artisan wedding videos by studio msv

This is Why I Love What I Do

In tomorrow's post on the Re:Frame Blog where I'm interviewed about my work and my business, I talk about how the liking the people you work is AT LEAST just as important as liking the work that you do.

Well, here is a photographic personification of why I love what I do.

Although I would have loved to be home with family on July 4th, American Independence Day, I was, instead, shooting a wedding in Sonoma wine country at the Chateau St. Jean winery. But I didn't feel sorry for myself at any point during the 12 hours that I worked that day because I loved my co-workers. Pictured above, left to right, Skog, Maria, me, Robbie, Alex, and Mauricio.

We had a great time laughing together, bantering with one another, colaborating and inspiring each other.

What's even crazier is that the bride, the lovely Tami, is good friends with my brother! They were in a production or Miss Saigon together. My brother was the one that made the connection a few months ago and it was really cool to see him as a guest at the wedding.

(What's even crazier than that is that my high school friends were also guests at the wedding. One of them was a bridesmaid. Crazy coincidences! )

Needless to say, for many reasons, I love working with my friends on wedding gigs and that makes me happy. (And happy vendors make for better products and services!)

Behind the Scenes, Bently Reserve Wedding

Here's a photo of me working with my peeps this past Saturday. Pictured are my friends, photographer Augie Chang, hair/makeup expert Maria Chang (no relation!) and my clients, Mai-Anh and David. (Plus, Augie's second shooter and assistant, Jason and Veronica.)

Original photo can be found HERE.

Not pictured, MB Wedding Designs, Enhanced Lighting, Cards De Luxe, The Bently Reserve, Cake Coquette, and others :-)

See Augie's original (uncropped) photo and the rest of his post HERE

BAPVA Tonight!

I'll be at at the Bay Area Professional Videographer Association tonight speaking on the merits of the Canon 5D MkII. If you're in the area (Santa Clara) or if you've always wanted to know about the MkII and how it can help improve your business, you should totally come!

For details, go to www.BAPVA.com and click on "meetings"

Beltane Ranch Photoshoot - Brides Northern California

I have a new video I am very excited about and I want to share it with all of you!

I was invited to be a part of a photoshoot for Brides Northern California Magazine by Taylor and Mimi of Thi Cosmetics (home of the famous "lush lashes"!) This awesome photoshoot was designed by Gloria Wong (www.gloriawongdesigns.com) and shot by the fabulous Lisa Lefkowitz (www.lisalefkowitz.com). The supporting cast of outstanding visionaries and leaders of their field included:

www.NancyLiuChinDesigns.com
www.CakeCoquette.com
Ameliana Kamstra amelianakamstra [at] gmail.com
www.GoodOnPaperDesign.com
The wonderful people at Beltane Ranch,
... and others!
Please take a moment to check out their wonderfull work!

The full featured photo spread will be published only in Brides Northern California Magazine, the Fall/Winter 2009 issue hitting newstands September 1st! Keep your eyes peeled for it!

Until then, please enjoy one of my favorite highlight videos to date - The Beltane Ranch Photoshoot!

Beltane Ranch, Sonoma Photoshoot from andrew msv on Vimeo.

Preston Castle Photoshoot, Ione, CA

Last week, I was invited by a group of photographer friends of mine to join them on a photoshoot in Ione, CA. Yeah. I didn't know where that was either. I Googled it and found it to be just east of Boufou, Egypt; in the middle of Nowheresville.

I shot a couple of photos for fun, but mostly I was there to film the adventures as they unfolded. (That's kind of what I do!) So here's the resulting video... part one...

Check it out!

San Francisco is Like My Second Home

One of the cool things about working for yourself is that you can set your own hours and it's likely you can cut down your commute to almost nothing. I work from my home studio so my commute consists of walking down a flight of stairs.

But lately, I've been spending so much time in San Francisco, it feels like my second home!

Check it out:

Tuesday: Dinner with Evonne Wong of www.awaysoiree.com - direct from Maui! I shot with Evonne last March for my special edition of Vendor Chic. (The teaser trailer for that movie can be found here.) Here are some pics from that dinner - from Evonne's blog.

^ Clockwise from top left: Darrin and Evonne, me, Augie Chang, Nancy Liu Chin, Kevin Chin, Chung Li, and Viola Sutanto!

Here's Augie and me being silly.

Then, on Wednesday, The Knot had a gala event at the SF Design Center Galleria and I was invited to be the official videographer at the event. (The fabulous Michelle of MB Wedding Design was the selected coordinator of the event! Great job, MB!) While there, of course, I was able to meet up with many old friends and meet some new ones! I snapped just a couple of pictures; here are some of them.

^ Liz Guthrie and Evonne Wong.

^ Fu Chung Wong of FCWong Photography and Kathy Goodman of Well Rehearsed

^ Evonne, Jubilee Lau and Jean Marks

Then, on Thursday, I headed back out to San Francisco again to meet up with the aforementioned Kathy Goodman for some pastries and a chat just before heading off to a prospective client meeting in the Mission District.

I need frequent flyer miles for crossing the Bay Bridge!

Hacienda de las Flores, Moraga CA

Saturday was the first time I filmed at Hacienda de las Flores, a beautiful estate property in Moraga, CA.

The weather ws perfect; not too hot, not at all chilly.
The light was stunning; bright sun but we were in the shade 90% of the time.
The couple was gorgeous; Phil and Jen were perfect, fun-loving and destined for one another.

Here is a super short trailer I made of some of the shots I got from the wedding.

Jen and Phil's Wedding Teaser Trailer from andrew msv on Vimeo.

Photog: www.getcaptured.com
DJ: www.fantasysound.com
Catering: www.wildthymecatering.com
Venue: http://moraga.ca.us/production/moraga_hacienda.php

[for industry folks and tech geeks: the footage was shot entirely on my new Canon 5D mkII, edited with Canopus Edius Pro 3, no color correction. All the clips are straight from the cam.]

Reframe Austin part 5

One of the many cool experiences at the Re:Frame conference, Austin, is that I got to test out many other cameras and hang out with some cool friends. Here's a quick video shot entirely with the Canon 5D Mark II.

Re:Frame Austin MkII Footage from andrew msv on Vimeo.

Reframe Austin part 4

Yesterday was great. I managed to get inspired by some of the top wedding cinematographers in the country and from around the world. And the week isn't over yet!

After some great industry discussion over drinks and food and impromptu gatherings have happened already and I'm still looking forward to more inspiration and lively discussion. Right now, I'm sitting in a talk by UK cinematographer, Philip Bloom. His stuff is ridiculous. Feel free to Google him - rad.

But just real quickly, an update on last night's after-hours hangout/karaoke time:

Joe Simon looks uncannily like Plastic Man.

Ryan Koral and Jen Moon

Tina and Kyle (Both recent "Mrs. Simons")

Kristen* and Bruce - 2/3rds of the Collective. (Julie was prepping for her Karaoke run.)

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By the way, you can check out some videos and other media here (some funny, some not as funny, all rad):

See what Re:Frame people are doing via their Twitter updates!
See the Re:Frame Confession Booth video!

Reframe Austin part 3

Thanks for following along with my trip. So far I've learned a good deal of new info and we've only just wrapped up ONE workshop.

We're at the Alamo Theater for our talks (yes, like an actual movie theater!) and all the stuff has been projected on the big screen. It's like a dream-come-true for us videoguys. :-)

More to come!