I came upon this house after making a couple turns in a vain attempt to get closer to a mine that I wanted to photograph. I originally drove right past the house, I never even noticed it.

I continued down the lonely road, hoping to make a few more photos before the sun ducked below the horizon. Finally admitting to myself the mine was out of reach, I decided to make a U-turn and try to find my way back to the main highway.

On way back, I saw the lonely house sitting back from the road, over grown with dried out weeds. It appeared to have been neglected for quite sometime, even to a curious passer-by like myself. I bushwhacked my way through the front lawn laced purple thorn bushes and crept around the property. The mine's refineries droned in the background and distant dogs barked at my vehicle on the side of the road creating an eerie ambience. 

Below is a compilation of video clips from that house:

Remember! VIEW IN HD!

If you are interested in seeing photos from my trip, check the blog posts from July.

Enjoy!