God damn bad friend.

How odd is it that one post about my ramblings has thirty views? You're out there. I know you are.

Forest fire

There is a lot going on in the real world internet. Everything was on fire and it fucking burned to the ground. Holy fuck was it a blaze. But here I am sitting at my desk smiling because I know out of those ashes something better will grow. I know this because it already is. Goodbye toxic shit, hello new day. I won't miss you at all, I'll never think of you again, I'd love to say I wish you the best, but I don't care what happens to you. Enjoy your life because I know I will. Love you internet.

Again with the bad friend.

Earlier this week I was told that again I am a bad friend. This time it was someone that doesn't even know me. I'd seen that his wife was trying to lose weight and a photo post that was about her feeling comfortable in her own skin. He'd told me that the private message I'd sent his wife about his wife receiving a five year gift of her favorite things (Flamin' hot Cheetos, Oreo, Diet Coke, Little Debbie cupcakes, and M&M's) were filled with things that would work against her losing weight. Not the calories, fat, blah blah blah, but the actual ingredients that people don't know about. Soy oil, cotton seed oil, fake sugars and whatever is in the filling of those cupcakes. I never said that I didn't eat them, but he went on to tell me not to lecture them on how to eat because they're both grown adults. He told me how disrespectful I was to him and his family, and how I consume Red bull and large amounts of alcohol in their presence.

Let's get one thing clear, he doesn't know me. He has no basis for trying to think he knows me. If you want to pass judgement "friend", try to know where that person comes from first. If he knew me at all, those things that I wrote to his wife were not malicious, nor were they intended to make her feel bad or that the gift she so kindly received should be tarnished. I'd never presume to tell someone how to live their life because it is their own choice. If I see a friend that is trying to lose weight and have a big ass diet soda in front of them I am going to say something. Not because I want to save them from the dangers of the fucking soda, but because if you ingest something that you think will make it easier for you to lose weight and it's actually working against you it can hurt and be depressing. Thus starting a cycle of weight gain, "diet", depression, weight gain, etc. A cycle I've seen happen with my own eyes. Why wouldn't I try to save a friend from that? Oh yea, he doesn't know my experiences with that. I guess that makes me an asshole.

Disrespect. Let's talk about that a little bit. When was the last time you came to chill at my place? Never. When was the last time we hung when you needed friends? Whenever. Your daughter's birthday? I was there. Your birthday? Yep. You've never come out to chill will me, to chat about my problems, offered a kind word when I needed one. Don't talk about disrespect when you get friendship and don't give it in return. You attack me on my habits? What do you know about me? I like Red bull and drinking? Wow, maybe you should know that as a kid my Dad used to give me alcohol because he thought it was funny. I process a lot of alcohol pretty fast since childhood. Those sugars get broken down and metabolized in a few hours as well so I don't stay that drunk for long. So please judge me some more on things that I had no control over.

As a side note, I think it's funny that you're out there reading this. All you're doing is giving me page views. Be happy I didn't call YOU out in a public forum. You think that this little piece of internet is viewed at all? It isn't. It's good to see how classy you aren't. I also didn't read what you wrote because if you've got hard feelings you know where I live... oh wait... no. You don't. If you think that telling me what I can and can't write on my own blog is going to deter me from doing it, you've got another thing coming. I have plenty more to write about you, your family, and everyone else.

The rise and fall of DSLR video

September 2008 the rise of the DSLR video revolution. The Canon 5d mark II is the arguable tipping point at which DSLRs took the world by storm. It was the first affordable, full frame, 1080p video recording device with interchangeable lenses. About a year later Canon patched the firmware to allow for 29.97 fps and 23.97 fps video recording as well as it's native 30 fps. That meant For about $3,500 you could get a video camera that was in the "prosumer" price range but had the look of fully professional gear. The large 35mm-style sensor on the 5d mk II allows you to shoot with very shallow depth of field and the high quality interchangeable lenses means that you can push that even further with wider f-stops. This means that the blurry backgrounds and razor sharp subjects people see in the movies are right there in our hands, but that isn't where things stop. The dynamic range of the 5d mark II was also much wider than that of it's camcorder cousins, in the same price range, and so black and white clipping happened less often. For Canon cameras there is also a firmware hack that allows you to control other various functions of the camera while in video mode... one of which is the ability to shoot raw video. The raw video function doesn't work well on most of the EOS line except the 5D mark III but the option is out there. The Magic Lantern functions work beautifully for live view video recording, and I use it personally; though I did have some initial problems loading it, and it does void your warranty should anything happen to it so please do so at your own risk.

Newer cameras have come out since the debut of the 5dmkII such as the Rebel line. With Magic Lantern they too can capture video to an impressive degree. I have my T3i, that I love and cherish, all the time. It lets me get my focus right, adjust my audio, focus from the back of the camera, I absolutely love it. Also it was cheap! There is the problem though; the flood of cheap high resolution cameras went into the masses. Everyone has a DSLR and is instantly a photographer/videographer. Even with high resolution camera phones people think this way. With so many people in the market it pushes around pro and growing amateurs into nearly giving away their product, which is an interesting time for consumers. Do you go with dirt cheap A, or really expensive B? Well honestly that's a hard decision to make. Even an idiot with enough money can have pro gear so that's not an indication of ability. Looking at their online or even physical portfolio can be misleading because people steal images for their own portfolio now. I would subscribe to the school of thought that you're not paying a guy for a job, you're getting someone you can trust to capture a once in a lifetime moment for you. That's the job of an artist. Any artist. Be it music, food, visual, etc. They capture something for you and deliver it for your enjoyment. We still have McDonald's because we want something quick, cheap and easy but does that mean it's any good? Arguable. But what would you RATHER have? Grainy, blurry, out of focus, or sharp, clear and in focus? That's what you get when you hire an artist. That person cares about their art, and takes time to master it for YOU, but all these shooters out there, wanting to make it in "the business", cut corners and are just using you as much as you might be using them. They don't care about the art, of crafting a shot, capturing the moment. This is what's killing DSLRs.

Take a look at any stock photography site. shutterstock.com, stockphoto.com, istock.com etc. They're filled with crappy photos and it gets more and more difficult to find amazing things. If you do find a great shot, and about a half dozen copies aren't on the same page, come back in a few days and it will be copied, and listed for next to nothing. I understand that when you first start out as an artist you want to make it big like your heroes, but that doesn't come by ripping off other people. It comes by studying what they did and trying to replicate the techniques to incorporate them into our tool box. Adding those skills that we glean from them and other artists, how-to tutorials, books, magazines and videos make us into completely separate individual artists. Learn, shoot, screw-up, rinse and repeat. Let's step forward out of the insane grubby nature of what has been created into a new future full of possibilities. Will we get 4k, raw DSLR video from Canon or Nikon? Will mirrorless reign supreme? Will we move onto the Hasselblad, Red, or Black Magic? Maybe it will be into the movies or TV, but all that matters is that we label ourselves artists first, and do this as a passion; not money. Once we start doing it well, we never do it for free. Keep on clickin' my friends.