@brookr yeah, I'm going to try to write something there for sure. I need to figure out how to change the photo on the right... in reply to brookr1 hr ago
This weekend I rented a 100mm macro lens to practice my photography. For those of you who don’t know what macro lenses are, they allow you to take photographs of objects really close up. This is how photographers take photos of bugs or grains of sand. I’ve wanted to try shooting macro for a long time as I often see potential for close up photos. I’m quite happy that I jumped on the long weekend to do it. A trip to the ferry building farmers market on a day that had both sun and rain proved to be quite rewarding. All of the photos I took can be found here, but for now this is a sampling of my favorite shots.
I love the building across the street from our apartment. While sitting on our couch I often see it in the reflection of a wine glass but this day allowed the light for me to shoot it in my own eye.
After a very long nap she wakes with a tear in her eye.
My first experience shooting rain. Moving water offers a great opportunity to learn about light, speed, and timing.
4505 Meats, voted the best burger in San Francisco.
Primavera makes some amazing chilaquiles. Uploading this photo inspired me to take my first stab at making chilaquiles. They were decent.
The sun is being covered by some low hanging clouds, this helps to diffuse the light.
Still the whites come out a little bright. I love bright pictures but I need to work on my whites.
With the 100mm macro lens your depth of field can start and end so far from the center which is left in focus. Pretty cool.
I’ve been working on my documentary for four months now, and I’ll tell you – I’ve learned a lot. I sound like a broken record when I say that this is not a one person job. I’ll also say that I’ve had some good help along the way, I’m not always alone. Since the beginning I’ve had a basic plan for writing, filming, marketing, etc. Part of the marketing is online/social marketing, which I feel I have a good grasp of. However, new to me is email campaigns, of which I’ve officially launched my first.
Speaking of first, first things second; if you would like to sign up for my email campaign – you’re crazy. But I like crazy people. Click your mouse on the word “here”, here.
Who are email campaigns for? They’re for you, silly. And to answer your second question, why you should start one? You should start one to be less annoying, to give people information that they’re actually interested in, and to help you stay connected with your friends, family and fans. Email campaigns are nice because they are auto-managed by a service like Mail Chimp. You don’t have to decide who is going to be on the list, people decide if they’re going to be on your list. And it’s simple, you just tell people that you have a list, that they should click “here” and then they sign up. When you bore them, they cancel their subscription.
Your scenario. You’re going to travel around the world for 8 months and you’ve decided you’re going to take photos and do a little writing. Before email services like Mail Chimp you were deciding who was going to be on your list and managing that list yourself, taking people off of it when they didn’t want to be bothered with your updates about the best cupcake you ate in Melbourne (but seriously it was good and it’s worth reading about).
But wait, there’s more. Mail Chimp has a ton of templates for you to use so your emails can be pretty, and you can paste your photos from Australia right into the email. You can also get stats on how many people opened your email and how many links they clicked on within it. Super sweet, I know.
How have I started to use the service? Good question Alan. Two days ago I sent my first email out to the 62 people who signed up (thanks again to those of you who signed up). I also played with some settings making the first email auto-send one day after anyone new signs up for the list. This email list is important to me because it allows me to communicate to the people who want to be a part of the film-making process with me. There is so much work to be done and so much content to spread. As a single person, my message can only travel so far before dies out. I can only reach my friends on Facebook and Twitter, but with a group of active friends and fans I can send my message out to my list and ask for them for help.
Don’t understand? Here is my scenario. Let’s say I have a trailer for my film, and I want thousands of people to see it. I have about 1,000 friends on Facebook and 1,500 “Followers” on Twitter – of whom maybe only 200 are online at any given time I Tweet. I post my trailer on Facebook, which then filters my trailer so maybe only 100 people on Facebook see it. But then I send an email to my list asking people to, “Like”, “Share” and “Repost” my trailer. Facebook takes this data and says “Oh, people like this, I’m going to send it to more walls” (that’s how Facebook talks), and the video hits more eyeballs. On top of that, I ask politely for the people on my list to go a step further and ask two or three more friends to do the same for them, as a favor, for a friend. If my trailer is any good, then people will like it. When people like something online it naturally spreads – but with a little push from 62 people, it has a much higher chance of success.
This is why I am excited about my email campaign. If you made it this far, and you want to sign up to be on my list (silly you), and you don’t feel like scrolling back up to where you could have clicked here earlier – then for you I will put the link here so you can click it there.
Also, not so long ago I produced this video with the king of everything online, Loic Le Meur, specifically about this topic. Below is said video.
It appears now that my sisters blog and mine has become a conversation amongst each other. I give her advice she gives me advice. But alas, it’s being shared in the right spot – a place where everyone can see it, and anyone can respond. She asks, “What would be your top three pieces of advice on social netoworking”. After realizing she meant networking and not netoworking which is ‘the act of doing pretty cool stuff for work’, I gave her this answer.
Be tuned in as often as possible (reading, responding, updating). That means check on twitter and facebook from your phone when you’re on the toilet.
P.S. Cait, it’s spelled Neatoworking, not netoworking. Like neato burrito – for neto read “Suffix used in Portuguese speaking countries to distinguish a grandson from his grandfather when they have the same given name.” Which is one on one networking which doesn’t really seem social to me. I digress.
I know not everyone is like me, but my mind runs really fast and I want to share most of my experiences and thoughts. I’ve learned over the years that not everyone wants to hear what i’m thinking, so i’ve given myself a filter. It’s the same on the internet. For example. It’s raining hard right now and I want to tell the world. But what’s the content there? Rain? I better supply an epic video of a popsicle stick boat racing down my street or i’ve wasted a lot of peoples precious time – and there is already way to many of us out there posting noise. Note: I’d watch a popsicle stick boat racing down a fast current in a gutter.
I’ve been online “networking” it up for a few years now and have found places to put my various thoughts. When I see a photo or video that I like I post it on my Tumblr account which I generally let auto tweet. So a great video or photo goes to two places. If someone I don’t know does something cool and they have a twitter account I tweet them. Why? Because encouragement is cool man.
Facebook is different for me. I try to imagine i’m in a giant room full of people that I know and know me back. When most of my friends and I signed up for Facebook it was to be connected with one another, not to preach at each other. With that said I think Facebook is an incredible way to connect with people, I just prefer to do my random thoughts elsewhere.
Finally I caved in and made myself another Tumblr account – one that I don’t plan on sharing with you. It’s where I put all of my random thoughts that I think are funny, interesting, or that I want to remember. It’s not intended to be seen by the outside world, though it is available. It’s made for me to release the noise so it’s not so loud in my head.
Finally what I said to Cait was, “It’s about being tuned in to your own thoughts then figuring out where and to whom you will share them.”
If you came here hoping you would learn more about Social Networking I would like to point you to a video series I made with Social Networking extraordinaire Loic Le Meur. Build Your Own Brand.
Another final note: My film has an e-mail list. You should sign up by clicking here or here.
My sister recently became interested in sustainable farming and edible landscapes. She’s been searching for a path to walk down for the last few years, as many of us have. In deciding that farming was going to be her new focus, I have encouraged her to start harnessing the powers of social networks and the internet as a whole. This is something that I’ve seen working in action, and have been a student of for the last three years. I’m passionate about the subject: thus talking her ear off.
In these conversations I had two main messages. First, find your voice but make sure it’s yours, for you. I say this so easily but more often than not find myself writing as if others are going to read. But seriously, do it for you, and do it often. Practicing will help you find your voice more quickly.
Second, find your community. This doesn’t mean you have to find a forum or a fanpage on Facebook, though those are both fine options. Just follow all the people you enjoy and interact with them. Leave messages on their blogs, videos, and photos. Mention them in your blog.
With that said, I’d like to share with you all the people that I’ve come across online, as well as introduce you to some of the talented friends that I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with, past and present.
My most recent follows on Twitter
Vinny Minton (@VinnyMinton) is based out of the Bay Area and has some pretty killer skate videos. Vinny offered some advice on equipment in a tweet he recently sent to me. I’ll certainly be watching what this guy is up to.
Matt Shane (@mattdshane), based out of NYC, is an audio engineer and has worked on several awesome songs, including a few by Flight of the Conchords. You can find more about Matt at his site mshane.com. Matt and I have connected; he kindly verified the type of hard drives that I should be using. Thanks, Matt.
Spencer Jensen (@SJJproductions) lives in Indiana. I first came across him from a tutorial he posted on his YouTube account. I then started watching his videos and became very interested in a camera and mount he was using – Spencer has got some creative stuff going on.
Collaborators
You’ll hear me talking about some of these people over the next few months as they are an incredible asset to me and my project.
The first are Jeremey and Abby Lavoi from Team Jaded Productions. I worked with Jeremey for a year at Seesmic and have recently started working with the two of them filming in LA. That’s Los Angeles not Louisiana for those Team Jaded fans out there.
Finally I’ll leave off with a shout out to Forrest Pound who has been helping me through much of the process over the last few months. His feedback is invaluable. Forrest helped me with several of my projects in college and will hopefully be one of those guys I work with for many years to come.
Building a community
Looking back on this advice makes me realize the time and effort it takes. The last real community I was involved in online was with “early adopters.” These are people who love trying out new sites and technologies. It’s easy to regularly converse with people who are spending most of their day online. Now it’s different.
Now I’ll be looking to communicate with people who spend their time behind cameras as well as computers. My instinct tells me to ask the people I know in person where they spend their time online, what blogs to read, and what forums to become involved in. My other instinct is to just tell the world that I’m looking to connect with talented people in the film world. This includes, but is not limited to, sound, graphics, visual effects, editors, etc. If this is you, or you know someone who is awesome whom I can connect with, I would very much appreciate an introduction.
Almost lastly, I’d like to leave you with links to my sisters blog “Wet Nose Garden” caitscott.com and of course her Twitter account, @caitscott
Again, if you want to follow the project I’m working on via e-mail updates, please do not hesitate to sign up for my harmless e-mail “newsletter”, the newsletter that has not been updated once. I told you that you have nothing to be afraid of.
Long answer: 1979 – a high school student in LA starts a little club with three of his friends where they would TP (Toilet Paper) people’s houses. They got really into it. One of them became the “historian,” keeping track of all the houses they hit – filming and photographing most of them. Every year that one of the students graduated, the others would find the person who would replace them.
My goal is to find the guy who started the group, and find the kids who are in it now.
My Work
This is what I left my day job to work on. It’s a project that I first came across five or six years ago, but didn’t think much of. I’ve been known to write a lot of my ideas and potential projects down in notebooks, now and then looking back over them. Long story short – I determined that now was the time.
On January 3rd I kicked off the project full time. I’ve been working from several coffee shops, mainly writing. Here is a quick break down of what I’ve been doing;
On Day One, I wrote my proposed schedule for making the film. This gave me a timeline that I could look back on and try to keep up with. Let me tell you – days go by fast, weeks go by faster, and the first month feels like it was a day long.
The next thing I did was start writing out the movie – scenes I’d need, people I’d have to find and contact, and the general feel I’d be shooting for. Putting pen to paper felt like a huge break through. I was concerned that this would be my first road block, that nothing would come out of my pen. Turns out I had a fountain pen.
The following week, I took all of my writing and transcribed it from paper to pixel – rereading and modifying my thoughts. This same week I started making the contacts I would need to actually produce the film. This was my second feared road block – I needed to connect with the people who would be in the film, as well as the people who would be helping me make it. All were able and willing. Specifically, I need to thank Forrest Pound, and Jeremey and Abby Lavoi who have graciously been helping me through the process.
Finally, at the end of January, I connected with two gentleman who I’ve been dying to get advice from. The first was my friend Keegan, who is most notably known for being good looking and winning one round in Canon’s “The Story Beyond the Still” contest. Keegan asked me several practical questions that helped me focus on the big picture, and left me with some stellar advice. “Remember, when you make a documentary it never goes how you expect it to – don’t fight it, embrace the chaos.”
The second contact was another good friend and filmmaker Ian Rashid who is based out of London. Ian is most notably known for his good looks, but you may also know him for his fabulous movies “Touch of Pink” and “How She Move”. If you don’t know him for those movies, you should stop what you’re doing and watch them. Ian listened to my pitch and basically told me what I was missing. He broke down the story telling process, helping me overcome some huge barriers I had encountered.
This is just the very beginning. I already have so much more to write about but will leave it at this so I can get back to work.
My Pitch To You
Over the next few months I’ll be working hard to get the word out about my film. You can sign up for e-mail updates that will be a little more exclusive then my blog, but this is also away for you to become involved with my online campaign. Please sign up for the e-mail updates.
When I get a little deeper into the process I’ll be asking those who have signed up for the e-mails to help me get the word out. This will include posting links to my blog and kick-starter, posting links on facebook for me, and tweeting for me. If these all sound like things you’d be willing to do for me to get the word out online then I really encourage you to sign up for my e-mail campaign. You’d be helping me out in such a serious way.
I’ve been wanting to write a blog post of my favorite 10 photos of 2010. This process has taken me so long because it’s so hard to choose. I took thousands of photos last year, and posted most of them. Generally my process goes something like; Take photos, upload photos, flag favorites, go through and “correct” them, post them to Flickr. This is not based on stats or anyone elses opinion – it’s simply the photos I like the most. I like most of them for different reasons which I’ll try to explain.
Sacre Coeur, Paris, France. December 2010: Sean McCullough’s Canon EOS 7D. I love playing with perspective. This photo was taken from below the Juggler so the whole church would fit inside the ball balanced on his head.
Mama Racha, Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires. April 28, 2010 with My Nikon D90 I don’t often snap candids of people I don’t know but this woman just needed her photo to be taken. I love the lighting, depth of field and of course the character.
Sydney Fleischer, Mt Baker, Washington. August 6, 2010. Nikon D90
Sometimes you get lucky with lighting, this was one of those times. I wish I could claim that I told Syd which way to look and how to tilt her head, but this photo was just good timing with a fortunate perspective.
Sean McCullough and Friend, San Francisco. October 9, 2010. Nikon D90
Sean looked over at just the right time and has good camera reflexes. Snap quick enough and you get a true smile. Take your time and you’ve lost the moment.
Claire and Drew, Bariloche, Argentina. April 25, 2010. Nikon D90 Can’t beat the background. Can’t beat the smiles. I was happy with the blacks/ contrast, and the cool colors being highlighted in post.
Claire and Deirdre, Mt Baker, Washington. August 7, 2010 Hard to get it wrong when your subjects are so beautiful. I wasn’t the main photographer, I was just looking for good candids. The brightness of the background allowed me to play with the contrast a bunch.
Ken and Sarah, Redwood City. May 15, 2010. Nikon D90 Because the venue was so intimate, I found myself shooting from further away than normal. I often had to shoot around, over, or between people. This came in handy for this particular shot. People dance around them while they take a moment to kiss.
Matt, Kevin, Mike and Josh, Claremont, CA. May 29, 2010. Nikon D90 I love how the light plays off the water in this photo. The colors are striking and the focus is crisp. I love that this photo was taken from water level.
Fleet Week, San Francisco, CA. October 9, 2010. Nikon D90 This is a perspective that you don’t have the opportunity to shoot very often. It’s one thing to be at a SF rooftop party – It’s another to be right above one.
Montmartre, Paris, France. December 8, 2010. Sean’s Canon EOS 7D Montmartre is one of my favorite areas in all of Paris. Sean and I were lucky enough to catch a warm day after a cold snowy night.
Montmartre, Paris, France. December 8, 2010. Sean’s Canon EOS 7D The contrast of colors is amazing in this photo. I’ve really enjoyed shooting photos with a wide angle lens this year, it’s amazing how much you can fit into a single shot.
As always I’d love for you to sign up for my e-mail list – I’m trying to grow my subscriber base pretty significantly from 5 to 500 in the next few months. You’re help would be appreciated.
