...Mike. --> Sessions --> Archives"

Thursday, June 23, 2005

~Rise, Darth Arymis...~

(edited on June 24th, originally posted June 23rd)

Darth Arymis.

Yes, my master?

Rise.

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Twisted by UW, Andrew has become. Destroy the alumni we must!

SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY... ~ 2:48 AM (3) comments

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

~The best movies I've seen so far this year...~

#1. Sin City

Still the best movie this year. Yes, it's sick, depraved, irreverent, excessive, dark, primal...and not to glorify those things, but I love it. I saw it twice the first week it came out, to which people responded, "What the hell is wrong with you?!", and I'll admit, it's really not for everybody by any stretch. There's so much good to talk about in this movie, but most notable include fantastic performances from Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, and Benicio Del Toro, among a huge powerful cast. Everytime I'm caught out in the rain, I hear the Sin City theme in my head. In my mind, Sin City is a cinematic milestone.

#2. Hotel Rwanda

Technically not released in 2005, but I only got to see it this past April. Quite possibly the most powerful movie I've ever seen, and while it's not enjoyable, it's not supposed to be either. Everyone should see this movie at least once, and soon.

#3. Batman Begins

This is how it should be done. While there wasn't anything in this scene that was particularly great, the entire movie, from start to finish, was very very good. It's the way a Batman movie should be done. Very satisfying to watch, again with many good things to talk about...Cillian Murphy did a great job hinting at Dr. Crane's future, Liam Neeson is classic as usual, Christian Bale held up well as Batman, and it was interesting to see Katie Holems playing a role as a woman, and not just a girl. It wasn't played out, it wasn't cheesy, it wasn't plastic or glossed over. It was about how a man would fill...no, create the shoes of one of the greatest heroes ever. It was just so satisfying to watch, through and through.

#4. Star Wars: Return of the Sith

It's such a great movie, because come on, it's a Star Wars film. But it didn't make the top three because, well, it's a Star Wars film. The difficult thing to understand (and sometimes tolerate) in the entire series is the way its greatness, charisma, the ability to captivate and romance its audience, are intertwined with horrible writing, poor directing, and second-rate acting. This particular movie was so satisfying to watch, mostly because it finally told the chunk of the story that mattered the most. It was cool how this movie forced us to re-interpret the other five and see them in a different light. But as good as the movie was, it was tainted by, once again, horrendous writing, not-quite-as-bad acting, and poor directing/pacing. This movie is about as good as a Star Wars movie ever gets, but without the benefit of being a part of our childhood experience to act as rose-coloured glasses.

SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY... ~ 12:41 PM (0) comments

Monday, June 20, 2005

~About commenting...~

I realize that when you guys leave comments, they don't show up right away. Don't be discouraged! Because I host my site outside of Blogger, the comments don't get published until I login to the dhsonline.org server and publish it myself. Your comments will show up eventually.

I've been planning on jumping over to Movable Type soon. Well, actually, I've been planning a redesign for a while, but that's shelved for the time being.

SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY... ~ 12:17 PM (0) comments

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

~P.I.M.P. and H.O.E.~

$97 for a Booth reflector dish?! Someone is getting returned to Henry's tomorrow.

The University of Waterloo has deemed me worthy of "An Invitation for a Select Group of Alumni"...I've been pre-approved for a University of Waterloo Platinum Plus MasterCard. I quote:

You are part of a select group of alumni - established professionals who can choose any credit card they want. That's why I am extending a personal invitation to you to enjoy the benefits of the University of Waterloo Platinum Plus MasterCard credit card.

Uhhhh..."established professional", right. I've been unemployed for a year now and have a gross income of $0. But hey, if you want to toss a Platinum MasterCard my way, I humbly acquiesce to your request. The catch, of course, is that my 'benefit' for using this card is an automatic donation to the University of Waterloo, based on how much I spend. How delightfully self-serving of them! But on the other hand, I get a nifty University of Waterloo golf bag as a gift for signing up...you know, to hold all those golf clubs I can't buy with my no-income. Thank goodness I have a Platinum MasterCard to buy things I can't afford with money I don't have!

If you haven't seen Lost yet...well, why not?! There are only two types of people in the world; those who have seen Lost, and those who have not, and if you're not with us, you're against us. Repeat after me: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42, 4, 8...

Everyone go visit www.appleleopard.com and please bid to purchase this domain; the Mak-Daddy needs a new pair of shoes.

Speaking mack-daddies, apparently I am also the Parliamentary International Minister-Prime (PIMP) of Hotlandia, and Jon is a Hotlandian Orderly of Emissaries (HOE).

Makes perfect sense to me.

SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY... ~ 3:15 AM (4) comments

Monday, June 13, 2005

~Compromise~

To be honest, not all that happy about the weekend. I'm feeling pretty drained and crappy overall.

If I had to use one word to describe my weekend, it would be compromise. I'm not talking specifically about the weddings, because this came up over and over again, in many ways...compromises in shooting, compromises in scheduling, compromises in choices, compromises in ego, compromises in relationships. Compromise...

...which never really makes anyone happy, does it? I mean, who is ever really happy with getting just half of what they wanted?

(Specifically with regards to photography, maybe I shouldn't be involved in a craft that is essentially repeated acts of compromise.)

What I hate, what really sucks, is that I did my best too. I did the best I could with what I had. Doesn't it suck when the best you can do just ends up being a compromise?

SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY... ~ 1:35 AM (0) comments

Saturday, June 11, 2005

~Going pro?~

I picked up my first camera...well, let's not count the little compacts my mom would have me wield for awkward family photos. I got my own digicam back in November 2001, and when I realized that I enjoyed taking pictures (and had a decent eye), I got more and more interested in being serious about it. Out of necessity born from broke-ness (the state of being broke), I landed a part time job with Black's, and later on Henry's camera stores. I had exposure to great, top of the line gear on a daily basis and learned a bit of the trade from my coworkers and customers. Eventually I quit, but I already was pretty into the art, and never really stopped.

I'd done quite a bit of work by last summer, including work for AFC, Campus Challenge, and some retreats here or there. I posted my work on this website, and I suppose it got somewhat noticed. By word of mouth, people have been asking me to shoot, and eventually, I met up with Dan Trinh and Matt Mark and formed Focal Point Photography (I'd post a link, but the website's still under construction). We thought we'd get 1, maybe 2 jobs max this summer, and we'd be happy if we got even that many. With no solid portfolio and limited experience, I didn't have too much to go on.

Well, fast forward a few months, it's June 11th, 12:48am, and I've got the first of 5 wedding gigs booked this summer in a 8 hours.

I've got a couple of Elinchrom 1000W studio strobes, Pocket Wizard transmitter and receiver, 2 Canon 550EX flashes, a Canon 17-40mm F2.8 L, a Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS USM L, a Sandisk 1GB Ultra II CF card, a Stroboframe Pro RL and a Quickflip, Phil Pang's Canon 20D and his Canon 24-70mm F2.8 L, plus my own Canon 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS USM.

I'm pretty decked out. But does that make me a pro?

See, I've heard some measure of confidence from different people who like my stuff. But now I'm sitting here, just a few hours from the first real gig I have, and I can't help but be pretty nervous. The wedding's at Toronto Korean Presbyterian Church, and I've been studying the photos from Boston Images, who shot Joanne & Nei-Kuan's wedding last year at the same location. Their stuff is *so* tight. It's the style everyone (our age) likes these days, and even if it's something of a template package applied over and over to each wedding, it's a heck of a pretty package...and it's also really intimidating for me to see how these guys who are charging $6000 a wedding are working the location that I'll be shooting tomorrow. This will also be the first wedding where I'll have everything I need and no real impositions. There are no excuses; it's time to shut up and produce.

And truth be told, I'm not entirely sure that I can.

Maybe I'm comparing upwards too much with guys who have done it for the last 13 years or more, but when I see something good, I have to strive for it, and I'm going to be disappointed with anything less. I hope that in a couple years I'll be able to shoot at that calibre, but for tomorrow...well, I'm not sure how well it'll turn out. For all I know, I'm in over my head.

But thankfully, by the time anyone reads this, the wedding will be over and in the off chance our client tomorrow reads this...well, tough luck =)

SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY... ~ 1:07 AM (0) comments