Here
is my very long winded reply to a friend about my cameras. I tend to
blab on and on about this type of thing in our emails. He is a good
sport to put up with me.
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He Wrote:
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He Wrote:
"You must have one of the best collections of cameras in Edmonton."
I replied:
I guess...for film cameras I might...but they are all mostly for shooting. I
despise the idea of collecting cameras. Putting them on a self and looking at
them with awe and wonder is simply wrong. A cameras destiny is TO MAKE
PICTURES, not sit as a display piece.
This may sound strange but I feel it is a responsibility to shoot a camera and to use film properly. I think of film and cameras as almost living beings, I want them to fulfill their destinies and make great art. It is like I owe it to them. I owe them chance to make something important and beautiful. Strange but true.
The latest buys of gear are modern video cameras which are totally different than anything I own. They are not designed for stills but instead for shooting RAW HD 13 stop dynamic range video. Never owned anything like these babies before. Still only tools, got to find the heart of my subjects to make the video sing! I see tons of beautiful video on YouTube and Vimeo made with my cameras the BMPCC but very little of it has any heart to it, they’re just trite superficial pretty time video footage. I used to see that all the time in my photo clubs, pretty pictures with no inner resonance or emotion. Done over and over again, week in and week out. All style no substance stuff. (Note to self-don't tell photo club members your true feelings about their work or they will lose their minds! Your honesty is not what they are interested in).
I want to use these new filming tools to not only capture video with wonderful clarity and tonality but also to find the underlying humanity in my subjects. Video that captures the hearts of my people, and tells their stories with compassion and power. Only then will the work be a success and have any lasting importance. That is the goal anyway, not sure it can happen.
Anyway, nuff philosophizing...:)....still a long time before I can make the movie, lots to learn.
Thanks for your thoughts and email.
Gerry
This may sound strange but I feel it is a responsibility to shoot a camera and to use film properly. I think of film and cameras as almost living beings, I want them to fulfill their destinies and make great art. It is like I owe it to them. I owe them chance to make something important and beautiful. Strange but true.
The latest buys of gear are modern video cameras which are totally different than anything I own. They are not designed for stills but instead for shooting RAW HD 13 stop dynamic range video. Never owned anything like these babies before. Still only tools, got to find the heart of my subjects to make the video sing! I see tons of beautiful video on YouTube and Vimeo made with my cameras the BMPCC but very little of it has any heart to it, they’re just trite superficial pretty time video footage. I used to see that all the time in my photo clubs, pretty pictures with no inner resonance or emotion. Done over and over again, week in and week out. All style no substance stuff. (Note to self-don't tell photo club members your true feelings about their work or they will lose their minds! Your honesty is not what they are interested in).
I want to use these new filming tools to not only capture video with wonderful clarity and tonality but also to find the underlying humanity in my subjects. Video that captures the hearts of my people, and tells their stories with compassion and power. Only then will the work be a success and have any lasting importance. That is the goal anyway, not sure it can happen.
Anyway, nuff philosophizing...:)....still a long time before I can make the movie, lots to learn.
Thanks for your thoughts and email.
Gerry
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