Just When You Thought You Were Rid of Me...

No... I'm not a morning person.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes... OK, more like a grumpy, half-asleep bear waking up from hibernation. The blog is alive once more. I don't typically do much work in December and January. It's not that I don't want to, but between the holidays and the winter slowdown it just happens. However, now that I'm starting to add jobs to the calendar, it's time to dust things off and get back into the groove of posting on a regular basis.

Now, I don't believe in New Years resolutions, but I do believe in setting goals. So, I've set a couple goals for myself this year. The first is to write more product reviews. I only wrote one review of a product last year, but I found that out of all my posts, two were generating the most traffic on a regular basis. The first was linked to an ad I posted to Craigslist for photography services, and the second was my review of the Bower Camera Bag I purchased. So not only is it a good way to bring more traffic to the blog, it's also a resource to other photogs at my buying level. Two perfect reasons to keep doing it. I've already purchased some new gear, so keep an eye out for reviews to start popping up.

My second goal for the year is a bit more challenging, for me anyway. I'd like to do more personal creative work. Whether it's shooting a short for the web, doing a photo series / working with models, or even getting back into nature/landscape photography. Being purely creative has always been one of my weaker areas. I've always considered myself a facilitator for the visions of others. However, I realize that if I'm going to continue to grow in a creative industry, I have to push myself to create my own work and not just sit back and wait for others to need me.

Well, that's pretty much it for this post. Like I said, there are jobs popping up on the calendar and there are already some interesting changes going on. It's shaping up to be a good year, even if a month of it is already gone.

Thanks for reading!

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Slaughter Pen Jam Video...

I decided I've been letting the video I shot at my first XC Mountain Bike race sit around for too long. So, I decided to finally turn it into something. In hindsight, I wish I had GoPro or Contour camera footage of my own ride to add to the mix and break up the third person perspective, but there's no point crying about what you don't have.

Enjoy!

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Rigged Out And Ready To Roll...

I think I've mentioned in a previous post that I would be trying out some DIY projects over the next few months. Well, project number one has finally made it to the finish line... For now.

All it needs now is paint.

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Snow-pocalypse Update...

So, for anyone who remotely cares, (which won't be many, I'm sure) you may have noticed that the blog has had another dead patch without any updates. This has been mostly by design as I have been waiting to hear from a full time job I interviewed for. However, the recent blizzard has both delayed their decision and is starting to give me cabin fever, so I felt like I needed to post a small update and maybe a few winter pics I have shot.

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Strap in...

For the last couple months I've been trying to catch up with the current DIY camera accessory community. I've mostly been looking for shoulder mounts, steadycams, and sliders, but I've also been picking up other small tips along the way. One such tip I got from the Cheesycam website. Here is the original video they posted:


DIY Quick Camera Strap from emmagination on Vimeo.

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Play time...

I'm starting to learn a lot about these tricky little DSLRs. They lure you in with their full HD and their great depth of field, then punch you in the face in post.

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The Off-Season...

So it's come to this... Blogging. Oh well, things could have ended worse.

Self pity aside, welcome to my first blog post. As some of you may or may not know, my name is Zack and 2010 was my first year working as a freelancer in the crazy, mixed up world that is television and film production. I had some opportunities to do some really fun stuff, and I also had some not-so-fun stuff happen as well, but overall it was a good year. In this industry you always get to hear the big shots tell their stories of how they started out and how they earned their place in the industry. Well, I'm gonna try to let you experience my story with me. In the future I hope to blog about every gig I work. I may also talk about equipment I buy or get to work with, the people I work with (good and bad), and all the crazy adventures along the way.

Currently I am working a seasonal (non industry) job to pay the bills and finish out the year. Hey! I said it was a GOOD year, not a GREAT year. So things will start off slow, but I already have jobs booked for next year and they are spread out across the calendar, so there should be plenty of stuff to talk about... 

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