Bored - what's there to shoot?

[Mohamed Younis]

When I have nothing to shoot, I do rigorous lens/lighting/quality testing. I'm also learning more and more about blocking. I usually just place random objects and think of them as characters and just plan how to shoot them. It gets a little tricky when you're up to more than 10 characters that all have dialogue and are scattered throughout the room/set. You don't have to go out and shoot to master your craft ( well you do, but not always ). There's always plenty of testing to be done and plenty of new techniques to be learned. I'm sure to some of you hypothetically owning an Epic would automatically result in great footage, and that's not the case.

[Will Keir]

Maybe he got bored of following his dream and decided to play follow the leader? Maybe?

If you're bored, you're not following your dream. It's that simple. Being bored is a choice.

[Joseph S.]

You guys all have excellent ideas and gave me a different way to see things, especially Michael Ou for reminding me to capture the emotions. Thanks for all the feedback.

I've been in the server manufacturing industry for over 12 years and photography has been a hobby since childhood. In the past, I've built race cars, custom motorcycles, professional recording studios, and now possibly a production company.

It's funny how this thread went from me being bored of just shooting buildings and ducks, to being bored in life, to not following my dreams :) And I'm definitely not a follow the leader kinda guy. Quite the opposite.

Well, once I get my battery gear and capable of going outside, I'll have plenty to shoot. Maybe I can join a few others in shoots and bring my gear and ideas as well.

Thanks again. Feels like I've made some cool friends here too.

[Will Keir]

I was making a joke of a rather negative post. Hope you got that. :) It's no ones business what you do, I want to encourage always, when feeling negative say nothing. Being critical for reconstruction and negative are two different beasts.

I see you reaching out, wanting to learn your camera system better and hopefully join a small production and shoot with them. There should be a "trade for services" section on this forum where people like you can put yourself out there. "Hey, I got sometime and would like to work on an interesting project. You get me, all my questions and my fully functional epic."

Here's to being creative. Keep up the good work mate.

Best.

[Joseph S.]

Will, in no way did I take it as anything negative. The nicest people are on reduser. No way man. Totally cool :)

Great idea on the trade for services. I was going to post something like that within the next week where I could go to a shoot that interests me and use my gear to get a bit of knowledge on some professional experience. Definitely a great idea.

Cheers man, all the best.

[Michael Ou]

You guys all have excellent ideas and gave me a different way to see things, especially Michael Ou for reminding me to capture the emotions. Thanks for all the feedback.

I've been in the server manufacturing industry for over 12 years and photography has been a hobby since childhood. In the past, I've built race cars, custom motorcycles, professional recording studios, and now possibly a production company.

It's funny how this thread went from me being bored of just shooting buildings and ducks, to being bored in life, to not following my dreams :) And I'm definitely not a follow the leader kinda guy. Quite the opposite.

Well, once I get my battery gear and capable of going outside, I'll have plenty to shoot. Maybe I can join a few others in shoots and bring my gear and ideas as well.

Thanks again. Feels like I've made some cool friends here too.

It's really my pleasure sir! Here's to finding that inspiration!

[Carey Lee Coffey]

I was making a joke of a rather negative post. Hope you got that. :) It's no ones business what you do, I want to encourage always, when feeling negative say nothing. Being critical for reconstruction and negative are two different beasts.

Sorry Will, but it was not, in any way, a negative post. It was quite the opposite in fact. And it became everyone's business when he posted his business on an open forum. The point I was making is, until you've acheived your dreams, you haven't the luxury of being bored. The post may have been a bit vague, and, like all things film related, completely open to interpretation, but it was not at all negative. I don't spew negativity at any of my fellow artists, only love and positivity! We are in this together. I wish only success for everyone, including you Will. All the best.

[Joseph S.]

... until you've acheived your dreams, you haven't the luxury of being bored.

Great quote.

BTW, I'll be driving up to Yosemite tomorrow morning and taking some beautiful footage. Should be great with all the snow this time of year. Got a side handle and my batteries are getting charged as well.

In a way, getting all this feedback from each of you really pushed me in a positive way. Hard to explain.

[J.D. Frey]

I had a buddy drive me around and shot a bunch of handheld slow-mo out the window- everything looks like intro credits to a movie, lots of fun. I know you need AC power, but maybe you could pick up an inverter and plug in to your car?

That could also help with location stuff until you get a more portable power solution.

[Julian Gerretsen]

I have no method of power other than wall outlets and a 50 foot power cord/car adapter.
Just one guy, me.

Hi Joseph, don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but I also cannot afford V-lock batteries at the moment. I am busy shooting a horror feature and needed power on various locations, so I bought a 70amp 12 volt deep cycle leisure battery (£45) which gives me about 840 watts of storage. I also bought a pure sine wave inverter, a more expensive model (£70) which has all sorts of inbuilt protection... it also sounds an alarm 10 minutes before the battery is depleted, giving ample warning to shut down the RED in time before the power goes out.

Total cost of my portable remote power solution = £ 115 (roughly $180)... I know for a fact that stuff is generally cheaper in the US, so you should be able to get away with a lot less.

My battery inverter solution works perfectly and I had 6 hours shooting out of it the other day without having to shut down.... don't know what the actual life would be, sure there would be some loss in the inverter conversion but for this type of inverter it's apparently less then 10%.

I also carry a 20 metre extension as I needed handheld through the forest shots and it worked great in cold weather.

There's a solution for what to shoot: Bare stark winter trees... they look beautiful and ominous at the same time.