That's what's been opened up with the release of the new Canon 5D Mark II at $2700. This camera makes it so easy and affordable to shoot beautiful full HD video that the internets are soon to be flooded with everyone's attempt at amateur film school level videos. But the weak will be weeded out and hey I'm not complaining. I've never owned a video camera before but always wanted to shoot video. And in my opinion it's just one more step forward for Web 2.0.
I preordered my camera in September shortly after it was anounced. It finally came. Here's my first quick test shooting video with the camera.
My response? It's great, perfect for me. I'm a photojournalist and I've always tried to carry as little equipment with me as possible. So now I have a two in one. I don't know what I'll be using the video feature of this camera for yet besides shooting video of my son being born and growing up but I definitely plan on incorporating more video into my future projects.
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Wednesday - December 24, 2008
Happy Festivus
If you've never heard of Festivus then you need to watch more Seinfeld.
But this post is about something more important. Out of Step: Faces of Straight Edge was released on Oct. 6, 2007. It's available online at Amazon.com, some local bookstores and soon in Barnes & Noble. There was an art show to celebrate the books release containing original prints of many of the pictures used in the book. There are 21 prints left and I'm making room in my new house by offering them all for sale. Below is the information.
"These 21 prints are from the Out of Step: Faces of Straight Edge art show and book release in Atlanta on Oct. 6, 2007. This is your chance to get the print of yourself or your friend or loved one.
These are the original prints from the show that did not sell and the only ones that exist at this time. Some have minor wear such as bent mat corners due to transit and hanging but are in overall good shape.
These inkjets prints were printed on Epson 13x19 Ultra Premium Luster paper. All prints come signed and mounted front and back. Print size is 12x18, mat size is 20x24.
$100 per print (includes shipping)
Email ray@raymjones.com for print availability and PayPal information."
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Thursday - November 27, 2008
Pumpkin Pie
I'm not one to ruin holidays for people by being the annyoing P.C. person but I hope you remember what these holidays are really founded on and instead repurpose them as a celebration of family and life like I try to do. Anyway, besides eating way too much amazing vegan food, here's what I did today.
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Saturday - November 22, 2008
David Pogue vs. Barack Obama
Check out this jank. I try hard to not make it a habit of only posting work that I've been involved in but these two projects are coolest things I've been a part of yet. I first helped Zach Wise shoot David Pogue's short monologue parts in front of a green screen for the Pogue-O-Matic. By help, I mean I pushed record. Then Zach did his magic and I worked with another producer and designer on the many images and the final product is something totally different than we've ever tried before.
Unfortunately I wasn't involved too heavily with the Election 2008 piece but I was able to help my colleague and former college classmate Nancy Donaldson out with some of the picture editing. Check it out.
Today I ran the entire marathon and shot a pano. Ok, half of that is a lie. The marathon though is 26.2 miles and touches all five boroughs. It's pretty grueling but the elite men and women finish in close to 2 hours. I was stationed at 60th St. and 1st Ave. Beautiful day.
Here's a couple other things I saw during the day.
Also, last week I did a drive through of the course with a few other journalists. I thought it would be cool to show a view of the course from the runner's perspective (sort of) in fast word. So I mounted a camera to the van and shot time lapse pictures. I think had to go back and walk the parts that were closed to traffic.
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Sunday - November 02, 2008
Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat
New York Times food writer Mark Bittman admits he's anything but a vegetarian but his talk at TED in Dec. 2007 reaffirms that all it takes is a little education and an open mind to see that a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle can have a much more profound impact than just benefits to your health.
It was three years after I first attended the Eddie Adams Workshop as a student and absolutely just as inspiring. I spent my time working with Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes and master picture editor Jimmy Colton on the Hot Pink team. A weekend in beautiful Jeffersonville hanging out with some of the best photographers around today and my 28 week pregnant wife was a nice break from New York City. Here are some pictures. The team presentations will be up soon.
I'm back from Jeffersonville, NY where every year since 1987 the Eddie Adams Workshop has been held bringing together 100 students and dozens of top professionals from around the world. I first attended Barnstorm XVIII in 2005. This was the first year I've been able to return as a professional. More pictures to come.
I'm talking straight to you people. No bullshit. Sorry, just watching the second presedential debate. This stuff has really turned into a circus over the past couple of elections. There's so much junk filling the frame on CNN I feel like I'm participating in some kind of viewer experiment. Anyway, here's a few pictures I shot over the past few days.
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Thursday - October 02, 2008
James Nachtwey
Stay on top of TED tomorrow. James Nachtwey, arguably without a doubt IMHO the best living photographer, won the 2007 TED Prize and is teaming up with them for what sounds like will be something truly amazing. The anouncement is tomorrow.
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Wednesday - October 01, 2008
The Daily Show
I forgot to tell you I went to The Daily Show. A friend at work scored 10 tickets so we got a nice break from the day last week. Bill Clinton was the guest and the show was extremely hilarious. Much more than on television. Now my goal is to hit up each of the shows that film in Midtown. I've been to Conan already but the one I'm really looking forward to is SNL. No luck getting tickets yet though and I don't want to wait in the standby line for hours.
In case you had not heard the Yankees played their last game ever at Yankee Stadium this past weekend. Guys like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra made that place and the Yankees an icon of baseball. I grew up playing baseball and idolizing the old players like Ruth, Jackson and Mantle. On Sunday during the final game I produced a panorama shot by Vincent Laforet.
In preparation for this event I stopped by Vince's home the night before to run through the shooting process. He's a great photographer and extremely tech savvy so he picked it up immediately. But as soon as I walked in his home he said, "sit down, you gotta watch this." What he showed me was the unmastered footage of what he had shot the previous two days on the infamous Canon 5D Mark II.
I was completely blown away. The low light quality combined with the extreme sharpness of 1080p shot the SLR lenses with a very shallow depth of field was unbelievable. Needless to say I've pre-ordered at least one, have you? Watch the video below:
And check out some of his behind the scenes footage and other details here.
So I'm a little late. Call me a slacker. And I'm not going to say I've been to busy because the truth is I just forgot. Check out these three panoramas I shot and produced for the anniversary of 9/11. Hangar 17 is very neat and eery place. It houses all the remnants of the World Trade Center. No matter your political beliefs its historically important and the pictures are cool. Check it out.
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Tuesday - September 09, 2008
Maybe one day city governments will wake up
I saw this story by the Washington Post the other day via Gizmodo. Its amazing how clueless and frankly ignorant our country is when it comes to cycling and commuting. Instead of being treated like second class citizens by their neighbors and government bike riders in Tokyo are respected and even encouraged. Maybe some day.
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Monday - September 08, 2008
Microsof Surface = Cool
While watching the convention coverage on NBC these past few weeks I noticed what definitely looked seemed like a Microsoft Surface but kind of brushed it off. Turns out it was. I'm a die hard Mac lover but the Surface seems amazing. We'll see.
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Wednesday - August 27, 2008
360º Panorama — Times Square
A long time ago I promised a full 360º panorama of Times Square. Finally, I've got everything worked out. I've been working with my good friend Gabriel for many months now perfecting our panorama technique and implementing it in journalistic ways. We've been doing more and more and we've finally got pretty much everything nailed down.
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Sunday - August 24, 2008
Olympics in Pictures
The Olympics are over, finally. I have a lot of respect for athletes that live lives of discipline and devote themselves ot being the best at what they do. How many of them actually do it sin dope, we'll never know. But even though NBC was hoarding their exclusive coverage and in the end hurting themselves by forcing people to pirate video, a lot of great pictures were made during the 16 days. I helped produce this gallery of pictures and audio from the games.
