TIME-LAPSE AT THE ROLLS-ROYCE PLANT

 Rolls-Royce very kindly let me do a short time-lapse movie of their assembly line. It is just an amazing site to see these incredible cars come together. And it is not a quick process, as only 15 cars are produced per day of the Phantom and Ghost models at the Goodwood plant. But at about £165,000 for the Ghost and £235,000 for the Phantom what do you expect.

The time-lapse was shot on the Canon 5D Mark II at various setting depending upon the light in the factory. I mainly used the 24-105mm lens which did an excellent job. I also shot a bit of video of the Spirit of Ecstasy popping out of the car at the beginning and end. The music is Royalty Free.

At about the 1.20 mark you will see the start of a 360 degree panorama that I shot with the GoPro attached to an egg-timer!

ZOOM H1 NOW IN THE UK

Being a photographer I never really gave much thought to audio, why would I. But since shooting multimedia and videos for clients audio has become a big part of what I do. Now I’m no expert but have had a bit of guidance from Ben at DUCKRABBIT so I know a little. The problem is of how to best record the audio while shooting. A lot of DSLR video shooters probably have heard of the excellent Zoom H4 and it’s little brother the H2, but this week it looks like stocks of the smaller and more compact H1 are now in stock. I’ve not read any reviews but if they are as good as the H4 or H2 (which I currently use) then I’m not going to be disappointed. 

DSLR'S AND THE BBC

Wherever your take on the BBC they’ve just come up trumps for anyone shooting with the latest dslr cameras, more specifically, the Canon 5D Mark II. Before today you had to own a rather impressive and very expensive video camera to submit footage to the beeb  but now they are getting all gooey over the 5D and have said that shooting with one for some of their programmes might be acceptable. I don’t know the details of this but thought I’d give you the link where I read it and hope that it is true. STOP PRESS. With a bit of further digging they are now being a bit weary but this link tells you a bit more but it still looks positive. CLICK HERE

WORLD SNAIL RACING CHAMPIONSHIP

I like this. A multimedia video about something as crazy as the world snail racing championships in England. Not only is it well shot and edited but it made me smile is this sometimes overly serious world we live in.

GOOD NEWS FROM THE GURU

If you've heard about Jim Pickerell you will know that he sees into the future with all things to do with photography. He predicted the decline of rights managed stock photography and the increase in micro stock and now he predicts a demand for multimedia and video stories which is great news for all of us trying out this new form of storytelling. HERE is his article

TO SHOOT OR NOT SHOOT VIDEO

Last week I was at a large 5 day event shooting video. This was my first job shooting solely video whereas before clients had always asked that I shoot a bit of video as more of an add-on service to my photography rather than something I could concentrate on.
What was strange was that I was rubbing shoulders with a large press pack who, I got the impression, weren't particularly happy that I was shooting video with a 'camera'. I kept getting the 'whose the wanker with the pimped up Canon'.
Afterwards I chatted with a few of them and was genuinely surprised that although many of them knew their cameras shot high definition video almost all of them had never even played with the feature.
There are many pros and cons for shooting video as photographers and I'd have to be honest and say there may even be more disadvantages but it is something I firmly believe that there is going to be more of a market for.
It certainly isn't a quality issue with these cameras. You've only to look towards Hollywood to see who is using them:
HOUSE
ROAD TO NOWHERE
HOLLYWOOD COMES KNOCKING

MULTIMEDIA EMMY NOMINEES

The headline is not strictly correct but it’s close enough. This years nominees for ‘New approaches to news and documentary’ category is what I’d call multimedia. Some very talented photographers, videographers and multimedia artists have been put forward to win an Emmy.  The website Ewen Media has put together, in a nice easy-to-browse-list, a selection of the best multimedia Emmy nominations. Rather than waffle on about it please CLICK HERE to view the finalists.

VIMEO ADDS CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

Whether it’s photos or video we all have to be vigilant about who we give permission to publish our work. It seems Vimeo is now giving account holders the ability to state exactly who can and can’t use your work after it’s been posted which has got to be a good thing for filmmakers and multimedia creatives.

ASTURIUS PHOTOS - NORTHERN SPAIN

Asturius Food & Travel Magazine - Images by carl pendle


Last week I returned from a Food and Travel assignment for a magazine and here is a slide show of the ones appearing in the magazine. Hope you like what the art editor choose.

EHRIN MACKSEY - A FINE FILMMAKER

I saw the above clip today and thought it was so powerful I watched it two more times. It was filmed by Ehrin Macksey, a photographer/documentary filmmaker based in Hanoi, Vietnam. He uses the canon 5d mark II (same camera as I use) and to great effect. He mixes the video with black and white stills which really adds something to the piece. The story is really sad and I urge you to watch it.

I'M NOT A TERRORIST

At first glance you might think this man to be a terrorist or some murdering thug but what's behind him is a bit of a giveaway - he's chopping down sugar cane in a field in Mauritius. Hard, tough work but he was a cheerful man and happily posed for a photograph.

DOOR NUMBERS

Don't ask me what it is about this image that I like but I just do. Maybe it is the regimented nature of the square or the random nature of the door numbers or that each door number is someone's house and behind it lies people's lives - I don't know and you probably don't care but I just like this image. Out of all the pictures I've taken this has probably taken me the longest time and has been the most dangerous - as strange as that may seem. These days in the super wary, on guard, there is a terrorist lurking in every dark alley people tend to be suspicious of someone taking a picture of their door number - and I sort of understand but it is only a number but I got sworn out, chased and generally got some quite unwelcome remarks at what I was doing even though I was doing nothing wrong. As a stock picture it has some potential, or at least that is what I am hoping. Home ownership is a strong concept keyword and these set of door numbers can have a number of meanings. It also has an educational element to it and it might make a good poster for a kids bedroom for parents wanting their child to learn their numbers. Here's hoping it appears in every child's bedroom! CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO LICENSE IT.

BIRD TIED UP

I took this picture quite some time ago when in Indonesia. A lot of Asian's keep birds as pets - and they pay quite a lot of money for them. To ensure they don't escape they tie them up like this. It is incredible sad to see. To stop an animal like a bird from flying must be like putting a person in a straight jacket. So while this picture upsets me it is also one of my favourites because of the emotional tie I have with it. When I look at it and just want to reach into it and cut the rope with a knife. I hope it raises your emotions like it does mine.

ART ON WEBSITE

I have a new picture on the homepage of my website www.carlpendle.com It's a bit different from the usual things I do on my website because it is more of an artistic photograph that has been processed in photoshop using layers of textures and blend modes to give it a very arty feel. I'd like to do more of this work but I do worry there is not much of a market for it to make it worthwhile. Let me know what you think.

PRICE OF MEDICAL CARE

Being a photographer I generally don't do illustrations. One because I mainly use photoshop and illustrator is foreign to me and I don't fancy learning yet another program (I struggle to keep up with photoshop) but I want to create a good stock image to tried to visually get across the rising costs of medical care. We all know how expensive medical cover is in America and it is only a question of time before the NHS struggles to cope and the government will issue some kind of top up NHS tax so an image that shows a heart monitor and a pound sign (I also did one with a dollar sign) I thought might sell quite well. I hunted round all my medical centres near me but none had a heart rate monitor I could photograph so just had to make one up in photoshop which wasn't that hard. I sent it to getty and then today when I had a look at the keywords they had associated with this image it was all about the stock market. So either my image is visually confusing or the getty keyword team is doing a poor job. I'll email them to see why. In the meantime if you like this image and like to license it go to my getty stream CLICK HERE

COUCH POTATO

In a lot of the work I do for getty images most of it is quite serious so thought a few months ago I'd tackle a very common keyword 'COUCH POTATO' and I came up with this image. It is not a new idea but putting a common potato on a couch with a tv remote and make it look funny was a bit of a challenge. I think in all, there are four different photographs in this one montage. It is for sale on the getty site so click below if you'd like to license it.

CLICK HERE