This is the poster circulating around town for the ONE NIGHT ONLY showing of the Murder City Project.

We shot the very first part of the “First Man” project this morning at Cocoa Beach. Shooting just before sunrise, I figured with wind chill, the temperature was about 30°. Like a trooper, Nigel John, aka the “First Man” withstood the subfreezing winds while I shot several sequences. The entire amount of time spent setting up and shooting was about 10 minutes or so. I am shooting the project with a Nikon D3s at high speed and this video was captured by my cinematographer Orlando Ojeda using a Nikon D7000 rig.

This is the first scene of about 160 in this project. Check back often to follow our progress.

Cinematographer Orlando Ojeda and I are testing a DIY rig for closeup dolly pans for an upcoming video/stills project called “Sirens”.

Whenever we can, we shoot with a live monitor to get a better ideas of how footage will look on various display devices.

Orlando is running the dolly shot after pre focusing (pulling focus) while checking for a smooth transport.

I had the good fortune this week to photograph artist Al Black of the Florida Highwaymen artists group. Best known for their iconic painting style from the 1950s and 60s the artist have seen a revival of their work. I caught up with Al Black, one of the original members of the group and photographed him at a show featuring his and other members paintings in Mt. Dora, Florida this past weekend.

You can read the entire article HERE.

As we work to shooting solutions for the upcoming “The First Man” project we face issues with smooth motion (shooting stills) when the camera is not attached to a tripod or dolly rig. One of fixes for this is using a glide cam like the one Orlando is adjusting to a Nikon D3s, the camera I will shooting this project with.

Here Orlando performs a “drop time test” on the camera rig. This test is used balance the camera system. This project will use a wide range of video mounts and shooting systems but tailored to a still camera, the Nikon D3s.

Nigel John pictured above is the sole cast member for an upcoming project titled “The First Man”. This is a hybrid project, a blending of stills processed in Apple’s new “Final Cut Pro X” editing package and “Aperture”. I expect the project to take about two years to complete and will result in a cinema film with attendant photos both in the form of gallery prints and a photo book.

Currently we are testing lighting combinations suitable to this shooting style and are leaning to a continuous system. With more experimenting ahead, I look to start shooting in early January. Stay tuned for future updates.

We are drawing ever closer to our shoot window for the “Fortune” project. Part of pre-production is evaluation of potential shoot locations. One of the locations we have in mind for “Fortune”, is the garage area at Urban ReThink in downtown Orlando. My cinematographer, Orlando Ojeda is framing the shoot area for different angles we need to shoot from ensuring the space will fit our requirements.

From these tests we can determine if we have enough room to build our set, light and shoot it. The shoot schedule is allowing for five days of shooting both stills and video. Target date for shooting is the last week in February.

After three months of planning, rehearsals and other component shoots, we finally shot the final element of the “Excaliber” project. Makeup artist Paula Costantini is just starting on our model Kim.

One thing I do on virtually all my project/commercial shoots is to shoot tethered to a laptop. I want to make sure if have captured 100% of my intended image. I check for focus, details, color, shadows and many other image elements. You just cannot trust the lcd display on the back of a camera. Cinematographer Orlando Ojeda is capturing bts video.

For this shoot I needed a green screen backdrop. The final image will be a composite of images from Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

My model Kim waiting to take her spot on the set. Now that the shooting is complete, the post work begins. I typically let an image set for awhile before I begin to work on it and this will be no exception. I am very pleased with what we have accomplished thus far but there is so much more to do.

I had a great time at the first ever Snap! Live Fashion Shooutout. The event was held at the Orange Studio on Mills Avenue in Orlando and was well attended.

Forty photographers from all skill levels were invited to participate in the event, a model shoot with lights models and even cameras provided. The shoot was tethered and projected so those attending could watch the action as it unfolded.

The camera provided was a Canon 7D with a 70mm-200mm lens attached. Being a Nikon shooter all my life I was completely unfamiliar with this camera so basically all I could do was frame and shoot. The models were fun to work with and we livened the place up a bit during my five minutes. All in all a wonderful time and another hint that art does indeed exist in Orlando.