I’m not entirely confident that this will work as the results are incredibly unpredictable and difficult to control. At least the way I’m doing things, I can’t entirely control my outcome. I seem to mostly end up with some happy accidents.

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, the technique I’m referring to is pretty spartan; you dab some Vaseline on the lens filter (NEVER put it directly on your lens!) and then smear it around to get the desired effect.

I’ve mostly seen this on landscapes to create a kind of impressionist feel to the image, but I’m a much bigger fan of people, so I wanna shoot models with the technique.

Here are the results using my awesome friends Brittany, Lexi and Sasha as my test subjects:

But before you hit the play button below, please… PLEASE read the following…

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch this thing on a laptop with no speakers attached!!!

I worked relentlessly to perfect the soundtrack to the film and it would destroy me to find out that anyone would accept watching this on a system that barely lets you hear anything. You have to experience the rich sound of the violins and the bone-shaking power of the bass. You just do. So yes, turn the volume up!

Another note. The video link you’re about to watch can be seen in HD, so if your internet connection is fast enough, please watch it that way (click on the HD icon, then click on the link to Vimeo’s site to watch it in HD there).

Ok…

Ready?…

Go!!!!

Every Day the Same from Raji Barbir on Vimeo.

And here’s the music all on its own if you want to come back and enjoy it by itself:

Part 1:

Part 2:

A little background to the film.

I came up with the idea for the film about a year and a half ago, with the hugely talented Sasha Zoumadakis in mind. I imagined a woman, leaning against the window of a train, hardly looking out, peacefully happy to go home.

But as I suddenly found myself in a position to actually shoot the film, I felt the need to flesh it out beyond just filming a woman going home. And before I knew it, it turned into a film about the crushing and seemingly meaningless repetition of life.

I know… Not exactly the happiest concept…

But for me, “Every Day the Same” now stands almost as a reflection on my personal experience in times like these and hopefully something you, my dear audience, can relate to:

No longer seeing the point, but with no other options, continuing with life in autopilot.

I hope you enjoy it.

The camera’s video mode doesn’t have any kind of auto-focus to help you, but sometimes, missing focus makes the shot look gorgeous. This was one of those shots.

I love this shot because we were asked to stop filming by one of the Starbucks employees just moments before. Nobody had a clue that I kept shooting anyway! hahaha

I love this angle. There’s a strange but beautiful voyeuristic quality about it.

I’ve never seen anyone so sad about having to go to work! Sasha is a brilliant actress, I was lucky to have been able to work with her.

Ok, THIS is what I mean about the camera’s video capabilities. This was 100% IMPOSSIBLE on my old camera. Remember the one? It was stolen last year. Good! Blessing in disguise! But just look at this shot! Only her right eye is in focus. Even her LIPS are in soft focus!

Just because I wanted to have a shot somewhere that had ridiculously shallow depth of field.

Ahhhh going home and lookin’ fabulous!

This was THE image that captivated me almost two years ago when I came up with the concept for the film. It’s good to finally see it on screen and alive.

Another place we weren’t supposed to shoot. Kohl’s. Sasha and I laid out exactly what we needed to do before going in and were fully expecting to get kicked out. We didn’t, but we were in and out within about 40 seconds. By the time anyone had a clue, we were already outside and saying goodbye. Another huge advantage to the camera. It’s small enough a video camera not to attract any attention to itself. My old one was big enough to have gotten us kicked out before hitting record.

Another “I wanna show off how cool shallow depth of field in a movie looks” shot. Although with this shot I did also want to emphasize the moment she really gets home. Like “It’s official! The keys are up, world! Leave me alone!”

Pretty. She had a real conversation with a friend.

Sasha once again flexing her acting muscles. Seriously. Not having any other actors to feed off of throughout an entire project is very, VERY difficult to do convincingly.

Posted something similar a while back on my Facebook account. I just love the way the windows’ light flared in the camera.

On with the show:

Day 89/365

Natasha and I scouted some locations prior to a model shoot. We found an awesome little abandoned location in downtown Salt Lake. Here’s my favorite shot:

And then the model, Katerina. You may remember her from last month’s Salt Flats shoot:

Day 90/365

I was the designated photographer for our Easter family party:

Day 91/365

This is a really easy-to-make middle-eastern specialty called mana-eesh. I’m not sure that you’d spell it like that in english, but phonetically at least, it’s correct. Anyway, me likey the mana-eesh:

Day 92/365

This is my personal favorite sample wedding album. It’s an 8×8″. I just ordered a 12×12″ silk album about a week ago and I’m looking forward to showing that off to clients when it gets here.

Day 93/365

Sasha is a truly, truly terrific actress. I’m not just saying this; I know this for a fact. I’ve seen her in action at the local Actor’s Lounge which I used to have time to attend pretty regularly. Sasha impressed me so much from just the few scenes I’ve seen her perform, that I knew almost right away that I wanted her to have the biggest supporting role in an upcoming project I had cooking. That is, “upcoming” until my camera was stolen recently…

By the way, you might not believe it from seeing that third picture especially, but it was pouring down that day. Very ugly day to be shooting, but I tried to make it look and feel like summer.

Day 94/365

I really need to clean out my window well. I saw a mouse scurrying around using the tumbleweeds that got trapped in there as a means to get to the bottom of the well and back out.

Now, the normal reaction would be “ewww!!”, while my reaction was “Oooo!!”

In fact, I was on the phone with my realtor when I noticed the mouse, emails kept pouring in from other sources, chat windows kept flashing, my facebook kept popping up with new messages, and all I could think of was “I’m gonna need to switch lenses to get a half-decent shot.”

Day 95/365

Seems like a lazy shot to take, but I’ve been making a big marketing push for rajibarbir.com. Among other things I’ve been doing, I’m now listed on AltPick. In any case, I’ve been staring at that screen a lot lately.