B-Rad Intern

Yesterday, I was filming with the C100 and it's a lot of fun but filming with my new intern Brandon (B-Rad) is even better. He's been killing it and I'm excited to see what happens this year. He's smart, a fast learner and will be a really talented filmmaker some day. Here's a couple photo's from a shoot we did with a professor yesterday.

Using the Tamrac Big Wheels Speedroller 2x here, which is my go to bag for anything I do.

Foothill Church - The Move Campaign

Our church is making the move to a new property and they partnered with us to create a campaign film to help jumpstart the process, show the vision and get people excited. The cool thing about this was seeing how far the church has come in such a short period of time. It's been almost 6 years since the last move and now they are taking a big leap of faith and doing it again. Below you can see a few behind the scenes photos. Our goal was to do a three camera set up with an all black background but the wide shot was the most difficult.  It needed to be a full body composition, where Pastor Chris was separated from the all black background. I think it turned out pretty well, given the equipment we had and the time frame we did it in.

Of course no shot would be possible with out bring all my equipment in a Tamrac Evolution 9 bag. Wish I had my new bags, bringing this much equipment would have been a lot easy if I only had two bags. Read more about that post here All You Need In Two Tamrac Bags.

All You Need in Two Tamrac Bags

I received two new bags from Tamrac last week and decided to put them to the test for a series of small productions I’ve been working on recently. Though smaller in scope, each shoot requires many accessories, including multiple cameras, mics, and more. And of course, the location is often far from my car. I’m typically carrying four or five bags of various sizes, by myself. So I turned to Tamrac  to find an easier solution. They previously helped me find a great bag, the Tamrac Evolution 9, to use on an 11 day back packing trip.

For my current productions, I was searching for a two-bag solution with wheels and the capacity to fit my kit. I usually bring two cameras, lenses, mics, two tripods, a slider, and a Lowel Pro Light kit. With that in mind, Tamrac recommended the Big Wheels Speed Roller 2x for cameras, and the Medium Rolling Studio for gear. The best part is I can use them when I travel. The Big Wheels Speed Roller 2x falls within carry-on guidelines, which would make it a breeze to use when flying.

Packing has never been simpler. These bags are easy to rearrange, and the dividers have great padding while remaining sturdy. The Speed Roller includes numerous pockets for small items, a laptop pocket, and straps that hold the top upright so the door doesn’t flop onto the ground when you’re trying to access things quickly. The Rolling Studio feels really sturdy, and is well padded in case you need to check gear when traveling. My favorite feature is the top pocket: it’s large and I used it to store fast flags and a reflector for quick access.

Overall, I would recommend these bags for anyone looking to simplify their productions. Tamrac has always been my go-to for protecting my gear. I’m looking forward to testing them further on my next production. 

Filming in the Wilderness

Here is the video I produced from the 11 day back packing trip into Ansel Adams Wilderness. It's about a student named Todd and his experience through out the journey.

I'm on Tamrac's Blog

Last summer a project took me on an 11-day backpacking trip with students into the Ansel Adams Wilderness in Northern California. I love to hike, so I was excited about this trip. Capturing the beauty of the outdoors would be the easy part. But 11 days on the trail also presented a few challenges. No showers, for instance. No outlets to charge my batteries either, which meant packing in plenty of extra batteries. Packing light? Not really an option.

The biggest challenge was finding a bag that would hold all my gear and keep it dust free, dry, and ready to go at a moment’s notice. The bag also had to fit inside the main compartment of my large backpacking pack, and be easy to use as a daypack. After researching my options, I landed on the Tamrac Evolution 9. It offered all the compartments and pouches I wanted, and looked like it was built for the rugged outdoors, including a rubber bottom to protect it from the dirt. It even came with a rain cover, and how could I say no to that? (That rain cover came in handy.

Here is a short video showing Andrew Koskela and I using the bag. 

Check out Tamrac's post on their blog!

http://blog.tamrac.com/2012-10-02-evo-9-and-zipshot-spend-11-days-in-yosemite/