Emotions tell the story, not fancy cinematography!

It’s all about the emotional moments.  Not the cinematography.  I just had a talk with a wedding shooter who talked about his new crane that he wants to incorporate into his shoots.

A crane!

Like those you see swooping in over people’s heads in concerts.

Sure, that will make for fancy footage, but it takes time to execute a good crane shot.  Are you able to grab the “moment” with this large apparatus, or do you have to plan all the shots and “create” those special moments.

I look back at the old Life photographers and how good they were at capturing the moments of life in their photographs.  Take a look at some of the pics by Alfred Eisenstadt.

This is from a puppet theater the kids are watching.  This is not a created moment.  This is real life.

In all my years as a photojournalist, that is always what I strived for.  Realism.  I figured if the shot looked too perfect, it probably wasn’t real.  The true moments are not always so orderly.

Armed with a small film camera and an eye on the lookout for the “moments” of your day, I aim to capture a bit of history on film for your family to enjoy for generations.

Emotional moments.   That cannot be captured in HD with a crane!

Take a look at some of the wedding video samples out there and count how many shots are “real” (actual moments caught during the wedding with no chance to redo vs. how many are set up for the shot.   Most of the swirling camerawork shots are set up.  They sure look cool.

It’s like the family photo album of the kids where they are all smiling at the camera, but never where they are actually living.  Playing.  Jumping.  Dancing.  Whatever.  Being kids.  (That takes more work to capture.  And it’s not always ready when we are.)

I see some amazing cinematography in wedding demo reels–but they’re like loud Hollywood action films for me: lots of style and no substance.   Not much of a story to tell.  All technically very well executed.  Beautiful.  Amazing!

But nothing inside.  No heart.  No emotion.

I want to tell small stories featuring strong characters engaged in life. 

Not spectacular empty ones.

Timeless is the Word!

A friend looked at some Super 8 footage recently and said, “It looks timeless”.  And that is exactly what it has that video doesn’t. 

Video, even HD, has an immediate look, a look that says, “Now.  Live.”  Like a surveillance camera.  Present tense. 

Film has a look that says past tense, a look that says, “History.  Then.”  It’s worlds apart from video, really.  We were lured into video technology that allowed cheap, long productions, and what we got was a lot of cheap, long productions. 

Super 8 film cameras were coming into high-tech options just as they went out of style in the early 80’s.  Shame we couldn’t have kept both around, but the market wouldn’t support film.

Thankfully, we still have it today, and it’s better than ever!

Kodachrome, They Give Us Those Nice Bright Colors…

Okay, so I picked up a few rolls of Kodachrome film at a sale the other day and it’s been refrigerated since it was bought, so I am going to use it on a very special wedding soon. 

For those of you who know the song by Simon and Garfunkle, Kodachrome is a kind of film that is super rich in colors and is such a joy to have some to shoot.  Kodak stopped making it a few years ago, so we have to scrounge it up wherever we can.

But it is so, so beautiful.

I just picked up a new Super 8 camera, a Beaulieu S2008, which is a hand-built, precision piece of machinery unlike so many things made today.  You can just feel the workmanship that is built into it.

Here’s an old still from a photo on the cover of their instruction manual:

 

I love quality tools with which to “paint” a scene on film.  And this camera is definitely a quality tool.

Paired with Kodachrome, and we have a winning combination and a timeless wedding for one lucky couple.