Spirit
Sep, 2015Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 22
Contest Finalist in Rule Of Thirds Extravaganza Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
All Star
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
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I'm a documentary filmmaker and one day I decided to start taking pictures. With technology and camera rigs now you can do it all. This picture was taking when I was filming for a film called, “THEIR LAST RIDE” and I was laying in the middle of a Texas country farm road in the heat (Texas HEAT!) I saw a moment and had to take it. The road is the last thing these horses see before going to the slaughter plants in Mexico. SPIRIT is the name of the horse skull which was found in the fields of the desert discarded and abandon in the slaughter plants of Presidio, Tx. You know it was about 12noon when I took this. The sun was right over me and casted a perfect shadow. the road was HOT!!! What we do for that perfect shot...Time
You know it was about 12noon when I took this. The sun was right over me and casted a perfect shadow. the road was HOT!!! What we do for that perfect shot...Lighting
As always I have a lighting kit with me, some 180 LEDs, 90 Daylight/90 Tungsten on camera lights that I use for closeup video shots, but never had to pull those out. The sun bloomed what I needed and more. WEST TEXAS SUN!Equipment
That day I had a RED EPIC MX Cinema Camera, 2 Canon 5D Mark II, and 2 Canon 7D and a set of Zeiss ZE SLR with a Canon EF Zoom lens. I used the Canon 5D Mark II with a Zeiss ZE SLR 50mm Planar f/1.4 T* ZE.Inspiration
I had a mini jib I was using for more reviling shots of SPIRIT (the skull) and was about to pack it up when the wind blow and something told me to look at SPIRIT (the skull) laying in the middle of the road saying this is my time my moment to share my story so at that moment a grabbed the 5D and laid on the HOT WEST TEXAS asphalt and started to shoot. In that moment I had a tear in my eye knowing that I’m creating a voice for all those great Brothers & Sisters (HORSES). Being Apache Mescalero horses have always been very sacred to us. This same picture became the poster to the documentary film called, “THEIR LAST RIDE.”Editing
The digital age has come along way... As a Cinematographer (DOP) digital was a secondary thing and nobody wanted to jump the wagon or take the risk that it would evolve or fadeaway. It seemed foreign and film was rolling it in. Now its the flow of our tomorrows... Being a documentary filmmaker I capture everything RAW with different codex using different software to edit with. My post with Sleepy Little Cowboy with a ISO @ 100 and a ND filter (Texas Sun can be brutal) I was able to get more of the visual details of what I was seeing and in photoshop I took my exposure up and offset to make the asphalt pop and pulled some saturation for the overall vision. With Curves I increased the contrast and adjusted my output&input, in Levels I made my midtones darker, and color balance my highlights are down with a final touch of vibrance added. As a video editor I use to color correction in much the some way.In my camera bag
Doing documentary work my gear bag is a hand full from a RED EPIC MX Cinema Camera, to 2 Canon 5D Mark II, and 2 Canon 7Ds and sometimes a set of Zeiss ZE SLR: 18, 28, 35, 50, 85, 135mm and Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye, 24-70, 24-105, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. All my gear is in pelican cases.Feedback
I allow my self to be guided to find a moment that needs to be told or expressed and I always ask before I go on a quest to take me too that person, place, or thing that will let me share it's vide, nature, and language. Letting my self and the lens to tell the rest of the story in this great school that we call LIFE. P.S. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my camera... Peace.
