This past week I co-DPed a short documentary project for director Scott Whitham about the Boys and Girls Club of Camden County (Camden is one of the roughest cities in the country). The project was produced by Maureen McKenna and Shooters Inc.

We shot on a HVX200 and HPX170, both hooked up with Letus adapters. Craig Needelman, the other DP, had a set of Canon K35 super speeds and I was using a set of Zeiss primes (unfortunately not the super speeds cinema lenses but the still photography ones). We had a great crew and the kids were a lot of fun to work with. I’m looking forward to seeing the final project.

Over the last few weeks I worked as AC on a couple of NOVA shoots. I was working with Robert Humphreys, a wonderful DP who i worked with last summer on the PBS series E2. Rob is a great guy and a cinematographer I really look up to.

This time we were shooting B-Roll for a NOVA show on emotions (a 6 Hour 3 part series being produced by Kunhardt McGee Productions). The highlights included shooting for a day in Grand Central Station and another day at Coney Island. We were shooting on a HDX900 with a Pro35 and a full assortment of cinema and T/S lenses. The “B” camera consisted of a Canon 5d MKII, which we nearly lost while shooting on the Cyclone, but thats a whole other story.

This past week I began shooting a short documentary about the efforts to start a bike sharing program in Philadelphia. The project is funded through a grant from MIND TV / Philadelphia Stories 7. There is debate in the bicycling community over whether or not Bike Sharing is a good idea. This short doc will take a look at both sides while at the same time promoting the bike culture of Philadelphia.

I’m taking a very visual approach to this project and am shooting it entirely with the HPX170/Letus35 camera set up. I’ll also be incorporating other creative techniques to give the documentary a very cinematic feel. I plan to have production done by mid June so check back for some footage!

I finished shooting a cool project the other week. It was a series of band profiles for the music non-profit Weathervane. Founded by recording master Brian McTear, Weathervane aims to “create a network of local artists to exchange creative ideas and to promote new opportunities for emerging and established artists.”

The shoot was produced by Andy WIlliams (of Shooters/Dive fame). We shot on a Panasonic HPX170 with a Letus35 and an assortment of Canon EOS lenses. Although we were shooting material for a documentary, we shot everything with a very creative approach (see some behind the scenes photos here and read an interview here). The footage looks absolutely stunning. I’ll post some as soon as its ready!