The "Goatman" of South Austin.
Today's project: The folks at Zach Theatre are producing a family oriented play based on Rudyard Kipling's, "the Jungle Book." I'm doing the cinematography for a TV spot we're producing to market the play and I have a feeling that this will be one of the more fun video projects I'll get to do this year. I don't need to light it because the lighting designer for the show is part of my crew and he'll be handling the lighting board and adding or subtracting light at my direction. That means I don't have to pack lights, light stands, modifiers and power cables. All of the audio will be done in post (announcer bed, special jungle sound effects, etc.) which means I don't have to boom in microphones and watch audio levels, etc.). Finally, this is a traditional, one camera shoot which means I only have to make perfect files on one camera; one scene at a time. Since the target for the video is a thirty second TV spot it also means I won't be shooting endless amounts of footage. The cherry on the cake is that the theater is doing the editing in-house. They have a really good person in marketing whose specialty is video programming and stuff related to marketing.
I'm shooting with the Fuji X-H1 camera (and grip) and, of course, I'll bring back-up cameras just in case. I'm hoping to get a lot of use out of the fast primes but will also be taking along the three Fujicron (f2.0) lenses in case we decide to try some push-in moves that might benefit from autofocus. Those are the three lenses I trust most with locking in and maintaining focus within the Fuji system.
I'll be using a tripod on a dolly, a big, industrial strength slider, a chicken foot monopod for fast b-roll takes, and a shoulder rig in case I want to go off the more stable rigs and create a bit of the "Jason Bourne" handheld freneticism. My only question now is about color profile. I'm partial to ETERNA but it's flat if you use it straight out of camera with no grading. I'm not sure how much experience my editor has with color grading and we'll have a quick conference about it before we get cranking. If he's not totally up to speed with color grading we may select something like one of the NPS profiles just as a safety.
And, yes, we are shooting in 4K even though the final deliverables will be in 1080p. I think the whole team would always like the option of being able to edit into the files (crop; Ken Burns action, etc.) without any penalty (note to self: get those V60 cards in the camera now!).
I'll let you know how it turns out and will post links to the video. Seems like fun to me right now....
A few fun shots of a kid's swim meet at the lake...
Yesterday's swim practice: I've been pushing myself to swim faster and to that end I'm doing two different things. First of all I've moved myself up to a faster lane where I am constantly challenged to make the intervals the rest of my lane mates are setting. I'm having to repeat intervals five to ten seconds faster per hundred but the focus on speeding up has paid benefits in adding some muscle and losing a couple of extraneous fat pounds. I'm trying to keep my body fat index under 12% as measured by my doctor's diagnostic device.
In order to get faster for longer periods of time in practice I've had to really work on my strokes and get more efficient. My coach chided me about a month ago for not using a good, high elbow recovery. A high elbow recovery (as opposed to just muscling through and swinging one's arms around) takes much less effort and is more effective for good initial hand entry and a nice body roll. I'm also working harder than ever to make the front "catch" fo the stroke, and the first third of each freestyle stroke, more powerful. Trying to really grab the water way out front and hold it through the stroke. Since I am about ten years older than the next oldest lane mate I have to be more efficient and work harder on taking out sloppiness in my swimming by streamlining off the walls and getting a sustainable kick tempo in order to keep up. I could care less about keeping up with people my age. My goal is to hang with athletes 20 years younger. Might as well set tough goals. If the goals are all easy ones you just get fat and lazy...
So, I swam with Matt yesterday. A tall, in-great-shape, triathlete. The one way in which I could keep up with Matt is to hit each of my flip turns perfectly. He was not a swimmer in his formative years and his turn takes too long. It gives me an opportunity to make up lost yardage at each wall. When you age up you have to get more strategic. Cunning. The days of depending on muscle power and raw stamina are fleeting. Good technique is golden. I guess it's the same in photography.
Random Swimming Pool in a Lisbon Neighborhood.
My field trip to see the dermatologist. Here's an interesting fact, people who visit their doctors and dentists on a regular basis actually live longer and suffer less from debilitating and sidelining medical issues. Who knew? Well, I guess it's something the very wealthy have known for a long time since they outlive the general population by a relatively wide margin...
A few years ago my family practice doctor, whom I've had in my corner for several decades, decided to do a "concierge" practice and to stop accepting most insurances. You have to pay a set charge on a yearly basis but you get ready access to your doctor and, basically, all-you-can-eat primary medical care. I thought the relationship of 27 years was worth retaining so I signed up. It's been three years now and I'm very happy with my decision. I get seen promptly, have my doctor's direct cellphone number in my pocket and I can indulge my once in a while hypochondria without fear.
Where is this heading....? Well, I've been swimming in Texas for about five and a half decades and I spend a lot of time out in the sun photographing and making little movies. I get ample UV exposure and I have a English/Scottish/German ancestry with all that encompasses when it comes to skin health (and timeliness). It seems that often when I post a self portrait here on the blog someone will comment on my "red" skin and admonish me to cover up and coat myself with sunscreen (I used SPF 40, reef safe, non-nano tech, zinc oxide sun screen when I walk and when I swim....).
After my last yearly physical, earlier this Spring, my doctor asked me to book an appointment with a dermatologist and get a baseline skin check. Just as a second set of eyes on my many little spots and self-generated but boring "tattoos". I took his suggestion and sallied forth into the arms of modern medicine. Long story made somewhat shorter: no questionable spots. no melanoma. no "interesting" growths. Basically, a clean bill of skin health and an appointment for a follow up in a year. Dear God, they even checked the bottoms of my feet!
I assured my new dermatologist (who I liked very much) that I would skew toward pre-dawn swims, would wear my wide brimmed hat when working or playing outdoors, and would continue to buy technical shirts that offered SPF values. I'm also testing out a pair of half gloves from a company called "O.R." The gloves are called Active Ice and they protect the backs of one's hands from sun damage while wicking away moisture to keep hands cool. So far I love them and will probably get a couple more pairs (so I can prevent those actinic keratosis spots from forming.....). I'll review them when I've used the tipless gloves over the course of a long day in the field. They look a bit dorky but hey! I'm already happily married and Belinda is rarely out in the field with me to see just how dorky I can really look when outfitted to combat sun damage.
He's Alive!!!!!!
Investing: We're always supposed to be smart about investing but boy oh boy, do I have misgivings about tossing hard earned money into the current equities markets. Dare I say it? "Over-valued." So what's the consensus advice for self-employed, freelance artists? Buy lottery tickets? Play that hunch Bob's uncle mentioned? Just copy Warren Buffett? Suck it up, buy some index funds and stop looking at the day by day, week by week returns? Inquiring minds and all that....
I have one friend who more or less refuses to invest for the future and spends every cent that comes through his hands. He thinks I'm way too conservative, financially, because I save money and don't buy expensive stuff (no BMWs or trips to Vegas here), but I've seen that people in my family can live into their 90's and I think it's better to be 90 and have some cash in the bank than to be 90 and depend completely on Social Security. So, what's your (successful) strategy? Willing to share it?
And, just to create a baseline for discussion: I do understand that not being in debt is a given in any discussion about investing. No debt here (even though it seems I must be swimming in it given my propensity for buying new cameras......hello! Pentax!!!) but how do you make the money you do have grow faster?
Pushing off the wall when swimming is the closest most people will ever come
to the experience of flying.
this is what investing currently looks like to me....
And this...
13 comments:
I don't try to out-invest Warren Buffett:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/why-warren-buffett-says-index-funds-are-the-best-investment.html
Jeff in Colorado
Love that 5th picture. The pushing off one.
Hey Kirk -
I have been following your blog for years and love it.
I am a licensed financial advisor for TX and do have some thoughts on the moderately conservative, more defensive side of finances.
Feel free to give me a call: 414-881-1550 or cbeloin@att.net.
Thanks - Chris
Oops - That would be: Chris.beloin@att.net to reach me.
Thanks - Chris
I had a long conversation with my investment guy a couple of weeks ago. Here's the essence. He thinks I would be better off in the equities market (with a bond reserve fund for days that are particularly rainy) than I am with my current posture, which is ultra conservative -- mostly bonds and cash.
My answer was that I don't have to make money in the markets, I just have to hold on to what I've got, because while I've got quite a lot, I wouldn't want to go about losing half of it in a disaster like 2009. He pointed out that if you had X number of dollars in a Dow index fund in 2007, before the big crash, and simply sat on it and did nothing, you would have doubled your money by now.
Of course, that meant doing nothing for 12 years, and not having to withdraw anything for 12 years. If you needed to withdraw because of a medical emergency in 2009, you might have lost more than a quarter of what you had invested.
To me, the whole world seems shaky right now. We have a seriously unpredictable President right now who has taken us into trade wars, the stock market seems to be held up by gas (much of the current price involving company stock buy-backs rather than investments in the manufacturing base), and we have massive uncertainties surrounding next year's American election, and overseas problems like Brexit. There are also major financial uncertainties, like those that surround the $1.5 trillion in college load debt where defaults are escalating.
When everything is taken together, we *could* have another calamity. But then again, maybe not. If you're ultra conservative, you won't make what you might make if everything comes down on the favorable side; but you won't lose much if everything goes bad.
There's another aspect to this. Do you really have enough money, conservatively invested, to take you into your nineties? If you do, I'd lean conservative at least for now, because you've got it made: why risk it? If you don't, I'd still be conservative, because if you preserve cash, and there is a calamity, you would have a chance to put that money to work in the equities market at bargain prices. If you'd stayed in the market from 2007 to now, you would have doubled your money. If you'd gotten out in 2007, and then bought back in at the bottom of the market in 2009, you'd be making four times your money...something to think about.
My plan: conservative until things begin to smooth out, which should be after the next election. Then, back into the market. My finance guy says that even with its ups and downs, the market on average, with intelligent investments, should return 6-9 percent per year, which is far better than bonds. You just want to avoid the calamities.
JC
Vanguard target-date retirement funds. Zero maintenance. Low fees.
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/target-retirement/#/
You can do ok with a few index funds over the long haul. That said, the wealthiest people I know made their money investing outside of the stock market in things like real estate, tax leans, etc., or were lucky to get stock options in a startup.
Most of the options people have these days including cash, stocks, bonds, investment funds and gold, strike me as a good way to vaporise savings.
While having some cash on hand is probably a must in uncertain times, it looks like it's about to seriously lose value as interest rates head toward negative.
A range of investments is probably the safest one in terms of still having something left in 15 years.
I've gone mainly into real estate, aiming for income over capital gain. Taking a punt on places that can cope with climate change and economic downturn. A very conservative approach. Nothing is certain, and it's usually the unexpected that catches us out, but we can do our best to plan and then get on with enjoying our lives. Having my last home thrown over a metre in the air and split down the middle was unexpected, but strong social networks, some cash and food put aside and a resilient job made a big difference.
An interesting article on the US housing market here:
https://www.peakprosperity.com/home-prices-downhill-from-here/
Right now my retirement strategy is to get Bernie elected. I figure it’s also a way to make sure my daughter has a decent retirement too.
TWELVE percent? TWELVE percent? Heavens, man, I had members of my high school cross-country team that were trying hard for that. Most of us at your (and my) age would be overjoyed at 20%. Time to try out for the Old Spice ads.
Keep on kickin' (and turnin').
Kirk, I have followed your blog for a long time and love your photography and your writing. Also for what it is worth I shoot both Fuji and Nikon, including the new z6. But that is not what I want to say, that’s only background. I was an investment banker for 35 years for a regional broker-dealer and bank, now happily retired. I have had the opportunity to witness several market “corrections” over those many years including the bond market crash of 1979, stock market correction of 1987 and 2000. Also front and center of the last financial crisis in 2008-2009. Most people don’t know or understand how serious that correction was. If we did not have mature people in charge at the time, things would have been a lot worse. For the record this market scares me. I cannot give you financial advice today because I retired my SEC license when I left the firm, I can tell you what I do but it is not a recommendation. I have 25% in cash, 60% in bonds the remainder in dividend paying stocks. So far this has worked for me. I do subscribe to Morningstar research for dividend stocks. I pay about $200/year for the service and worth every penny. They have done a good job, and any one can read their reports.
Quick photography question, my favorite focal length is the 24-120 and have on order the Fuji 16-80 lens, let me know what you think about that little gem when it is released. All the best Eric Erickson
Kirk, I am very close to you in age.
I am looking to work until I am 70 as I cannot bear the idea of not working. However, My investment strategy over the years has evolved from being a Warren Buffet wannabe to a Vanguard set it and forget it person.
I am not an investment adviser nor do I play one on TV though I used to pretend in mind.
I am 50/50 bonds and equities. A couple of years ago I went from 90% equities to the current balance. I have NO international investments despite all the common sentiment in favor of it. The reason is that the US remains THE place people will place their money irrespective of how crazy the President is because other places are just crazier (think UK-Post Brexit) or untrustworthy (non-transparent China market). The rest are flat (Japan, Germany) or stinking (Brazil, anywhere in Africa, misc Asian countries etc).
It has insulated me from volatility while generating decent returns.
I would note that my father passed away one year ago today and he had money invested in a large, well regarded wealth management firm. They, like othere firms I had used earlier in my investing career, had created a portfolio of 50-75 mutual funds that had an appropriate investment profile for a man 80 years old. However, the fees on what amounted to a market index were many multiples of what I pay at Vanguard.
I have about 6 different ETFs that charge microscopic fees and mimic the index funds that charge very low fees. Over the last 10 years (yes, incuding the recent implosion) they have performed very well with reduced volatility. Yes, I would love to strut a 25% return but I also do not have to sheepishly admit to a 50% drubbing.
My strategy is simplicity and low fees. Then check in every once in awhile.
I have to endorse Eric Erickson's enthusiasm about dividend paying stocks.
Sorry but I was trying to link my comment to my web site and somehow managed to delete the whole thing. Can you restore it? Many thanks. And if it could link to paulbraverman.com instead of to an empty blogger page, that would be great.
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