Jeff Barklage

A new ultra-yummy food shoot!

Usual suspects: Epic Dragon camera, Cooke Speed Panchro vintage glass, Weaver+Steadman 3rd axis head on slider, etc.....

This is a short piece for COKE. I was the DP, Jeff Kauck was the Director. Shot in Chicago on my RED ONE, all at 2K rez due to the highspeed over cranking we did for the liquid and ice. Mostly shot between 90 and 120fps.

Beautiful photography wraps this TV spot for Kroger's house brand PRIVATE SELECTIONS.
We had a gorgeous day to shoot, a wonderful location, super great director & crew AND my SWEET Super Baltar primes :-)
Shot in Portland.
Jim Walter directed, I DP'd

TV spot with folks eating & snapping selfies! Lots of hand-held "look" but actually shot on a combination of a Halo Head & Shot Ball.

Photographed in a WC restaurant that was closed for us for a day..crazy thing, a massive electrical storm hit the area were were located that day, knocking out ALL power for blocks, but since we had our own production genny, we were the only ones with light!

Here is my latest Food Reel montage

I LOVE shooting food!!!!

Seriously.....I do

This spot allowed me to shoot both fun food/action shots with live-action.

They wanted a DP who can shoot BOTH life-style AND food...I do both...so it was a nice shoot, single location over 1.5 days.

We could have used 2 days, since they would swap out the beer for soda, the wings for BBQ...many variations on a theme...you know what I mean :-)

To organize the shoot schedule, we spent a half day before doing a heavy tech scout with the director, myself, the keys [gaffer & key grip] as well as the production designer and the food stylist.

I have a director's finder which I can mount the actual lenses on and snap stills to show exact framing and depth of field...we used this with stand in food [soccer balls, wadded up newspapers, empty water bottles...anything in the correct physical size of the future food]...we had the agency's art director with us on this scout and could discuss placement of the food, the backgrounds, what type of camera support we would need, lighting ideas, etc...

We made detailed notes and floor plans and then hit the ground running on the shoot day with a wonderful plan for everything! It saved us a boat load of time knowing which food would be ready at which time and which location [in the kitchen or living room] we would need it, as well as what type of food rig to work the food [mini-catapult, mini-onion chute, turntable, Weaver+Steadman head, jib, dolly, slider, etc....]

I LOVE working this way because it gives up a plan to start with, and if things go awry, it allows up a better chance to punt and get back on schedule sine a lot of the leg work is already figured out :-)

The camera [Epic Dragon] was flown over/around the table-tops on a Weaver+Steadman w/3rd axis on a jib arm. I actually prefer the older Weaver+Steadman head to the Lambda as I can more easily work the mounting tubes to set my center of gravity & balance a lot easier...I will shift the CG to help me operate down shots, dutch shots, etc....

Lensed with my "DESILU" Super Baltar primes to capture that "creamy" smooth look that these vintage optics give the modern day digital image.

Jim Walter directed, I was the DP

More table-top work, this time featuring salads.
I was the DP, Jeff Kauck was producer. 
Shot on my Red One camera. Somewhere out there on the internet, someone was saying that the RED cannot photograph the 'green' of a salad....probably due to the camera having the name of the opposite color...go figure! Anyway, salads have a VERY short lifespan, so often times we could only get 1 take on set before the leaves wilted under the lights!
Shot in Chicago for Red212 Productions.

Wild tv spot I DP'd.
Each shot is MANY elements.
The opening shot of the turntable was shot in individual pieces: tone-arm, record, record player....the center of the record was a blue screen. The liquid chocolate is actually brown latex paint with green mint color injected with hoses, all shot at 120fps. The finger grabbing the candy was shot green screen with only 1 Velamint actually on set. The box was photographed separate as was the light pattern on the background.
Jeff Kauck directed, Rich Walker produced.

Frisch's BIG BOY's new Prime Time Burgers....I shot this spot on my Epic Dragon with vintage Cooke Speed Panchro primes, on a 3rd axis Weaver+Steadman head atop a beefy slider.

I shoot a lot of tabletop. This project was for a series of Long John Silver's seafood stores.
I was the DP, Jeff Kauck was the Director. The opening shot was shot at 1,000fps with a Phantom. We had to have so much light that we melted foamcore and had to resort to the back white side of a metal no-parking sign for our bounce! Shot with the Revolution lens system. Other shots were with my Red One camera.

Fun spot that has the appearance of all CG, yet was actually not..mostly not.
We shot the various iCAT's [and iDOGs] on a spinning glossy white plexi disc. The hard part was how to light something like this with little to no noticeable light sources reflected in either the toy's chrome trim or the reflective surfaces of both the cat and the table surface.
I had the guys hang a series of 6K space-lights in the studio grid. We then flew 2 x 20'x20' bleached silks in the air between the shooting area and the lights, leaving a 4' gap between the frames. This provided the needed diffusion to cancel out the source of each light.
We had to squeeze the camera into this area and we used an Innovision Probe-2+ to help get the camera away yet get the lens close to the subject. 
Lightborne was the production company, Scott Durbin produced.

I DP'd this spot, combination of table top & stills [stills shot by OMS Photography].
Shot on my Epic camera, utilizing Cooke primes. 5K resolution allowed for very soft focused backgrounds.
Louis Rub was the incredible food stylist!

What a great concept! Combine a bar with great food with a full size arcade! These shoots were terriffic! After we wrapped, the entire crew hit the bar and then played arcade games!
I DP'd these campaigns and Marty Driscol was the Director, Nick Wood was the Producer for Sandlot Films. shot on 35mm with my Moviecam Compact, Cooke glass and with a Revolution Lens for the tabeltop.

FOLGERS spot I DP'd.
This is the director's cut.
Jeff Kauck directed, Richard Walker produced. Shot on a 2-wall set. Shot at 40fps for a 24fps telecine. Fun shoot.
Lit with 1 light!!!!

Restaurant spot I DP'd....mostly shot in a working kitchen [they could not shut it down...not fun and noisy!].
Also, it was -10F degrees outdoors when we shot...again, not fun.
We used the new Ecco-Punch Plus LED lights to generate the "sun" from outdoors...and these lights work great in this extreme cold, we were impressed! Our power cables froze and could not be coiled at wrap, yet these LEDs worked perfect!
Multi-camera setups allow additional coverage as we had a short scheduled day yet with a lot of scripted setups..actually, I like multi-camera setups :-)
My Epic cameras, Cooke glass, Matthews HD-DC Slider,,fun shoot with GREAT crew!

Cute spot I shot for Kroger/Fred Meyer/Ralph's in San Diego for their Easter campaign. 

We used vintage Cooke Speed Panchro primes to embellish the romance/soft images and lens veiling and flares...subtle yet polished look.

I was the DP on this campaign, shooting with 2 of my RED ONE cameras and Cooke glass.
Fun spot, shot all in 1 day on location, all stunts done IN CAMERA!
The laser-beams surrounding the glass case were inserted in post.
Zach Resnicoff was the Director, Debra Price of The PPS Group was the producer.

JJ Abrams created a new look for Star Trek with all the intense lens flares...we tried to out do him!
This is a VERY original TV spot for the North Carolina lottery.
A crew in space on a starship find an "object of incredible heat" in outer space. Once the science officer alerts the captain that it is worth a million dollars, the captain orders the tractor beams to grab onto the object and pull it into their bay.
Shot at Boulevard Films' stage. An INCREDIBLE set!!!
I cant say enough about how incredible this set was! Interactive flashing control panels and displays, etc...
Zack Resnicoff directed, I was the DP.
Shot on the RED with streak filters.

Another fun lottery spot that was directed by Zack Resnicoff...I was the D.P., Deb Price of The PPS Group was the producer.
Shot in a parking garage [obviously]. The over head lights were a weird mixture of sodium vapor and quartz. The walls were painted green. We wanted a night time feel [but the client wanted to shoot in the daytime], so the G&E depts blacked out huge portions of spilling daylight as well as blacked out large windows in the background. Due to an impending thunder storm with rain, we opted for massive amounts of thick black Visqueen [waterproof material, held down with iron pipes]. John Pinella operated the Steadicam, Mark Ovington gaffed, Andy Thomas was key. Shot on a Scarlet at 4K rez. All Cooke primes.
Rob Grey and his gang did incredible air cannons which exploded the cash in the car.

Crazy TIDY CATS spot I shot...very German abstract.

Very simple & powerful....shot actor against a "Shooting Black" [basically black velvet sown in a standard size rag frame with grommets to tie onto a frame].

We composed the actor in the actual positions [drew on the monitor for placement] and gave him good eyelines.

We lit this with simple soft edge light to give him dimension yet keep the contrast as a strong visual element..after all, his hair & wardrobe were black, yet he doesn't disappear into the void. 

This dude crushed it! GREAT and funny guy! It was hard to hold our laughs during the takes :-)

I shot this spot for the DORITOS SuperBowl campaign for 2014....we were in the top 3 but apparently not the winner :-(
Fun piece! Great to do comedy/period work...shot on my Epic with Cooke glass. Used a black net filter to soften image, make it sort of dreamy and to help pop all the specular highlights from the Pharoh's costume.

This is a very fun spot...sort of a spoof on Mission: Impossible!
Penquins invade an aquarium....popping out of sewers, darting around corners, climbing steps, etc...
In reality, things were quite a bit different. These are birds..wild animals, they do what THEY want! So, we first shot many many penguins on a green screen. Easier said then done! We had to build a make-shift green screen studio inside a frozen meat locker where these little guys were staying..they 'deposited' all sorts of treats on that greenscreen for us :-)
Then, the director Greg Newberry, with editor Mark Cretcher, sat thru the hours of footage and pulled the best penguin action..and Greg wrote a script around that!
This really is the way to do this! Brilliant!
Then, we shot all the background plates for the already shot action. We used life-sized photo cut-outs of the Penguins to assist in framing these shots and we always rolled a few feet so the editor knew the correct perspective and animal size per shot. We had to base our initial camera setups on the specs from the original greenscreen shoot: focal length, lens height, tilt angle, etc...
In the end, it became a fun piece!
Animal Instincts was the production company, Greg Newberry directed, I was the DP, Mark Cretcher cut it.
I will say, penguins do not have a sweet aroma!

OK..check this one out!
The "THICK" room...nice!
Hard to explain...you have to watch this web commercial I shot, Joe Herbert [Herbert Bros] was director.
Shot on my Red One, Cooke primes :-)

Crazy fun series of web spots I shot for TIDY CATS!
Resource produced.
The HANS character is incredible!!!

Crazy web campaign for FRANKS REDHOT. I was the DP, Joe Herbert [Herbert Bros] directed.
Web campaigns are extra fun! More craziness that we are allowed on broadcast TV.
Enjoy!

Wild web commercial I shot on my Red One, Joe Herbert [of the Herbert Bros] directed.
Shot in an old factory, actor rides Segway through factory.
Time-machine sequence was shot in an abandoned power plant. Time machine effect was realized with the super-bright Eco-Punch Plus LED light, smoke machine, Mole fan & OPTEFEX streak filter.
Super fun & crazy production.

I LOVE shooting food!!!!

Seriously.....I do

This spot allowed me to shoot both fun food/action shots with live-action.

They wanted a DP who can shoot BOTH life-style AND food...I do both...so it was a nice shoot, single location over 1.5 days.

We could have used 2 days, since they would swap out the beer for soda, the wings for BBQ...many variations on a theme...you know what I mean :-)

To organize the shoot schedule, we spent a half day before doing a heavy tech scout with the director, myself, the keys [gaffer & key grip] as well as the production designer and the food stylist.

I have a director's finder which I can mount the actual lenses on and snap stills to show exact framing and depth of field...we used this with stand in food [soccer balls, wadded up newspapers, empty water bottles...anything in the correct physical size of the future food]...we had the agency's art director with us on this scout and could discuss placement of the food, the backgrounds, what type of camera support we would need, lighting ideas, etc...

We made detailed notes and floor plans and then hit the ground running on the shoot day with a wonderful plan for everything! It saved us a boat load of time knowing which food would be ready at which time and which location [in the kitchen or living room] we would need it, as well as what type of food rig to work the food [mini-catapult, mini-onion chute, turntable, Weaver+Steadman head, jib, dolly, slider, etc....]

I LOVE working this way because it gives up a plan to start with, and if things go awry, it allows up a better chance to punt and get back on schedule sine a lot of the leg work is already figured out :-)

The camera [Epic Dragon] was flown over/around the table-tops on a Weaver+Steadman w/3rd axis on a jib arm. I actually prefer the older Weaver+Steadman head to the Lambda as I can more easily work the mounting tubes to set my center of gravity & balance a lot easier...I will shift the CG to help me operate down shots, dutch shots, etc....

Lensed with my "DESILU" Super Baltar primes to capture that "creamy" smooth look that these vintage optics give the modern day digital image.

Jim Walter directed, I was the DP

Beautiful photography wraps this TV spot for Kroger's house brand PRIVATE SELECTIONS.
We had a gorgeous day to shoot, a wonderful location, super great director & crew AND my SWEET Super Baltar primes :-)
Shot in Portland.
Jim Walter directed, I DP'd

Fred Meyer EASTER spot, shot in San Diego utilizing Cooke speed Panchro glass, Epic Dragon camera.

Have you ever wondered what vintage Baltar prime lenses look like when mounted and shot with modern digital cinema cameras?

Well here you go! This spot was shot with my Super Baltar primes, +60 year old set of classic Hollywood lenses that had new PL mounts and uniformed fronts applied...shot on the Epic Dragon, EXCEPT for the scene of the little boy in the truck, which was shot with a Sony a7r-2 camera [due to size and the hostess tray rig]. 

LOVE the flares and veiling!

Directed by Sharon Brown, Gaffed by Rusty Pouch, AC was Kevin Smith. Shot in Naples, Florida

One of a new series of TV spots I shot for the Kroger family of stores. Shot in Portland, OR on an Alexa, I was the DP, Kevin Costello directed.
We used 'enhanced' natural light to create the bright yet soft environments...basically silks on the outer windows with Arri M-18's splashing through. The interiors were complimented with Kino's and white bounce cards. Elegant yet simple in execution. Heavy use of primes wide open helped create the ultra shallow depth of field look. Great art direction made it sing! [Thanks Barb!!]

Another "in the home" spot showcasing a wide range of food products.

Here is the situation:

We scout on a Monday, it is one of those SUPER DYNAMITE BEAUTIFUL days with perfect sun, perfect blue sky, perfect temperature...the producer is loving the natural light and is so hoping that we shoot we mostly natural available illumination...the gaffer and I know we need to cover our butts...

Wednesday: The shoot day rolls around and it could not be any more HORRIBLE!!!!

Massive thunderstorm with super heavy non-stop rains! The sky is sooooo dark it is like some sort of "Biblical Darkness" has smothered the land!

Every window in this location is so dark, we have to frost them and blow light through each and every one them from a very soggy slopped yard...our lights all need double rain hats and the crew ladders skid in the mud...the G&E crew [BLESS THEIR HEARTS!!] are so soaked, they decide to have a "wet crew" who do nothing but stay soaked and outdoors working the big guns we had to bring in to fight the darkness and a dry crew who work inside....you can guess the pecking order in this....

We did manage to pretty much hide the fact that its basically midnite outside [in appearance, not by the clock] and we did manage to get a little lens flare and lens veiling...but not what we really wanted.

Seriously, if we could have shot on the beautiful day, we would have been a ton faster, made better images and with much few lighting units....but one can never guess these things in advance, only trust your gut and have a standby backup plan..with plenty of lights & electricity.

I love shooting Holiday spots! The colors, the lights...all the eye candy :-)
This spot was a national for all the Kroger brands: Fred Meyers, Ralph's,, Fry's, etc....
Shot on Epic with Cooke glass....mostly using the ShotBall to achieve the "organic" hand held look without the handheld pain & agony [as someone 6'3" tall, there is NO shoulder mount!]...sometimes using the ShotBall on a Slider, other times the camera was rigged onto an old fashioned mono-pod!
Shot in Portland, OR with the usual WONDERFUL Portland crew.
Jim Walter directed.

National TV spot I DP'd...shot in and around Portland, OR and the wonderful Mt. Hood area. Shot on my Red Epic using the beautiful Cooke 18-100 zoom and assorted Cooke primes. The 'hand-held' look was achieved using the Shot-Ball camera support and Easy-Rig [I much prefer the Shot-Ball!].
The 'natural look' was achieved with Arri M-18's and a 12K HMI shooting thru heavy grid-cloth from outside windows, kino's strategically tucked in corners and overhead, and lots of positive & negative fill.

TV spot I DP'd.
Shot in Houston, TX on my Epic Dragon, all Cooke glass.
Had to chase the sun all day with a moveable park bench as we shot the 2 "mom" actors from every conceivable angle...yet always tried to keep the tree dapple on them.

Fun holiday spot I DP'd for KROGER, kids running around a picnic, warm summer days, biking and fireworks! What more could you possibly want?
Shot on Red Epic camera with...wait for it...wait for it....SWING-TILT LENSES!!!!!!
The art director wanted a nostalgic reminiscent look to the images...I suggested shooting at 40fps [transferred at 24fps] and using SWING-TILT lenses to enhance the flashback/dreamy feeling of the visuals...they agreed!
Very fun shoot, wonderful crew, Jim Walter directed.

This HOLIDAY spot was a national for Kroger/Ralph's/Fred Meyers, etc...
I shot this on the Epic camera, Cooke glass [always!], "organic" operating and really embellished & amplified the holiday visuals with extreme shallow focus, many specular highlights and colors...I LOVE to shoot projects with this art direction..its just visually fun!
Plus, you simply cannot beat Cooke glass for their look...they have a soul, they flare & veil beautifully! Cooke has an "alive" feel, romances the image, and enhances beauty...not cold, sterile and lifeless like too many modern glass makers produce.
Jim Walter directed.

A national TV spot I DP'd...shot on Epic with Cooke glass. Really good color grade at Portland's Mission Control Post.
Brent Carpenter directed.
Fun shoot, terrible weather, a house location that I had serious misgivings about due to it's very bland color scheme...but we pushed the warmth in the wood tones and Mission Control did the rest!
I was SERIOUSLY happy with the final result! Like the pacing and music track.

Recently shot grocery chain spot I shot with TWO POPES in Lancaster, PA.
Shot on RED MX [which is a dream to shoot in a store!] and post house SHOOTERS did a terrific color correction.
Bright & simple spot.

TV spot for grocery store chain on the east coast. I was the DP, Jerry Pope was Director, Greg Pope of Two Popes was the Producer.
Shot in Richmond, VA with my RED ONE cameras and a few shots with Jerry's Canon 5D MK-2.
We went for an organic look to some of the lighting with moving light sources and hot backlight, trying to make something a bit more glossy in an otherwise very bland environment.

Touching PSA: a daughter tries to give her father a glimpse of the past, tries to bring some memories out.
We shot this PSA at the Alois Alzheimer center..even the opening sequence with the dusty sun beams in the attic [where she pulls her late mom's wedding dress out of a chest]...we rented a hazer but the facility had a smoke alarm system that prevented us from using this device for the effect...so we ended up doing an old theatrical trick by stretching a 12'x'12' double net behind the actress and creating sun rays on the net with our lights! 
Greg Newberry directed, Jamie Ferguson gaffed, Chuck Turner was key grip.

90 second PSA for THE HARDEST HIT FUND [which is REALLY a cool program!].
I DP'd this series of PSA's, Zo Wesson directed, Road Pictures produced.
So on Epic Dragon, Cooke glass...nice desaturated finish...nothing flashy, all about the somber emotion of this little frame.

this is a wild and slightly unsettling PSA.

Wild anti-smoking TV spot. I was the DP, David Sabbath was the Director. Shot on my RED ONE cameras, lots of over-cranking, wire work, rain rigs, etc...

OLAY Body Wash beauty products TV spot I DP'd...simple black environment with heavy top light and sharper edge lights to pop the water droplets and to glorify the skin.
We used large 4'x8' silver cards with Ecko-Punch Plus LED lamps to generate the needed foot-candles to allow us to over-crank the camera....silks & ultra-bounces to smooth and blend the harder edge light to the fill side...which we mostly let fall off exposure wise.
Neal Morris directed.

OIL OF OLAY spot I DP'd.
Shot on stage on a 2-wall stage in the middle of winter, right next to the stage door. Poor actress had to endure very cold water, grips constantly added hot water, but probably enjoyed the sights :-)
Used the swing-shift lenses, aka: swing and tilt. Mostly shot at 40fps with the water drop shot at 120fps.
Jeff Kauck directed, Richard Walker produced.

Here is a spot I DP'd for DAWN ULTRA dishwashing liquid.

This was a simple single wall set...the demo portion was shot on a larger stage with a cyc...Fisher-10 dolly with 4' ubangi to allow the camera to fly over the table with all those dishes.

Neal Morris directed.

This is a SUPERBOWL Bud-Light tv spot I DP'd. Joe Scudiero directed for Champ Films/Chicago.
Shot in an actual burnt out crack house!! On the 4th floor..so burnt out we had to use condor lifts to haul the dolly and lights up. Billy Nielsen was the Steadicam operator.

SUPERBOWL TOP 50 COMMECIALS OF ALL TIME!! [USA TODAY]

Another SuperBowl Bud-Light spot I DP'd.
Very fun spot with our con guys trying to sell a busted copier to an unsuspecting businessman.
Shot on 35mm with a Moviecam Compact, Billy Nielsen ran the Steadicam, Joe Scudiero directed for Champ Films.
The pyro guys out did themselves on this one!

Creative tv spot with an inventive guy rigging a slide that allows his BudLights to pop out of his fridge and slide into his waiting hand..as he basks in a pool with his lady.
Believe it or not, this rig actually works!
Shot during an actual heatwave in a small stage. We used the Kenworthy Snorkle system to allow the lens to chase the Bud bottle as it traveled down the rig and slide. A vintage fridge was cut up so we could rig lights to back-light the bottles in the freezer.
I DP'd, Jeff Kauck directed, Richard Walker produced.
Shot on 35mm with an Arri 35-3.
Please forgive the rough compression. As a DP, I am often given poor copies of my, this, case in point, was from a DVD, which imported, converted, compressed, etc.. gave it this mushy look.

This is a spec spot for Victoria Secrets.
Russian Super Model Anastasia is featured.
Shot at a closed night club..which was a great location! Anastasia was incredible to work with.
Fashion photographer Annette Navaro directed and since she comes from the world of models, she was able to speak 'modelese'!
Shot using short-ends on 35mm as well as Super-16mm.
This is the only copy of this work remaining, since the editor lost the master! Hence the high video compression...sorry about that! Its a shame to view beautiful women on mushy video..I will say that even though the film stock was out dated, the original images are incredible!

Shot on miniDV with an anamorphic lens attachment to allow those cool horizontal lens flares. We also used a tiny motorized pan head to get the shots of the card players from the table center.

Fun spot that was a blast to shoot!
This was for Kentucky Tourism to boost the KY BOURBON trade...incredible locations! Plus, a few tasting opportunities :-)
I was the DP, Michael Ivey was the director, Doug Cribbs AC'd and Tim Kramer produced.
Shot all on film, some 35mm, some super-16..a LOT on my Bolex.

Here is a tiny segment of a much longer piece [awaiting permission for the entire scene].

Shot at 90fps @ 5K.

I DP's and Directed this music video. The band was great, their management and label were not. I never received payment for this video, yet I did pay my crew.
The first 2/3rds of the video was shot on 35mm with 2 of my cameras [Moviecam Compact and Arri 35-3], the end of the video with all the girls crashing the set was Super-16. Used a rear net on the lens to get the nice star pattern, Christian Dior "Black Orchid #10" I believe.
Zach Riggins was the gaffer. Kevin Mark did a very nice telecine.

Nice little video. Shot on Super-16 on my Arri 16SR-2. Kevin Marck did a very nice telecine.
We played with tungsten filmstocks in cold daylight environments and then lit the girl with warm tungsten lights. Nice easy way to get a complimentary color scheme.
Unfortunately, i often receive poor quality samples of my work. This Vimeo upload is from a miniDV which is the only thing the post house would give me. Hence the crappy compression. Too bad, the Super-16 really looks great!
Annette Navaro was the director and stylist.

Music vieo I DP's for Director Major Lightner.
Shot mostly at the South Gate House in Newport, KY
Shot on 35mm with several Arri 435's, almost entirely at 120fps and with very outdated filmstock! Some stock was so old it had shrunk enough that it would not pull thru the throat of the magazine.
Lots of greenscreen elements shot both inside the club's main stage and also outdoors in front of the building.

Pretty fun dance music video. I shot this well over a year ago, but due to some political bullshit between label and artists, it sat on a shelf...so I took it upon my own and gathered the original Red footage and cut it together myself. Now I am a DP, not an editor...but if I didn't do this, it would never be done! So please forgive me regarding the edit...
Annette Navarro was the producer and director and put a great deal of time getting this whole thing put together. Annette is INCREDIBLE to work with! The artists was a dream to work with and we shot this in a dance club and I talked production into using the OpteFex Streak filter..which is kick-ass!! Roger Holiday was the AC, Scott Lipez was the gaffer and did a great job creating the moving streaks..which were ALL done in camera! Since I have zero idea how to create these in post, everything you see was created in camera! Shot on my Red One camera.
I LOVE lens flares!!! :-)

HALLMARK Christmas TV movie "A CHRISTMAS MELODY"...i was the DP, Mariah Carey directed & co-starred.

This is a montage of several clips from this show. Shot on Epic Dragon with Cooke & Super Baltar vintage glass.

This is the BIG musical number at the end of the picture: Mariah Carey's OH SANTA! as sung by Fina Strazza [who is absolutely brilliant!!!!]

I was the DP, Mariah Carey directed & co-starred. 

We had a bunch of cameras on this: 3 x Epic Dragons, a Scarlet and a Sony a7r-2, utilizing Steadicam, Cranes [Jeff Fisher], dollies, planted cameras, etc....

This is a 1 minute clip of the short film THE KILLERS, shot on a 60 year old Mitchell BNCR camera with vintage Super Baltar lenses! Shot on Kodak 35mm neg to give that film noir look. Alex Chikov directed.
When Alex contacted me to shoot his short, he insisted on using my Mitchell BNC camera and glass...and I was more than happy to oblige! 
I insisted we go total old school and use ALL tungsten fresnel lights, no Kinos, LEDs or HMI....we wanted that look and feel of that era. 
We shot in an abandoned 40's diner, the art department restored it to its original glory and gaffer Russ Faust and his clan brought it to life.
Alex and I viewed many film noir pictures to recreate the lighting and shadow style of the era..the fedora hats always create a challenge to light the face, but we nailed it! This was an actual location with practical walls, so moving that gigantic camera and working hot lights inside a metal building created quite a greenhouse effect, which the actors in wearing wool long coats, suits and ties had to endure.
Of course, the compression needed to stream on Vimeo has all but removed the beautiful subtle film grain :-(

Crazy fun short film I shot, Anthony Francis Moorman directed.
We utilized every bit of the 1:2.35 widescreen aspect ratio! Always great to frame side to side.
Very violent & bloody..you have been warned!
We went for a hyper-reality look, with jacked up color saturation & super heavy contrast...very comic book like.
Way over the top bad guys & good guys/girls!
Incredible cast & crew.
Shot on two Red One cameras so we could duel cover the action.
12 minutes screen time
enjoy

"A CHRISTMAS MELODY" Hallmark TV movie, I was the DP, Mariah Carey directed & co-starred. 

This clip is a "winter time" night exterior, shot on Steadicam [Adam White operated, Brad Baker pulled focus]. I LOVE all the sparkly Christmas lights! We used vintage Cooke & Baltar primes with an old school SupreFrost filter to help bloom the highlights. Sort of conventional coverage..hard not to deliver this type of work when you have a mere 15 days to do over a hundred pages os script...GREAT CREW!!

I DP'd this picture in Miami Beach and West Palm, Florida. Based upon actual stories of "pain-med" doctors, this violent story plays out rather tragically.
Shot in 9 days on both my Red One cameras in the summer Florida heat, ZERO heat issues [don't believe all the hype!].
Directed by David Donnelly, all local crew along with my trusty Operator Alex Esber.

Action movie I DP'd in Croatia. Starring Mirko "Cro-Cop" UFC Champion.
Shot on 35mm with my Moviecam & Arri cameras.
Croatia is a beautiful country with an excellent crew!
Directed by Mark Burson.

Directed by Jay Craven, shot on 35mm on location...this picture focuses around a group of college students around the Kent State shootings and the anti-war movement.
Starring Martin Mull, Fred Willard, Henry Gibson, Jonathan Brandis, Marin Hinkle and Meredith Monroe.
DP John Foster started the picture and I was brought in to replace him midway through...a rather odd situation I found myself in with a slight crew revolt until they realized I wasn't a monster and was fun to work with and fast :-)

I DP'd this motion picture starring Virginia Madsen and Rick Rossovich. Jum Amatulli directed.
Shot on 35mm Moviecam Compact and my Arri 35-3.
Sorry for the quality of the clip, as a DP, you usually have a hard time receiving quality images of your work....yes, it is crazy!

This was a fantastic shoot! We traveled to Colorado, Utah and Arizona to capture the American west. I was the DP, Dave Dollie directed, Joe Doria produced, Alex Esber was the AC and Chris Athy gaffed & rigged.
We had cameras everywhere! Underwater, on cranes, on Tyler Helicopter mounts, mounted all over Jeeps and on bikes, etc.
Shot on both 35mm and Super-16 with my Arri's and Bolex cameras.
This particular piece has a lot of video compression..again, I was only given a miniDV of my work.

This is the trailer for a 25 minute big screen film we shot for the International Horse Parks museums. I was the DP. We shot on Super-35 so we could achieve the needed 1:2.35 aspect ratio yet still utilize standard spherical optics. Originally we were to do a segment in Mongolia and the thought of traveling the globe with huge and heavy anamorphic glass would have been a challenge.
We traveled the globe for this project: Cairo, Egypt, Amman and Petra, Jordan, all over the UK and all over the US. We tried to keep the camera traveling with the horses....and we also wanted to showcase the beautiful landscapes in which all of the history of man and the horse.
We rigged small Arri 2C's under Sulkies and Egyptian chariots, flew massive camera cranes over stampeding buffalo, traveled thru the carved city of Petra, documented $20 million dollar thoroughbreds being auctioned..a fun shoot!

This is a trailer for a picture I shot called THE NAKED MAN.
Written by Ethan Coen [Coen Brothers] and directed by J. Todd Anderson.
I believe this was the last picture October Films produced.
Shot in Minneapolis and stars Michael Rapaport, Rachael Leigh Cook, John Slattery, John Caroll Lynch
Shot on 35mm using Moviecam Compacts.
Story involves a big time wrestler who has a mental meltdown and suddenly believes he has become a costumed superhero!

This spot is in the TOP 50 SUPERBOWL ADS OF ALL TIME "Hall of Fame" [USA TODAY]

Another SuperBowl Bud-Light spot I DP'd.
Very fun spot with our con guys trying to sell a busted copier to an unsuspecting businessman.
Shot on 35mm with a Moviecam Compact, Billy Nielsen ran the Steadicam, Joe Scudiero directed for Champ Films.
The pyro guys out did themselves on this one!

This furniture spot was shot on a stage in Chicago. I was the DP, Bob Egle was the Director, Ben Bass of Flying Fish was the producer.
Shot on 35mm at 40fps with a 24fps telecine, using swing-tilt lenses and rear-nets on the lenses.
Speed ramps accomplished in post.
we used Leko lights hit into large broken mirrors for some of the cool light patterns on the various surfaces of the set walls and sofa's.

State Fair spot I DP'd.
Ron Hamad directed, Scott Durban produced.
Fun shoot at an actual state fair with great frame composition and art direction.
Shot on 35mm with my old trusty 35-3.

Cool tv spot shot mostly in camera! The only CG elements are the floss 'rope' and the top of the talking floss container.
I was the DP, David Dolle was director, Joe Doria produced for Broadside Films, Mark Ovington gaffed.
Shot on 35mm with one of my Arri's.

I DP'd this tv spot for GoodYear Tires. This campaign compared your average Joe with NASCAR.
Shot in 35mm on my Moviecam Compact.
Great Carolina crew!
Bob Egle directed, Jennifer Combs produced.

Hospital TV spot we shot in Des Moines, IA.
Shot all with a Steadicam, operated by my friend Billy Nielsen. Directed by Joe Scudiero, I was the DP.
Shot in literally 2 hours due to an impending thunder storm!
I actually think the soft light helped the overall feeling.
The airport security x-rayed our entire batch of 35mm film that was heading to FilmWorkers Lab in Chicago....some of it was very damaged, but thanks to Joe's ability to cut around the x-ray damage, we got a great spot.

Fun Budweiser spot which we shot in the Gulf Of Mexico...right off Tampa, Florida.
Joe Scudiero directed, I was the DP, Billy Nielsen was the Steadicam operator..whom we had to lash to a cat-walk on the camera boat!
Shot in 35mm with Moviecam Compacts.
Champ Films, Chicago was the production company.

I'm not sure if this version ever aired...but it was one of the last BUD LIGHT spots we did with the 2 "con-men" characters. This story involves a fake tree [VERY FAKE!!] that has Bud Light bottles growing on it as it's fruit! You could plant bottle-tops as seeds to grow these trees!!
Fun to shoot.
Joe Scudiero directed [from Champ Films], I DP'd and Billy Nielsen ran steadicam, Rob Scott gaffed.
Shot somewhere in Florida on 35mm.

This spot is a spoof on a local Chicago auto empire's TV spots.
The 2 salesmen you see are long time fixtures for TV viewers in ChicagoLand.
I'm not from Chicago, so I had no idea who these guys were..but they were GREAT to work with and the local crew really enjoyed those guys.
The old beat-up Taxi cab had a severly modified trunk to allow our actor to climb inside and be seen thru the door cut behind the license plate. Also, the mechanism that launched the beer bottles out of that same hole actually worked!
I was the DP, Joe Scudiero [Champ Films] directed, Billy Nielsen ran steadicam.

Stop Motion TV spot from the late 80's.
I was the DP, David Kallaher was the producer of Kallaher Productions. Carley Anderson was the mo-co programmer, Joe Busam was the animator. The mouth and eyes were rotoscoped on in post, the animation puppet had dots for the eyes and mouth during the shooting. Joe did the verbal timing off of a pre-recorded voiceover soundtrack and the eyes and mouth were created using conventional cell animation. We shot this at the Createfex Studios. I built the foam latex animation puppet [foam latex cast in molds from an original I sculpted in Pastiscene, David Crosby turned the wooden baseball bat], the hotdog set dressing was a foam latex cast copy of a real hotdog due to the problems if using real food material when shooting for long periods of time under hot lights! The mustard was actually painted hot glue that the Crosby brothers created!

Stop motion spot from the late 80's. Joe Busam was the animator, I was the DP, Carley Anderson was the mo-co programmer and Dave Kallaher was the producer. Shot at Kallaher's studio.
The set was built 3' off the floor to allow the animator's assistant to slide under the floor to help bolt down the bear's feet for each step. The floor was pre-drilled for each step and a bolt was run up thru the floor to secure the bear's foot to the floor. Allison Ahrens created the bear's fur and stuffed the bear, B.P. Taylor from Tom Scott Models built the ball & socket armature from aluminum and titanium based upon my original drawings. We utilized a primative video assist system of a VHS camcorder that fed a live image to an old B&W TV monitor. The assistant using a grease pencil would draw the figure's last position onto the monitor and would verbally tell the animator where the next position for the figure should be. We would fire a frame and erase the image and re-draw the next position!
The bear at the end of the spot that winks at the camera was a separate bear which had a special eyelid that was made using model airplane servos cables and winked over a glass eye from a taxidermist!
The live action of the boy was shot on 16mm, the stop motion bear was shot on 35mm with a Harrison & Harrison fog 1 filter..the flavor of that era!

Funny yet somewhat scary TV commercial that illustrates how our world and our interactions are covered with germs!
Doesn't sound like a fun subject to cover does it?
But this campaign injected humor and it was a blast to shoot!
Shot in practical locations, utilizing lens flares for establishing time-o-day as well as to work as transitions.
Mark Jwayed directed, Sam Womelsdorf produced.

This was one of the very first shoot with both the RED ONE and LIGHTNING STRIKES!
It worked great!
We had several Lightning Strikes mounted on Condors as well as rain-trees and Ritter Fans to create the storm.
I was the DP, Marco Baca was the Director, Greg Malone of Road Pictures was the producer

this was a fun shoot! I was the DP, Jerry Pope was the Director, Greg Pope of Two Popes was the producer. 
Shot on the Red One camera and the Canon 5D MK-2.

This is a TV spot I DP'd for WILD ADVENTURES in Valdesto, GA.
We principly shot on my RED ONE with some on-board rollercoaster shots utilizing the GoPro. We actually wire-tied the GoPro to the coaster!
Lots of wide angle lenses.
Michael Maney was the Director

TV spot with a mom towing her kids in a parking garage...boarding her van and then getting rear-ended [spoiler alert!!]
Shot in the heat of an underground parking garage...summer heat plus the warmth of hot car engines makes for a fun shooting environment!
I was the DP, Marco Bacca directed. Produced by Road Pictures. Shot on my Red One.
The RED worked great in the heat...the trick is to simply boost the van for the environment.
The last shot, and overhead shot, was accomplished with a Kinoptik 9.8mm super wide lens.

Yes...Yes...Yes! I do hospital spots!! I usually do not seem to put them on my reel, but due to several recent inquires I uploaded this spot.
I was the DP, shot on my Epic, Red One and a handful of GoPro's. Steadicam god Bill Nielsen flew his rig and helped rig some cool shots with the GoPro's. Amy Cunningham-Faust AC'd. Russ Faust gaffed. Shot mostly with available light and embellished with the usual blue Kino-Flo tubes to go all CSI on the lab stuff. A trick I play with a lot is doing a slider camera move shooting thru a sheet of clear plexi [perspex to all you Brits out there :-) I love the way the light reflects and the image bends with the refraction as we slide/dolly thru & past this foreground element.

This is a sample of some of my time-lapse work I shot using my portable mo-co pan & tilt head. After we wrapped on the Euro Marlboro shoot in Moab, Utah, I stayed for an extra week, rented a jeep and shot some of this footage. Due to the intense July heat & sun, I had to cover my trusty Arri 35-3 [with Norris Intervalometer] with aluminum foil to keep the film from frying in the sun..the Arriflex cameras being painted black.
The mountains and fields were shot in Bozeman, MT.
The city footage at the end is from one of a series of TV News promos I shot..sometimes with the camera mounted on top of the news truck, other times mounted on the hood.