Boon Vong | Journal

Notes: Just random clips thrown together, 5D mk II and D90, mostly handheld, and of course manual focus on everything.  One could see the advantages of the little ”HD” cameras out there with their extreme depth of focus (i.e. every unecessary thing in focus), but I still like the messups and the old 16mm look.  Song is “Remember” by ATB.  Was thinking of music to use and the cadence somehow fit.

Notes: Really quick photo/videoshoot with R&B singer Sam Intharaphitak from Laos.  This was literally an hour before I had to hop on a plane back home.  Rained on us at the pier and also the campus at UC Berkeley.  Sorry for the sounds of traffic and cars, reminds me of Jack Johnson strumming away at the bus stop.  Cutting it close, but great to hang out with another talented Lao person.  Got some dim sum (chicken feet baby!) to go, and was last in line to board the plane.  This trip ended like it began, with some photos.  Like I said, there’s always time for a photoshoot.

Please check Sam out at his website and record label’s website:

www.sam-intharaphithak.com
www.indeerecords.com

He’s also currently playing select shows out on the west coast, starting in San Fran and ending in Seattle.

(more…)

Notes: Been awhile since I posted anything Lao related…as you all know by now, I started off as the typical Lao kid holding the sign with his name in the refugee camp, was lucky enough to resettle in the good ol’ U S and A, grew up with two cultures, studied art, went back in time to right the wrongs—waitaminnit that hasn’t happened yet…Anyways, some of my photos are here in this PSA video talking about how important the Census is to Lao people.  We’ve been in this country for close to 30 years, some of us even longer than that.  Our communities are scattered about, and we are still a minority amongst minorities.  The least we can do is fill out a simple form that lets others know about our numbers, and perhaps later our struggles and needs.  It’s funny how so many kids I knew growing up were embarrassed of their Lao heritage.  They’d fudge the truth to friends about being Thai or mixed with other more exotic countries.  It’s about time we changed that.  Lao, Hmong, Tai Dum, Khmu, etc…REPRAZENT!!

Produced by Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern CA (APALC), Center for Asian American Media (CAAM); and Laotian American National Alliance (LANA).

Notes: Helped out a friend film an audition for a Commercial/PSA on a new animal network.  All of this is last minute, and hastily put together, on the day they were predicting a blizzard for all of Georgia and pretty much the entire country.  Wasn’t as bad as expected, and early on the weather made for some very nice cinematic footage.  5D mk II (I’m getting really tired of spelling it out like that…) and D90 and of course Nikon glass working in tandem.  My feeble attempts at moving pictures makes me realize just how hard it is to do this type of creative work and not look inept.  Not too long ago we only had video cameras with such tiny chips and wide depth of field that life actually looked worse than it was.  These new hybrid cameras don’t guarantee any awards, but at least there is a larger ratio of useable material from a pure visual standpoint.  Still photography has such an edge though, in that almost anyone, trained or untrained, can take a picture and get a pulitzer or accolades.  Video/D-Movie/Film…there’s just so many different things other people can pick apart.

Tech Notes: All shots above except the last one from the “B” camera, D90 with the 105mm Micro VR.  Third shot, yes, that’s the Micro looking through the 5D2’s viewfinder for an interesting shot.  In all the hoopla over movie features on DSLR’s people seem to forget that these cameras are also still upping the still image quality with every release.  Pictures below shot in manual focus, still continuing this trip down memory lane that I like.  Trying to capture the look of an era not only with filters and color but the process as well.

Notes: Just goofing off with the extra video clips I like to shoot between still frames.  No real story behind them…at least not yet, although there are some interesting messups during my color grading and editing.  This seems like the trend for the future, a simple photograph not being enough.  Everything will eventually move, from the ads we walk by to the newspapers we read, like in Minority Report.

Notes: Movie clips from a Canon 5D mk II and a few from the Nikon D90. (Whah? the two working hand in hand?!)  I wasn’t there shooting video totally, most of these clips are inbetween taking still event photos, as in juggling 3 cameras…zoom in, click click click, change–5D live view hurry up and initialize, pull focus, change–wide angle close up shot, click click click.  The 5D was a third option with a Nikon 85mm f/1.4 mounted via Fotodiox adapter.  Becomes manual focus only of course when you shoot video, same thing with even the AF-S 70-200 2.8 VR on the D90.  DSLR “video,” for all its faults definitely produces files that are much better visually than DV ever did.  Never said I was a videographer, heck never said I was a photographer, but these (shaky) clips in motion are nice to have along with the still images.

Watch in HD on Vimeo

Notes: All the images are screengrabs (D90 Movies) from a few weeks ago at our local Korean coffee shop with ai Thavisouk…I’ve wanted to do this type of documentary work for awhile now, just gathering some like minded people and sitting them in front of the camera.  Granted the environment wasn’t the most serene, but when a good sphere of energy is created, worthwhile things happen.  Testing out how 3 Nikon D90’s in tandem would work for future projects. Old school 50mm f/1.8 on A, 35mm f/1.8 on B, and 85mm f/1.4 on C.  Granted we didn’t plan on high quality audio but memories like this should hopefully stick with us, and that’s the most important thing.

(more…)

Random Notes: …I know it always seems like I mention the weather, but this past weekend in D.C. was cool and brisk, a nice prelude to Autumn.  Cool in the shade and pleasant in the sun.  Spent the better part of Sunday morning napping on the grass at this really pretty park…yeah, simple things.

Made this short video with clips from the luncheon.  It’s never really about the place, it’s more about the people, and this could have been any old backyard outside of Washington D.C., but it had us in it, Lao people eating, sitting, and singing on the straw mat outside.  Could be my family, could be your family, that’s how Lao people are with the hospitality, and it reminds me of where we came from and how we’ve changed.

…L’esprit de l’escalier…the sprit of the stairwell…things you wish you’d said on the way out…with me though it’s also the spirit of the highway…Drove 10 hours there and 10 hours back, which gave me plenty of time to think about things…