Urban Cycling
I was excited to travel to Seattle in March to film a video for REI that promotes Urban Cycling. It was a bit different than my usual outdoor adventure filmmaking and I jumped at the chance to make something a bit more stylized.
I decided quickly to use the Manfrotto magic arm to mount my Canon 5Dii to the bikes. It provided some great angles and more possibilities and control over the GoPro. However, mounting the camera to the bike was a bit scary- we never had close call.
Also different for me on this one was having a composer create an original score after I edit. I have always found the music first and cut the video to the music. I was so impressed with Michael Denny’s work that I had to give it a go, and I’m glad I did. You can learn more about Michael Denny here: http://www.michaeldennymusic.com/
Just finished filming a great story about an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker. Editing this week and hope you can see it soon!
Cheers,
Larry
My first attempt at HDR photography
January 14, 2012 by Larry
Filed under Photography
This week I’ve been working on some new skills and improving old ones. I’ve been going through many of the great tutorials on www.Lynda.com I have been fascinated by HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography and wanted to give it a go. Here are the pictures I took today and processed with HDR Expose 2.
It was important that I get a subtle HDR look. Do a google search for HDR and you’ll see a lot of pictures that look sort of like animated CGI. I wanted mine to look natural. So I went to a living history farm behind my house to try. It was amazing to see the difference! The process is essentially taking the same image 3 times; one normal exposure, one 2 stops under, one- two stops over exposed. Using software to combine the three images you get an image that allows you to see the shadows and highlights and a lot of texture. I think I’m hooked! For example if you look at my link above of the pics I took today, you’ll see that in one of the shots you can see out the window. Normally a photographer has to choose between exposing for the room and blowing out the highlights of the window, thus not seeing out the window. Or exposing for the window and not being able to see the room inside because it is underexposed. HDR allows both! My next goal is HDR time lapsing!
REI in NYC
Last week I had the opportunity to capture the grand opening of the first REI in NYC. There was a lot of excitement about REI coming to the city and the beautifully restored Puck building that it was located in. Here’s the video that I made about the event:
The Amazing Rock Climbing Ladies at Smith Rock
November 15, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Filmmaking, Oregon, REI, Rock Climbing, Travel
My camera capturing the sunrise at beautiful Smith Rock State Park
After filming in Utah (read about it here), I spent 3 days in beautiful Oregon filming three mothers rock climbing with their young children. Smith Rock State Park is a famous rock climbing spot and hard to point your camera in the wrong direction. One of the mothers (Aimee) was even rock climbing while 5 months pregnant. You can read more about Aimee and her goal of staying active during pregnancy here: Mama Climbs
Ascending the famous, "Chain Reaction"
Joining Aimee were two friends from Wales. Everyone was such a joy to be around and to film. I was truly impressed! I got some incredible footage and the video turned out great! Filming these amazing rock climbers made me feel guilty for just pushing record while they were giving their all. It was one of the easiest shoots I have ever done because I was able to stay in the same general area and get different angles with a variety of lenses and cameras. In fact at one point I was filming a close-up of the shot you see above with one camera in one hand and a wide shot with another camera in the other hand. I was able to cut between them in the video. Fun!
The morning I woke up to film the sunrise at Smith Rock it was 27 degrees and very windy! After capturing the pictures from the time-lapse on my computer later that night, I decided to get up the next morning and try to make it better. That night, I had sand in every crevice of my camera gear and spent a good while cleaning and getting things set for the early morning. I was very proud of myself for getting up on time and racing to the spot to set up in the perfect spot. I had the perfect settings on my camera and was about to start the 2 hour time-lapse when… I discovered I had left my memory card for my camera back at the hotel. Ouch! I don’t make these mistakes often, but my travels and lack of sleep were really starting to get to me. I had been filming and editing pretty straight for about 3 weeks at this point. The good news is that the original sunrise that I captured turned out great and it’s the one I used at the beginning of the video. And my trip was almost complete and I would get a chance to head home and begin editing. I was looking forward to sleeping as much as one can with an infant and a four year old in the house.
Here’s the final video:
Utah!
November 15, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Filmmaking, REI, Travel, Utah
What’s not to love about Utah? I’ve been visiting there for the last 20 years through backpacking and road trips including one of my favorite road trips through the four corner states on my motorcycle with some good friends. So when REI asked if I wanted to go to Moab film, I humbly accepted their offer while trying not to sound too giddy.
Flying in and out of Moab was an experience within itself. My layover in Denver was supposed to be 3 hours and it turned out to be 8. I was taking a small 17 seat aircraft to Moab and there were mechanical issues that was delaying the flight. The other passengers and I quickly became friends as we all tried to make light of the situation. Or maybe misery just loves company. Among the passengers were a group of mature women, all over the age of 50, who seemed like cool outdoor types. I knew I would have some down time in Moab over the weekend to potentially shoot another story, so I got up the courage to approach them. When I told them that I was filming for REI- their faces lit up, because they were all fans of the store (I run into a lot of people who LOVE REI). They told me that they were part of a group of twenty women who were meeting up from around the country, most of them not knowing each other, to road bike around Moab for seven days. By the time we arrived in Moab, the plans were set for me to start filming their story the next morning. Success!
I had two and half days to cover two separate stories. Both were a challenge to cover because the bikers are always on the move. I tried to get ahead of them, behind them and all around them to get the shots and squeeze in interviews when I could. I filmed most of my beauty shots with my Canon 5D, the interviews with my Panasonic Af-100 and my GoPro Hero camera mounted to my car for the road bikers and mounted to my bike for the mountain biker story.
My beloved Canon 5D Mark II in action
The next day I woke at 4:30am to drive to Mesa Arch in the Canyonlands to capture a time-lapse of the sun rising. When I got to the location, I hiked for half a mile to the arch to set-up. It was pitch black and I was trying to frame up my shot before the sun came up. The only way I could compose my shot was to open the shutter for 30 seconds and shine a flashlight all over the arch and then look at the photo I captured. Wash, rinse and repeat for about 15 minutes I got the right framing. With a time-lapse you cannot change your camera position or settings once you begin- so it’s it a bit nerve wracking trying to find a locked position before the sun rises. I would be taking a picture every 20 seconds over the next 2 hours to create 7 seconds of video. With the help of a great iPhone App called, Sun Scout, I was able to see where the sun would come up. I locked in and wished for the best. Taking time-lapses is time consuming but rewarding if you can pull it off. But if anything goes wrong, the entire time-lapse is no good and your time wasted.
Mesa Arch photographers (after the crowd thinned out)
Mesa Arch is a popular spot for photographers. I was the first to show up but soon there came about 20 other photographers all huddled together like paparazzi getting their shots of Lindsay Lohan. So weird to be in this group of photographers in the middle of nowhere- clicking away. I met some great folks, including a cool guy who made his living as a paparazzi in LA. It was interesting hearing his stories and learning more about the life of a paparazzi. He took this picture of me when the work was done.
My first picture taken by a paparazzi
I raced back to Moab to film the road bikers all day and then that night filmed a time-lapse of the sunset at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. It was about a 3 hour shoot and again I met some really great people as my camera clicked away. To get to the best spot of Delicate Arch you have to hike in about 2.5 miles. When I was leaving to head back to my car in the pitch black I realized I left my flashlight back at the car. Fortunately I met a guy who was also the last to head down and we hiked down together with his flashlight and light of my iPhone. We exchanged stories and it turned out he was a CPA from Texas on a two week trip around the Southwest. He was camping and taking pictures and going wherever the wind took him. I felt envious of his adventure.
Delicate Arch
That night I loaded the hundreds of photos from Mesa Arch sunrise on my computer and realized my camera moved mid way through and I would have to get up at 4:30am again to re-do it. When I make a mistake like that I don’t bill it as time worked on the project because well, it’s just not right. So it’s a double doozie when it mistakes happen. I prepped my camera for the next day and set my alarm for a few hours later to head to Mesa Arch again.
The Mesa Arch pictures went well. I then raced again to film more of the road bikers before I had to depart from the small airport in Moab to head back to Denver and then end up in Oregon that night to film the next day.
When I arrived at the small Moab airport they said, “You must be Larry. You are our only passenger.” What? That was crazy! Two pilots and me at the back of the plane so I would distribute the weight on the plane! I could write a whole blog post about this- but i’ll spare you and just tell you it one of the most memorable flights I have ever been on.
My private jet ride
I arrived late in Redmond, Oregon and had to be prepared to get up early again to cover rock climbers in beautiful Smith Rock State Park. And that’s where the next post will start.
Utah, Oregon, and other randomness.
November 7, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Filmmaking, REI, Travel
(Pictured above: A brief moment chilling at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. My two cameras working)
It’s been a busy few weeks and I’ve had no time to update my blog. So I’ve devised a plan to write shorter blog entries. They’ll be less intimidating to write and easier to read, and hopefully I can keep up to date easier.
That’s the plan anyway. So here’s the skinny on what I’ve been up to:
After returning from NYC a couple of weeks ago, I had to turn in an edit quickly. After I completed editing the video, I had a day to pack and then flew to Moab, Utah and then to Bend, Oregon to shoot outdoor adventure content for REI. I am going to write two separate blog entries for those trips in the next couple of days.
I returned last Friday night and have been busy editing the footage. I must say I am happy with the results of the first two, and I can’t wait for you to get a chance to see them. Hopefully I’ll wrap up editing this week and will have a couple of weeks before my next assignment.
I feel so fortunate to have REI as a client. They send me to such cool places and they are easy to work with. They have faith in my creative choices, which gives me a lot of pride and sense of ownership in my work.
Over the next couple of weeks, I want to work on other creative endeavors such as a comic book series that I began writing for young children. I’m writing the scripts and am working with my friend Ron who is a comic book artist and bandmate from The Tobasco Donkeys. I’ll keep the details secret until release.
I also will be stepping up my marketing for The Philmont Documentary Collection for the holiday season, and pursing other freelance filmmaking leads. I’d like to work on songs for the next Tobasco Donkeys album, but that may be pushing it. That gave me another thought for a blog post idea. How I manage my time, my daily routine, juggling several projects at a time and making the most out of every day. It’s something I am very proud of. I can’t stand wasted time and so I have every day scheduled to the hour. This may seem dull but since I have been doing it for the past few years, it has been immensely rewarding. There are so many goals I want to complete before my time is up, that I just want to make everyday count. I’ll call the post, The Tao of Larry.
Thanks for reading my randomness. I swear I’ll be more focused in future posts. I’d be thankful if you subscribe to my blog.
Cheers,
Larry
Filming REI in NYC (Part 2)
October 15, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Filmmaking, REI, Travel
Early Wednesday morning I jumped on the subway toward upper Mannhatten to meet some of the REI folks who would take me in a car to the first project. To be honest, I was bit apprehensive about taking all of my 42 pounds of camera gear onto the subway (yeah, I weighed it with my handy portable luggage scale). After seeing so many movies about muggings and crime in New York city- I was prepared for the worst. But it was a breeze. In fact, I rode the subway a lot over the last couple of days and always felt at ease.
Over 3 days, REI staff were working service projects in each of the five boroughs of New York. I filmed four of them between Wednesday and Thurseday. It was exciting getting to see different areas of the city and the best part was meeting truly incredible people. For each project REI partnered with local organizations who took care of individual parks. I have found that people who volunteer in these organizations are the best people you will ever meet. I feel honored to showcase the selfless work that they are doing. Because the work that they do, however crucial, is usually under appreciated and taken for granted. You can learn more about outdoor volunteer opportunites in your area here.
On Wednesday, I filmed a service project at a park in The Bronx. The REI staff were helping to remove evasive weeds and dig holes for new trees. The fun part was in order to get to the area where they were working I had to be pulled over in a boat across a shallow river by a guy in waders.
The weather forecast for Wednesday and Thurseday (when I was filming) was thunderstorms all day long. Filming in the rain is hectic because my cameras are allergic to water and so I have to put a rain cover on them. This makes getting to my camera controls, changing lenses and pulling focus clunky. The worst part is it’s really hard to get decent sound in rain because the sound of the rain pitter pattering on the rain cover sounds like annoying electronic clicks and pops. Fortunatly it was just overcast with the occasional light showers.
Later on Wednesday, I filmed a project in Queens in an area called Rockaway Park.
A truly eclectic area that is made up of lower income ‘projects’, surf bums, and gentrification. The REI crew was helping pull a lot of weeds and grass and garbage from a block of newly planted trees that were part of NYC’s, “Million Tree Program”- an effort to plant one million new trees in the city. We were joined by a fantastic organization called the Rockaway Waterfront Project. In particular there were some teens that came after school to help in the project and they were so awesome! Everyone was inspired by their dedication to their community and the environment. You can see a great video and learn more about The Roackaway Waterfront Project here.
After the project, the REI staff joined in a big circle with the teens from the Rockaway group and each person talked about what they took away from the day’s experience. It was a real inspirational moment and after watching the footage, I decided to put it together into a two minute video. If REI decides to release it, I’ll be sure to show it to you.
The next day, I filmed a service project in a beautiful park in Mannhatten, just a couple of blocks from Columbia University. Again, it was pulling evasive weeds and again they were lovely people.
Next it was Staten Island to Gateway National Recreation area. I had about 30 minutes to poke around the park before everyone showed up so I walked around a bit to try to see if I could get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. But it was so foggy, I couldn’t even see to the other side of the bridge. I snapped a couple of pictures of the bridge and the old fort that used to be up there.
After taking this picture of the bridge, a guard told me I can’t take pictures of the bridge without a permit. I guess it has something to do with Homeland Security…
The best part about this park, is that there was hardly anyone there! Could this be NYC? It was a pleasant break from the hustle and bustle.
When the REI crew arrived, they helped clean up garbage from bike trails and from the beach that had tons of garbage washed ashore from Hurricane Irene. It was a pretty dirty job. There was nasty stuff everywhere- from beer bottles, to tires and even used needles. Just like all the other jobs, the big group of people were able to do what would take weeks to do for the park staff.
The mist was certainly getting bad, coating my lenses and making it almost impossible to shoot. I shot this picture at the end, only finding out when I got back to the hotel that it was a bit out of focus. I’ll blame it on the mist.
Today I stayed in and began to capture all of my media from the last couple of days and begin to edit. REI hopes to get a rough cut by Tuesday, so i’ll be pretty busy to pull that off. It was hard to stay in the hotel all day when there were so many places I wanted to see so close to where I was. The protestors on Wall Street were close by, and I really wanted to visit the World Trade Center memorial which was just a few blocks walk away. But I had work to do…
While I was editing in the hotel all day I decided to do something worthwhile with my camera sitting around so I set it up at the window and shot a time lapse for a little while. Check it out:
Tomorrow, I am going to wake up at 4:30am to take a subway down to Brooklyn Bridge park in hopes to get a time lapse of the sun coming up and illuminating the Brooklyn Bridge and Mannhatten to open up the piece I am working on. Then it’s a race back to the hotel and off to the airport to catch a flight back to Austin. It’s after midnight now, and I still havent packed…
Next Friday, I am leaving again to film mountain bikers in Moab, Utah and then rock climbers at Smith Rock State Park near Bend, Oregon. A stark difference from my time here in the Big Apple.
Filming REI in NYC (Day 1)
October 13, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Filmmaking, REI, Travel
REI contacted me last week to see if I wanted to take my cameras up to New York City this week to cover employees from the upcoming Soho store doing service projects in each of the five boroughs. Uhm…YES!
One of these mornings I’m going to make a time-lapse sunrise right from the comfort of my bed. You don’t know how exciting that is for me. Having to get up at 4:30am and hauling my camera somewhere, then proceed to take pictures for 2-3 hours can be tiring. And a bit mindless standing next to my camera for that long.
After checking in with the REI folks in Soho, I went to the store to see how it might photograph. The Soho store is located in the beautiful historic Puck building. But right now there’s scaffolding all around it except one side which has a construction zone. Not currently photogenic… I took this picture for my reference for where the sun was that time of the day- not to show anybody. It’s a sloppy picture and here I am posting it on my blog… anyhow just to give you an idea:
Speaking of the sun location. For anybody wanting to see where the sun is at any time of the day for photography or buying a house and wanting to see where the sun will come in- there’s a cool app I just got called, Sun Scout. Check it out, pretty cool!
I then took the subway uptown to capture a time-lapse sunset from the top of Rockefeller. You know, 30 Rock- where Liz Lemon works. BTW, a cool iphone app that helped me a lot on the subways is, iTrans NYC subway.
The ‘Top of The Rock’ provides a magnificent view, but you have to go through a whole song and dance to get up there. Tickets are way overpriced at $23. And they wont let you set-up a tripod which is essential for time-lapse. So I took my gorrillapod because I read online that others had gotten away with it. No dice. Security guard told me to put it away right away. So I set my camera on a pillar. With no way to tilt the camera, I just had to accept the frame that I had. The security guard told me to hold onto the strap at all times. So I did- for 2.5 hours… It was so overcast that the sunset was pretty weak, if not non-existent. But it looks cool to see the transition to the skyline light up. The image at the top of the post was part of the that time-lapse set.
I then walked a bit through Times Square and Broadway and rode the subway back where I had to pack for the next day and prepare my camera gear. I went to bed after midnight with a 5:30am alarm. I don’t remember hitting the pillow…
Today, I filmed all day in The Bronx and Queens. I’ll post about today, tomorrow. I’m beat. It’s 11:30pm as I write this and I have to get up early again to film all day. It’s tiring, but I LOVE it!
Thunderbolt, FCPX update and new website
September 23, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Editing, Filmmaking, Filmmaking Tips, Reviews
For my fellow filmmaking friends, the last couple of days has brought some terrific news.
For those who have been frustrated with the features lacking in FCPX, there has been an update that among other things supports XML exporting/importing. This means you can use all of those third party applications and work with others on a project much easier. I look forward to still using Soundtrack Pro and Color with FCPX. I have been waiting for this update for months! Lots of bug fixes- we are on our way with FCPX! For those who are on the fence about FCPX, you can download a free 30 day trial here: http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/trial/ I also HIGHLY recommend the tutorial videos to learn FCPX from Ripple Training: http://www.rippletraining.com/. It’s $40 for the videos and well worth it! I have been using Ripple Training for years and Steve Martin, the trainer on the videos- not the actor, was my teacher when I became an Apple Certified Instructor.
Also, exciting news is the long awaited Lacie Little Big Disk-Thunderbolt drive! For those who don’t know about Thunderbolt- Apple and Intel have worked together to create a blazing fast connection that is 20x faster than USB 2.0.
Why is this exciting? Because when you edit the massive high quality HD files, your computer is drawing the source material in real time from the place where your files are stored. If you are like me and you edit a lot of projects, there is not enough space on your computer (nor is it good to tax your computer that your software is running) for all of these files. In the past Firewire 800, was the best option. But it was dragging down my projects and I had a lot of crashes because of read speed. I also need a fast drive for editing while traveling with my Macbook Pro. Both my Imac and Macbook pro have thunderbolt technology. If you do not have thunderbolt, than this drive is not for you. Mark my words, this technology will eventually be in a lot of devices and change how we access our files and bring on new possibilities.
The Lacie Little Big Disk is $399 for 1TB and $499 for 2TB available here: http://store.apple.com/us/product/H7150ZM/A/lacie-little-big-disk-thunderbolt-series-hard-drive Don’t forget to get a Thunderbolt cable- it doenst come with one.
Finally, I would like to mention something completely unrelated. I have been working on a website to serve as a hub for all of my projects including The Philmont Documentary, The Tobasco Donkeys, current projects and my blog. I’d be happy for you to visit and take a look at: www.LarryMcLaughlin.net
Filming in Seattle (“Sleepless in Seattle” was taken)
September 21, 2011 by Larry
Filed under Filmmaking, REI, Travel
I was in Seattle for 5 days last week for ‘work’. The weather was gorgeous and sunny. Clear skies and highs in the 80′s. From what I hear that is uncharacteristic of Seattle weather. And even though I didn’t run into Eddie Vedder at a Starbucks as planned, it was a pretty fulfilling trip.
REI asked if I could help them create a video showing the benefits of joining their co-op. The challenge was to create something great in a narrow time frame and I think we succeeded. Most of the filming I did was at the flagship store located in the heart of the city. It’s a pretty amazing store with a really cool pinnacle enclosed in a glass atrium. Outside they had a waterfall and bike trails around the store.
Filming in the store was challenging because of the sound issues and the mixture of sunlight and incandescent light created a lot of color issues. For those who don’t know, outside light often looks blue if not correctly balanced in the camera. However, if you correct for the window light, then everything inside looks weird. So it’s best to stick with one or the other in your frame if you don’t have any lights or gels to adjust the light. It was run and gun style filming armed with my Panasonic Af-100. I was a one-man band so I didn’t have the luxury of lighting. Besides we were interviewing the staff and REI members on the spot, so lighting would have just been silly.
At the end of each film-day, I was fortunate to have Tom, the photo manager at REI, show me the sights around the city. For those who have been on business trips, you can appreciate having someone help you get out of the hotel and check out the city in which you are staying. We drove around through the cool neighborhoods, past the landmarks and walked the urban trails. What an incredible city! Loved the houseboats along the water. When I was a kid, I read a book about a family living in a houseboat and thought that seemed like the way to go. We saw the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat, and an interesting dirt sculpture under a bridge.
Mainly I just liked the vibe of the city. I got to see see my first drawbridge go up! We got a fantastic view looking straight up at it from the waterfront trail. I can’t believe I have never seen a draw bridge go up. I was geeking out about it. The concept of a drawbridge, the fact that someone thought of that, is fascinating to me.
We walked over to the photogenic Gas Works:
which provided an amazing view of the skyline at night:
Tom at one point suggested we try some of the famous Seattle salmon. I felt bad telling him that I don’t care for salmon. Later he suggested some of the best sushi, and I told him that I don’t like sushi. When I told him I didn’t like coffee, I felt about as popular as Ozzy Osbourne at the Alamo. In an effort to save face and show some Seattle love, I told him that I like grunge music. But I think we missed that opportunity by about 10 years…
One of the highlights of the trip was driving outside of the city to the gorgeous mountains. We went to an area known as, “Exit 38″ and interviewed some rock climbers. The weather was fantastic and everyone was out in droves. Every time the topic of weather came up with the locals, they sighed and got long faced at the thought of the long, grey winter. It made me understand why all the Seattle grunge music was about being down and out. It also made me understand why none of the grunge guys wore pink spandex like their LA predecessors. In this climate, only flannel will do.