On the Road Again

There's a good reason why it's been so quiet on my end these past seven weeks. 2024 was looking to be one of the worst years I've had in terms of work and finances, but luckily several jobs made it my way and helped put me back on track.

Starting that first week of August, I spent one day in Bentonville and two weeks in Orlando on a shoot with Walmart via Vista Productions. The last week of August I was in Indiana on a project with a scientific instrument company and working with clients from Boston and Quebec. The following week I was back in Bentonville with Vista, this time shooting content for a Sam's Club event.

Thankfully I've got a few more weeks of work booked and a couple other potential jobs on the horizon. There are also a few days in NYC for a Filmsupply event and the yearly NYC NAB show.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't considering other career options the past couple of years. It's been a weird time in this industry and long gone are those bloated pandemic-era production budgets and streamers trying to outspend each other in creating new content. Crazy thanks to the clients and connections recently that've gotten this freelancer back to work.

VICE's Queer Sports: International Gay Rodeo Association

Oh man, I've been waiting for this one to come out for what feels like forever. Getting to work on this piece rocked my world in all the best ways. Back in late October 2022, I got to cam op a couple days on this nonsense just outside the Oklahoma City area.

Rodeos are very much a part of growing up in my part of the world. My parents owned and ran a feed store about an hour south of Dallas when I was born. My mom taught in small country schools where elementary students had dip can rings worn into their back pockets. My dad has stories of being a rodeo clown. Had my parents not trekked back to the Oklahoma City area not long after I was born, I'm certain I'd have grown up much differently.

This thing though. This International Gay Rodeo Association experience last fall fought back against a load of the stereotypes surrounding the world of rodeo and conservative America. I'm glad they're doing great things.

Client: VICE News
Director: Alex Smith
DP: McKinleigh Lair
Camera Op: Tanner Herriott
Sound: Kelly Hallmark
PA: Whitney Goodwin

Digital Bread Crumbs

I'm supposed to be studying for another exam right now, but my head is still mushy after a nearly three hour midterm earlier this afternoon. So instead I'll ramble on about how these last few months have been a blur with me still trying to balance work, family, and grad school responsibilities.

There was a trip out to Indiana a few weeks ago where I ate a tiny octopus, lost another fancy pen, and chased high school theater kids around. Then a few days dodging weather delays and scheduling issues with a good crew and a camera package I mostly enjoyed. Out in Connecticut I ate well and closed the rings on my Apple Watch each day before 10a while working with a bunch of younger student athletes. Don't forget that other shoot with the Cherokee Nation and their rad XR studio out in NE Oklahoma before that quick trip out to Shreveport so I wouldn't miss our younger monster's birthday again. I believe there was a film festival and an U.S. military air show in there somewhere too, but I was much younger then.

I have these photos on my phone that act like a trail of bread crumbs to remind me of where I've been lately. Forget actually trying to make something interesting looking, I'm just trying to remember what happened.

What's kinda wild is that my bread crumb photos have all sorta started looking the same. I wear the same blue collared shirt when I'm traveling by plane to a job and airports for the most part all kinda have the same look and feel. Then there's the black collared shirts I'll wear on set in trying to look like an adult. Well, unless I know I'll be working mostly outside and then it's the safari outfit with the green bandana to subtly let others know I'm down for women making their own decisions. Then there's the "Where'd I park?" and "I should take a photo of this lighting setup so I can remember what we did" set of photos. Not too long ago I'd mentioned something to St. Anne the Wife about how normal it is in this line of work to be picked up from the airport by complete strangers, work with them like crazy for a few days, and then peace out at the end of the job never knowing if you'll ever see them again.

I know too I wrapped up a couple more MBA classes around the end of June, then jumped straight into two more. During the summer semester we've had each of those eight week classes essentially crammed into two, five-week periods. I keep telling myself (and the wife and kids) that this short-ish 18 month period of doing my MBA won't last forever and will be crazy helpful in the long run.

In time, things will calm down and I'm sure I'll be bored out of my mind along with thinking I'll never work again. At least during this round of crazy busy I'm not fighting off "stress induced physical pain."

Busy enough

Well dang... It's been six weeks since the last blog post. During that time I had a trip out to Denver with the OU MBA program, two work trips out to Bentonville, AR, another work trip out to Springfield, MO, and a crap ton of grad school work to plow through. It's been busy to say the least. Like, "stress induced physical pain" levels of busy. As always, crazy thanks to Saint Anne the Wife for putting up with my nonsense and keep our two housefires from burning the place down while I've been so busy and traveling .

This last week I had my final exams in both my Managerial Economics and Business Law & Ethics classes. I've not seen my final grades yet, but I'm confident I landed an A in my economics class and goodness knows what I got in that legal class. I'd applied to law school years ago, but decided against going. Still pretty sure I made the right decision, especially now after going through these last seven weeks. Still, there's plenty I picked up in that business law & ethics class considering the nearly 80 pages of handwritten notes and the 19 page study guide I'd put together in studying for that final.

Work-wise I got connected to a true crime show that kept me crazy busy. It's been a two camera shoot on Sony cameras (FS7s and/or FX9s) as well as a couple drone days on my Mavic 3. As much as I'm not a fan of Sony cameras and their dumpster fire of a menu, those FX9s are kinda growing on me; those FS7s can go straight to hell.

I picked up a couple used Hive Hornet 200-Cs LED lights that were on sale and I'm for sure a fan. I'm diggin' being able to control the color and intensity of my Titan tubes and now these 200-Cs with my iPhone. As much as I love the Hives, I've had some issues with the units shifting colors while I'm using the app, but so far I'm blaming user error. I'd love to pick up one of their Super Hornet 575-Cs, but that's crazy money. I also got introduced to some 3d printed gold mount plate covers that were super interesting. Can't say I'm rusing out to pick up a couple of my own, but the possibilities are interesting.

Another gem from the last few weeks was landing short-term drone insurance through Skywatch.ai. My current production insurance won't even consider covering drones, but I was able to pick up a month's worth of covereage for a client shoot for about $62. Not bad.

That trip out to Denver with the OU MBA program was an opportunity to meet with a couple businesses out in that part of the world as well as a chance to spend some time with fellow OU MBA students. We got a VIP tour of the Coors Brewery out in Golden, CO, plus we got to meet with a consulting firm and a few other OU MBA alums who're killing it in the business and finance world. I'm still hoping to use my MBA to better understand the business end of the work I get to do, but hot damn it's been worthwhile getting to be a fly on the wall in other industries and expand my business worldview.

I'm still hoping to write up some blog posts anchored in what I've been studying in these graduate business courses. My Managerial Economics class had me studying different pricing models and that has all kinds of implications to day rates and equipment rentals. My law class had an entire section on contract law that I actually used with a client in the last couple weeks and saved myself from losing a good deal of money. I've also been digging into artificial intelligence via ChatGPT, but that's something else entirely. Here's part of a ChatGPT response I got recently regarding cinematographer rates:

"...As an AI language model, I cannot provide a specific or exact figure on how much you should charge documentary clients for a full day of camera work since this can vary depending on various factors, such as your level of experience, the location of the shoot, the equipment needed, and the specific requirements of the client. However, there are some general guidelines that you can consider when determining your rate. The first step is to research the standard rates for cinematographers in your area and for the type of work you will be doing. You can look at industry associations, online resources, or ask colleagues in your field. Next, you should consider your level of experience, your qualifications, and the type of equipment you will be using. Generally, more experienced cinematographers can charge higher rates than those who are just starting out, and the type of equipment you use can also affect your rate. You may also want to consider the scope of the project and the expected length of time it will take to complete. Some clients may require additional services, such as post-production editing, which can also affect your rate. Ultimately, the most important thing is to determine a fair rate that takes into account all of these factors and ensures that you are being compensated appropriately for your time, expertise, and equipment. You can also negotiate with the client to find a mutually acceptable rate." - ChatGPT

My Filmsupply sales have absolutely tanked these last few months. I'd gotten spoiled with those licensing fees covering my monthly overhead and then some. I can't say for certain what's causing the decline, but I'm assuming it's related to rising interest rates eating into advertising budgets, where we are currently in the U.S. election cycle, the scope of my stock footage portfolio, and the world being on this side of Covid. That said, one of my clips was in a recent Joe Biden spot – now my third stock footage placement in a U.S. presidential election. It's a follow shot from a manufacturing plant and about 30 seconds in.

The Opposite of a Cakewalk

Well, it's been a bit again – and that's totally fine by the way. The last few weeks have been a freakin' whirlwind.

I finished out the first module of my MBA with an A in both my Financial Accounting and Quantitative Analysis classes. Let me rephrase that: I earned those two As considering I was studying 30-40 hours a week in addition to my work and family responsibilities. The graduate work I'd done back in 2005-06 was an absolute cakewalk compared to what I went through these last eight weeks. We've already started our second module for the semester, and I'm taking classes in Financial Management and Leadership. Soon enough I'll start sharing what I'm learning in those classes, but considering how little time I have at the moment, I'll just leave you with a couple quotes I've already read for my leadership class:

"The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook." - William James

"When you say everything is a high priority, then nothing is a high priority. It really indicates that you're unwilling or unable to make a decision, which means you won't get anything done." - John Maxwell

During the tail end of finals week I was over in Amsterdam meeting with and interviewing the incredibly kind people behind Royal Posthumus. I'd mentioned it in an earlier post, but their story plays a large roll in my rubber stamp documentary. I'd been wanting to connect with them in person for what feels like forever at this point and I'm stoked it finally happened. I'll save the storyline details for the film, but I'm actually hoping to share some of the logistical experiences I went through in making that nonsense happen and what I learned.

While I've travelled alone internationally before, I've always met up with American crews on site and had producers and directors who were the "adults in the room." I'd not had to hire out and pay foreign crew in local currencies, deal with the whole Carnet thing, plus a notebook full of other things. Beyond that, there's the whole thing of me being up way too late studying and taking one of my MBA finals in a European hotel room and having to figure out how to keep my computer charged using my rental car's USB-c port because I'd accidentally left my charger at home.

There's also those other shoots I could talk about since my last post – Life.Church and Habitat for Humanity shoots here in Oklahoma City and that last minute job out in Kansas City, MO – but you'll just have to trust me and a few iPhone photos without context to prove I've been working my tail off lately.

I Blame the Leadership

Finally finished up this two week documentary shoot in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Well, Broken Arrow to be exact. We were working 12 hour days, six days a week. The timecards I'd filled out had us working something near 70 hours each week. Thank goodness for direct deposit and clients actually paying in a timely manner.

We're not supposed to share project details at this point, but I'll go out of my way to mention how great an experience it was. We absolutely got worked like dogs, but from my perspective, I felt like the leadership and production teams went out of their way to try and make us feel supported and empowered to do out best work. Treating production crew well shouldn't be the exception. I can't say enough about how rare that is in my professional experience.

I've been on these types of longer, intense documentary jobs in the past and in the days leading up to this one I was overly anxious due to countless bad experiences. Making this kind of creative nonsense is incredibly resource intensive and I can't tell you how often I'm on jobs with clients and producers who seem to go out of their way to cut corners. I'd only had a few phone calls and emails with my direct supervisor and I'd never heard of the rest of the crew.

On our prep day before the shoot, I literally cried seeing the mountain of gear cases that'd come in from a well known New York rental house. The leadership actually built in the time we needed – and paid us our full-rate – to build out our camera packages and trouble shoot the inevitable hiccups that come with that amount of gear. By the end of the two week show, we had nine cameras all sending video feeds to multiple locations on set in addition to the sound and story teams. Dealing with that amount nonsense plus everything else isn't something that just happens on its own.

There were some major take aways from this project. First, it seems like everyone on set already had some solid production experience and brought that expertise with them. I blame the leadership for putting a solid crew together. Second, we all seemed to connect and work well together, like we all were all working towards a similar goal. Again, I blame the leadership. They made the hiring decisions and brought in crew from all over the country (NYC, LA, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Dallas, OKC/Tulsa, etc.). Third, there was also a strategic move – in my opinion – in bringing us in early and doing a big meal before the shoot. There were like 24-30 of us crashing a fancy Italian place in Tulsa and they spent a good deal of money on that meal, but that early time together gave us a chance to connect before we were thrown into the fire. We lost a few crew members during two week shoot due to Covid infections and other commitments, but I honestly think that initial crew meal was key in setting the tone. Some of the team already knew each other, but most of us were new and barely knew anyone. Throughout the rest of the show, we went out of our way to spend time together outside of the 12-14 hour work days.

Again, treating production crew well shouldn't be the exception. At one point we mutinied against the catering brought in for our daily production meals. There were also some communication hiccups along the way, but we all worked together to figure things out and do the thing. At the end of the show and after I'd taken off my EasyRig and walkie-talkie for the last time, I cried as I walked to my car and drove back to the hotel knowing it was the last time I'd be working with this specific team of people. Again, I point to the leadership for making this such a good experience, worts and all.

No clue when the documentary project will come out, but I'll keep you in the loop.

 

UPDATED Feb. 2024

Did want to toss out a bit of an update with this here blog post. The actual film has yet to come out, but in the course of my MBA I've now had multiple classes cover this TED Talk from Margaret Heffernan: "Why it's Time to Forget the Pecking Order at Work."

Via the video's YouTube description:

Organizations are often run according to “the superchicken model,” where the value is placed on star employees who outperform others. And yet, this isn’t what drives the most high-achieving teams. Business leader Margaret Heffernan observes that it is social cohesion — built every coffee break, every time one team member asks another for help — that leads over time to great results. It's a radical rethink of what drives us to do our best work, and what it means to be a leader. Because as Heffernan points out: “Companies don’t have ideas. Only people do.”

Each time I've seen this video I can't help but think about this Summer 2022 documentary team and how the leadership intentionally built in time for us as crew members to connect. It's tough to accomplish that on the typically short freelance jobs I'm on where we're usually on set for only a day, maybe two or three at most. Given the chance though, it's in the leadership's best interest to adopt this kind of mindset.

Rip Van Winkle'd

Dang... I Rip Van Winkle'd this blog for a solid chunk of the summer. Last thing I remember was talking about a DIY case and then somehow slipped out this website. It's not like I've "not been doing the things." Freakin' far from it. That's probably what happened. That mysterious "work" came around and brought it's bill-paying elixir, only to have me fall asleep on trying to keep to healthy writing habits. Still got that 'ol Moleskine notebook habit going though. There's plenty in there from the last bit...

A quick recap on what's happened the last two months:

  • I've been back and forth to NYC twice now: once for work; another with fam (and more work).
  • There was that one day shoot at the Oklahoma State Capitol about a bounty (alive, preferably) on an Oklahoman Bigfoot. You'll notice I tried my best to dodge the news cameras.
  • Then there was a solid weeklong project with me cam op'ing on a network pilot shooting here in Oklahoma City; bulletproof vests and minivans were absolutely involved. Thank goodness for EasyRigs being stronger than 12 hour days and a full-kitted out Amira with cine zooms.
  • Finally another weeklong shoot full of 12+ hour days, but this time as a still photographer sweating my tail off in the heat on a feature shooting up in Guthrie, OK. I legit shot and had to cull through something like 10,000+ still images from the week.

With all that going, I've still kept at it with my rubber stamp doc. I'm three interviews deep at this point and sitting on about 1.4tb of footage. I'm actually heading out Tuesday for a cross-country trip to a rubber stamp convention in Washington, D.C. at the end of the week with the National Park Travelers Club. The drive should take about two days each way, so you'd better believe I'll be picking up some new stamps along the way. I've also super stoked about landing an interview with a guy out in Knoxville, TN, to talk about his world of rubber stamps and the mail art projects he's been part of over the years.

Back (-ish) on Set

This past week made for my first legit dip back into our coronavirus infected production world. I'll leave the project and client details to your imagination because the important thing was that I was actually working on a set again with people who aren't my immediate family.

It was a typical talking head interview shoot, but this one was run by three remote producers on the other side of the country via an iPhone Zoom call. We filmed the two camera interview at the talent's house and there were three of us on set (talent, camera, audio). The talent's spouse stayed in another room the duration of our time there. Audio had their own equipment and the camera gear was shipped in via the production company.

With the basics out of the way, here are the main takeaways:

  • Good Lord it was exhilarating to be working again.
  • Give yourself even more time to setup than you think you'll need.

Obviously safety for everyone was a priority. Production sent out a Covid questionnaire, required a temperature check before arriving on set, and provided surgical masks and rubber gloves.

It's been a minute since hulking around heavy equipment cases and though I'm absolutely "Team Mask," that surgical mask wasn't as generous in helping me catch my breath after a couple flights of stairs as I'd hoped. Turns out too that gaffe tape isn't super friendly to thin rubber gloves. I shredded two pair of the client provided hand condoms in the first ten minutes of setup before tapping my own supply. I'm still working through a box of medium duty gloves my parents shipped us a few months ago.

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I mention the whole "give-yourself-even-more-time-than-you-think-you-need" bit because the camera setups had to be approved by the remote producers. After deciding on the better of two rooms in the house via iPhone pics, we did the whole video chat thing in setting up the camera positions along with sending stills of the camera monitor. No question a slower process than I'd expected and we went through a multiple rounds of revisions before settling in for the interview.

Though there were only three of us, I absolutely know how unusual/unnatural it's going to be to not crowd around a camera monitor like we've always done. I was the one getting notes, reference images, and updates on my iPhone from the producers during setup and had to politely remind the other two in the room about not standing over my shoulder to try and read off my phone. No question those responsible for running a set will need to modify how they communicate and coordinate with the people they're working with (and yes I ended that sentence and this post with a preposition).

Did I mention it was freakin' fantastic to get back on a working set?

Catastrophic Bingo

It's cool to say that things feel out of control at the moment, right? Like, I'm pretty sure we're one asteroid the size of Texas speeding towards the Earth shy of a completely catastrophic bingo.

There's the coronavirus and its quest to kill us all. We heard about the confirmed case in Manhattan this morning and you'd better believe I was more aware of my surroundings riding the subway this morning. The stock market had and incredibly rough week — the worst since the financial crisis. And just this morning I had two solid travel jobs (international & domestic) scheduled for the end of this month postponed due to this hot mess.

There's also craziness and inescapability of the presidential election, tax season, and being a parent to a two year old. I honestly wish I could just head west and hide in the desert for a few days. By all means I'd take Saint Anne the Wife with me; I guess the boys should come with us too. And Clara the Dog. And we'd need clean underwear, diapers, and food. And dog food. We'd need water too. And honestly my notebook and pen. I guess the boys would probably need something to do as well. Ugh... We should probably just stay in New York. I don't want to take all that nonsense to the desert.

But reality and responsibility remind me that I've got edits and taxes and rent and childcare payments – for next year – due and I'd better get back to work. But I also need to run to Target because we're out of Q-tips, Cherrios, and Elliot needs new toothpaste. And then I've got a lunchtime coffee with a buddy. Oh, and I'm supposed to schedule a bunch of other stuff. Thank goodness I've already filed my corporate taxes – and by that I mean my CPA is the best and I learned my lesson last year that those taxes are due in March, not April.

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Again, crazy thankful that I've been busy the last few months. I'm dumb deep into the edit of three short doc pieces for a shoot back in January that are taking way too long to cut. I've also been on three different sets the last couple weeks, one of which had me absolutely falling in love with the way a DP buddy of mine, Jeremy McDaniel, lit an interview – surely parabolic sources are now yesterday's book lights. Oh, and seeing another DP friend of mine, Peter Fackler, light another interview on a white cyc and actually use his light meter was a treat.

But seriously though, hiding out in the desert with no contact to the rest of the world for a few weeks would be nice.

LSU with HSC.tv

Normally the first part of the year is dreadfully slow, but thankfully January is looking to be a busy month. This past week I spent a couple days in Baton Rouge, LA with HSC.tv shooting an interview for the 2020 College Football National Championship.

HSC had two crews shooting different content at the same time at the LSU football practice facility. The main crew was shooting multiple interviews in the LSU Football Trophy room while we were covering an interview with ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit and LSU's Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Joe Burrow. Pretty sure we all flew with a carry-on of HSC gear (camera bodies & batteries) plus something like 18 checked bags.

We shot the interview with two Arri Amiras, a Mini on a Movi setup, and the reverse angle was on a Panasonic EVA. Not sure of the lights we used, but they were HSC's and the local gaffer and key grip were great. Originally we were supposed to only have 30 minutes total with Joe Burrow and needed to shoot the interview, a walk and talk down a hallway, and footage of the two talking and playing catch on the indoor practice field. Our main DP, Brian (TwZ) Brousseau, had us set our color temps to the lighting on practice field and then gel our main HMI light for the interview to match the color. Pretty sure that was the first time I'd gone that route and it worked out great. We ended up getting a bit more time, but I'm crazy glad we planned and rehearsed ahead of time to find and work out potential problems ahead of time.

We did have an issue getting enough exposure in the interview without going above 800 ISO on the Amira and Canon 17-120mm lens pair. The lens for the wide shot was able to open up to T2.95, but the lens ramps up to a T3.9 and we were at the end of the zoom for the tight shot. We were maxed out on the light output to begin with considering how high it had to be in order to not be in the reverse shot. Then we lost more output considering the gels we used to match the color temperature in the practice facility. We were able to dial in the setup to get the exposure we needed then had to add a black wrap scoop at the bottom of the light so we'd not blow out the seats directly in front of our interview.

It's always crazy to me how many views these projects get. By the time this post goes up this video will already have had nearly 106k views. Absolutely grateful I got to be a very small part of it.