Fancy People // and Friends

Fancy People and Friends

The other night, I was itching to go out and snap a few photos, despite the weather being pretty unpredictable here in San Antonio – it was 60 in the morning, 80 in the day, and drizzling at night! Luckily, I still ended up getting to meet with a few awesome people, namely Tim Wylie (bottom right), Banzai Steve (bottom left) and Jennifer Guenther (top right).

I am looking forward to working on another film project in the coming weeks, and Tim is going to be a key player in it. I’m stoked that I got a chance to work with him on something a bit less demanding than what’s in store for us before then, so we could gauge how well we work together. Needless to say, I’m excited for what’s coming down the line!

On a side note, I love creating portraits of people more than any other subject material. I’ve done work with vendors products, where I have shot food, cars, tech products… I’ve even shot events and architecture for real estate. But above all those things, I absolutely prefer taking portraits of people. I love to add my own ‘salt to taste’ on what is already an infinitely interesting subject – another human being.

When someone is willing to step in front of my camera for a few moments, I can feel the moment they go from ‘oh gosh, I’m going to look terrible in this picture’ to the instant they relax and get into it, dropping their guard and become willing to show a bit of what and who they really are.

That is what I love most about creating portraits.

Music Video // Trade Contest

So I’ve been itching to knock out a music video lately, and I want to get a local San Antonio (or Austin) band as excited about it as I am. But instead of just posting an offer for a free video shoot, you artists still have to do something to earn it. I say we trade videos.

On set of 'The Extraction'

So, what’s the criteria for entering the giveaway?

You have to step outside the box on this one – I want you to create and submit a video of you or your band performing a cover of a song (this can be a video of just you, or the whole band). But more specifically, I want you to put your own twist to it. So feel free to knock out a heavy metal version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or an a capella version of Party Anthem. I don’t care what it is, just make it entertaining and put some effort into it.

Is there a catch? Not really – just that the video and song have to be a new mix – no mixes created before this contest was posted can be submitted. To ensure this, you’ll need to either add the date of creation somewhere into the body of the video (not in the credits) or mention that your cover was created for the Music Video Trade Contest.

Then, post the video to YouTube or on Vimeo and leave a comment with the link to the video on this post. I will be reviewing the videos and posting the winning submission on my blog 4 weeks from today, on December 19th 2011 (It’s a Monday).

Then the real fun will begin (i.e., getting your band’s own music video shot and provided to you free of charge).

So grab a video camera (or webcam or Android/iPhone), get your guitar, keyboard or whatever you make noise with and get to work. Your band and fans are counting on you.