Carpe PM

I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday. We were almost finished with all the shearing of the week. So, I asked the guys if they would mind if I brought my camera in to film them. The end results are absolutely beautiful. Every shot looks like it had cinema lighting. You can see the outside is over exposed. It was fairly dark inside, but this is clear evidence of how well the hvx camera performs. It’s times like these where you fully appreciate the big decisions you made only months before. I have enough coverage of this to be able to cut together a fairly good short documentary. Someone asked why I don’t most times show faces in the shot when people are in the frame. The reason for this is that it makes footage much easier to sell. So, I do have shots with their faces, but I would most likely need to get a release form signed by those involved for some of those shots. There you have. And that’s how the cookie crumbles.

I actually have a pretty cool timelapse of this foggy shot as well as a 1080p short clip. The time lapse is in 720p, which is actually a requirement of the camera I have. You have to use 720p to get a good selection of variable frame rates. I also got some great time lapse of the clouds out and about. It’ll probably rain tonight. I hope it doesn’t tomorrow, but they gave me a coat if it does. Wish me luck on the wombats and kangaroos. I only saw them in one area, but it wasn’t nearby. If all else fails, I can go to some places over near the coast when I get over there.

One of Charlie’s friends helped shear today. He picked up one of the pups after we got back to the house. The pups are quite fun to visit in their shed. I’m just glad I don’t have to take care of them. No, I’m not planning on bringing one back. Although, it would be quite cute to have a pup in a sock on the plane home. There’s another mental image for ya. I finally have spent enough time again with manual transmission to say that I’ve got it down. The first car I buy will probably be one. I may even change the transmission for my rental at the end of April. I had requested an automatic. It should be fine either way though.

After shearing lambs all day today, Charlie did what is called drenching the shornies. This means that he fed all the lambs their medicine before calling it quits for the day. We actually ended work fairly early. The reason for this started with a brown out in the morning. If you don’t know, a brown out is when the electricity is still there but at a rate much less than normal, hence a weak power source. The power company came down and fixed it. We ended up starting up an hour and a half late. Then, the electricity went crazy in the shed around 3:00. The circuit breakers started smoking. So, that’s what ended our day.

I have to keep reminding myself to check all the settings on my camera before I shoot something. I forgot to set something for the footage I shot this evening. It isn’t the focus, that has to be checked. This probably won’t be noticeable to the usual viewer. It’s a problem that people like me notice. A lot of times I notice only after the fact. I just forgot to look for it and correct it before progressing. The footage with the mistake is too good to just delete. I’ll just have to live with the minor mistake. To some people, the problem is actually a stylistic choice. All future footage should be okay because I’ll remember next time. The image above is of the chickens the Bailey’s have. They only have two now because one of the dogs had killed all the others some time before I arrived last week. The little buggers aren’t scared of anyone. It’s rather funny to watch them follow you around the pen.

I had my camera out again. The image above is of the new Kelpie pups. You can click on it to see a small version of the video. Oh how they howl. It’s Saturday and golden hour was rather lovely. I have decided to continue capturing in 1080p. The shots I got last night were quite nice. I have a few sheep images now, but they are so hard to capture because they run away as soon as you get too close. I hope to get some closeups of them in golden hour sometime soon. I know I can go over and get some shots of chickens. There are also roos, wallabees, and wombats out in the scrub. So, I may go out soon to see if I can find them some evening. The shot I want the most is a closeup of a Kookaburra making a ruckus.

I ran out of things to do after the morning. So, I took my camera out for a stroll. When I came back everyone was still out and about. I then quick filmed the image you see above. I decided to shoot everything here in 1080p (except for slow motion, if there is going to be any). So far, I’m not too sure about using 1080. I will know for sure after my second round of shooting, which will happen tomorrow, most likely. The reason for this is that focus is more difficult for wide shots. I may end up shooting with the stock lens for my wide shots. However, I really want to get close ups of things. So, I need my long 35mm lens. The only problem is that I tried ti use it and the tripod was shaking way too much. Oh well. It’ll all work out. It’s extremely fun to be working hard and experimenting with my camera all at the same time.

I’ve set up my camera rig out here in the middle of nowhere. I made it in yesterday. It started raining in the afternoon. I’ve been helping my hosts out wherever I can. I intended to put together my new film project while here. However, I don’t think it will work out. I’ll let you know if it goes green. In the mean time the project is on hold. What am I doing with my camera gear in the middle of nowhere then? I am making an archive of footage. It should get fairly large by the time I leave here. Of course that depends on how much time I have to shoot footage. I know it will start to explode when I get to my other two places I intend to reside on this trip. When I get back to the states, the job hunt begins. When that time comes, I hope to have a good selection of footage to perhaps use to get jobs from nature based television companies. I like to keep my options open. So, I am trying to do a lot of things before I get back. I can promise that I will have a few more interesting things ready to share soon.

Here one of the pictures I took of the chicken shop that exploded last night. The authorities had the street cordoned off, and I heard that the residents living above the shop in the apartment tower have to find another place to stay until the investigation is complete. This place is literally the next block over. from where I slept. Talk about a close call. I walked around town today and bought my train tickets out to where I’m staying for the next few months. The weather is wet. When I got off the plane it was excruciatingly humid. My t-shirt was soaked through when I got to the Unilodge. Fortunately, today is much cooler and less humid.

I’ve decided to post for a number of days that I had jet lag and didn’t feel like writing. This is one of the most exciting trips of my life. It is by far one of the most interesting. I got stuck in LAX overnight. This was followed by getting stuck in Sydney for two days. Whilst I was there I hopped on the ferry to Manly to get some of the famous fish and chips. It was nice except for getting soaked on the way back. A chicken shop exploded a block from where I slept in the Unilodge. The entire building shook, but I fell right back to sleep. I guess I figured I was all right. Perhaps I should worry more when loud explosions occur in the middle of the night. It’s odd how sleep deprivation from airplane travel slows your thinking.