Moving Pictures

100 Seconds To Hana

August 29, 2012 by Justin Balog 4 Comments

If you have ever taken the road to Hana (a quiet little town on the eastern shores of Maui) you know that the drive is a long one. I think it’s like 152,000 turns or something crazy like that…well, maybe not that many, but it will require a courageous and dedicated soul to get there. If you haven’t been on the road, I thought I would share a condensed version of the drive. I mounted my GoPro, put it in time lapse mode and shot the full 3 hour drive. Yup, here’s the entire drive from Paia to the red sand beach of Hana Bay.

Music Note: My buddy Jett Pink wrote the music used in this movie. You might remember him from his days starring in the reality TV show Flipping Out. You can get his entire album (plus a free version) on his site (click here to get some great music). The entire album is only $7.00!!!

Here is a photo I shot of him while I was out in LA working on this story. (click here)

Filed Under: GoPro, Hana, Hawaii, Maui, Moving Pictures, Travel

The Tour de France!

July 9, 2012 by Justin Balog 12 Comments

I hope you all had a great weekend! I was busy trying to get my gallery online to make it easier for you to buy a print if you see something you like. I’ll get to that later this week. For now…..it is that time of year again! I’m not much of a football guy, but it’s basically like watching the Superbowl ever yday for 3 weeks in July.

Today’s Photo is of Levi Leipheimer in the final time trial of the 2010 TDF. He is competing in this year’s tour, but because he was hit by a car earlier this season, his form is suffering. I hope he does well in today’s time trial, he’s a nice guy and I’d like to see him succeed.

Here is a movie I shot while visiting the Tour in 2010. You might have seen it, but I break it out every year around this time!

Filed Under: Bordeaux, Cycling, France, Moving Pictures, Nik Software, Nikon 80-200 D 2.8, Nikon D700, One Click, Tour De France, Travel

New Movie – Honolua Bay

July 5, 2012 by Justin Balog 4 Comments

Sorry about missing yesterday’s post, I was hard at work on today’s. I’m excited to premiere my newest movie. The entire movie was shot over the course of two hours snorkeling in Honolua Bay, Maui. I used the gear below, plus a good set of lungs to film it. I found that if you are making movies, you can hold your breath just a bit longer. I don’t think it is necessarily wise though. Creativity and oxygen deprivation aren’t the best mix. The movie was filmed with Nikon’s new AW100.

Email subscribers will need to visit the site to view the movie (click here).

Yep, it is high-def, so set your player accordingly.

p.s. Do you like my new movie intro? I believe in the industry, they call it a stinger. I had a great animator help me with it, you can find his portfolio here.

Filed Under: Hawaii, Maui, Moving Pictures, Nikon AW100

Contrast

January 26, 2012 by Justin Balog 7 Comments

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.

Filed Under: California, Moving Pictures, Nikon 16-85 VR II, Nikon 5100, San Francisco, Travel

Adventures In Cinema

August 31, 2011 by Justin Balog 3 Comments

You might or might not have watched my movies over the last couple years. We have quite a few new readers here so I thought I would catch everyone up today. Well, at least with the Cinematic side of LightAsMagic.com. I’m also still scrambling from a week on the road with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

Good News!  I would like to thank everyone that donated to the Davis Phinney Foundation over the last week.  We reached our goal!  Yep, we raised over $20,000 to match the $20,000 that the UPCC donated as a challenge grant.  Again, a sincere ‘Thank You’ to everyone who helped out.  That is awesome!

If you are interested in the making of the movies, I usually publish short unedited clips over on Facebook or Google+ where you can watch them evolve. The world of movie making is still new to me, but it is a whole bunch of fun! I have recently started work on my next movie. It will be a bit of departure from my previous ones. You can find a preview of it Google+. Just look in the ‘Clips’ gallery.

Southwestern

About The Music: Sixteen Horsepower, the band featured in the Southwestern, is a band with its roots here in Colorado. Growing up they were more myth than reality. Before I was old enough to see them at a bar, I would sit outside the clubs hoping to catch a listen.They are a storied band, with a long history, and these songs will never do them justice. You will at least get a taste of the Denver music scene, but to truly understand the genius of Sixteen Horsepower, you need to see them live. I intended the playlist to be 16 songs long, however iTunes only accepted 9 of my suggestions.

Click Here to load the playlist into iTunes.

Tiempo

Chasing The Tour

Music

Song: Nobody ‘Cept You
Written By: Bob Dylan
Performed By: 16 Horsepower (the best band Denver ever produced)

Get it on iTunes here.

Approaching Denali

This movie is actually the end to the 5 part photo series Approaching Denali. You can find all the photos here.
Music By: Cary Brothers
Song: Ride
Album: Who You Are

Click the icon to get the album.

Cary Brothers is a great band (it is actually an individual singer song writer with a boatload of talent), and I can’t recommend him enough. If you liked ‘Ride’, I think you will like the rest of his work.

Filed Under: Moving Pictures