Lots of new!

So it has been quite a whirlwind since I last updated and boy has their been a lot of change! I will probably keep this update short because I honestly don’t have much time to bring it down a couple notches and blog it all out…So here are the highlights.

– After much thought and change the production company is no longer Lightly Salted Film and Design but Blades of Grass Productions. This decision was made for the betterment of all parties involved being that Blades of Grass will as my own operation with its main focus being wedding videography and such and my brother – in – law will have his freelance and we will work off each other and help one another. Essentially separate stresses with the ability to help each other out.

– A website has been launched! Check it out www.bogproduction.com It still needs a couple more projects added to it for display/resume purposes but its getting there. Its pretty clean and simple I think but I’m happy with it for now.

-The reason for the quick launch and turnaround of the project is because I will also be particpating in the KC Weddings Bridal Spectacular at the Overland Park Convention Center on January 9th. So I needed to have a site up for reference because I placed a 1/3pg ad in the magazine and didn’t want to place an ad with out a site.

-So where am I now? Pulling my hair out creating logos, business cards/flyers, booth design etc.. Its all very crazy right now but I’m having fun I think.

Alright well thats all for now!

Lights,Turkey,Darkness and business…

As the holiday season officially kicked off this week, I started my week by hanging lights on the outside of the house. Which for some reason I seem to enjoy. I don’t know whether it is the childhood memory’s and simplicity of it all or what but…I enjoy it. So I dressed the house in its best colors and then had the realization that the holiday season was upon us and I wasn’t ready for it.

Then came the day of turkey working like mad and preparing for the infamous day of the deal. So I started my T-Day at 3am to work the morning shift at KSHB came home in what was still early morning, napped, and woke up to the smell of all kinds of goodies.I then ate WAY too much felt as though I had entered another world and headed off to work…Which was calm, cool, and collected and nothing but black friday deals danced in my head.

While no fights occurred at my black friday hunt, I am always amazed by Best Buys lack of caring or organization for that matter. They start strong, mean well, but always seem to falter at something. No details needed really but they hosed people; me being one if you couldn’t figure that out.  It was a successful day I saved a decent amount of $$ on things not just for me but for others as well and that is the main purpose for my reason to go out to BF because I want to save on things 1 and 2 it gets me jump started to get gifts for others 3 its just a fun “hang out” tradition.

As far as Lightly Salted Film and Design goes nothing too new really paperwork is doing its state thing. I hoping to acquire some new equipment for the business soon i.e. presents including the indislider Which I’m pretty excited to play with and use! As well as a new EPSON printer. So we will see but if I receive these as it will make for the business start up a little easier and very exciting!

Well I guess that is all I have for now so as usual…until next time.

Anything New?!?

Since last post nothing too new has really moved forward in the Lightly Salted Film and Design world. We have established ourselves as an LLC or at least the paper work is moving along. The domain name Lightly Salted Films has been reserved as a domain which is a good thing. I never realized how many variations of light and salt one could have but there are definitely a lot.

In other news I hope to start working for a sports temp agency of sorts. I word it this way because the way the company works is you say hey I would love to do some sports broadcast and they hire you out to respective sporting events. So I could have a possibility of working with FSN, ESPN, METRO and other sports broadcasting company’s all as freelance. So that will be exciting I think. Or at least it will be nice to get back into shooting/working in sports again.  I don’t have any solid dates on this prospect yet but I hopeful it will develop into something.

On to some slightly unrelated news I have decided on my next DIY project. Nothing earth shattering I’m pretty excited about it. My plan is to build an editing station for myself. Its going to be a L shaped desk with one side being about 64 inches of lacquered particle board for the computer to sit on and the other side 53 inches, will be a multi-purpose work station with a painted chalk board and hopefully a built in cutting board station for cutting print items.  My goal is to build something large enough to work with and grow with but also have great functionality and clean on top and under i.e. hiding the cables. I’m going the way of the work spaces I have seen on Lifehacker and constructing a home gutter that will house all my cables, I have already drawn up various drop points on the desk for the cable to land on. My only dilemma so far is figuring out how I can get my back up power supply to work into all of this. But I’m hoping that once I start going to will come together. And while it is the holiday season and funds are stretched I’m hoping to start to pick up supplies over the next couple weeks and starting building…pics and updates to follow the adventure as well!

I believe that is all for now. As I said before I hope to update this at least once a week with something exciting either business related, DIY, music or film. So stay tuned!

Until next time.

 

NOTE: The banner at the top of the page of the books I can’t take credit for. For a reason unknown to me wordpress is not allowing me to post my previous picture of the sun in the trees.

Lightly Salted and other things…

To catch up from my last posting it appears we have a production winner! And…it wasn’t even a choice from the last post. I know not fair to the voters, but as Brian McNamee so eloquently put it, “it is what it is”. And the WINNER IS!?! Lightly Salted Film and Design. Like it or not that is what my brother – in – law decided on. We had been tossing around ideas for about 2 weeks and couldn’t really seem to find something we liked then we fell upon this one and just went from that point.

We hope to have a logo designed later this week and a website up by Middle of December. Don’t worry I will be sure to keep you updated as I plan to actually update this bad boy at least once a week. Now for a little self promotion  I’m going to embed a video that I shot for a wedding in October this is just one part of our wedding videography elements with basic coverage and same day edits to also follow depending on the package. Note: Please bare with me as this was my first shoot not only for a concept video like this but also my first time using the steadicam merlin for about 8 hours. So…I’m not completely satisfied (couldn’t do the best of color correction only have FCE… and other various issues I don’t like) but its a jumping off point at least. Oh and I can’t figure out how to post vimeo videos straight in the post so it is located to your right.

I wanted to point out that Lightly Salted won’t be exclusive to weddings but also umbrella various other ventures that we take part in i.e. car commercials,home shows etc..So we wanted something that would be memorable and fun to market. Not that any of that justifies the crazy name…

I guess now I will move on to some other things. Recently I have realized that I have a back log of photos that I haven’t done anything with really. So I thought now would be a good time to post somethings so off we go!

While I was hoping for some more COLORFUL pics when I went to Gregory Grounds Park the overcast day kinda paired with the less that vibrant colors so I took what I could and went with it. I think they came out pretty good though. I hoping to purchase a 50mm lens soon so that should make things a little more exciting!

I guess to tie up this multimedia adventure I will through some pics up of my fixed gear which currently has a flat…damn you westport and your broken glass in the road!

And YES! I realized that in the wide shot of the bike the chain is loose…I was really upset with myself after I had taken these pics because I had just taken the bike apart and cleaned it up and apparently didn’t have the wheel close enough to the cog and the chain wasn’t tight enough I didn’t notice until after…None the less I don’t think some of you have seen it since I switched it to a fixie so I thought I would post it up.

Until next time…

Business Venture

With the 2009 calendar year coming to a close in a month or so I have decided to start a small freelance business with its main focus being wedding videography. I have done wedding videography for a while now but I have finally planned to take it to another level bringing in several packages and prices, building a website, and attend wedding shows.

But I’m having an issue deciding on what to call the production company. I want it to be a name that is multi-purpose so that it can be tagged well with other freelance projects. I plan on becoming an LLC so I have tried tossing out some names that don’t appear to be taken thus far.

Below is a list of names I have come up with but feel free to add your own or give feedback on another one you like. I really want something that is quarky and memorable plus looks good as a logo and layout.

blades of grass productions

Half n’ Half Films

Celery Films

Cockpit Films

It has been quite a challenge finding something that isn’t taken already so anyway. Let me know what you think.

College Football is here!

As of September 3rd the college football season began.

This is a very exciting time for me. While I love my baseball by about this time the Royals have shown there true colors and I begin to shed the blue and white and move to the Maize and Blue that I love so dearly. Now I realize that I live in Missouri and should; by default, be a die hard Mizzou fan and while I respect Pinkel and the organization as a whole I’m not much on MU football I just never have. Maybe its because I was always expected to like them because of my physical location maybe its because when ever I remember them I remember them sucking… I’m not quite sure. Note: That statement could confuse most because I’m a Royals fan and at the age of 22 I have only witnessed one maybe 2 winning seasons…but I digress.

I don’t know what it is about college football that gets me so excited but I love it. I think its one part atmosphere, one part inexperience, all parts allowing me to escape life for a day and live vicariously through other young gentlemen my age (or younger) living like rockstars. Though I’m pretty sure its just watching the young potential and the development on the field I enjoy the most. With the exception of the current wildcat scheme that the NFL has been running you never see they trial and error and chance in the NFL that you see with college teams. I love watching fourth and ones and all the make or break two point conversions. They make the moment exciting and really move the game to a different level for me. Plus its makes the NFL draft actually exciting.

I believe last year spoke volumes for why I love college football when I and 4 of my MSU college buddies trecked across the midwest to Ann Arbor for Michigans opening season game. There is nothing quite like and opening day in sports especially when you have 109,000 of your closets friends with you cheering on your team. It didn’t matter that they lost it would have been awesome if they one but at least I got that experience under my belt that feeling of being at a complete catotic event just for the game of sport.

So as wildcat offenses being defense splits develop, I will be watching in my garage Boulevard Wheat in hand. Hating on those Damn Buckeyes, Booing  Tebow and his Gators, and quietly but excitedly watching the Wolverines and “In Rod We Trust” slowly regain there respect ( I hope).

-Chris

Newsy!

After a long exhausting summer it looks as though some things are starting to look on the up and up with my current acquisition of a job at the local Kansas City station KSHB-TV. I found out that I was hired on during my fathers stint at the hospital and hadn’t really given it much thought. I was happy to tell him but not really looking towards the future.

Now that I realize I must begin to learn and move on I’m excited to rejoin the working world. My starting position will be a production technician and I starting training as a camera operator. My job stability at this position is one that I feel will take me as far as I want it. I’m a vacation relief worker which I believe means two things: 1. if you don’t work out its a heck of a lot easier to get rid of you because well “sorry we just can’t afford to have you around” and 2. We are going to work your butt off and not have to offer you benefits.

I’m ok with these options because I’m just thankful to have a job and look forward to proving myself in a company I have never worked for and meeting people of what I consider a decent sized city. Plus, you can’t be upset with a nice foot in the door. I knew I needed to start somewhere so that I could start making those allusive “contacts” and you never know where this will take me.

As I progress in this job I hope to give fun little updates through out and begin to blog on a regular basis again as I try to adjust back to life and gain my new responsibilities with a little time for relaxation and new time management skills.

Quietly Peacefully –

Chris

Boating Missouri

My parents recently purchased a new boat and like any good son living in my parents basement I decided I needed to get my boating certification. I completed the 3 1/2 hour exam this afternoon and I realized that I have many thoughts about the process.

The Missouri boating certification was established on January 1st 2005 for any individuals who are born on or after January 1st 1984. The certification exam can be taken either at a local water patrol office or at a supporting business such as Bass Pro Shops, it is also available online at the previously mentioned website. If you want to go to an actual class it is only offered once a month and the location changes cities when the course does occur. I found this to be very inconvenient because if you want to get certified and you buy a boat you most wait a month and hope the class is in your area. But once  I realized the class was offered online I was ok with this…

They state that the class in total takes about 3.5 hours yet if you go into the class it states to last about 3.5 hours over two days which equals 7hours and that is in fact how long it took me to complete the course online. Now don’t get me wrong the course was easy to do online and very convenient, you can stop and start when you want and it will pick up where you left off which I liked but I did question the content.

Some things were very useful such as which side to pass a boat on which is the stand on vessel and the give way vessel etc…But several of the units dragged on for no apparent reason. The basic set up was 7 chapters with various units ranging from 1 to 21 units in a chapter and at the end of each chapter you took a quiz. You have to score at least 80% on the quiz to move on (each quiz being 10 questions). If you failed the quiz you had to redo the entire section all over again. If the section took you and 1hour too bad AGAIN.  I realize they just want to make safe boaters but is the really necessary? I found some of the sections harder than when I tried to receive my drivers permit and I find a car much more dangerous than a boat! But maybe that’s just me.

I found myself frustrated by participating in a unit and reading/doing interactive diagrams then getting a 3 minute video at the end of the unit that talks to me verbatim on what I just did. I guess this is repetition but kinda overkill don’t you think. They also spent A LOT of time on rules of the ocean but this permit doesn’t work in any other state but Missouri so why are you telling me rules of the ocean and what I should do about Nun Bouys? I have to take another test to boat in that state anyway! It talks about navigation at night and what lights you need and what light means what and I liked this. But the section on carbon monoxide being bad just made me feel dumb. Do people born after 1984 really not know what carbon monoxide does to you? I don’t believe this.

I’m glad I have my certification. I think I will be a better boater for it. I believe it still could use some work and could really be tightened up an hour on rules of the ocean and 25minutes on things such as drunk boating, carbon monoxide and how to fill and not fill up your boat followed by videos of each seemed unnecessary.

I’m also undecided about how I feel about only young people needing to get a certification. I feel that some adults that beat me by age by only a few years could use a little training themselves. But until this certification is tightened up nothing will change except I hope a new generation of safer boaters…

Photo Adventures

I recently acquired a new camera via graduation from MSU. I finally have been able to mess around with it enough that I have pics I would like to post.

First off the camera is a Nikon D60. Most images are shot with the 18-55mm VR lense.I believe all the pics that I post today will be outside pictures meaning no flash was used just good ol’ adjustment to the F Stop and shutter speed.

Note: While I would like to take credit for these shots being out of the “can” they are not. I have infact photoshopped some of them. I just couldn’t help myself.

Well that is all I got for now. I took about 300 pictures in a week but these are the ones that I enjoyed the most so far. I still need to sift through some of them.

A new Beginning

As I step into a new chapter and a new city I have realized that there is a lot to learn. I have a world of freedom that I must learn to handle I place where I’m judge of whether or not I succeed or fail. I have a job market that can be very unforgiving but I must not let myself make excuses.

I’m exhausted from 4 years of academics but feel that I cannot take a break. It seems that I have time opportunities in freelance but this can be very much a feast or famon position but something that I will not be picking in choosing.

On the same line of being picky do I find a part-time job that will suffice in an income? I believe the answer is yes which leads me to the same question. Where do I look for this part-time work. Do I go back to the always faithful and coffee shop gig? Or do I try to find something more related such as a tv station?

So I hunt and trudge and find that the television market is just not a place that it once was when I took this as my lifes work. Stations are struggling and looking for ways to cut corners and at times not firing individuals but just asking them to step down.

All of this is very mind bending but I hope that I will find something. A little potential in this big city of Kansas City; I left friends, contacts, and income in Springfield, Mo I just hope that I made the right choice. While I realize it is too early to make that decision I hope that I find a positive answer sooner rather than later.