Category: Video

This morning’s reflections — full of gratitude!

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Gratitude for: life; love, family and friends; fresh food, water and shelter.

On the 17th Ann gifted me with a beautiful bowl; with which to continue exploring the “one bowl method;” on yet another aesthetic level.

Filling this beautiful bowl with Ann’s spiced pretzels, seedless grapes and almonds, this morning,
presented such a superb flavor combination in such a visually beautiful way ~ that my eyes filled with tears of joyful gratitude.

We spent that September 17th day strolling the streets of Cedarburg
and generally enjoying a day full of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and chocolate.

The next day Ann presented me with a lovely turtle amulet to mark my returning to sunlit joy.
(seen here in the bottom of the bowl after finishing today’s brunch) Lovely!

Then this past Wednesday Tanya gifted me with an hour long walk along the Menomonee River;

followed by a leisurely lunch;
and a bit of cash which allowed me to purchase a Lodge cast iron dutch oven;
in which to bake this totally successful, no-knead, sour dough bread yesterday.

M-m-m-m-m-m… Feeling so very grateful!

Starfish Foundation – New Site Launched

The Starfish Foundation supports our military veterans and their emotional healing through sponsoring the Vets Journey Home program, a non-profit program staffed entirely by volunteers. One hundred percent of the funds raised go to program delivery, making it possible for veterans to attend at no cost.

The Starfish Foundation has funded $250,000 worth of scholoarships as of 12/2010. The funds have gone directly to:

  • Veterans to help them deal with the trauma of military situations through the Bamboo Bridgeand Vets Journey Home programs.
  • Sexual abuse survivors to help them deal with that extreme trauma and move forward in their lives through the Renewal weekend.
  • Others that have experienced various trauma in their lives through the Taking It Lightlyweekend.

I’ve worked with both the Starfish Foundation and the Vets Journey Home for the last 5 years; as both a web and graphic designer; as well as photographer and videographer. We launched the Vets Journey Home new web site in the last quarter of 2009; and launched the newly designed Starfish Foundation web site July 25th.

Please take a look at these new sites and seriously consider donating to these dedicated 100% volunteer organizations. They provide very important and high quality services for people who really need them; just check out the testimonials.

Riding blind and loving it

This morning my friend, Kevin Meyers, competed in the Double Bong 40k, ABR Wisconsin State Time Trial Championship, Kansasville, WI. Kevin lost his sight in 1987 when his racing boat hit a wake at 60 mph, threw him into the water, where he was hit by another boat. Lucky to be alive; and living to the max; he now races bicycles (with a tandem pilot). A couple weeks ago, at the Wisconsin State Track Championship, he and his pilot, Bob Springer, took the Gold Medal in Kilo and Pursuit, in the Tandem category. Kevin said, “My bike, Chariot of Fire, almost literally caught fire!” This morning he worked on his record times to qualify and participate in the 2012 Paralympics. Over the years I’ve worked with Kevin on a promotional video and designed the logo for his web site, stationery and motivational speaking work. Kevin’s simply an amazing human being. His web site is well worth taking a look at to discover just how amazing.

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Kevin’s “warm up”

Setting up the “Chariot of Fire”

At the line.

And they’re off to the races.

Coming around the fourth turn, completing the first of two laps.

Leica M8, 50 and 35 mm Summilux asph

Temkin-Taylor Design web site launches today

Over the last 6 months Kim Temkin-Taylor and I worked diligently to find the correct tone and accuracy in both words and images; to effectively reflect her commitment to detail, quality and customer service. Today we went live at temkin-taylordesign.com.

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Richard Taylor provided photography for Kim’s site (with some interior photo and art direction, and post processing from me to achieve what Kim required). I began working with Richard on his corporate identity and web site in the spring of ’05, as he began his new “Life Journey Photography” business.

Panning for gold in the stream: twitter 4 months later

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My friend, David White, introduced me to twitter. As a web designer and marketing consultant I felt a need to know; to keep up with trends. I began following people that David followed; and posted my first brief message on November 22nd, 2008. It took a lot of time to read what seemed banal and/or narcissistic 140 character messages from people I didn’t really know. Occasionally someone would post a link to a web site or blog which actually had value to me or my business. Mostly I read messages about the value of twittering and social media as marketing and PR tools. It seemed strange; sort of like people calling each other on their phones and constantly talking about how the telephone is a great tool for marketing and PR; or handing out flyers which state over and over again that flyers are great marketing and PR tools. Obviously I wasn’t following the right people. Another crazy thing: we’re only seeing one side of conversations. You have to follow the people that those you follow talk to in order to receive the whole conversation; such as it is. This all feels quite tedious. And for what? An occasional useful link or bit of knowledge.

Then there’s my little messages going out there with links to my work or blog posts. Most times I get no response. I have no idea if anyone found it useful or interesting. Feels quite weird. However, lately I’ve found myself finding and following filmmakers, designers, artists and musicians; as well as buddhists and zen practitioners. And things have become more interesting; at least for my sensibility. All of a sudden I began to receive some positive feedback and participate in conversations which I can actually relate to.

Last week I created a new web page-site poetographs.com to post work which puts words into a graphic context that, hopefully, enhances meaning. I put the link out on twitter and received a number of retweets (RT). Bing Futch, a beautiful and generous musician, responded and RT’d the link. I had some poetographs from back in 2004 which I wanted to resurrect as a series. I put them into a movie form and sent the link to Bing. Within 24 hours Bing returned a link with sound added to the movie. Now that’s gold my friends. Perhaps a small nugget. But solid gold nonetheless. Here’s our collaboration. Thank you Bing. Strange as it seems; thank you twitter; I get it.

Careless time

some days

people flock to the edge

where water meets sand

they sculpt, toss things back and forth,

and mingle with birds

A dad, sculpting sand on the beach
with his daughter, Mia, said to me,
“It’s all about the kids.”
I think, perhaps, it’s all about returning
to childhood for a brief,
careless time.

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What if a client doesn’t have a video production budget?

The current trend toward feeding multimedia information over the internet demands our readiness to deliver professional messages for our clients. We’ve ramped up our video production and post production capabilities; while maintaining a budget conscious niche. Even with our cost conscious approach to video production some clients cannot budget those costs; yet understand the power of audio and visuals to more powerfully deliver their message on the web. For these clients we encourage them to consider fine still photography in combination with professionally captured audio, to deliver a more powerful multimedia message than either still images or audio, alone, can offer.

Our first opportunity to provide an example of putting professional quality still images with professional quality audio came from attending a JoeNetworks “networking coffee and donuts” event at JRA — and here, brought to you by MediumRareProductions, is the result:

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Taking It Lightly Documentary Live on Internet

While the DVD has been available for a couple months it has taken some time to figure out how to present a 30 minute documentary on the internet without incurring excessive monthly fees. MotionBox has made it possible. Allowing the video to load for a minute or two will provide a better viewing experience than if you hit play immediately.

From the client, “George, I am so grateful for your commitment to this project and the gift of your vision and talent. I am feeling a lot of excitement about the potential we have opened up with this project.” —Patricia

For additional samples of our video work check out Heartflick.com.

Giving and receiving = utopia

The 365 Tao, 103, on Reciprocity (paraphrased):

  • Hands grasp, but also give; and can teach us generosity.
  • Mouths taste, but also speak; and can teach us to give thanks in word and song.
  • Noses breathe, but also smell; and can teach us to learn from our environment.
  • Eyes see, but also show; and can teach us to show compassion and sincerity.
  • Ears hear, but also balance; and can teach us to remain balanced.

The eyes –some say virtual windows to the soul– of a dedicated person show an inner fortitude and charisma that the eyes of the ordinary do not. Each one of our senses gathers information and also serves as a channel of expression. All parts of ourselves give and receive; functioning on the principle of reciprocity inherent in their very character. Perhaps we can learn from our senses.

Google “tis better to give than to receive” and you’ll find that scientific research backs up the line attributed to Jesus in the book of Acts. However, living the suggestion in a consumer-society requires discipline and faith. As a closet utopian I love to entertain the notion of a society where we all simply do what we love; give away the fruits of our labor, spontaneously, from our hearts; without thought or expectation of return or payment; with the faith that our needs (or even wants) will somehow be met. Yet in my life as a micro business entrepreneur I must constantly put a price on my services. While I do practice heartfelt giving in my art and other areas of my life; I’v previously found it difficult to practice in my business. Some suggest that the “give-away” in business will also find its reciprocal balance.

Yesterday I gave a professional friend some professional service, straight from the heart, without expectations of any kind. Today the gift was reciprocated. Maybe Jesus knew what he was talking about.

Let’s all give work towards utopia without expecting to achieve it. To get started watch this video (be sure to click “watch in high quality” to the lower right, under the video controls).