JOE SATRIANI "Unstoppable Momentum" Interview

Going Cornwall

Leopoldine Temple, Esterházy Palace Park, Eisenstadt

wow, wow, wow.
I found time to shoot something landscapish...
Out of my dungeon. One camera, few filters and morning light. 
For a long time I wanted to visit Eisenstadt and the park, see Leopoldine Temple located in park of Esterházy palace. Finally I went there. To be honest I overslept, and was too late for sunrise, but I treated this trip as location scouting exercise. Lots of stuff to photograph there.
3 filters used. polarizer, 1 stop soft nd grad, 10 stops nd..

When light became hard, played wee bit with not used for a long time filter. Gold-N-Blue Polarizer.
Which version do you prefer:
Left - Blue?
Right - Brownish?

Cheers
Jerzy

Interview with Andy Timmons, Velden, Austria

For all guitar players.
Here you have great interview with Andy Timmons. 
Long, over 30 minutes, but great! I filmed for www.guitarmania.eu back in May this year.

 http://youtu.be/rr5fsIiz_OA

Old Trains HDR Games Trailer

I keep on working... At one point of time, will have time to write!

Mörbisch Seefestspiele Shooting

Finally I have few moments to catch up with things. Last weeks got really busy, I knew July would be hectic, but all got really heavy duty. I have been working on the project in Mörbisch by Neusiedler lake, shooting preparations for "Der Bettelstudent" (Beggar Student) by Carl Millöcker, then rehearsals, and finally premiere of the operetta, by the way premiere show was attended by all front politicians of Austrian scene, including Austrian chancellor. 

It was really great assignment, I loved the atmosphere around me, people, artists, leading team, whole team. Totally friendly welcome, and full cooperation from everyone. When I needed this or that, there was no problem, nothing was impossible. When you deal with professionals this is how the cooperation looks like. Awesome!

I had some ideas for shots from tower above, we only had to find good time slot, when stage is being rearranged, got dressed up in something dark (to be less visible from the audience), and climbed to the top. Then the real problem were... mosquitos, bloody nuisance. But I am happy with pictures. And this was shot during the show!

Burn Studio Residency Assignment at Ibiza

Covering International Music Summit

I knew May and June would be crazy but in my wildest dreams I would not have come up with this idea... and especially in that period.

Despite having contracted events for end of May and beginning of June I managed to squeeze in over two weeks job for Burn Studio Residency finals at Ibiza, Spain. 

Together we fellow photographer we had to cover whole event in terms of stills, while other team had to film the lot. I think planned release of video footage is July 25th. I am really looking forward to see final film.

There were 18 finalists of DJs competition "Burn Studio Residency" (out of 500), and 3 of them won season residency at local Ibiza clubs - Mambo, Sankeys, and Privilege. 

Finalists came from all over the place including Japan, and Brasil! So very international atmosphere we had there and tons of fun besides really hard work, sometimes in very hot and conditions.

Giga Bytes Smoothly Transformed to Tera Bytes!

Time is playing some funny games with me.

Shooting, processing, shooting, shooting, and shooting, and simply have not time left to process pictures not to mention videos. Have not been so busy for years!

Positive aspect of those circumstances is that when looking briefly at most of the shots I had taken recently, they do not need any post processing at all! Got them right in the camera. Videos are the pain though, especially disk space wise. My another 2 TB disk is almost full. Having uploaded Steve Hackett's  2.5hrs concert footage I just realized I need again new disk. We used to work with giga bytes, now I smoothly switched to tera bytes simply. B letter all of a sudden unnoticeably switched to T. Recently uploaded Steve Lukather interview filmed in Graz before his concert.

I am trying to organize myself between different concerts, interviews, workshops and my landscapes.  Working also on printed album with some of my better work, and hope to have if for sale in few months.

Weather got really good, and I was able to spend few days outside also filming. The other day I went to Hohe Wand for sunrise where I also filmed, some time later had nice session by Ottenstein Lake, in May I will be able to share new video. I really started to enjoy mixing filming with photography. However I must say doing it all on your own is extremely hard and time consuming. Here's short trailer:

Shooting Water. Digging Through Piles of Shot Material.

I managed to cut my latest video about how to shoot flowing water explaining usage of filters to achieve slow shutters speeds during a day. Took me a while because I was quite tight on time with many assignments. Different footage keeps piling and awaits its turn in the queue.

Höllental

Every time I go for a shoot I try also to take some video footage, which is sort of a burden especially when it comes to carrying equipment but on the other hand it opens up so many new opportunities starting with simply documenting sessions and ending with long time DVD project.

Besides documenting landscapes sessions, trips I also film action during concerts I shoot, having in mind different documentary about concert photography. Here I have to overcome different problems starting with extremely low light and horrible sound quality when recorded by camera microphone. I am contacting bands asking if I can use original well recorded sound tracks, so it will take some time. Here's short sequence out of already something like 20 hours of footage taken at different stages and different concerts. Final version most probably look different and way better!

Catching Up With Time - New Videos

Despite totally crazy weather this year in March, I have been constantly busy. Days simply kept passing by and I already lost the track of weekdays, just going by my planned schedule. Last week I had three concerts to shoot, 2 interviews, this week 2 more and then in April, story repeats itself, May seems to be even more packed.

At least I hope finally the weather will get a bit better and I will be able to shoot more landscapes as I start to miss quiet and natural atmosphere somewhere in the woods or mountains or by rivers. Visit to seaside would also be nice. I am thinking of going either to Poland or to Cornwall again.

From the other side I dived quite heavily into filming, found it very interesting and educational and have some totally new ideas how to utilize DSLR's video capturing capabilities. I even dug out some older cameras and gave them second life, this time as video cameras. Whole idea started from shooting multiple interviews with guitarists for GuitarMania.eu and StormBringer.at

Some days ago I shot short (30 minutes...) comparison of different polarizers I am using - B&W, Lee, Hoya, Singh-Ray - 'Testing Polarizers" - this film gave me idea to perhaps shoot way longer series about photography as very long term project enabling me learning new skills and gaining new experience.

I will also use some of the material for my workshops, initially planned for April, that had to be delayed because of totally strange weather conditions in our area. I honestly do not remember when I had to deal with snow and sub zero temperatures in second part of March. Yesterday, March 28th I was shooting by Lochnbach waterfalls completely covered by snow and ice! Video will come later as well. 

Spring by Lohnbachfall, March 28th 2013

Shooting With Jerzy Trailer

I am heavily getting ready to spring workshops and working on materials.

On top face to face workshops, which cannot be substituted by videos anyway, I plan to create series of video tutorials as well.

Here's my latest trailer.

Cheers
Jerzy

Shooting With Jerzy Bin Video

This time something new, new for me.
Short post, not much reading but few minutes of watching.

I shot a video in parallel to pictures. I had this idea for some time already and finally did it. It is not perfect, sound is not the best. I used my mobile phone as sound recorder, but it was still better in the end than using camera built in microphone.

Still have to get used to being in front of the camera... so much different than sitting behind it :)

So without further ado, here's my 1st video:

Shooting with Jerzy Bin

I hope you will enjoyed it. If it is too long or boring, please let me know. I would like to hear what you think.

Plitvice Waterfalls in Winter, Croatia

How to stop time?

Days keep passing while constantly working, and we just work, eat, sleep and work again, then you realize, another week, another month has just gone by. I had no time to write anything on the blog. Many concerts to shoot... will have to catch up with my latest thoughts on subject of music photography. For the time being, something really fresh - trip to Plitvice National Park in Croatia.

Plitvice, Croatia
70mm, 2 minutes, f/16, ISO 100

One day few weeks ago I called my photographer friend Andreas to check on things, and all of sudden I was planning group trip to Croatia, to shoot winter around Plitvice Lakes. I wanted to visit this national park already for a long time, and now it was a good moment. Quickly re-adjusted my calendar and last 3 days we spent in deep snow in Croatia.

Amount of snow I had to deal with over there completely overwhelmed me. I was expecting some, but not that much. Andreas mentioned something about taking snow shoes. I bought new ones and was almost certain I would not need them. How wrong I was. 

Mario and Dieter probing the snow trying to find the route to overcome fallen tree.
See how deep the snow is, check Dieter's skiing stick sunk in the snow.

Generally in winter Plitvice National Park is closed, but this is the best moment to quietly visit this amazing area. There are no tourists, for two days we have not met anybody! Can you imagine that?!

Cornwall Part 2 - St Michael's Mount, Cot Valley

Weather forecast mentioned possible moments of sun during early morning. I adjusted my plans for this slight possibility and decided to start the day in Marazion, located on the shore of Mount's Bay. The main attraction of the place is St Michael's Mount, half-a-mile offshore, small hill with old church on top. With low water one can simply walk all the way to the mount along old stone pathway. It sounded very interesting. Double checked tide times and all things seemed to work just fine. I knew where to go.

St Michael's Mount at dawn. Pathway by the mount is already under water.

I arrived to Marazion after 6 a.m., more than an hour before sunrize. Wanted to walk around to find good spot. Took my torch and headed down the beach. Strange feeling to walk along the beach hearing the sea but not seeing it. It was still period of low tide, but after 7 waters should be coming in. There was very little time to get decent picture of the mount with the path leading to it. But first I had to find the path in almost complete darkness. With help of torch and GPS on my phone, I pre-cached map of the area night before, I found the place. Stood for a while and wondered if I should follow it all the way into the sea or not. Water was already coming in slowly... so I thought. When I got closer I realized coming tide is in reality way faster. I moved to the beach instead and went after dawn skies and reflections. From time to time I moon kept breaking through the clouds. It would make nice picture I thought. 

St Michael's Mount at dawn

I had to keep moving to escape fast coming sea. If I had followed the path I would have been cut-off by now, swimming under best circumstances. But I must say I totally enjoyed the placed, coming sea, red and blue clouds lit by rising sun, those are magical moments and unfortunately they last only minutes. Following line of water I reached again stone mount path, now its further section well flooded already. I kept shooting capturing still very colourful skies, light was changing now very fast. After every shot I had to change the settings. 

Stanley Jordan Interview and Concert... When To Pull Back.

I will carry on with Cornwall pictures in a day or so, for now I wanted to share story from yesterday.

Stanley Jordan Solo

We (my friend Richard and me) asked for an interview with Stanley Jordan some time ago, and we got final confirmation on the day of the concert! I love those short notice calls.

I had basically few hours to have all the gear ready and charged, and off to Porgy & Bess stage in Vienna. This is THE stage for Jazz music here.

Now for those who do not know who Stanley Jordan is, well, he is a legend guitarist famous for his unique two handed tapping techniques. His solo performance blew me away, never heard something like this live. 

But idea for this post came at different moment. This is about pulling back and not pushing too far. I will get to that in a moment.

Back to interview, it was scheduled for 5:30 p.m., but as usual such sessions are never on time. We were ready though, had extra few minutes to setup cameras, plug in microphones and test the lot. Here great thank you to Porgy & Bess Crew, who helped us with power and light. We shot interview on actual stage where Stanley performed few hours later. There was very little time, it was still before sound check, and we were not really sure how much footage we will get in the end. Stanley was great, we got way over 30 minutes, and he completely did not show he was really in a hurry. We really appreciate he gave us so much of his precious time before the show.

Stanley Jordan mounting his microphone

Cornwall - Part 1 - Trevose Head, Godrevy

Cornwall is so much different place. It is hard to describe it really. I have spent in England so much time over the years and more or less know what to expect in different areas of UK, but visiting Cornwall was something completely different and new experience.

Trevose Head, Cornwall.
3 frames stitched together, 16mm, 15sec, f/11, ISO 100

I had few locations to visit around the most remote parts of west Cornwall, had few of my own plus Jeremy gave me few of his hints. Driving west from Dorset via Exeter the most logical first stop was Trevose Head with huge lighthouse. Few kilometers before reaching Trevose Head you pass Polventon Bay, and this was the first moment I saw huge Atlantic waves crashing on the beach. And to my surprise I met quite some surfers taking on those waves. Before I never even thought that people surf in England, especially in January.

Trevose Head, Cornwall
24mm,  30sec, f/8, ISO 200

The sound, smell, scenery of Atlantic are simple overwhelming, especially for someone landlocked. I stood still for some time and simply digested the atmosphere. Best option would be to leave all your gear behind and relax waiting for sunset, cloudy sunset. Noise of crashing waves was absolutely fantastic. I did not care about the wind, I loved the moment.

Grey Dorset, Ten Minutes of Sun in Cornwall

Just having a pint of Triubute Cornish Ale in Hayle, Cornwall. 

Had fantastic time, in unfortunately grey and totally cloudy Dorset. Last 3-4 days were totally grey but at least it was not raining, and this was nice surprise. I had a workshop with Jeremy Walker, widely recognised landscape photographer based in Dorset. So despite the weather, those were really good and educational days. 

It is a good practice to come up with decent landscape photos despite all the odds. And here Jeremy helped me a lot. 

So where do you go with huge possibility of rain with heavy overcast? - Kimmeridge Bay with its fantastic stone ledges, but also you must know when tide is low and you can simply walk literally into the sea. 

This picture is magical. I have three or four different versions of the same scene with different white balance setup thus different colours, and different orientation. But this one speaks to me in strongest way. On top of that it simply screams that dull and grey afternoon can be so dramatic in form and colours... well not to many colours but still there is something here. 

The picture is right out of the camera, except panoramic crop from 3:2 to 2:1 ratio. Nothing else have been changed. The key to get that effect are filters, and it this case I used 2 stops ND grad and 10 stops grey filter - The Big Stopper from Lee, which has quite dramatic blue cast. This blue cast works perfectly once you get to know it, set the camera to manual white balance, and forget auto one and off you go. 

Wet, Wet, Windy and Grey Kent During New Year

Happy New Year!

Prior to my trip to Dorset and Cornwall I spent New Year with my brother in Kent. This is the first time I have really more time to concentrate on photography here in UK. Whole trip is about shooting this time and that's why I also decided to travel by car. This way I have no weight restrictions, and I can go anywhere and anytime I want or have to. Actually when I am writing this I am already in bed & breakfast just outside of Wareham, which basically is a starting point, gateway to Jurassic Coast. Got O2 sim card and surf free or roaming costs.

100mm, 30sec, f/16, ISO 50 + 10 stops ND filter

Trip started with rain, and forecast is not promising, but photographer should be able to take great photos in any conditions, so I am prepared for rain and wind. When I boarded Euro Tunnel in Calais it felt like sky got pissed off for some reason and unleashed its full forces with pouring rain and blasting winds. One hour later already in Folkstone, seems like same rain decided to wash my car again. Anyhow I am optimistic.

Sunday afternoon, drove to Whitstable to to get few shots I had in mind for quite some time already. Been to the beach almost exactly year ago, but back then had no tripod with me. I was after long exposures to completely blur the sea leaving pin point sharp wave breakers and old beacons. I think in the past they were fire lit. I did different scenarios with 5 seconds, 30 seconds, and few minutes exposures. Also used two different lenses 100mm and 24mm that day. Clouds were breaking apart from time to time and setting sun was behind me thus I hoped little bit for some spectacular red clouds above the sea.

But it was not my day in the end. However I happy with few pictures. On the way back to Vienna, I might stop there again.

24mm, 5sec, f/11, ISO 50 (while shooting this frame I hoped for red sky, sun was setting behind me)