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Buffets & Mountains

Alaskan Cruise

Howdy! I hope you all had a great weekend. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I was a big cruise type of guy. However, when we took an Alaskan cruise to celebrate my folks 40th wedding anniversary, I was game. I had visions of spring breakers splashing around in a pool and 3000 people over-eating at the buffets. Boy was I wrong…well, the spring breakers part anyway. I saw quite a few folks get their grub on. But the Alaskan cruise is the way to go. This is the kind of scenery you just casually sail past. Crazy cool stuff! I’d go back in a heartbeat.

If you would like to see the before/after I posted it over in the Nik G+ Community (click here).

Time Change

Sunset

Another celebration is order today. The time has changed here in Colorado! For someone who loves summer outdoor activities, this is a welcome event.

Today’s Image

This image was actually a frame from a time lapse sequence I shot for my movie Tiempo (watch it here). The sequence didn’t make it into the movie, but the .jpg sure came out nice, so I thought I would share it in celebration of longer days. As always you can click on the image to get a larger image to use as a daily desktop.

Contrast

I absolutely love making movies. I just wish they didn’t take so darn long to produce. The shooting alone takes a great deal of time. Then the editing, writing and recording the music, and finally piecing it all together. This movie was in the works for 6 months. I’m sure I could have finished it faster if I focused on it, but I still like to bring you some levity during the week.

Thankfully I don’t have any ‘high power studio execs’ financing my movies, no way would they have let me produce an experimental, lo-fi, super high contrast movie backed by a space-rodeo-symphony soundtrack. I love the freedom of only having to answer to my creative self. However, I wouldn’t mind the box office rewards that come along with blockbuster movies. Until I’m approached by Hollywood to direct the next Transformers, I’m going to maintain my ‘indie filmmaker’ status. We will cross the one billion dollar bridge when we come to it!

About the movie – I’m a bit like Edward Burns in the fact I make my movies on a shoestring budget. I probably differ from him in the fact that I have to…for me, there is no other budget. He made Newlyweds for $9000 in 12 days…yep, you read that right!

  • I shot it over the course of 9 days in San Francisco.
  • I used Lightroom to compile the time lapse sequences. I could have used TimeLapse Assembler for a small donation.
  • iMovie (Free w/ a MAC) to edit it.
  • I recorded the music on Garage Band (Free w/ a MAC)
  • I shot it with a used and rather inexpensive Nikon D5100 and Nikon 16-85 VR lens

Want proof that you can make a great movie for under $10k? Get Edward Burns’ ‘Newlyweds’ here.

Newlyweds

Barracuda



Barracuda, originally uploaded by LightAsMagic.

I have learned many lessons while diving, but one of the more important lessons I have learned is to never pack your camera up while on your safety stop. You just never know what will swim by. I snapped this image just of the shore of Cozumel at about 12ft while on my 5min decompression stop. You will find barracuda either in small groups or swimming alone as they patrol the waters for prey.

Camera: Nikon Coolpix 5100

Yellow



Yellow, originally uploaded by LightAsMagic.

Fall has settled here in Colorado and the Caribbean is calling me. Until we get on the plane, the best we can do is look back through some old photos of dive trips past.