Really digging into the work.

Today was a long day with some good variety. I got to do the regular scene shooting with the crew as well as some b-roll but I also got to do some photography which is always one of the crafts I miss doing. It was extra cool to do the interior architectural photography which is something I haven't done much of in the past. The long hours are nice and the crew is awesome and after the coming week I might actually get to take a break!

The unpredictability of clouds.

I spent a lot of my day shooting time lapses of the sky today. It has been something that is generally one of my main dictates as a shooter and even more so as a b-roll shooter. Today was an incredible mixture of clouds as they formed and vanished, whirling all around in every random direction against a contrasty, blue sky almost all day long. It was tons of fun to see!

Tired eyes...

Make for tired entries... I suppose it would be better of me to ensure higher quality than simply reaching for the lax consistency... but here it is. I hope it helps anybody beyond myself.

The vocal stamp of approval.

I have been working hard on this current project and I have been fairly confident I have been doing the best I can do. It is always nice to hear confirmation from your superiors that you are succeeding at your job and it is even nicer to hear that the quality you are rendering is very high. It's a bit of a challenge to shoot footage and just hand it off without reviewing almost any of it. It's a bit of a mystery box that is basically impenetrable outside of the feedback from those who are using it. But the faith to go through all of that can be rewarded by these stamps of approval and praise, indicating a quality product by my efforts. It is yet another reason I love my work. I love doing a job well.

There will always be fires.

It is a natural part of life's landscape. It is the nature of refinement - it requires heat to reconstruct temperament. Just breaking down the word temperament in a very rudimentary way shows its connection to heat - temp... temperature. Fire shapes everything it touches; every conversation, every relationship, every form of artistic expression, every physical element. And what becomes of this experience for each thing often, though not always, breaks into two different branches of results - destruction or strengthening. We can look at every experience in life through this paradigm, if we feel so inclined, to learn through the reflection of it which direction our experience fell or how it may have gone through both branches simultaneously. The self-assessed review of these things is not a habit I undertake nearly enough. Maybe this is a reminder to myself that I need to pay better attention to the fires, as well as the effects of it, with much more regularity.

Teamwork and communication.

A team can ONLY function as a team because of communication. The better the communication, the better the teamwork, the better the team. We have been winding down to the homestretch of this shoot with a variety of challenges. And while we have not met every one of them with full efficiency we definitely have improved the attack over the last few days and it looks quite possible we will actually pull this all off nearly as planned. Go team!

The littlest details.

As we draw to the close of this production timeline, as the deadline looms and the motivation intensifies, each challenge large and small seems to loom with similar magnitude as any one thing feels almost as destructive to the cause and the infamous Achilles' heel. So, as any artist might attest, we labor over every little detail, each polished facet with emboldened fervor akin to the surgeon's master of accuracy, subtlety and precision... even if it's only in our minds... impassioned by our hearts.

The long but sunny days.

I don't always appreciate working for 14 hours in a day... but when I do, it's certainly influenced by rad weather and basically working outside the entire time enabling me to enjoy it. Today was a fun one because I got to film some activities I had only watched a little of before so that makes it fun, too. Sure... I didn't really get much personal time today, so this isn't the kind of thing one hopes for when striving to achieve a more balanced life, but there's definitely worse things to experience than a solid, extra lengthy day of work.

The double-booking challenges.

I rarely, if ever before, have one job get interrupted by another job. And at such a late time in the game... it's a very difficult challenge to find a good replacement on almost no notice. I feel like I need to literally split myself into two people sometimes. Ha.

Getting to the last few days of craziness.

We only have a few days before our production deadline and the work is definitely getting into the not-enough-hours-in-the-day territory at this point. It seems like there is still quite a bit to finish before we are ready but I suppose anything is possible. I do know how a project can often look like little has progressed until key events happen, when it suddenly changes the whole perspective into something much more completed. I don't know that my metaphor from other experiences fully applies to this but it seems like it could be accurate... and in four quick days we will know for sure!

Expect the expected.

Wait! That was unexpected! But I suppose the logic would be that the expected already is the unexpected so maybe that counts? It's a very confusing premise. I guess that happens from time to time. Ha. Anyway... I was pleasantly surprised by my interactions with somebody new today. It felt like there might be an actual spark there already. That in itself is quite unexpected but I don't want to overthink it like I normally do. Lets just go with it and keep moving forward. It might unexpectedly turn into something great after all!

Always so much on the plate.

Sure, I am generally trying to juggle too much with everything I do at work. Now that I am trying to add in an element of personal life, I think I will definitely have to learn how to scale work down even more... which might be a good thing for work anyway. I have heard that working more efficiently becomes easier with a more well-rested mind... a more well-rounded schedule. I often do not feel that all the extra work I do is really like doing extra work since I do truly enjoy most of what I do quite thoroughly... but I still imagine it to be a good idea to try out, if anything. Experts gotta be right ever once in a while, eh?

Can't make everyone happy.

It is literally impossible, I have to say. And despite my general success at making friends with pretty much everyone I meet, miscommunication, misunderstanding, and misrepresentation will sneak into the mix from time to time and basically screw everything up. I should probably be more accustomed to this but I really haven't experienced it much until recently. And never as directly and even antagonistically as I have in the past week or so. It's a little weird but nothing I can blame anything specific on. People just don't always click. All the more reason I will appreciate the one's that do click with me!

There is always something to learn.

I look at the setup of what we have to shoot over the next couple weeks and I think there will be quite a few opportunities to learn how to improve my craft. We have a semi-challenging and very diverse environment to dive into and a very strict timeline in which to do it. The challenges will stretch us all.

Long but fun days!

Sure... the Boeing shift wasn't what I'd call fun work but the people I worked with certainly fell into that category. Then, just because I thought it was actually the best choice, I got to steadicam a live event at the VMAC for the Renton teachers event. All kinds of fun and a great work out on top of that! Now I will sleep like a baby... a baby that pumped iron all day long.

Productivity is pretty rad.

I am quite enthusiastic about seeing progress in just about any area. The team is moving at a good pace, we are communicating well, we have a few cool gigs on the horizon. It's a solid thing. Being a part of the machine sometimes feels like a pretty awesome thing.

Hope is a powerful ally.

But, when utilized in the wrong way, it can become an incredible stumbling block. An emotion held captive by those who would prey upon it's bearers. I have witnessed this countless times in the lives of many friends and family close to me... but now, through an immense lapse of reason and subtle access to my own hope, I have fallen victim to hope's true weakness... trust. I prefer to trust people. I would rather trust and believe and give without expectation of failure, malevolence, or thievery. Life is just better that way. I suppose learning a lesson like this will ultimately make life better but the hard pill is still the hard pill... and I tend to digest these things slowly anyway.

Small enough to pack into 4 or 5 pelicans.

It was quite a day of preparation getting ready for tomorrow's event. Even though it's quite a bit less extensive than our last convention I still found it somewhat challenging to really put the equipment list together. The challenge of simplifying is as real in production work as it is in preparing a speech or writing creatively. Shed the unnecessary while efficiently keeping the most usefully functional as possible(my apologies for the clunky, unnecessarily verbose sentence which poorly demonstrates the point made by it.)

Acting in the background.

Is it a metaphorical reflection of a deep-rooted desire of mine? Ha. I have always thought I'd enjoy acting. I've gotten to do a very small bit of it from time to time where, in each instance, it has been proven to me that I would enjoy it. Now, even functioning as a background extra, I have enjoyed it enough to think... I'd like to take a bigger stab at this thing some time... a thought I have obviously felt deeply enough for it to claim an entire entry of my blog. So... what am I gonna do about it? Hmmm... I'm not sure... but I will do something... at some point.

Playing all the way into ultra-pain.

I jammed my toenail pretty good a couple days ago playing basketball but I guess I wanted to play even more than I wanted the pain to go away. Ha. I still had fun despite my body's protestations, which I am sure will continue on for the next couple or so days at least. Perhaps I truly believe that pain reminds us what it is to be truly alive?

Encouragement from the top.

We met with the new president of our parent company today and he was quite enthusiastic about our involvement with them as well as our current progress. We were able to review most of our current projects and really get on the same page about our progress, current focus and future goals. He is a forward thinking fellow with a great grasp on the current challenges of contemporary media. I look forward to seeing where this all goes for both the parent company as well as us!

I truly love playing basketball.

There is a certain amount of pain that is inflicted upon my body virtually every single time I play... yet... despite knowing it will come with assured consistency, I look forward to playing every single time I do it. I generally only play a couple times a week but I definitely wish I could play more. Life balance might be an enemy of that desire but maybe my body appreciates the infrequency anyway. Ha.

Ideas and aspirations.

We have a bunch of stuff on the horizon... which is kind of how it has felt almost perpetually for the last year or so... but I really do think we will finally start to reap a bit of what we have sowed somewhat soonish. And most of it is fairly fun stuff so that helps, too. Anyway... it's nice to get to bed at a decent time tonight! I'm bushed!

Back to the real life.

Holy shmoly, it has been a busy month! If there are any people who regularly read this blog before that have eventually made it back, I am definitely impressed. It's the longest break I have taken since I started writing for sure. The feature is essentially finished and now I have my computer back... thus, I will resume my regularly scheduled writing patterns with all the vigor and vim I usually attempted. Anyway... it's nice to be back. I look forward to unloading my brain with more regularity again.