A little Lilly Experiment

Well, here's the surprise! A little "fusion" as some photographers call it ("fusion" is a blending of still and video production). It's nothing new (well, new to us), but I thought I would experiment. Hey, being an artist means pushing your boundaries and thinking outside the box sometimes. One of our new cameras has the ability to shoot video, so I thought, why not give it a try on a portrait session? It's not an original idea by any means. One of our friends and mentors, Tina Wilson, has been doing this for over a year. Other photographers have been doing it long before the advent of HD DSLRS. Me; I just felt like an experiment.

Enough jabber... check out the movie:

Lilly from Wes Hope on Vimeo.

So does this mean I want to become a videographer? No, not really. I'll readily admit I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm having fun learning along the way. And boy, there's a lot to learn. This is by no means a perfectly shot or edited piece. But it's not bad for a first go (I don't think anyway). And I already know our clients love it. :)

Experimenting with video reminds me of my community college days back in the mid-90s when I had this itch to play with my parents' old Sears 35mm film camera. I dusted it off, checked out a book about photographing nature, and headed to the Smokies to play. I had no idea what I was doing, but by george, I had a blast figuring it out. Back then I had no idea I would end up as a photographer (oddly enough, I took a class in video production and editing back then and was thinking about a career in broadcasting) just like I have no idea where this will lead.

I've always had an interest in filmmaking. And maybe this will open new doors for me. I love documentaries and the old photojournalist in me loves to share peoples stories. Maybe this will be a new avenue for my storytelling. Will we shoot video at weddings? Maybe some day. Will we do this at every portrait session? Who knows?. Right now, I'm enjoying the learning process. And let me tell you brother, shooting video and editing is a whole other world from still photography. But the great thing is that they have roots in the same principles... light, emotions, and beautiful imagery.

A big thanks to Lilly's parents, Chris and Kristin for letting me play during their session! I've had this video done for a couple days now, but we didn't want to share this with the world until they say it first, which they did tonight. And they loved it!

Please leave us some feedback in the comment section below. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this experimentation. :)

Wes

And the Gender Is...

???

You have to watch the video to find out!!! I will warn you, it's about 5 minutes long, filled with gratuitous cuteness and a little bit of raw ultrasound footage (might bore those of you who aren't "into" the baby thing... shame on you if you aren't ;)



We didn't take one of the "real" cameras with us, so this snappy and the above video where taken with our little point 'n shoot.

(Man, I need a hair cut. That's approaching mullet status).

And here are a few stills from the ultrasound. This first is looking head-on as the baby is on it's side. You can see the face pretty clearly including, what looks like, it giving us the stink eye.


And our tech snuck and gave us a 3D preview. Here's the left side of baby's face (looking left). You can clearly see nose, eye, and it looks like it's sucking it's bottom lip. A pout perhaps?


Okay, if you've read this far, I'm going to assume you haven't cheated and have actually watched the viddy so I can stop saying "it" and get used to saying "her". And no joke. We had a boy's name left over from when Maddie was still a question mark. We are stumped on a girl's name. Everything Danielle suggests, I don't like (or know someone else with that name and I really don't want to do that). And every name I suggest Danielle just shoots me a look. For the record, I still don't see anything wrong with Faith Love Hope.

So click below where it says "comments" and throw out your suggestions. Once we get the ball rolling, I think I'll put together a little poll and let you all vote. And no, we're not eBaying the rights to name the baby (even if it would get me an office, a new bag of gear, and maybe that Beemer I'm wanting).

Alrighty, back to work and saving for two college educations and weddings. Sheesh.

-Wes

A-B-C-D-E-F-G...

Okay, here's one for the proud parent files. The other night, Danielle and I were recording Maddie sing her entire repertoire of songs (which as you can imagine isn't much). I asked her to sing the Alphabet song on a whim because she can usually sing most of it along with us. She took off and ran with it! So if cute kids singing their ABCs doesn't do it for you, do not watch the YouTube video below:



And in baby news, we had another doctor appointment Tuesday morning and got to see Junior again! He/she is growing just fine and is getting SO big! She/he woke up and started moving around and stretching. No gang signs this time, but Maddie was quick to point out that the new baby was sucking its thumb (no doubt an attempt to make us sympathetic to her cause...we're in the thumb-sucking war right now).

Here's a quick pic of Danielle holding a couple of the ultrasound images:


I know it may be a little hard to see in the lo-res web version, but in the bottom image you can see him/her head on the right (with hands in front of the face), the torso, and the legs sprouting from the body. She/he's just sitting back chillin' saying "Yo Moms, can I get some marshmallow cream and a salad up in here? Oh, and here's a nice wave of nausea to wash it down with. What up!?" Apparently I've given our unborn child some attitude. Nice.

Obviously if you haven't guess by the he/she pronoun dance, we don't know the sex yet. We will find out as soon as we can (another 7 weeks) because we have to know if this little critter is going to get all of Maddie's hand-me-downs or if we're going to have to go out and buy all new stuff. Of course, I don't see what's wrong with a boy getting her hand-me-downs for the first year... no one will ever guess right anyway. Like this conversation we had at the mall when Maddie was a newborn:

Crazy lady: "What a lovely little boy!"
Me: "Girl."
Crazy lady: "Are you sure? He's so cute!"
Me: "Pretty positive. We've checked."
Crazy lady: "He's so PRECIOUS!"
Me: "Look pal, he's a SHE! Get it? She doesn't have the goods, the twig and/or the berries, nada!"
Crazy lady: "..."
Danielle: "I'm sorry, we still aren't getting a lot of sleep. It's been really hard on both of us."
Me: "That's what she said."

Okay, so maybe my memory is mixing a little "Office" in there, but whatever. You get the point.

We've had a crazy week so far. One filled with lots of meetings, endless errands, doctor and dentist appointments, freelance shoots, and the circus (we went, not performed). Check back soon for some images from a maternity session we have this weekend. It should be fun!

-Wes