This is 2013: Quarter One

If you've ever seen me pull out my Canon 6D or iPhone 4S and randomly film something or someone and wondered what the heck I was doing, chances are it was for this personal project that I've been working on this year:

The Operator

I spent four days last week working on a short in Toluca Lake & Pasadena. One thing I love about being a 1st AC is that I can jump on to pretty much any project without much pre-production, get in and do my thing, have zero post-production, and then move on to the next project. Usually I read the script before, but this shoot was kind of last minute so I didn't get the chance and it was kind of fun piecing the story together while we shot out of order. The first day a woman had cancer, the second day was like something out of Orwell's 1984, the third day a man went crazy and the fourth day was all about robotic mice and eyeballs. What the. Haha to say the least I was still confused up until the final shots were filmed and I guess there's a lot of voice over to tie it all together. This is a project that I'm really excited to see the final product and how everything comes together. We shot on the Red Epic with Cooke primes and I pulled maybe half the shots using a Bartech wireless follow focus: a device that I have a long standing love/hate relationship with. Mostly love, but gosh they can be so finicky. Here's a couple snaps from my iPhone. Some behind the scenes video will be featured in my "April" video (more on that project later) so stay tuned for that. :)

Los Angeles

Increasingly I am finding myself signing confidentiality agreements for the film projects I'm involved with, which means no blogging allowed. So in the meantime this dear old blog of mine is getting more love in the random photography adventures department. :) Here's some shots I've snapped in and around LA over the last little while.

Alyssa Missionary Portraits

Taken with the Canon 28-135mm Lens

Morgan County

Taken with the Canon 6D and Canon 28-135mm Lens

Altered Route: Rockahoola

Rockahoola is an abandoned waterpark in the middle of the Mojave Desert and you can see some of the remains driving past on I-15. I've made the drive from Utah to Southern California more than a few times and for years I've wanted to stop and explore but I've always had bad timing and gone past either in a hurry and couldn't stop, or it was dark. A couple weeks ago I barely made it in time as the sun was setting. This place is unreal and kind of spooky. Next time (when I'm not alone and the sun isn't going down at a rapid pace) I plan to explore it more in depth. It's definitely a location I  will keep in the back of my mind for future film/photo projects.

Taken with the Canon 6D and Canon 28-135mm Lens

Brett Novak and Kilian Martin made a really cool short skate film at this location a while back, check it out below to get a better idea of what Rockahoola is all about.