Sep 112010
 

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But it was cold, and windy at Governors Island last night, and this was no place for my idol to be playing.  And close up, he was old-looking, though as Lester and me figured he could only be a few years older than either of us.  The first act came on and you could see the wind whistling around his pants.  He was good.  But I wanted to see Prine.  I slumped in my chair waiting and waiting because I’m not used to going to concerts.

And then the first act finished, and the stage lights came on for a while, and a guy went from mike to mike checking them.  He didn’t say “testing, one, two, three” like they did in my day but made some odd noise in each mike, over and over.  It wasn’t any language I could understand.  Whaoujayforust!

And finally, there was a rustle on the stage, and a murmur in the audience, and John Prine stepped onto the stage.  My memory of Prine is the album cover, from his first album and frankly, even in that shot he looks old already.  And he walked back to a dark area where there were drinks and took a drink and then came out and went into his set.

What would he sound like after the throat surgery?

Well, he sounded better than I ever heard him before.

What would his energy be like?

He outplayed me. I left, or at least got on the line for the boat while he was doing the last regular song from his set: Lake Marie.  And I was sorry I had gotten up, because it was so beautiful and sad.  How many artists can you sit down by, and have them make you cry.  I mean literally, at one point, and I don’t remember the song, I was sitting on the picnic chair, and the crowd was quiet, and Prine was doing his songs soooo slow.  Tempo was like a man rising from the grave with a bad back, and sore feet.

You might call his set languorous.  And it was just so slow, and so sad, and I couldn’t remember ever hearing him do his own songs at this tempo, and I felt like crying and did.

It’s because his songs are mostly about the insanity of life; of war; of love; of all the things that are so important to us that we just screw up, over and over again.  What could be more pathetic.

He had perfect control over his breathing, and the low voice, and how songs built up to crescendos and died down until they just seemed to peter out.

Governors Island at the end of summer was no place for John Prine.  He should be up in the place where they give medals, and make great people happy, sort of like the Wizard of Oz ending.  He doesn’t write about artists… he’s from a place in Kentucky I guess… he sings about his grandfather smoking camels and hitting nails into planks, as if he’s making his own coffin, and the genius of Prine is that unlike Dylan – Prine writes about people with genuine empathy.  Feeling their anguish.  How much of his own torment comes through in his stories, how much is really about the character, I don’t know, but the whole thing, mixed up and as I told Lester on the way back on the boat – segues that don’t make sense when you first hear them – and then do and if I had had something to drink or an illegal influence – I think I would’ve just sat there and cried and never left and they’d have to pick me up and put me back on the boat to come back to Manhattan.

That’s how good he is.

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Prine with Lead Guitarist I

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with guitarist II

Oh, it was a three man setup. Lead guitar, Prine, and a bass player.  There were a few moments, when they were just jamming that I really enjoyed.  I’ll go back later and look up names of the first act guy and the guitarist and bass… but they don’t matter right now to me…

Shooting from where I was – near impossible.  Everything you see was with the 70 – 300mm at 3200 ASA and yes it has IS, and no, there was no problem bringing it in.  You’d have to be some sort of total idiot to be stopped.  I had the 30mm Sigma on the 500D, and the 30-700mm in my jacket pocket.  All that pre-concert worrying about not being able to bring the camera in was for naught.  I had decided that if I couldn’t bring the camera, I’d wait outside and listen to the concert.  And it was a good thing because besides Prine, I had the New York Skyline with the 9-11 beam thing to shoot, and perfect clouds and other stuff that was good.

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Telling a Story

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We were standing… standing by peaceful waters (Lake Marie)

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Thank you everybody!  Thank you so much!  You’ve made me feel very welcome here.

Thank you John.  You made me feel things that were dormant for a very long time.  It was a great night that I will remember.

A few footnotes: He was born on October 10th, 1946; first album released, 1971 (and somehow I bought it).

“If he’s this good this young,” wrote Rolling Stone in 1971, “time should be on his side.” Truer words have rarely been written. Some four decades since his remarkable debut, Prine has stayed at the top of his game, both as a performer and songwriter. Recently honored at the Library of Congress, he has been elevated from the annals of songwriters into the realm of bonafide American treasures. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser introduced him at the Library of Congress by likening him to Raymond Carver for making “monuments of ordinary lives.” But the greatest testaments to his lasting legacy are the songs themselves. Unlike so many which belong only to the time in which they emerged, his, like the old trees in “Hello In There,” seem to just grow stronger with the passing years. – from the blurb for the concert

Todd Snider did the opening set. Sort of a mixture of Prine and Dylan and Guthrie (with the talking songs) and really not bad at all; and very musical, and fun to listen to as far as guitar picking goes – but I was as I say waiting for Prine.  Frankly – one song, that he said he wrote while waiting behind another car in a drivethrough, was hysterical and absolutely right on in terms of understanding people.  But I would like to have cut his set in half, though that’s just my impatience.

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Sep 082010
 

Or should I call it the movie disaster?

I have never, ever run into a photo-related program that I couldn’t figure out, until I bumped into Final Cut Express.  Day after day, of bumping my head against walls.  Was it that the program was so difficult?  Have I had a stroke, or bunch of burnt-out neurons since the last time I picked up a program.

I went through tonemapping, infrared (both digital and film), Lightroom, Photoshop (and a few other photo programs) and never felt so helpless.

It’s as if every button I press in Final Cut has been programmed to do the opposite of what I think it’s going to do.

I think there should be some intelligence test handed out with this program; some meter to see whether you have what it takes to make FCE work for you.  I have to admit, it is very frustrating.  Nope.  I’m putting it down.  I’m giving it (make that me) a reprieve.

I admit that Final Cut has beat me silly.  I don’t know what the fight was about, but I would’ve done better trying to break a wild horse in a movie, and since I’ve never even been near a horse – you can get some idea of where I’m at.  For all you geniuses who mastered the program – you have my admiration.

For photographers, in terms of ease of use and overall control of effects, I’d list the movie programs like this:

iMovie (is very easy, but it also does too much for you. )

Final Cut Express (This is the most convoluted program to learn.  I’m sure that once you get past the brick-wall barrier, it has all the capabilities you’ll need, but I have a very bad feeling after being beaten down by it)

Adobe Premiere Elements 8 (windows only) I used Adobe Premiere Elements 7 under windows, and frankly – I don’t think I ever had to look in a manual.  It came to me very easily.  All the older movies that I put on YouTube (BeckermanPhoto) were made with it.  And there just wasn’t a whit of trouble.  If there was a version 8 for the Mac, I’d get it.

Adobe Premiere 4 on the Mac, is not as simple as Elements 7 was – but it can do more stuff (I guess).

Frankly – for now – I’ve got to take a break from movie making…  mostly because it simply wasn’t as easy as I remember (Elements 7).   I simply don’t have the time to relearn stupid stuff like panning and scaling, and to be frank – FC is one of those programs I’ve run into where I feel like one screen is not enough, and where I’d like to have someone who knows it looking over my shoulder.

No, I haven’t tried Final Cut Pro because they don’t have a TRY version, and it’s over $1000.  But if it’s anything like Final Cut Express – eeks.  I would hate to have paid that sort of money (not that I would have) for a sideline that I thought might be interesting for viewers.

Of course I can measure whether the problem is mine, or the programs’ by re-installing Adobe Premiere Elements 7 under windows and see how it runs in parallel mode on the mac.  That’s probably the way to go for now… though I think it was a bit flakey the last time I tried that…  but I can’t remember for sure…  Yes, it’s possible this is all part of my first serious senior two weeks.

So I just installed the old Premiere Elements 7 in the windows section of the computer, and sure enough – works like a charm…  Yes, I updated the software.  It reads all the still files I’ve got.  And the interface just makes complete sense.  So I don’t get it.  Why that should be so straight-forward, and the other ones are so more complex.  It’s a mystery.

* * *

And finally, just to be thorough – I downloaded the Windows version of Premiere Elements 8 (trial version).  Remember, I’m running this stuff under parallel on the Mac (Win 7).  Premiere 8 was not very happy.  It complained about my graphics card not being up to snuff.  It told me that I had a NVIDIA something or other and complained that it wouldn’t be able to playback with that card and to change cards and then tell it that the card had changed…

Both programs – 7 and 8 – are really pushing Photoshop.com as a backup site.  I haven’t found a way to turn off that stupid splash screen in either versions, though I have to believe it’s there somewhere.  But anyway, Premiere Elements 7 still works just fine.  And I’m going to work on a picture / movie over the weekend.  Maybe it’ll be stuff from John Prine.  I don’t know.

Sep 072010
 
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The purpose of the movie detour is not really to make movies, but I’m curious about using photographs in the Ken Burns manner to tell stories. That’s really what’s floating around in the back of my head. In order to do that, there were a couple of important techniques to work on, and that’s what I’m continuing to practice with Final Cut.

You’ll see a bunch of early tests on youtube at: www.youtube.com/beckermanphoto

One of the things I can see, is that to actually do say a ten minute movie – that is going to be very time-consuming.  And it will be a big break from what I’ve been doing.  On the other hand, if I practice with the keyframes and effects on my own photos, given what I’ve learned over the last few years, infrared, hdr, tonemapping etc… I could see doing some interesting effects that show the post-processing, and are interesting at the same time.

Sep 052010
 

I made enough progress with my movie making (got voice over to work) and completed a short 4 minute film (will post after I clean a few things up) with Final Cut Express, that I allowed myself to take some pictures today, and you should always begin when you haven’t photographed a city for a long time, with pigeons.

Put that down in your lesson books.  Dave suggests pigeons as a way to get back into the shooting mood.  Especially if the pigeons are well-lit.

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Pigeons (tonemapped) this morning, first ave.

And so yes, I have settled down with FCE.  And I don’t think I’ll need to ruin your mornings with any explanations, just compete with your alarm clock, or your favorite monologues once in a while.  In the meantime – I’m free to walk around again without trying to shoot movies and still at the same time – which leaves you with neither one being any good.

Sep 032010
 

I don’t know why everyone has a sale on Labor Day, other than that it’s a holiday, so more people are off – and in the old days would go shopping in physical stores?  But now that you can get most of what you need on the web… why can’t you just sit at your desk and look around for online stores that are having a sale and pick up what you need?

Anyway – it’s 20% off, and end at midnight (oooh spooky) Monday.  Who was it that always did that (ooooh scary).  Oh yeah, second city t.v.

“Now that blew up real good.”

And the guy that would dress as vampire… yeah… he was the one that would pretend it was in 3-D (don’t get me started on that gimmick) – and say, “Ooooh, scary” with a very bad Eastern European accent.

I think everyone in that show went on to star in at least one movie, (Uncle Buck?) ; and some are still popping up in bit parts, and still funny.

I’d love to read a book about Second City… they have just turned out one great comedian after another.

And speaking of comedians – I’m just hear to remind you that there’s a Labor Day Sale that just started.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean that you have to do any labor to get the discount.  It’s just a celebration that summer has ended (why celebrate that) and that for the whatever generation we’re up to now – school starts.  Man oh man – did I hate that feeling that school was starting again.  The summers seemed so long.  And the idea of going back to school, whether it was a new school where I knew people, or even worse, a new school, like Junior High where I didn’t know anyone – that gave me what I used to call – and maybe people still do – The Sunday Night Blues.  Butterflies in the stomach.  A floating anxiety. It was just never something I looked forward to until I was in my late 20′s!

I think my biggest problem in school was that I simply wasn’t athletic, and definitely not tough; at least not for the schools I was going to.  That was my downfall.  I can imagine an entirely different life, if I had been taller and athletic.  There’s no way I would have ended up sitting here writing a blog about (sometimes) photography.  I’m certain that if I had fit in socially, and been popular, and well-liked by the guys and the girls – I would’ve had a tremendous amount of self-confidence – and would’ve gone off into an occupation that involved selling things.  Maybe I would’ve been a humorous car salesman.  Yes, I can easily see myself selling high-end sports cars, and importing them from Italy and one day I’d find out that I had a long lost brother who was autistic and take a cross country trip with him… ooops…. sorry ’bout that…

But even if I had still gone into the arts – it would’ve been as a producer or something like that. Or maybe I would’ve done what I really wanted to do and get into show business.  I can remember thinking about going to Chicago to apply for Second City Improv.  I’ve always been able to start rambling (proof is in this post) about just about anything.  And sometimes I could make it funny.  So maybe I would have ended up in Second City, and that would’ve brought me to Saturday Night Live… from there as a vocation, something to relax with, like say Richard Gere, or Kenny Rogers – country singer and  I’d pick up a camera and be famous at the same time… ah… that would be the life.  Then I wouldn’t even have to worry about sales.  People would buy my stuff because I was famous as a singer or a clown (ever see Red Skelton paintings of clowns) or Richard Gere – blurry shots in Tibet.  But beautiful.

And that’s how these posts go.  Start with the sale and end up talking about Richard Gere and Kenny Rogers.  Doesn’t seem possible – but there it is.

Sep 032010
 

You’ve followed me long enough to know that I will sometimes get fixated on some new technology and as my friend Matt would say, get stuck in the secret lab.  I happened when I first got into digital cameras, and then infrared, and well, it’s a long list.  But what seems to keep me going is how surprising the new stuff is.  When I say surprising, I mean that every once in a while I fall over something that I never thought possible.

You remember how I was going back and forth between iMovie, then Final Cut Express (FCE) and then Adobe Premiere Pro (an old version).  And I’ve been futzing with them over the last few days slowly coming to the conclusion that Premiere was going to work the best for me – and this morning I’m reading up about sequences, and importing files – especially images.  This whole movie thing really revolves around photography.

And I’m wondering about what format, what bit-depth, what color space etc. to import image files into Premiere when I come across a line that says, in effect, that Premiere can not only understand Photoshop files, but when you import a PSD (Photoshop file) with layers – it can – if you want it to, break it apart and stick each layer as a separate clip (file).

And then I’m reading that you can use Photoshop tools, like the clone tool, while you are in Premiere…?  Is that true, or am I getting something mixed up. The one thing that does seem clearer is that there is going to be a bridge (so to speak) between Photoshop and Premiere… and how that bridge works… I’m not sure yet, but the idea that come from it for animation… and various effects…

You could, for example, show a movie made out of layer dissolves or cuts…  again, just for explanation purposes…  sorry for the ellipses but I want to jump back to the lab.