Seeing in the Dark
I have taken something for granted – the lack of light pollution where I live. Seeing the Milky Way, even the northern lights, is pretty common in the Central Plains so I didn’t think much about the stars until I …
Author: Stevefm
Luck Reunion 2019
The Luck Reunion is Willie Nelson’s little contribution to the SXSW festival. That’s South by Southwest for those of you that don’t speak country music acronyms. SXSW is huge. It last for over a week in Austin, TX and has …
CES 2019
Of all the trade shows that are in Las Vegas, CES is a big target on my wish list. This year I was able to attend… and work the show. The Consumer and Electronics Show is amazing. Its where all …
Polecam for Rubik’s Cube Championship
Red Bull does an amazing job firing people up. And not all of them are athletes! Red Bull has a MINDGAMERS series that host events that challenge the mind: specifically memory, creativity, musicality strategy, visual intelligence and logic. These play …
A Ride-Along
After years of shooting video for news and for corporate projects, my opinion is that a combine is one of the hardest places to shoot clean video. Why? Not because all farmers are “interesting” drivers, but because the field are …
Baby Legs
The Hi-hat and the Low-Hat have been around a long time. I resisted getting either as they seemed too limiting for the way I like to move in the field. Then I ran into these little guys. Its not a …
Frequent Flier
Two polecam jobs back to back. A surgery shoot in Florida followed by a week long corporate event in California. This gear is earning its merit badge in airport navigation.
They always told me….
…I’d end up with a grip truck. I fought it. I work lean. Compact and easy to pack. And I was wrong. Late summer I worked a 2 day shoot Gaffing in N. Central South Dakota. Neat place that doesn’t …
Did you bring your sun?
What do you do when the sun just isn’t good enough. You bring your own. I gaffed a recent interview shoot and nature was doing its amazing thing… blazing sun into the corner of the frame adding life to the …
Interviews and Tail Pipes
Every August the Black Hills of South Dakota come alive with the rolling thunder of tail pipes for the Sturgis Motor Cycle Rally. A few years back, I worked a concert venue for close to 2 weeks – and haven’t …
Nature 1, Me 0
Thanks to the wine documentary project, I’ve got my hands on some neat time lapse capable cameras. One has a close focus opting in a completely weather-proof housing. One of its advertised features is garden photography. What could I possibly …
Hutterite Film
Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to work on a very neat project with Sioux Falls native Becca Flynn. The working title was Hutterite. It was a short film based on her mother’s story of growing up in a …
ORs, Boots and Broken Hearts
Not sure how else to start a story about Nashville…? All those things happened on a recent trip with some surprises along the way. The first one came in the airport. Before we took off when, one of our favorite …
Working with the Four Percent
Working with the Four Percent In the start of 2017, I was fortunate to meet and start working with Vick Strizheus of the Four Percent. We have had some great projects since then and I want to introduce you to …
Keeping the Goal Alive
In the never ending quest for better gear, I have progressed from Tungsten lamps to LED panels to LED Fresnels (Sola 4s and 6s) and most recently, LED Flexlights. The jump to LEDs and then flexible LEDs have been amazing …
Steel Yourself
Sometimes, it’s just better to do it yourself. Like when its time to make custom parts for your Polecam. And in this case, when I say by myself, I mean with all of the adult males from the farm leading …
Traveling Light (yes, light)
Lots of Airports. I have seen what feels like all of them. That’s not even close to true… but I do get a round a lot. And packing for production is something you can not gloss over. Whether its Polecam …
Another Polecam Day in the OR
We received a call for Polecam in an OR. Collin and I stepped up and made things happen in Chicago. We have very few pictures from setting ups on surgery days. Surgery is always early morning and in the rush …
Going High End
A high end client had some commercials to produce. We had the budget to add some PL glass to accompany the 4K images we were going to capture. Translation: time to play with some high end toys! We shot 4K …
Wines at Home
A group of us are working on a long format doc about South Dakota Wines. There is a lot to know about this topic. We are only scratching the surface and the stories being uncovered are incredible. To get some …