Recently I was asked to help out on a PSA for the pro-gun control Brady Campaign as a production stills photographer, capturing behind the scenes, candids, and portraits for the day. The campaign slogan was “We Are Better Than This” and I couldn’t agree more. Why our country is so much more obsessed with guns than most other countries is a testament to the increasing statistics of violence, especially the horrific mass homicide shootings that has shaken the communities of Colorado in recent years. The campaign interviewed several families, mostly mothers and fathers, who had lost children to such tragic events. Most interviewed were from the Aurora theater shootings, but also from Columbine. For 12 hours, we sat and listened to their unbelievable soul wrenching stories as they recounted their experiences and insurmountable sorrow into a camera. There wasn’t a dry eye in the studio, and at times many of us had to walk away and take a moment to compose ourselves. Its really hard to hear pro-gun activists arguments rationality when you listen to a grandmother explain that she received a call on her birthday at 6am informing her that her granddaughter was murdered by a lunatic and his AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle that had previously been banned under the Assault Weapon Ban that expired in 1995 (Congress didn’t renew the prohibition). Or how a daughter survived a previous mall shooting 6 weeks prior only to be gunned down in a theater minutes after texting her mom telling her how excited she was for her to come and visit. Some of these families are active members in the NRA, but even they understand the completely obvious.
America has a gun problem. People kill people…with guns. It’s that simple. And there are conservative gun enthusiasts who are so afraid of losing their 2nd amendment rights that they are willing to fight tooth and nail to protect their precious guns, even if it means more people dying.
These issues are never black and white but one thing is for certain, there needs to be change. There needs to be REASONABLE gun control laws in place, and we need to pressure our elected officials into making these changes so that families like these don’t have to lose loved ones.
On a side note, the Director, Griffin Dunne was incredibly heartwarming, gentle, and inspiring to work with. His professionalism was only bested by his compassion for the families involved.
This is an project I helped shoot about the Nurse Family Partnership Program that partners nurses with expectant mothers in need of a support system. They focus on how to stay healthy, labor & birth, and child care training.
Production Company: Rehab
Director: Sam Miller
This is a promo spot shot for SAGE of the Rocky Mountains and The Center for their new free health & wellness program designed for Capitol Hill GLBT seniors to help encourage an active lifestyle and foster relationships within their community. Statistically, many older GLBT people are at risk for depression and isolation and this program aims to provide them with a means of keeping fit and establishing positive relationships within their peers. I’m a huge advocate of GLBT rights and I really met a lot of positive and rewarding people through this project. Both SAGE and The Center do so much for our Denver based GLBT community it was an honor to help them spread a positive message for such a great idea.
I recently worked on this commercial spot for Sir Richard’s condoms. TDA/Boulder provided the creative and released this along with posters and a contest on twitter and instagram (enter to win a year supply of condoms by creating your own #VaginaRule). Sam Miller of Onlych1ld directed.
The YouTube count is up to 75,000 and is making its way to blogs such as Huffington Post, The Denver Egotist, and the top 20 list of AdCritic on Creativity-Online.
Client :: Sir Richard’s
Agency :: TDA_BOULDER
CD :: Jonathan Schoenberg
Director :: Sam Miller
DP :: Jason Bach
The Denver Egotist and The Rehab partnered up to produce an ongoing series called “Once” that focuses on intimate, no holds barred honest conversation between a selected creative industry standout and his/her peers. Featuring top level creative leaders in their market for ad agency, graphic design, letterpress, film production, web development or anybody else involved with the inception and successful campaign of an idea. Invite only, alcohol, and dark basements with fight club-esque lighting really made this a unique shoot.
The Rehab asked me to shoot the first live Q&A session and here is the trailer for it. Edited by The Rehab/Sam Miller. You can view more information on the ongoing series here.
Much of my freelance work outside of TPL projects is contracted through production houses in town, such as The Rehab. Check them out, they produce really terrific content for web and broadcast commercial spots.
I work closely with one of their full time Director/DP/Editors, Sam Miller. Great guy and close friend over the years. Has quite the eye for imagery and instinctive skill for directing, and as such has been a tremendous resource for me in this field. From time to time we partner up on side projects for each other, such as this promo shoot for Jessica Grenier Photography that Sam asked me to help shoot.
Jessica is a very talented commercial and lifestyle photographer, as well as a generous person with such a positive attitude towards her life and work that it really reflects in her photography business. This project showcases Jessica with several different clients in a behind the scenes style combining shots from Denver, Sweden, and Denmark.
Director/DP/Editor: Sam Miller
1st AC: Jason Bach
Say Hello to Indie Six: Angela, Amber, Meggen, Jewels, Alicia, & Peggy. These ladies are rock-star hair stylists specializing in color, professional makeup, and even body painting. Edgy with an incredible talent for intense concept art designs, they love to put together an annual calendar showcasing their talents for their clients and fan base. This year I had the pleasure of shooting behind the scenes of them on a few of their calendar setups. Zombies and Mad Max to be precise. This edit was showcased at their calendar release party in Denver, CO at Casselman’s Bar back in December 2010 on their gigantic 13 foot screen as well as on The Denver Egotist website.
Fine art photography for their calendar this year was shot by the talented Jeff Gray (Jewels’ hubby – quite the team).
A while back, I was asked to help participate in an incredibly ambitious project for a Prudential spot helmed by Droga5 agency in NY and Directed by Ringan Ledwidge. Director of Photography for the shoot was Shane Hurlbut of Hurbut Visuals. Shane has been on my radar for quite some time since DPing the latest Terminator: Salvation film and his continuing education on his blog about Canon HDSLRs.
The treatment by Ringan was something that had not been attempted before: exploring a shared moment on the dawn of a new day. The idea was to have over a hundred camera operators film the same identical sunrise as it appears across the United States in one morning spanning a total of 3 hours. This meant having these cameramen spread out over the country in their respective A and B units grabbing the shot. The A cams were feeding their signal via a wireless Teradek cube to a control room LIVE so that Shane and Ringan could oversee the shots in real time. The logistics of this sound insane and are described in more detail on Shane’s blog.
As part of the Denver crew, the shot assigned to me was of the sunrise coming through the glass bridge of the Denver Art Museum in downtown Denver. To keep the shots synced with the same style and color across so many camera units, Shane did a great job of creating a Rules of Engagement list and chatting with all cam ops on the phone prior to the big day. Exposure, white balance, custom picture styles, and other misc settings were laid out in great detail for us.
The exterior of the glass bridge that day was very high contrast due to the sun’s position and the placement of shadows: exposing for the sun as instructed was causing the camera to lose A LOT of detail in the shadows. To compensate, I used Technicolor’s Cinestyle picture profile which really flattens down the image and boosts details in the shadows while preserving exposure for the sun. The main drawback of this picture style is the amount of digital noise introduced into the image – you can only push these cameras so far before they push back. After reviewing the footage, there was an incredible amount of noise, especially in the shadows. I’m guessing there had to be some significant image denoiser filters in post to make it acceptable.
Needless to say, I was able to grab a detailed shot of the bridge right as a bicyclist rode right in front of my camera, perfect for some foreground motion and depth to the scene (I had an actor crossing the street continuously for an hour just in case). Another close up of the bridge with the sun shining through it was used as a secondary shot. Due to the sheer volume of shots that they had to edit through, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw both my shots in both the 30 and 60 second final cuts aired on broadcast. They happen real fast around the :43 mark.
