Don and I spent a day up in Round Pond at his studio’s working on some short videos. These came out pretty good, minus some minor audio glitches. You can view them at his website, here.

ApogeeCS is currently working with other local thinkers to put together Portland’s first TEDx event. TEDxDirigo will take place the fall of 2010 at a venue yet to be chosen. Follow the events on FACEBOOK, or TMBLR.

I received the Kessler tripod head today, which now is allowing me to use the camera crane. This tripod setup can handle about 100lbs, which should be plenty for now. I had a slight issue with the legs slipping out, so a spreader will be fixing that problem.

Although I didnt have time to setup lights, I shot a basic test with the 5D. There is a lot of digital noise, but since its more of a motion test I figured it would be worth posting. Click the above image to view the video. 28MB |  52 sec.

Today’s test was with the 7D as the A camera, and the 5D as the B. The 7D was stationary on a tripod, and the 5D was hand held. This test was to work out issues in the work flow, and to figure out compositions. The next shoot we will have the camera crane ready to go, which will allow smoother B footage. This shoot will take place within the next few weeks.

Click the image above to view the quicktime. H264 at 101.7 MB. 7:54 runtime.

Just finished production on the second test shoot today. I will be posting the footage when it is finished.

We just purchased the Canon 5DMk2 for now until the RED Scarlet is released. We will be using this as our primary camera, and may pick up the 7D as well. Here is some sample footage ( click image to view, requires quicktime), 19.9 MB. This is resized by 50% and compressed for the web.

Today, ApogeeCS has been informed that it has been awarded its SECOND GRANT from the Jane Morrison Film Fund. This grant will allow ApogeeCS to further its knowledge of industry standard creative practices in film / video production. Apogee plans to attend 2 - 1 week courses at The Workshops in Rockport, Maine.

For dinner I wandered to the Library Ale house, which was supposed to have descent fair. The space was pretty entertaining, good people and service. The food was on the weak side, but the beverage selection as very good. I enjoyed 2 IPA’s, one from CO, and the other from CA.

After dinner I got a cab ride to West Hollywood/LA near the 405 to see North Face. This movie is about German mountaineers attempting to summit the north face of the Eiger. This was an intense movie, with an emotionally rough ending. Over all, well worth seeing and it makes me not want to do any extreme climbing. After the movie I had to walk for about 20 minutes until I could get a cab. This was sketchy, but I got a ride back to the hotel.

Tomorrow may turn out to be another adventure, since Portland is supposed to be getting a good snow storm. This may delay my return, but I am really hoping it doesn’t. We’ll find out.

A mellow morning led to a visit to Real Food Daily (all organic and vegan), as suggested by Caitlin. The service was great, and the food was very tasty. I had a large bean salad which was very filling, but totally over priced. This was accompanied by a carrot, orange, and celery juice. For desert I had a slice of german chocolate cake, and a shot of espresso. The cake was very dank and rich, well done. this ironically enough cost me less than the salad. The shot of espresso we great, smooth, earthly, no hit of being burt, and a touch of cinnamon.

The rest of the morning consisted of a visit to REI, and going back to the Principle Center. The Center visit was odd, and started by watching a pretty poorly produced video. The concepts had good intentions of getting people to start looking at themselves critically, but fell short of executing an appropriate path. The conversation that followed was long, and ended up where it started. It definitely was preachy, but at least they had good intentions. Over all it is an extremely emotional response to frustration, and urning for change. I tried to emphasize the importance of thinking along with the emotion ( emotion high, logic high) but i think it fell on deaf ears.

The rest of the day will be mellow, prepping for leaving tomorrow. Here’s hoping i dont get delayed due to snow in Philly or Portland.

as the afternoon wore on, I figured i should find some place to eat. I googled “vegan food santa monica” and came up with the Golden Mean. I took this as a definite sign, reflecting the middle path, and the color yellow.I hoped on my bike and rode out there, about 14 or so blocks. the intrior was cozy, and the place smelt very sweet. The reviews of the place said it had the best vegi burger in town. I ordered that with a kelp and ginger dressed salad. the vegi burger was very good and filling. typical toppings plus avacado. it had the texture of Little Lads BLT bacon, but the flavor of a typical vegi burger. The service the was really good, and kind.

After finishing the burger i decided to bike another 10 + blocks to a pub that is a
“new englander’s” home away from home. it turned out to be an Irish pub with a bunch of cussing customers. I had two pints and decided to leave after the place started to get crowded.

On the way home I swung by whole foods and picked up some food for the rest of the evening, and the next morning. after leaving WF, i remembered that downtown was on the ride back, so I swung by and walked threw. It pretty much was a line of nice stores. as i neared the the end of down town, a young japanese woman stopped me and asked if she could ask me some questions. she hands me a card with existential questions, and asked me to pick one. so i chose, and we started to talk more. It turns out she is working with some nonprofit called the principle study center. this place has been around for about 20 years, and it is a discussion on how to create a balanced society. Maiko and i talked for atleast an hour about human development, and approaches on creating a peaceful society. I totally did not expect to have this kind of conversation here in LA, especially within 3 days.  While the intent of the of this center is inline with issues that need to be addressed, as a first impression it seems to be rather emotional. I will be going back tomorrow to continue the discussion with Maiko. I gave here Wolf’s website address (golawolfrichards.org), and suggested that she watch the podcasts.

So after 6+ miles this afternoon (maybe) and about 50 blocks tonight, i am enjoying some seinfeld and laying down.