The new Star Trek series I'm working on

www.startrekcontinues.com

2012

Time for my annual post ;) In beautiful Franconia, NH for a quick shoot for Shakespeare's Daughter with Cynthia Gibb and Mandy Patinkin.

Hello Blog

Is blogging dead? Anyone listening? This blog just came in handy for me, actually. I needed to look back to find out when I'd participated in an event, and voila, there it was.

phinster

phineas had a birthday a while back. i shot some fun pictures of him. here he models his present's wrapping paper. i had just purchased an off-camera flash unit and was learning how to use it.

optics

i've been taking lots of pictures lately, but sorry, none for this post. david hockney has my imagination lately, priming me with ideas about photography, painting, art in general. i read a book by lawrence weschler over the holidays titled "True to Life: 25 Years of Conversations with David Hockney". i feel as if i've been through art history all over again, and this time am excited about it. a while back, hockney began to think that old masters had used optical techniques to achieve their works, a controversial view even today. his investigations are fascinating. his point isn't that the works are any less compelling because the old masters may not have created everything on the canvas with their own eye, but that artists of that time used all the tools available to them to explore, almost like scientists. i love that idea.

personal truth

Specific, personal truth is the best medium in which to grow relationships.

movies

another long time between posts. i've been sick with flu, probably swine flu, for about four weeks. all that's left is lingering cough. despite physical discomfort, i've welcomed the opportunity to rest, reflect, and spend a lot of time alone. i was supposed to shoot a short movie, the first since making a short dramatic film six years ago, but i was too wiped out to do it. we've rescheduled for march, 2010.

my film activities continue with star trek phase 2 and a couple documentaries, but they are not my own projects. being in bed has given my own projects new immediacy, because it feels like i have a lot less time to work. i know this flu will pass, but the restriction of waking time helps give weight to the most important things. i've resigned from the few boards i participate on, and have cut back on commitments. i sense the importance of having lots of time and time-space in which to create, to absorb, to integrate thoughts, ideas, images, sounds, feelings.

i've watched hundreds of films while in bed, shorts and features, drama and docs. streaming movies are fantastic. the quality is okay, but having an on demand film festival in my lap worth the sacrifice. it's great to see so many films back to back, to compare styles, lighting, scripts, pacing, camera work, acting, sets, scenery, sound, music... for the last few years, i haven't been able to stay awake through a film. it still happens, but somehow watching so many films has awakened me. i'm looking at films not for entertainment, but for content, story, creativity, craftsmanship.

i've watched a lot of short films. curiously, they are often too long, lacking density, plot, though often technically very good. the features, by and large, even the bad ones, tend to be more condensed.