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!)

Posting Videos - an Introspective

Some of my blog readers have expressed to me - either in writing or in person - that they enjoy reading my blog because it's evocative; that it helps them to wax philosophical or reconnect with themes they've lost touch with. I find this very encouraging and exciting.

However, it's been a while since I've written something of import. This isn't because I've suddenly become shallow or even because I'm too busy (although my busyness is a factor) but mainly because I've felt the pressure of posting a lot more videos than I traditionally do.

If you look at my pattern of posts during or prior to my Hawaii trip, there was a lot more writing about my personal activities - events, opinions, family and friends, etc - and a lot fewer videos. I've always thought that the power of the blog - or, better, MY blog - was that it was a way my readers could get to know me and have a sense of my character and personality. In a world where people are increasingly looking at the price tag, I think your SELF is an absolutely crucial element in what differentiates you from the others. So, because of that philosophy, I was always more about sharing my thoughts and goings-on than I was about showcasing my work.

But when I started getting more and more exposed to the excellent work that is out there (see, for example, the Re:Frame Collective and its band of merry men and women. What incredible talent!) I started to feel like I had to "prove myself" to gain respect or find a place in that crowd. To be one of the "popular kids."

Well, where are we now? I've probably posted more videos in the past two months or so than I have in the previous 10 months! And to what end? Sure, I'm proud of the work I'm displaying and I certainly do think that there is merit to doing so, but I feel like I've lost some of the personality in my blog that made it different and personal to me.

So, in short; I will, of course, continue to post videos (afterall, I *AM* a videographer!); but I think I'm going to go back to my "roots" - so to speak - and post more personal articles as well. I wouldn't want the reason for my videos posts to be out of a sense of obligation or competition. I'd rather it be natural and meaningful to me. That is the stuff that really speaks to who I am as a shooter and editor anyway.

I hope the change isn't too jarring or unwelcomed! Please do feel free to comment and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Oh... and because blog posts are always better with photos, here's a photo of my son, Zach. Just for fun.

A Special V-Day Wedding

The day before Valentine's Day, I gave my wife her Valentine's gift because I had a wedding on the actual Valentine's Day. (I just said "Valentine's" three times in one sentence. Gnarly.) Luckily I married a very understanding wife so I didn't catch heat for it.

Joyce and Fernando - who booked me without having met me - are a very sweet, soft-spoken couple who have a great sense of humor. (Or at least they laughed at my jokes. I assume that means they have a good sense of humor... maybe I'm wrong ;-) They had the keen foresight to know to book great vendors because great vendors = a great event.

I always tell my clients to try to book vendors that work well together as a team. I'll give you an example why. (This story kind of paints me in a negative light, but I think you can see through it and see my point. Plus, it's a great story so I'm telling it anyway.)

  Maria and me. What am I doing? Throwing up gang signs of course.

It usually takes about 40 minutes for me to get from my house into San Francisco. This morning, I gave myself an hour. But I guess it was Valentine's Day or whatever and everyone was headed into the city, the traffic was pretty bad.

About 10 minutes before the ceremony start time, I called Crystal Lequang of Amazae Special Events, the day-of coordinator for the day and told her in as calm a voice as I could muster - in spite of my elevating panic - "Hey Crystal... so, what's the sitch? Are you guys all there?"

"Yeah, we're all here. We're ready. Where are you?" Crystal responded. She probably expecting me to say that I was just pulling up or I just parked my car.

"Um... yeah,... I'm still on the bridge."

Even when I heard my own words, my stomach sort of sank a little. Remember, we were 10-minutes from the set start time of the ceremony!

Feeling At Home

I returned from the WPPI Conference in Las Vegas a few days ago and I feel I'm more-or-less fully recovered from the long nights and early mornings. I think the EARLIEST I went to bed the five days I was in Vegas was about 1:30 am.

The trip was amazing. It was my first WPPI and even though I've been to conferences like these before, I was surrounded by so many great people that I couldn't help but to feel like this trip was special. Not only did I fly there and arrive with good friends; co-labor with, dine with, and share cab rides with good friends; I had the priveledge of making a handful of new good friends that are funny, considerate, and real. For someone like me, who places primary importance on the realness and genuiness of the people who I surround myself with, that's a pretty big deal.

So besides fun parties and hanging out, what did I get out of this trip to the desert? One thing really stuck out:

I used to be a proponent of the philosophy that "if you don't talk about yourself, no one else will." I used to follow that rule in my self-promotion and marketing. In some ways, in a competetive industry, it does seem to ring true and has a certain magnetism to its simplicity. It has a Darwinian "natural selection" vibe that's almost irresistable.

But 2008 taught me something that helped me to reverse that philosophy.

 

David Jay Interview Part III

Here's the third and final part of celebrity photographer, David Jay's interview that I helped co-produce down at his home in Santa Barbara a few months ago. Check it out!

Great job, Ron! Keep up the great work!

Second Shooter

I've been recently fielding a lot of calls from my fellow Bay Area videographer friends about helping them shoot second camera. I've been able to help out with some but not with others due to scheduling conflicts and other factors.

It's always an interesting situation when you offer other people your assistance in this way. Some people feel too proud to shoot second camera because it seems below them or somehow demeaning. Even the term "second camera" or "second shooter" conotes a level of unworthiness, doesn't it?

Well, my policy is kind of different. I have no problem shooting second camera for my friends whatsoever. And, to be honest, I don't even charge them very much at all! In fact, I'm downright cheap. :-) My philosophy regarding helping others is to always do my best to share. Share my time; share my experience; share my equipment; share any small level of success I might have enjoyed.

David Jay Interview

Not too long ago I posted about my trip down to Santa Barbara and the time I spend with renown photographer and entrepreneur, David Jay 

If you had the misfortune of listening to me blab about it, I probably went on and on about how DJ has - as many ingenious businessmen before him - created a company that is a true asset (as defined as something that creates revenue for you with little or no expense.) I probably recently spoke to you about my experience hanging out with DJ at his home and how his philosophy on sharing has changed the way I perceive my place in this industry and my view of my fellow videographers in general. (I apologize for having talked your ears off!)

 

Whether I'm acting too much like a fanboy or not, DJ's clarity of mind really inspired to think more about the long term; about where my business is going and how my business should be a tool to serve my family and to serve others - to consider making my business work for me and not me for my business.

 

Here is the first episode of the interview that I helped my friend, Ron Dawson, co-produce.

 

Check it out!

 

New Look?

Not sure if I like the new look/format of the blog...

Let me know what you guys think. Old narrow and orderly or New wide and flowy?

Film Festival Screening

Last night's screening was very interesting.

For one thing, I felt pretty old. Every one there was a college student and my assumption that most participants probably had much more spare time and many more crew members than we did turned out to be pretty accurate. One team consisted entirely of high school seniors and another team had upwards of 10 or 12 people on their crew; many of them dedicated to one particular task (like operating the boom and live mixing it to keep levels sounding good.) We, as wedding videographers are used to wearing all of those hats and becoming a one-man movie crew. :-) 

There were a handful of entries that were actually quite good - my favorite being "Broommate" about a magical broom that feels neglected by his owner and eventually moves out of the apartment. Yeah. You wouldn't think it from my synopsis, but it was very well done and quite funny.

Hopefully our movie was well received as well. It was kind of hard to tell because there wasn't a whole lot or audible crowd reaction that indicated one thing or another. I guess we'll see once the audience ballots are tallied. (The audience members were each allowed to vote for three of their favorite films and the final tally will be announced later this month.)

Overall, it was a fun and exciting experience. If anything, the experience helped me to become a better event videographer because it's just one more camera-yielding activity that helps to hone all of my relevant skills. It's kind of like doing drills at track practice or going to the gym... if you were forced to stay on the Nautilus machine for 20 hours straight. :-|

American Idol

OK. I will admit it. I watch American Idol pretty faithfully. I'm not proud of it but I'm not ashamed either. Afterall, there aren't a whole lot of shows that are appropriate for my wife and me to watch WITH my kids. (Actually, they don't watch it with me - they're asleep by the time we queue up the DVR for American Idol, but that's not to say I wouldn't let them if they were still awake!)

So last week I decided to drop David Archuletta as my favorite because his style is starting to bore me a little. I decided to go with Michael Johns as my pick to win it all. I don't necessarily think he's more talented than the others; it's just that I can picture myself buying his music from iTunes more than I can picture buying music made by the other contestants.

The most talented contestant this year is clearly David Cook. His rendition of Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" was brilliant. I would choose him to be my favorite if I didn't hate his hair so much. Oh, and David, what do you mean you used to have a huge skull? Have you looked in the mirror or tried on a hat lately?

Who's your favorite Idol?