The calendar just turned its pages to 2015. We have tiny and versatile cameras like the GoPro Hero 4 filming 4K video, camera companies making 50-megapixels DSLRs, and artists making mind-blowing stop-motion/hyper-lapse/time-lapse films. So why is it still so hard for artists and big brands to easily connect to collaborate on photo and video projects?
Benjamin Von Wong has done many crazy photo shoots in his career, but you would be hard pressed to find one that invokes a primal fear that is buried inside all of us as well as inspiration as perfectly as his latest series, "Superheroes on Skyscrapers."
Belgian photographer and filmmaker Matthew Vandeputte has taken his obsession of the sky Down Under and created a time-lapse film that was over a year in the making. From sunrises and stormy skies over the metropolis of Sydney, to the Milky Way dancing over the sleepy town of Mudgee, Vandeputte has traveled far and wide across his new home to capture Australian skies at their most vibrant and dramatic.
As photographers and filmmakers, sometimes the most incredible scenes we capture happen when we least expect them. Such was the case for 19-year-old talent Andrew Studer, when he ventured to downtown Portland, Oregon to shoot a sunset. The beautiful fog that engulfed the city after the sun went down convinced Studer to stick around, and the resulting time-lapse film is an incredible display of weather in the Northwest’s second most populated city.
At only 24 years old, photographer and filmmaker Toby Harriman already has an impressive resume. From his vertigo inducing aerial photography to his "Modern Surf" series, Harriman has made quite a name for himself in his very short career. His latest time-lapse film not only adds to his impressive accomplishments, but may be his most impressive project yet.
From its pulse pounding opening scene of a photographer seemingly cheating death as a massive wave breaks on the rocks in front of him, Ben Canales and his partner, John Waller at Uncage The Soul Productions, have created a film that beautifully shows the unique and rugged Oregon Coast like you have never seen it before.
It's that time of year again! You know, that time when you frantically type "How to photograph fireworks" into Google before heading out of your house into the cold December night to line up next to hundreds of other photographers, all with the end goal of being the first to post an epic fireworks photo on social media. Well, fear not! We are here to help you not only nail those firework exposures, but also show you how to blend them seamlessly in Photoshop.
The calendar is about to turn over to 2015, and in my feeble mind I just assumed we were so advanced, that all of those new high-budget animation films were created by using elaborate CGI. I envisioned a team of computer animators sitting in a dark basement with endless empty cans of Red Bull strewn about, working around the clock to animate the scenes on screen in their elaborate and complex computer programs. Little did I know, old school manual, and tireless physical techniques are still used to this day.
Benjamin Von Wong has always been known for his elaborate, fantasy-like photo shoots. However, recreating the fairy tales that he had grown up watching took time, patience, luck, and most of all, a lot of help. These jaw-dropping photographs are bound to generate the customary "Is this Photoshopped?" question. Yet as usual, Von Wong's incredible scenes are all created in-camera, and he goes on to tell us how he pulled off a photo shoot 20 years in the making.
Benjamin Von Wong is known for his daring, and sometimes dangerous, photo shoots. Whether it be chaining a model to a shipwreck or lighting massive amounts of fire next to 3 million dollars worth of sports cars, no idea is too crazy. In fact, the more crazy, the more creative Von Wong can be. But not every photo shoot that Von Wong creates is dangerous... to the people at least. Even in relatively mellow settings, Von Wong has to do something to make it more interesting. As he details in his latest blog post, sometimes you even have to have a $38,000 Mamiya Leaf Credo 80 just inches over the water to get "the shot."
SmugMug Filmmaker Anton Lorimer has an incredible way of telling us stories about photographers. He blew us away with Arctic Swell, his dramatic film that followed surf photographer Chris Burkard to the ends of the earth in search of the perfect wave. But in the latest film of this exceptional series, the ends of the earth wasn't quite far enough. Space seemed like a more fitting backyard.
It seems you can’t go a day or two without seeing a new time-lapse film of the Northern Lights. And while beautiful, it has become incredibly difficult for photographers and filmmakers to raise the bar on this much captured phenomenon. That was until Ole C. Salomonsen threw his hat in the ring.
Being a native of the Pacific Northwest, photographer and filmmaker Ben Canales of Uncage The Soul was deeply concerned about the rapid melting of the Sandy Glacier Ice Cave. Wanting to create widespread awareness for this issue, Ben and his team spent over a year filming in the cave system. The resulting film is both visually beautiful as well as eye opening.
I have been a fan and a friend of Benjamin Von Wong for years. I have seen him turn tech employees into athletic gods and seen him schmooze with the police while on a 13 hour photoshoot deep in a foggy forest. In my eyes, the genius that is buried in Von Wong's creative mind can do anything, and he always knows it. Well, little did I know, the man who once chained a model to a shipwreck to get the perfect shot, often doubts himself, much like all of us.
Photographer Gary Fraley recently recovered his stolen gear via 500px thanks to Lenstag. Fraley, who runs a nonprofit which aims to use art to help end hunger, had his house broken into late last year and his camera equipment stolen.
Outdoor enthusiasts and landscape photographers have been beside themselves with anger and bewilderment this week after Modern Hiker told the story of a 20 something New York woman who was painting "art" in National Parks all along the western United States. What gave her away? She was brazen enough to document it on her Instagram account.
Benjamin Von Wong is at it again. He teamed up with the team at SmugMug on yet another collaborative masterpiece. This time, he left the cold, foggy San Francisco forest, and retreated to the warm, sunny outdoor confines of the SmugMug campus in Mountain View, California. With only $20, a couple lights, and a lot of creativity, he turned everyday tech employees into athletic specimens.
When my friend and filmmaker Marc Donahue of Permagrin Films told me about the idea behind his "GoPro Array", I was speechless. Place 20 GoPro Cameras side by side in a slightly curved custom holder, set them all to film in super slow motion, and then use the footage to create a "bullet-time" look at break dancers performing some super cool moves. The results are a unique and exciting look at one of America's coolest dance forms.
Being a photographer in the Bay Area, it was hard to not hear the news about the sophisticated break in last week at Mac House Productions. Not once, but twice in the same night, two buglers broke into the Mac House warehouse building, making off with over $150,000 worth of equipment. Now, as the dust begins to settle, it turns out Mac House wasn't the only local business targeted. And a haul worth ten times as much was just around the corner.
Eric Cheng of DJI recently took his Phantom 2 to Iceland, hoping to get close enough to fly over the erupting Bardabunga volcano. The footage he brought back is spectacular.
If you are an active user on Facebook (and not living under a rock), you have surely seen status updates and links referring to your friend's profiles on the new social network, Ello. But as a working photographer or cinematographer, is investing time into another social network really worth it?
Just three days ago the latest rumored specs for the highly anticipated GoPro HERO4 came to light, and the internet came alive with both excitement and caution. Was this the real deal, or just more false internet hype? Well, GoPro put any doubts to bed this morning when they officially announced the HERO4.
It seems like everyone and their accountants have known someone who had the inside scoop on the details surrounding the highly anticipated GoPro 4. Every week, Facebook feeds would explode with the latest outlandish rumors, getting even the most tepid of us excited. Well, these latest rumors may in fact be the real deal.
Today, the team at Oregon Live exposed a new rule proposed by the United States Forest Service, that, if passed, will take effect in November. The rule calls for any member of the "media" to first apply for a permit before being allowed to take photos or video on 193 million acres of designated wilderness areas. Oh, and by the way, the permit costs $1,500.
Oregon based photographer and filmmaker Ben Canales decided to take his shiny new iPhone 6 Plus to the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to create a short film to show off the power of the new pop tart sized phablet. The resulting footage is great, but is Ben in fear of losing some business to iPhone cinematographers?
Ever since Benjamin Von Wong took a leap of faith and left his successful career as a engineer to persue his artistic passions, he has kept a legion of die hard fans enchanted by his ability to turn the ordinary into epic. Whether it be organizing complicated pyrotechnics, photographing surreal scenes of ultraviolet models, or chaining models to a shipwreck 25 meters below the surface in Bali, Benjamin has never been interested in being ordinary. In his insanely creative mind, his thought process of "If it's not epic, than what's the point?" has led to some of the most memorable photoshoots in the last several years.
MindShift Gear used the excitement of Photokina to announce two brand new backpacks that will feature the companies award winning technology in a lighter and more compact photography pack. With travel photographers in mind, MindShift Gear has released these new backpacks, entitled the rotation 180º travel away, and the slightly smaller rotation 180º trail.
If you are a quadcopter owner like I am, you know how frustrating it can be when you are in the middle of a great flight and those red lights start flashing that warn the pilot of low battery. Usually the pilot will return the aircraft safely to their side before the impending doom occurs.
Photographer and Filmmaker Thomas Leveritt had a radical idea: find people on the street, film their faces with an ultraviolet camera, and show his subjects the not-yet-visble changes to their skin. The participant's reactions range from shock to laughter, but it is obviously that no one had ever seen their face in this light.
For those of us who didn't get to make it out to Black Rock Desert this week for the annual Burning Man Festival , we can now enjoy the experience virtually, thanks to the incredible new film Lake Of Dreams by Roy Two Thousand. Combining time-lapse, hyperlapse, and standard video, Roy, along with his second shooters, August Winkelman and Connor McNeill, give us a 7 minutes jaw dropping short film that will feel so real, you will be cleaning the sand out of your teeth for the rest of the afternoon.
Before I began writing for Fstoppers, I spent 18 months working for the photo sharing company SmugMug. While working at SmugMug had many perks, I don't think I enjoyed any of them more than being sent to Norway to assist in the making of the film, Arctic Surf. I was hand picked to tag along with the talented videographer Anton Lorimer as we detailed Chris Burkard's work of photographing surfers in the cold and rugged Arctic Circle. It was an incredible experience, in one of the most beautiful locations that I had ever visited. I even put together a Behind-The-Scenes photo journal of the trip.
The untimely passing of Robin Williams at the still-young age of 63 sent shock waves around the world last week. Based on the outpouring of love for "Mork" on social media, it was evident that no matter your age, Robin was most likely a fixture in your upbringing. His acting brilliance ranged from the side splitting comedy "Mrs. Doubtfire" to the chillingly dramatic roles in "Good Will Hunting" and "Dead Poets Society." Robin could do it all on screen, but could be even more entertaining off screen, when he wasn't tied down to a script. He would often explode into comedic rants that would include character after character, all seemingly without stopping to take a breath. There was no doubt that the man was brilliant.
That’s right. You! No matter what your skill level, there is a project in this world that is perfect for you. Are you going to get paid for this project? Nope! This one is going to be a freebie.
Now I know what you are thinking. "Whoa Whoa Whoa, stop the clock! You want me to work for free?”
Yes, that’s exactly what I want you to do. And here is why.
