2009 September » Raji Barbir Photography

First test

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Sep 152009

Ok, remember my last post? No? Short memory you’ve got…

Scroll down. I’ll give you a minute…

Done?

Ok great!

Well here’s my first attempt at shooting the appearance of video using my photo camera!!

Alisha from Raji Barbir on Vimeo.

Not exactly great, but it’s very, VERY exciting for me.

Alisha is a close friend of mine with whom I’ve worked many times. She rules. She needed me to do some photography of her working out, but before we got started, I asked her if it’d be ok to do this so I could see if the concept would actually work.

AND IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m guessing almost everyone reading this is completely unimpressed. But this is HUGE for me.

I’m going to start actively seeking out one female model or actress for an idea I’ve had buzzing around in my head for a music video.

Holy crap!!!

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Sep 142009

Late-night story time!!

Ok, check this out.

I saw this really cool idea by a director on a fellow photographer’s blog to use the camera I have (the Canon 1D MkIII – a photo camera), with its truly staggering 10 frames per second, to produce an entire music video in a stop-motion style. Part of the difficulty in producing the video the way the director intended, was that he wanted to have off-camera, artificial lighting, firing together with the camera.

Now for those of you who are starting to get lost in my story, all cameras do this. All cameras that have a flash are capable of firing simultaneously with the camera.

ONCE.

Try it at 10 frames per second and what happens is that the flash can no longer keep up. The problem lies with the batteries, usually AAs, that run out of continuous juice after just a few shots. After that, you start noticing the flash skipping a frame, then two, then more, until you completely annihilate the batteries.

So the director’s solution was to just get a slew of really expensive battery packs called Profotos – every single one of which is more expensive than the camera itself – and had a giant crew milling around the camera operator, one to wirelessly pull focus, one to hold the light over the band/actors, another to wrangle cables, etc etc.

Giant production.

But it got me thinking… Ever since my house was broken into, I’ve missed having my video camera around. I haven’t replaced it, patiently waiting for Canon to please please, oh please announce a successor to my own camera model because it will, without a doubt, have HD video on it, like all other professional photo cameras coming from Canon and Nikon of late.

No luck on a successor to my model yet, but it’ll get there eventually.

In the meantime though…

Forget making a giant production like what that director did, forget off-camera lighting, forget big crews. I can direct again!

There is however one big problem with photo cameras shooting that fast.

Buffer.

The memory card that I slide into the camera has a limit in keeping up with how fast the camera is trying to capture data. Eventually, the memory card will simply say “busy” and a significant drop in the frame rate will occur.

So to figure out how long I could shoot before my memory card cut me off, I used my iPhone’s stopwatch to time how much “footage” I could capture before the memory card would quit on me.

Roughly 670 images within 46 seconds!

That’s awesome!! The 670 images is impressive, but the 46 seconds of “footage” is very useful. If I’m careful how I shoot, I could easily put together a music video, using natural light (ie. just the camera and nothing else). With a little more planning, I could possibly pull off a kind of “home movie” feel or footage that looks like stuff that was shot in the early days of film.

I don’t know if this is sinking in for any of my readers out there, but it’s blown me away. I was tired at 11pm and it’s now 1:30am and I’m bursting with ideas.

And speaking of how late it is, I didn’t pay attention to what I said until just now.

If my camera shoots 10 frames per second, and I shot for 46 seconds, why wouldn’t I have ended up with 460 pictures? Why 670? Probably user error, but it’s late and I do need sleep.

Most of August

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Sep 132009

Here’s most of August that I’ve been depriving you of.

Day 208/365

From Dustin & Cassie’s wedding. This was at the golf course in the morning before the wedding. We got kicked out of there… The place even called the cops on us!! I tell ya, it’s gonna be hard for any couple to beat the excitement of getting the cops called on us on the wedding day!

In fact, I’d like to ask that you please don’t make your wedding more exciting than that.

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Then, true story, I went to the Great Clips to shoot pictures of the bride getting her hair done and got kicked out of there too!

Then I fell in a river in the amazon forest and a bunch of pirhanas ate my foot and half my chest. I look really interesting now.

Day 209/365

A headshot for a terrific actress and a personal friend of mine, Joylynne.

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Day 210/365

Megan bridal shoot

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Day 211/365

Marianne actually thinks showing THIS picture of her will hurt my wedding portfolio…

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Day 212/365

My promos before they went out. (iPhone photo)

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Day 213/365

The piano is in my basement now! Seems like I’m gradually moving all of my house down in my basement… Why don’t I live in an apartment? (iPhone photo)

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Day 214/365

The uhh… The bride had a bigger piece of cake… Wouldn’t you agree?

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Day 215/365

Although the groom looks deeply concerned for his new wife, they actually had a lot of fun on that trampoline.

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Day 216/365

I LOOOOOOVE this picture!!!! I’m fascinated with celloists and violinists at weddings. I’m seriously considering hanging it up somewhere.

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Day 217/365

Swinging (iPhone photo)

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Day 218/365

The neighborhood on my way to the mailbox… I was really lazy with that shot… (iPhone photo)

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Day 219/365

Utah Business Magazine shoot

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Day 220/365

Amanda’s bridal shoot

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Day 221/365

Amy gets a few extra words from me.

I loved working with Amy. Her optimism and enthusiasm was unstoppable, contageous and inspiring.

All weddings experience hiccups. All of them. If you’re reading this and you’re getting married soon and thinking “Not mine!”, then my answer is, “Yes, yours too.” It’s just how it is. So since hiccups are inevitable, the question becomes about how you respond to those hiccups.

Amy’s wedding was no different. Her wedding day was almost moved to 9/11. Not exactly a bride’s first choice. Then on the wedding day, the best man couldn’t make it.

Amy responded to every hiccup throughout the day, big or small, with grace, patience, endless optimism and a smile on her face.

So yeah, I loved working with Amy. That second shot of her will tell you everything you need to know about her vibrant and endlessly optimistic personality.

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Day 222/365

After a long-ish stretch of work, I decided to treat myself to Lewis Black’s excellent comedy in Wendover. The show was hilarious. I always wished I could have seen Carlin in Vegas before he died earlier this year. I didn’t want to repeat the same mistake with Lewis Black. (iPhone photo)

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Day 223/365

Robby & Jessica

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Day 224/365

I have a fascination with wires and skies (iPhone photo)

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Day 225/365

I printed this 11×14 of a shot that I’d taken with my iPhone (iPhone photo – yes, that means it’s an iPhone photo of an iPhone photo)

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Day 226/365

I took a very long walk that night (iPhone photo)

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Day 227/365

For giving me the green card after such a long and difficult struggle, I gave back to my immigration attorney by doing a free model-style shoot of his beautiful daughter.

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First test

Holy crap!!!

Raji Barbir Photography

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