Bride and Groom Ride a Tandem. Well, Sort Of.

June 19th, 2009

We had a great time yesterday shooting a magazine cover for an article on marriage. The biggest challenge of the shoot was figuring out a way to safely hold up a tandem bike with two people on it. We had to construct a 17 foot wide support from 2×4’s and use some high boy stands to hold the rig. Then came some fancy cable and clamping. We got to test out our new little Canon SD780 to shoot a short video of the whole experience. Oh yeah, and we are still working on the music for the new MacShorts graphics. Maybe next video. Check it out.

http://www.vimeo.com/5234911

Brian MacDonald

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Stills meet HD Video, HD Video Meet Stills…

June 15th, 2009

The lines between video and still photography are becoming more and more blurred all the time. I have been telling friends for a while now that eventually I will have one camera that I can shoot commercial photography with, and work on our film production at the same time; one camera for both. The quality and functionality is not there yet for video, but the Canon EOS 5D II that we shoot with is a step in that direction.  Although it is just a little point and shoot, our new Canon SD780 is another example of the direction things are heading. I was looking to get a compact still camera and a Flip to throw in one of our production cases so we could do a better job getting more behind the scenes looks at our commercial shoots. I was able to find this little 12 megapixel wonder that also shoots HD video, all in something the size of a deck of cards.  I think the direction that the RED cameras are heading is the perfect example of things to come. Although the current RED camera is a bit bulky I know that it was used to recently shoot video and get still images for a recent cover shoot for Esquire Magazine. It is the future, and its not far off.

Brian MacDonald

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Back From Ethiopia

June 8th, 2009

I am back from Ethiopia having spent ten days shooting a documentary for Life In Abundance International. I have actually been back for a week now and processing the experience I had there has been an interesting challenge. The culture shock has been more dramatic than previous international projects I have worked on. Last year when photographing a book, Urban & Rural Hope, in Kenya and Ethiopia, we were working in slums with the poorest of the poor. It was challenging and eye opening shooting for the book, but this year shooting the documentary was different. I think that it was the depth of extreme pain I heard in the stories of the people we interviewed that made such an impact on me. The toughest interviews for me were when we went out until 3AM in the morning two nights in a row interviewing street kids and teenage prostitutes. It was heartbreaking to talk with little kids with nothing but torn pants and a shirt to fight off the night time cold, sleeping on the streets. We wanted to give our jackets to two little boys we met shivering in the wind but were told that they would simply be beat up and robbed by older boys as soon as we left. The desperation in the voices of the young prostitutes and the how they are trapped in a life of few options was almost too painful to hear. The fact is, that despite my inconsequential uneasiness of filming these stories, we were there with a purpose to bring light to these dark images. Our team was there to give voices to the unseen. Mixed with the despair we also found stories of hope and transformation from the work that LIA is doing. I can only hope that once this documentary is finished it will make people a little uncomfortable and challenge them to find ways to make changes for these lost kids.

Brian MacDonald

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