Dir. Guy Baker
My rig worked every take for this Buoy Beer promo created for agency Grady Britton. Stripping down the Alexa to the bare essentials helped keep the work easily manageable. In particular the lightweight Alexa dovetail (designed by Eric Fletcher), which doesn’t raise the camera’s center of gravity, proved itself a great investment that night. I came home with a couple complimentary 22’s of their beer and will verify, it’s delicious.
To top it off, I just found out I was awarded an RACC Grant to attend the steadicam Western Gold Workshop in Longbeach, CA this coming spring. I’m very much looking forward to spending some time with other ops and getting instruction from some industry legends- especially the opportunity to meet Garret Brown once again.
Here’s to some happy holidays you all, and a successful new year.
I had a great time flying steadicam on this ad for Apple, produced by Slim Pictures.
This last winter, I built a doggycam-type wearable camera rig for Whitey McConnaughy’s production of Summer Cannibal’s music video for their song ‘Something New’. I think it turned out looking great. It wouldn’t be possible without the genius aluminum machining skills of Mike Weiss over at Gearhead Grip.
Photos courtesy of Rodrigo Melgarejo.
I operated and flew steadicam on this national spot produced by Bully Pictures.
I joined Director Randolph Sellars and Writer/Producer Irl Davis out at the 6,000 acre Tygh Ridge Ranch in Tygh Valley, Oregon to do some steadicam work on their picture. We got some very pretty running horse footage from the back of an ATV, a few traveling oners, and a great 270 degree shot. Conditions were windy and rainy much of the time, especially for steadicam, but there was a great crew that provided help at the critical times. During the 270 degree shot, there was so much wind, I had to put 2 KN6 gyrostabilizers on the sled. We did take after take and the wind was too much even for the gyros. Finally, when we were about ready to pack up, the wind died down to about 10mph and we nailed it. When you watch the shot you can see tell by the ribbon in the lead actress’ hair at 1:37.
There will be more to come on this project soon. Special thanks to Kristin Zabawa, who was on hand, capturing these behind the scenes photos for the film.
I recently had the pleasure of doing some steadicam work for Director Jess Baclesse, and DoP Jon Beanlands on the film Roughstock. The location shoot, down in Burns, Oregon was gorgeous. One of those places where you can point the camera anywhere and you’ll get a beautiful frame. Highlights included shooting amid a live rodeo. Among the challenges, unseasonable rain and daily 360 degree lightning storms. At a scene that takes place at the county fair, I got to do a carousel step-on shot that felt dynamic, and captured the lush physical energy of the location. This was a small shoot captured on Super 16, but just right for the intimate range of the story and performances.
The behind the scenes stills here were captured by Michele AnneLouise Cohen, a veteran AP photographer. Odds are, you’ve seen her photography in print, but you can see more here.
Words and Photos by Sam Naiman
From the Forgotten Kingdoms Blog:
To document someone’s life’s work is daunting. To tell the story of a master architect, building by building, is at the very least an exacting process. Buildings aren’t created as images, but spaces that are meant to be inhabited, that cohabit, that need a person in order to be their best.
Vann Molyvann’s buildings harness nature. They give new meaning to space. They even bend time.
And so architectural photography doesn’t just look, it feels.
The techniques are there to show this with lenses, color and exposure choices. Even if you know exactly how to do it, it’s still a struggle against space built and grown in over the years, through weather and light, and always against the ticking clock, the diminishing budget.
After many exposures the Vann Molyvann’s story emerges. His authorship extends beyond a building’s inauguration, over half a century later people still moving unconsciously to the tune of his design. But time has a hand in the story, and the structures change. They take on too many people, fires, floods, wars, and entirely new skins. Now the buildings tell us a larger story. The story of Cambodia.
Music video I shot for Goldini Bagwell. The C300 was our workhorse on this one, handling every bit of color shift and intense contrast with grace. Typical setups included poorman’s driving technique, with and without luma keys, frozen weather, and lighting with smoke.
DoP: Sam Naiman
Camera Operator: Sam Garr
Gaffer: Keny Allen
1st AC: Cam Everson
Words and Photos by Sam Naiman
From the Forgotten Kingdoms Blog:
I’m here during the hot season and the equatorial sun can get to 115 Fahrenheit at mid day. We are shooting for close to a month, each day the sun tracing a clean searing arc over the enormous buzzing sprawl of Phnom Penh, where the nature of the light is as much a construct of the city culture as it is a condition of it’s place on the planet. The overcrowded roadways spew massive clouds of government subsidized-diesel smog into the sky, giving sunlight a warm, dreamy feel. Even when the sky is bluest here, its also a bruised grey, and shadows imbue a slight smear anywhere they are cast.
During the day, my camera constantly wears multiple Neutral Density filters combined with a polarizer, searching out tufted, gold-lined clouds and that extra tick of cerulean. These skies are consistently a tenth of a stop away from photographic catastrophe.
In the streets, food is cooked over charcoal, making layers of iridescent haze everywhere. The crush and chaos of traffic- the windows, the overdressed chrome decals, and the mirrors of a million tuk-tuks shoot constantly moving points of light across every surface, through shadows and beam into the smoke.
At night, the fires persist. Flame is an intimate source of light as well as bare fluorescent tubes colored much bluer than the standard day-lighting hue. Depending on the level of commerce going on, these can be strung in clusters all-over, or as little as a few to a block. The traffic is just as frequent and chaotic, headlight beams roaming every surface. With street lights committed to main boulevards, images can very quickly drop off into an abyss of black, the movement of the city life hinted at in small, scattered glimpses.
The sunrises and sunsets wrap everything in electric pink. The city exhales to a slightly cooler evening reprieve, or the shared potential of a new day with a catalyzing energy that seems to emanate directly from the low sun.
The light in Phnom Penh is constantly and deeply changing. Completely immersive like the city itself, created immediately at any given moment by a people hurtling by, a life balanced deftly on a razor-thin line between past and future.
SAM NAIMAN, S.O.C. 