droplet of night, molten light

how odd…it seems that when you search for photography backdrops on ebay and the like, nowadays what is all the rage are virtual backdrops on CD that you place behind people digitally after you shoot them in front of a green screen. i mean…i have a green screen. its not a problem to do this. in fact, you could do it just using a white or black backdrop, too. and i do see how it pays to buy a disc of 50 or 100 backdrops that are pre-lit and you can just drop in, rather than buy 50 or 100 physical backdrops. the cost would be phenomenall much higher to own the backdrops yourself. but it feels…i don’t know. i know i can make it look just as real as a backdrop i’ve set up and lit, and i can even play with lighting effects on a backdrop, but it feels something is lost. hunh.

though actually it could make for some fun lighting challenges. i’ve seen some really surreal digital backdrops, you know, purple sea, dark starry sky, huge moon above and my first thought was wow, that would be fun to light for! low key lighting of course, nice hard rimlight for the moon, and a strong diffused softlight coming from the same direction, and do some neat purple gelled bounce off a pan of water underneath, to get some of that water reflection on the face, or some of the clothes. would have to try it out to see how that part worked. maybe you’d have two diffused sources, moon and water. you could play with the variations for a while.

of course, the next thought was why would i buy these? i can make them in photoshop! which was a cool thought, actually. i keep forgetting i can make graphics in fotoshop for videos, too. everything has melded together now, with art and media all made on the computer. it’s wild, how interwoven it is. i just saw a camera with wifi the other day, you can upload your shots right to a flickr type account. we all knew it was coming. still wild to see. soon you’ll sign documents from far away. your pen will upload the strokes and use your fingerprints on the pen to confirm your identity and approval of an electronic bank document across the ocean, signature movement verified and matched against a library of 500 other sigs of yours. hey, it can even shoot video of your face as you sign and transmit that with the signature movement coordinates. GPS your ass and monitor the gases you exhale and excrete, analyze them and sample deeply, search for anti-flag thought patterns and liberally biased electrons. 

weird how on ebay there are so many international buyers and sellers now. not like a few years ago. and then it occurs to me how low our dollar has dropped. of course they like shopping here. it’s like when i bought something from the UK recently DIOS mio! it was like double the price it should have been. ouch. if i could have found it anywhere in the US (at least online), i wouldn’t have bought it.  

well i just finished screening the clinton video for someone and now i have to make edits on their reaction. its hard…you get so close to the material and your intent, and working your craft that you stop being able to see it objectively. but i sort of sensed what they said. which is why i asked. 

[time passes]

was editing for hours. wow. that was good, though. a lot that needed to be trimmed from that. i’m trying to chop iti up because i owe a couple vids or a vid + blog or….or….but if i can just get this segmented into the right parts i can catch up and have this whole thing up without making people wait. i think i can. i’ve spent SO many hours on this footage. and i’ve actually traveled an arc in my thoughts about hillary clinton. i’ve listened to her words and watched her speak them so many times through editing these vids on her it’s unbelievable. i feel an intimate knowledge of her now! it’s weird. dont know how good it is. or HEALTHY.

i’ll save it for the blog post on it, the second one. gotta make use of those so i dont get behind, and dont just waste the creativity isn’t that funny, “waste” it by putting it in the wrong blog. waste it by just writing it instead of putting it in the “paid” box, but that’s important! if i had my way i’d just write or make art who cares about  getting paid. but…. you know. food costs money. people require money. clothes, rent etc. so. i’ve got to organizize, as mister bickle said. must remember to send some money to R. before her trip to argentina.

sometimes i rip on the mtv job…but then i feel a little bad about it. it really is a great thing to be able to do. i get frustrated by limitations in areas. not just there but in other parts of my life. but i should keep perspective. nobody is forcing me to keep it. and it allows me to do a lot with video, and that’s great. i get negative when i get stressed out. recently i really let a lot of stressors pile up. and i’m still a bit backed up with work in one or two areas. 

but i feel better now. i see the clearing, finally. AND!

i’ve got a new hat.