I think I should just find a way to connect my Instagram to the Peace. Makes sense, right? In the past few months, I’ve shot 2 films and have traveled home to the Bay. Other than that, just a bit of partying, some nice time with the lady, and some damn good food.

The New World, 2005

A single still image can tell an entire narrative for the thousands that follow.

It’s officially been a month at AFI, and so much has been covered already. This week we will finally call action on our Bootcamp shoots and I think it’s safe to say that all fellows are ready to crush it. So what have we done in the meantime? Lots of administrative orientations, course introductions, and bonding within our disciplines. It’s amazing how close I feel with my fellow cinematographers already. So many different walks of life, yet with a very similar point of interest. One big happy family!

And now back to the post:

One particular exercise that I really enjoy is titled, “Story Within a Frame”. It is what it is: We have a cutline, drawn from a fishbowl, telling an event or emotion in first person. From there we must design and shoot a still that tells as much of that story as possible. We have 3 sessions in the exercise. The first is pairing with our directors, the second with the production designers, and finally one with the screenwriters. So far we have completed the first two. It’s a teamwork exercise. Getting to know one another in the creative zone is the best way to form successful communication and collaborative vision in our cycle films down the road. And it has been great. For me the first round proved to be the most challenging. I won’t go into detail, but my director and I didn’t dig deep enough into our story, and the audience was left questioning it’s point. For the second session I went too literal, and the floodgates opened with great constructive criticism from the group. I’m quite confident that I’ve learned the over/under of the assignment (I’m somewhat rusty with school assignments like this…it’s been a few!) and I know that the third session coming up will be better. I’ll find a nice middle-ground to engage meaning behind my frame.

So…This assignment has inspired me to dig up a few still frames from some great films that do justice to fulfilling a story within a frame. It’s really amazing how much meaning can be packed in to de-mystify (or mystify) these images in context to the films they are taken from. Yet at the same time, they can tell so much on their own, apart from the film. Think about the things you see in the frame. What are they doing? Where are they going? What emotions do we get from it? Is it familiar? What ideologies can we automatically identify? Time to define these moments.

Children of Men, 2006

The Thin Red Line, 1998

Never Let Me Go, 2010

Schindler's List, 1993

La Haine, 1995

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, 2007

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2008

The Road to Perdition, 2002

2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968

Black Narcissus, 1947

Badlands, 1973

There Will Be Blood, 2007

Solaris, 2002

The Godfather, 1972

The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford, 2007

Noriko Furunishi

Ori Gersht

Soo Kim

Walter Niedermayr

A Group Show at Angles Gallery.

Took a quick artwalk through Culver City last night and checked out some pieces old and new on exhibition. Each room at Angles Gallery contains selected works by the aforementioned artists above and they fit perfectly within the space…of our living room.

See for yourself until September 3rd.

Angles Gallery

2754 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, California, 90034

Untouched land is a beautiful thing to capture.

I’ve always been in love with images of crisp trees, canopies, forest landings, fog, dirt roads, snow-capped pines, and the unknown wilderness. It’s only a matter of time before I splice this side of nature into my cinematography. There has always been a clear motif of nature in my work, yet I would like to expand my depth of nature and include more vast landscapes like these into my work. Which reminds me, I think I’m going to stop by REI and get some outdoors goodies. Please click on the photos to check out the source pages for each artist’s work. They’re brilliant.

I’ve posted about Mike before, but he’s updated his site with a few great snaps that I felt were worth sharing him again. Gotta keep reppin’ my homeboys!

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James Branaman

My stay on Cape Cod came well-equipped with cameras. While I unfortunately didn’t get too many stills (I shot tons of video), I was lucky to be alongside the other boyfriends of the McAuliffe family: Pascal Shirley and James Branaman. Their collections are both so beautifully unique … and it certainly doesn’t hurt to have such a gorgeous family as their subject. Good job guys. I loved every second of revisiting the trip!

I had the pleasure of shooting my friend Christi Johnson’s newest collection this past weekend.

They are sold exclusively on her etsy.

Photography: Justin Kane

Model/Design: Christi Johnson

Art Direction/Styling: Faye McAuliffe

One of a kind garments plundered from vintage castoffs.

www.christijay.etsy.com

www.sleepydarlings.blogspot.com

With that out of the way, I would like to express my concern for Flickr’s Explore feature. I’m an amateur photographer and cinematographer with great intent on becoming professional. I refer to Flickr and other sites to illuminate ideas for my own work, yet I’ve found that as their tenure for online portfolio showcasing increases, the creativity becomes commonplace. The term original becomes a bastard in a pool of stock memory on celluloid and disk. When I click on the Last 7 Days Interesting, there is an overwhelming amount of images that I don’t necessarily identify with. Of course, there is no problem with that, but I still wonder what justifies such images to be chosen as Explored, or Interesting. Let me elaborate. Last 7 Days Interesting page comes as a random reload page of 9 images at a time. At any given “reload” one will most definitely find the following in proper ratio: 1/9 flowers and puppies, 1/9 random still life, 2/3 self-portraits of teenage girls, and sadly, 1/9 actually interesting and well composed images (maybe after a few clicks). That specific 2/3 group I unveiled is what I think hurts me most these days. They have so much talent, yet their drive is dragging at the ankles.

Now before, the argument starts, I must confess. My photostream is also repetitive, slightly unoriginal, and lacking the depth that a true “portfolio” expects. So, I’ll take the position of: I am one of them, therefore I can speak for the sake of enlightenment for all. Perhaps I have become a product of the dull images I stumble upon each day. The teenagers and twentysomethings that take square-cropped and photoshopped portraits of themselves in fields and forests with nice cameras and remotes. The even more bitter portion of the platter I’m dishing out is the fact that most of these many young photographers have the gift of taking great pictures, yet they just keep doing the same self-portraits, hanging their heads down low and writing some over-dramatic poem that demands the reader to click on a link to their Tumblr or song of the day. Try something new. I know you have it in you. I know you have friends who can model for you. I know you have more interesting clothing and accessories to include in your shots. I know you have more than one background to feed from for each after school shoot. I know this, because I tell myself these things every day when I pick up my camera. Together, we can make that “reload” button actually exciting again. Well, I have to get on Explore first, but someday. What’s right around the corner? Something fresh! Interesting! Artistic! Original! Personal!

I’m not attempting to be callous or impertinent. I just want to see the creativity expand, develop, and soar to the highest reaches of one’s ability. I want to be wowed by Flickr’s Explore again. And so I say once more, Flickr is a place for everyone…But, Explore should be reserved for those artists that produce gorgeous and meaningful images that are worthy of heavy public rotation. Spin it like I’m the coach’s pep-talk at halftime when the team is losing the championship. Let’s see more, because I know there is more. Don’t just snap the same shot (which was great the first couple times) and sit back to watch yourself get clicks and ho hum hoorays by fans. Tell me a story. Tell it well.

You first, though.

Pardon the neglect.

…New posts are coming…

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The beautiful lady and I have taken a grand nest in the Silverlake hillside.

It’s a spanish hut with white walls and wood floors. Birds live here.

The walks are on a slope and the sun can touch the ground in some places. The trees do in most others.

I’ve been shuffling between hard and soft images a lot lately.

Opening the fridge, I can find an equal share of celluloid and fresh greens.

This hill is a new canvas. Every walk is a new picture…painting…thought…expression.

Building shoe racks and buying time.

Strange dreams are comfortable, but only when lucid.

I’ll be on the resting drive.

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Would you like to see?

Ahhhh,

My friends. How it’s been so long. If you have followed my photostream at all, you probably noticed that I was posting like a mad-man, but then suddenly stopped a few months back. So what happened?

My primary digital camera was stolen. Home robbery. It was tragic, and many things were lost.

So after a while of sulking and insurance claim failures, I decided to whip out the Nikon n8008 35mm SLR camera that my father gave me. Film has always been my favorite looking medium for photography, but I never had proper training for using it and it seemed so far away from me.

Well, I taught myself how to pull it into gear and here is my first test roll! I will be posting finished images as the days progress, but here’s the neg sheet…

Give it a week or two, and I shall have my new digital and I will be back in full daily action, but after this round of 35mm shooting, I think it’s safe to say I’ll be shooting both formats frequently from now on. Easy peasy.

I’ve added a lot of very talented contacts over the months of photo-purgatory and I hope that they will add me after posting some new shots!

peace.