life, will find a way

You buy a house.

Ink has barely dried.

You see your first crack,

life.

As you tend to your yard you notice funny things.

Plants grow where you least expect,

sometimes in impossible places.

Places I could never coax a plant to grow.

Usually weeds, find a way.

But this summer a flower started it's fight.

For weeks I watched as a little flower

squeezed it's way into a crack in front of my garage.

It's position was perfect, centered on the right stall

of the garage, any vehicle coming or going

would pass right over.

I first shot footage of the flower for a

Philip Bloom short film challenge.  

I didn't make the deadline.

But here you go, the challenge, create a sequence.

Enjoy.

life, will find a way.

Homemade Toy Rockets

I learned how to make homemade rockets from scratch in shop class

in middle school.  Yes, I know "what is shop class" something most

schools got rid of and I think one of the reasons our country is in

trouble.  Making toy rockets from cardboard tubes and paper

teaches a young mind many things.  Not that I'm completely

against buying a kit at the store, but a rocket you build on your own

is your creation. Watching it fly, figuring out why it flew the way

it did is exactly the kind of exercise a young mind needs.

This Christmas I made a few homemade toy rockets for my Godson.

He is a little young to build and shoot them himself but I figured

the time had come to introduce him to the most fun you will ever

have in six seconds.

Here is a link to the video I shot of the launches.  Click here.

I shot the launches with a GoPro Hero3 Black Edition.

At the end of the video I slowed them down to 5% to see how well the camera captured it.

  All of these shots were captured at 720p at 120fps.
This is an interesting example because we were launching right around sunset.
It's visual stunning in person and a good test for the new Hero3 in a low light situation.

Want to see more?  My Godson is the son of DSLR expert and fellow blogger

ChadSorianoPhotoBlog.  He posted some more photos and a video he

shot of the launches with a Canon EOS M over on his blog, check it out.

Canon T4i Night Flying Time-Lapse

"Why would you want to do that?"

This was the question posed to me by a flight attendant when I told her

that I was shooting a time-lapse out the window of my most recent

commercial flight. Uhhhhh ...... cause it's cool?

I get that all the time.  If your reading this I'm guessing you get it.

I don't sit still very well, if I have a camera I will be shooting.

On my most recent night flight home, on a new 737-900, I noticed

that the paneling under the window was quite smooth, so would it

support a suction cup holding my Canon T4i? Could I get the very

elusive night flying time-lapse?  Yes and no.

  It worked, but it also failed twice.

  

Here are the results, click here.

The camera was set to ISO 1600, with an EFS 10-22 lens.

I shot 6 second exposures @3.5 every two seconds.

The camera was mounted using a Fat Gecko suction cup. Sorry

no pictures of the set-up.  It was like trying to do surgery in a phone booth.

The hardest thing about trying to pull this off is light leaks, see below, the

way airliner windows are designed it makes it very hard.  I used my

navy blue action fleece to cover the top of the lens. There are several frames

where you can see light intrusion, interesting attempt but not really

ready for prime time.  Now if I had access to a private jet with clean windows 

I could probably dial this in, but until then you get what you can.

For more information about doing time-lapses with a CanonT4i and the 

intervalometer I use check out my previous post here.

How To Make A GoPro Pan Tilt Time-Lapse Rig

 

 In my attempt to find new and sometimes silly ways to add

movement to my time-lapses, I present my Pan Tilt Rig.

Here is the link to the DIY video on YouTube, click here.

And a demo of the rig in action, click here.

Below are a few photos of the necessary parts and the complete rig.

You need: 

Two modified kitchen timers

Two 2 inch corner brackets

One 10 32 screw and nut (to attach GoPro to bracket)

One 1/4 20 screw to attach second timer to bracket

UPDATE: GoPro Magnet Mount DIY Part 3

I have made a few modifications to my original GoPro Magnet Mount DIY Project.

Please check out my original post  .... click here.

And watch my original video ...... click here.

Here is the new video .... click here.

I got  a few responses after the last post on this topic that people were

concerned that if they mounted the magnet on their car it might get scratched. 

So always looking to better a project, I started trying to find a way to

cover the business end of the magnet.  Most of the strength in a magnet

is right near contact, if you put a thick barrier in the way it will deminish the

magnets strength.  After a little trial and error I have settled on shipping tape.

It's thin and strong and has the extra advantage of being slick.

After a couple months of use I am satisfied that it is a good solution.

The second update to this project is really simple.

Just stick a GoPro mounting shoe to the top of a magnet.

Seems like a no brainer, but I hadn't made one. Then one day

I had a GoPro mounting shoe on one of my cameras and needed to

quickly put it on a magnet mount.  After switching out the mounting hardware

I decided its much easier to have both a 1/4 20 and GoPro ready magnet mount.

Have You Ever Had

Have you ever had the feeling your being watched?

We had this interesting fellow visit our garden.

But what is he/she?

We think robber fly.

Curious, the face shot above and at the bottom reminded me of

the locker people from Men In Black.

One of the benefits of having a garden, you never know what

might peek over the fence at you.

Chase Jarvis Blog GoPro Hero 3 "Situation" OVER

UPDATE: Today 10/24/2012 a week later.
I sent another e-mail to every e-mail address on their contact page and the e-mail
made it through.  The photo has been taken down and I am happy.
I originally wrote this post and the video when I had no luck through twitter or e-mail.
I don't think either helped, but there was some interesting discussion on my Youtube
video.  I think it is very important for all content creators to stay vigilant in protecting
their intellectual property.  Even something as silly as a small photo on a blog post.
It is important. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I had hoped to spend my weekend finishing one of several videos I have been working on,

but then the new GoPro Hero 3 came out and changed my plans.

On Wednesday 10/17/2012 GoPro announced it's new Hero 3 camera.

Like all GoPro fans and users I went looking on the web for pictures of the new camera.

What I found is very small but in many ways is a big deal to me and journalists everywhere.

Celebrity photographer educator Chase Jarvis posted a blog with photos of the new

camera he got while attending the GoPro party in San Francisco.

At the bottom of his post was one more small photograph.

The photograph belongs to me.

It had no attribution, no link through to my blog, no mention of the photographs creator.

The photo had been copied, pasted and RENAMED.

I posted this photograph on my blog back in August.  

I thought it might be fun to start getting an online conversation started about the

GoPro Hero 3 and what features it might have.

Now, Chase Jarvis is a professional photographer.

He has cameras.

He knows how to take a picture.

Why would he ever take someones work an put his name on it?

It does not make sense.

I E-mailed him.

I tweeted him.

I have done my part.

Taking from others is wrong.

So, let it be known.

This is not cool.

Here are some interesting links.

Chase Jarvis blog post.

My photo with Chases name.

His contact information. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

UPDATE:
I have left the video up but only as a private video
Here is a video about this I posted on YouTube.

LEGOLAND Florida First Anniversary

 

Happy first birthday LEGOLAND Florida.

We had the chance to take in LEGOLAND for the first time this past Saturday

as guests of Chad Sroiano Photoblog and his family.

Taking on a theme park with a seasoned well trained family was a challenge

A challenge I had underestimated. 

We enjoyed the day, great park, amazing Lego models.

But we were completely zonked after trying to keep up.

Always looking for a new perspective, I stuck a GoPro Hero2 on their baby stroller.

aka StrollerCam

I shot a time-lapse of the day watch it here.

 

Here are a few photos from the day.

First family

San Francisco

We also walked through old Cypress Gardens.