It’s a question that has come up a lot. I remember the first time I told Steve I was going, and he just looked at me, raised his eyebrows, shook his head and said, “whatever you need to do Brones.”
Going to Afghanistan is no small decision. It’s a calculated one. I was asked to head to Afghanistan at the end of October with Mountain2Mountain to help produce the Streets of Afghanistan exhibit, an offer I couldn’t turn down. It’s not the first place people most people would choose to travel, but thankfully, five public photo exhibits in and around Kabul went off without a hitch.
Upon return, it’s been hard to sum up the experience in only a handful of words. Afghanistan is many things. A conflict zone, a place of violence. It’s also beautiful, mountainous, and the sunsets seen through the dusty haze are some of the prettiest I have experienced. There are welcoming people ready to help you and invite you into their homes. It’s a place peppered with gems of inspiration in the midst of destruction. A conflict zone is not a cultural dead zone, in fact, it’s almost a blank canvas, ready for the birth of creativity. Supporting that creativity is supporting a flourishing society.
As winter closes in, we’re dreaming of warmer days… Over the summer we produced a series of promotional videos for River Drifters, one of the oldest and most experienced whitewater rafting companies in Oregon and Washington. We took an energetic team of friends and paddlers out on the Clackamas, Deschutes and White Salmon rivers for three days of rafting, bringing an octocopter and slow motion capable cameras along the way. Here’s a behind the scenes peak…
In October we wrapped up our work for Crimson Trace, the leading purveyor of laser sights and laser grips for a variety of guns. Different from our usual topics of work, we spent a week in Arizona at a nationally recognized training facility called Gunsite, learning the ins and outs of technical shooting.
For our own time-lapse, stills and video- we wanted to know whether the brand new 1Dx or 5D3 is the best Canon night shooting DSLR. Surprisingly, there’s just about no information around online or elsewhere to clear up this question in regards to High ISO comparison at the extreme levels we use in “Shooting the Stars.” Yes, this is a narrow question considering just how much else the cameras can do- but this one aspect has big implications for our work involving the night sky. We love being out under the stars and want to continue in capturing that experience, so knowing which camera handles High ISO’s the best will directly influence what we bring or rent on our next trip out. Considering the massive price gap between the two models (1Dx $6,800 – 5D3 $3,350) we thought many of you would be curious about this issue also. With some of our gear and help from our local camera store, Pro Photo Supply we got a 1Dx and 5D3 and also the older 5D2 and 1D4 to go out and take actual star pictures to try and settle this. It was important to us to show the 5D2 and 1D4 to give samples of what HAS been possible in night photography compared to what is NOW possible. Apologies to the Nikon crowd, we don’t mean to be discriminating, but we work on the Canon platform, so for this round, we only tested Canon equipment. **Update- looks like we’ll be testing a D4 vs 1Dx later this month**
[Sidenote- all of this equipment can be bought at your local camera store- but, if you want to try out "Shooting Stars" yourself at a very affordable rate and with the newest models we recommend you consider renting it. For any Portlanders- we love Pro Photo Supply; but for those out of town, Borrowlenses.com has great rates and service. You can find the 1Dx , 5D3 and our test lens- the 14mm f/2.8 L at those links. After three years of shooting stars- I highly recommend using rental services to experiment with top level gear in this tech-heavy and high-priced niche of photography.]
Uncage the Soul Productions spent a few months traveling across the National Forest in Oregon and Washington to showcase the diverse and spectacular locations we all have access to on our public lands. We love rediscovering our own backyard and found some new hidden gems too. As summer kicks in here in the Pacific Northwest, we hope that you will find some inspiration here to grab a map, find that place you have always wanted to check out, and go exploring!
Find out more about the locations in this video HERE.
This Behind the Scenes takes a look at the locations and techniques that made this video possible.
Earlier this year we set out to Fiji to produce several promotional videos and a mini documentary for all-inclusive private resort Turtle Island. After several months of post production we released our work at Living Room Theaters in Portland, Oregon to a full and Turtle Island loving crowd. Here’s our featured promotional videos for Turtle Island Resort.
We had a blast with the crew from Turtle Island sharing this tropical island with our collective group of friends. Here’s some photos from the party.
What does it take to succeed on such an expedition? We broke it down by numbers.
Days: 9
Cameras: 4
GoPros: 3
Fully loaded Pelican cases: 4
Percentage of batteries for two cameras snatched by the TSA: 90
Sea plane transfers: 2
Photographs taken: 67,000+
Number of frogs accidentally run over while driving a golf cart in the middle of the night: 500
Months to edit: 2
Crab attacks of a GoPro: 1
Gallons of sweat lost while filming: 8
Cups of kava drank: 40+
Jeff Corwin interviews: 20
This behind the scenes of the Making of Turtle Island reveals the adventurous, and not-so-glamorous moments of their work.
This past weekend at the TEDx Portland conference, we screened “Finding Portland,” to a sell-out crowd of 650 people.
Filmed in Portland and the Columbia Gorge, “Finding Portland” gives a new perspective to the City of Roses. From a season opening Portland Timbers soccer game, to the top of the Fremont Bridge, to an aerial shot of Oneonta Gorge, “Finding Portland” tells the story of a city and its many faces.
Comprised of over 300,000 photographs shot in March and April, and including 50 unique locations, it gives an intimate view of the city through cutting edge time-lapse techniques. We’re excited to share it, and some behind-the-scenes photos, with you right here!
After the success of Finding Oregon, we were asked to put together a similar short timelapse feature for TEDx Portland. We found that the conference’s theme of Unchartered Territory fit perfectly with producing a new kind of video about Portland. We have scaled bridges, gotten up early to capture sunrises, cheered at Timbers games, and covered every corner of this city to end up with a final product that will represent our best efforts to showcase the place we call home. Along with expanding into new physical frontiers within the city, we have pushed beyond our own creative limits in thinking about how to feature those iconic Portland landmarks and experiences in ways that have never before been seen. Finding Portland will be unveiled at the TEDx Portland conference on April 21 and look for it online shortly after.
Here’s a short video we put together from our coverage of the Portland Timber’s season opening game.
Earlier this year we set out to Fiji to produce several promotional videos and a mini documentary for all-inclusive private resort Turtle Island. We traveled over 5,700 miles to get to this exotic destination that boasts awe-inspiring sunsets and warm weather cocktails. What does it take to succeed on such an expedition? We broke it down by numbers.
