Boston Red Sox

The week after finishing camp I spent a week in Boston with my cousin and her family and managed to make it to a Red Sox game. Normally these games sell out well in advance and to purchase tickets online from a reseller like StubHub or from a scalper can get really expensive and I didn't want to shell out $80 + for some average seats.

I met up with 3 other people who were pretty random acquaintances... Katlynn who we met in Denver on our US road trip, Jesse who I couch-surfed with in Boston a few weeks earlier and a girl from Chicago who was couch-surfing with him for a couple of nights. We were all keen to go but none of us had tickets. The weather was pretty foul though and the game was delayed a couple of hours and after having a beer and a bite to eat at the House of Blues across the street from Fenway Park we hit the streets and took advantage of the poor weather to bargain a scalper down to $15 for each ticket.

We walked around for about 10 minutes then found 4 seats just out of the rain on 1st base behind the Red Sox dugout... sweet! Apart from a 45 minute rain delay in about the 3rd innings the weather held out. Oh, they beat the Toronto Blue Jays in case anyone was wondering?

BOSFCPUG Philip Bloom DSLR Workshop

A few weekends ago I went to Boston on the bus for a 1 day workshop with Philip Bloom, the master of the time lapse and shooting video with (Canon) DSLRs. It was at Rule Camera and hosted by the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group or BOSFCPUG.


See the complete Flickr set from BOSFCPUG

He went over...

* Differences in the cameras
* Lens selection: When to use the right lens for your shots
* Choosing the right accessories for your DSLR
* Lighting for DSLR filmmaking
* Recording proper sound for DSLR filmmaking
* Timelapse recording with your DSLR
* Production workflow techniques
* Philip's post editing best practices using Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Suite 5 and Avid

Recommended Lenses for the Canon HDSLR Cameras

EF-S
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B000EW8074

EF
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B0033PRWSW

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B000NP46K2

Tokina 11-16MM F/2.8 ATX 116 Lens for Canon EOS AF Digital - Tokina ATX116PRODXC

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B0014Z3XMC

Zeiss ZE/ZF/CP.2 lenses

Leica 'R' lenses

Old Nikon lenses using a Fotodiox Reverse Mount Adapter

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B001G4PA36


Time Lapse - What You Need



Intervalometer

The Intervalometer that I bought was the Satechi TR-C which was only about $60US on Amazon. It seems to work fine and is a great alternative to the $180 Canon TC80N3. Philip did a time lapse of the workshop and was actually using the Satechi on his 5D.



Satechi TR-C Timer Remote Control for Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, XTi, XSi, & ELAN SLR Cameras by Satechi
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B001CCH2MO


Awesome Philip Bloom Time Lapse

Sky from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Some of my Time Lapse attempts

Lawn Lunch - Time Lapse Tilt-shift from Jeremy Aiken on Vimeo.

Portland, Maine - Tilt-Shift Time Lapse from Jeremy Aiken on Vimeo.

Car Parking from Jeremy Aiken on Vimeo.

The Epic USA Road Trip

See our From Van To Van Blog for all my adventures over the next few weeks.

Winter in Spring

After the extremely disappointing winter weather during the Olympics, Cypress Mountain (and it seem the rest of B.C.) has finally received a massive dump of fresh snow. With over 120cm in the past 7 days and 3 days of awesome boarding for me, it has made that season pass worth the money after all!

See all full-size pics on flickr

2 Years in Canada

I just sold my Canon HV20 on eBay to get some cash together fro the Canon T2i so I was forced to import all of the mini DV tapes that I had accumulated over the past 2 years. This was a VERY good thing. I finally found (made) the time to finish editing the footage. Enjoy!

2 Years in Canada from Jeremy Aiken on Vimeo.

Lazy (stupid) Craigslist Users

We're currently looking for a cheap van that will carry three of us all over the U.S. for the next 4-6 weeks on our epic road trip. Unfortunately the best place to look is Craigslist.

I have used Craigslist quite a bit before and although it's a great place to find a bargain or sell something, it is also a breeding ground for spam and useless information that gets in the way of what you are actually trying to achieve.

It seems that just because people don't pay to list something, they put very little effort into creating a reliable and informative outline of what they're selling. So, you end emailing/calling back and forth to determine if the item is even worth perusing.

Here are some examples I have just found this morning of ads for vans that are basically a waste of my time and the time of those who posted them.



That doesn't look like a Ford Van to me?!? Oh OK I get it. He's just using a pic of a keyboard until he gets some pics to post.

Suggestion: Until you have all the info and the pics, don't post!




So... it's good for drunk driving after a long day at work?





Bah... a motor is a minor issue when buying a vehicle, wouldn't you agree?

Old school track of the week

via youtube.com

SWV - Right Here - 1992

Posted via web from jzaindustries on posterous