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...
