Gail Mooney

June 22, 2010June 22, 2010

Staying Connected

I’m sitting on the rooftop of my small hotel in Istanbul on a glorious morning. In front of me is the Blue Mosque,

behind me Hagia Sophia

and to the left the Bosphorus Strait. I’m feeling blessed that I can experience these sights in my lifetime and even more fortunate that I can see them with my daughter Erin.

We are about 1/3 through our journey of circling the globe creating a documentary on people who are making a positive change in the world – Opening Our Eyes. Just like at home, I relish the quiet peace of the early mornings when I take time to reflect on what’s ahead in my day or write down the random thoughts that pulse through my mind. The mornings are my time and even in the hustle and bustle of moving from one destination to the next, I try to take this time for myself.

As I look across other rooftop gardens and watch as people start their day, I’m thinking about my first travels and how so different it was back in the early 1970’s to stay in touch with people back home. There was no Internet, nor cell phones and making a call required investing some time in a telephone exchange office until they placed your overseas call and directed you to a booth. Because it was so costly, you crossed your fingers that someone would be home or that you wouldn’t get a busy signal – no answering machines back then. And if you were so fortunate to connect , you made every word and minute count and talked rapidly. Every once in awhile I would get a letter from home that was either sent to the local American Express office or to General Post. It still amazes me that I got anything in the mail back then and somewhere in my boxes of memorabilia are those precious letters waiting to be discovered some rainy day.

Nowadays it seems that one is always connected. Even when I’ve been in somewhat remote spots without Wifi or wired connection, my global phone has worked and I’ve gotten emails. It’s great to be able to stay connected and with that comes a sense of security. But it’s also easy to be too connected and miss some of the nuances of the culture you are in. Like everything there is a fine balance.

Many people asked me how I was going to be able to keep in touch with clients when I was gone and wasn’t I worried that being away for a 3-month period would be detrimental to my business. I’m very fortunate that I have a partner and husband Tom who is holding down the fort while I’m gone – paying the bills, servicing our clients, marketing and everything else that goes into keeping a business alive in a struggling economy. I’m also taking full advantage of the time we live in and the ease of staying connected through emails and blogs. Not only am I able to stay in touch with clients, I am keeping them abreast of my project and building a larger audience and presence in the process.

It’s an amazing time we live in and having grown up when I did, I take none of this for granted. I’m going to sign off for now and take myself offline to connect with the place I’m in – the people, the culture, the landmarks – the sights, the smells and the sounds. Thanks for listening and more importantly for all your thoughts, comments, Facebook posts and emails and keeping me connected

June 21, 2010June 20, 2010

Photography and Video in Foreign Destinations

I’ve traveled most of my life and I’m almost always with my camera. I’ve experienced the good and the bad and the difficulty and the ease when taking photographs on my travels. Some cultures are open to being photographed and some not. I’m not just talking about the rules and regulations concerning photographing landmarks and such, which has certainly changed since 911, but rather the receptiveness of the people in various countries.

It used to be that the people in “third world” destinations were leery of being photographed and superstitious. That has given way to more of an attitude of wanting money for every click of your shutter in their direction. But then there are some cultures that it’s a bit of a surprise how open the people are to being photographed.

Istanbul was certainly one destination where the people were quite accepting of photography. And surprisingly, Moscow is another city where I have found that photography is a lot less restrictive than I thought. Aside from some museums where cameras are not allowed, I have found that shooting on the streets of this city hasn’t been a problem at all. Quite different than I imagined and in fact a bit of a contrast to what I’ve experienced lately in my own country where I feel like I’m an intruder with my camera or worse, feeling like I’m breaking the law.

It’s a fine balance when arriving in a new destination and feeling out the situation as to what is or isn’t off limits to a camera. One needs to be observant and respectful and work into the culture gradually. When photographing people, I don’t go up and ask them if I can take their picture. It’s not because I’m trying to be sneaky, but rather I don’t want a posed moment and that’s exactly what happens if I ask permission first. However, after I’ve taken a few shots and a person has noticed me, I will then question with body language if it’s ok to take pictures. If they say no, I respect their wishes and move on.

I’m on a long extended shoot right now creating a documentary Opening Our Eyes with my daughter Erin. In our free time, we are doing a bit of sightseeing and photographing the landmarks and people of the destinations we are in. From time to time we want a picture of the two of us in a quintessential setting and we seek out just the right person to take our picture. We have discovered that picking the right person is an art in itself and quickly find out if our hunch in who we ask to take the picture proves right. We have acquired quite a collection of photos that people have taken of us from the terrible to the pretty good. It’s always funny to see other people’s eye and how they frame us in the shot.

We have another two months for our journey and it will be interesting to see the cultural differences with regards to photography. I hope that we won’t encounter the obstacles that seem to be popping up more and more in the US when it comes to taking pictures. I wonder – is the change in attitude because of security or is it because everyone has a camera these days with the ever-present cell phones and maybe people are just tired of being photographed.

June 18, 2010June 17, 2010

Don’t Go to Belarus – There’s Nothing Fun or Funny About Minsk

In planning our itinerary for Opening Our Eyes, I needed to ticket a flight from Warsaw to Moscow. There was nothing direct – most European airlines went back to their hubs and thus took more time, going out of the way. I thought about the train, but I saw warnings about going through Riga and having to pay for high transit visas so I avoided it. I opted to fly Belavia Air, the national airlines of Belarus. Every flight went through Minsk (its hub), but at least that was going in the same direction. But little did I know what was awaiting us in Minsk.

We had a scheduled layover of 2 ½ hours in Minsk, which quickly dwindled to less than a half an hour because the flight was 2 hours late taking off from Warsaw. The problem was with baggage – they couldn’t match the baggage tags with the passenger roster so everyone needed to get off the plane – identify their bag on the tarmac and then reboard.

When we got to Minsk we were in a hurry, but we needed to pass through passport control. I thought since we were in transit, it would be like most transit flights and we’d whisk right through. But when the official asked us for our Belarus visa – we knew we had a problem. We quickly went upstairs to the visa window and were encountered by a stern blonde woman who looked like she was straight out of a 1960’s Cold War novel, who asked for our passports. When she saw the US passports she told us it would be $300 – I was shocked. And then when she informed us that was for each one of us – my shock turned to outrage.

I wasn’t traveling with that much cash so I needed to go to an ATM. Of course the ATM would not accept my card so we were ushered to a small currency exchange kiosk. It was closed and wasn’t going to reopen for another 40 minutes. And that’s when I started to panic a bit, knowing that our flight to Moscow would leave with our bags – but without us. Not something you want to have happen as we were due to arrive in Moscow after midnight. After waiting over 45 minutes she opened the kiosk and people started pushing their way to the window. I finally got my “usury” money and paid the “bandit” immigration authorities after an hour and a half of stress and agony.

The only saving grace was that the airline officials held the flight for us. My daughter was wondering why they didn’t have direct flights from Warsaw to Moscow since it would have taken less than 2 hours. I know why now – the routing is designed to hold anyone with a US passport hostage until they pay these exorbitant fees. No pleading or explaining that we were only in their country for 15 minutes would do any good. I have never seen such callous and rude people in all my years of traveling and I will never return to Belarus.

But I do hope someday that I will come upon a Belarusian visiting the United States. I will go out of my way to treat them with the kindness that we never received in their country and perhaps that will filter through. I can only hope.

June 17, 2010June 17, 2010

The Problems and Pitfalls of HDSLR’s and Video

I have been working intensively with the Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 7D, filming a documentary Opening Our Eyes. I have discovered the good and the bad with the video functions of these cameras.

The visual is stunning and there is no argument there but there is a lot more to video than the image and therein lies the difference between the HDSLR’s and a traditional video camera.

First and foremost the audio is a bit clunky. I’m shooting both interviews and b-roll. For my interviews, I opted to capture my audio separately and I will sync it later in postproduction. I am using the Samson H4N digital recorder. It is a phenomenal tool but I did discover one big issue that I should make everyone aware of – especially those of you that don’t like to read manuals. You can use this device with “AA” batteries or with an AC adaptor. Because of some of the remote locations I’m working in, I am mostly using it in battery mode. It devours batteries. It says the battery life is about 6 hours – but I think perhaps it’s more like 4 hours realistically. It seems like we barely get through an interview session and we need to change batteries.

Here is where I need to issue a WARNING – when changing batteries – always turn the unit off or you can corrupt the audio files. I found that out the hard way and I had numerous files corrupted. The information was there but it could not be accessed. Had I fully read the manual – I would have known this problem, but I didn’t and in my haste so as not to keep my subject waiting, I didn’t turn the unit off because it takes some time to boot up again. Luckily in my case I have the camera audio, which I always use as a reference, and even though the audio is not ideal, I will only be using the audio as a low-level background audio with an interpreter’s voiceover as the primary audio.

Another problem I have with these cameras is the short durations that you can film – less than 12 minutes for the Canons. A couple of times my subjects have been deep in conversation with very emotional moments – and the camera stops. I know this will happen, but what am I to do – stop them in mid sentence as they tell their stories with tears in their eyes? So for me working in documentary style as opposed to storyboarded films – these short durations is a major issue.

Lastly, the fact that you can change lenses has its pluses and minuses. The pluses are obvious but when shooting video I am shooting lots of variations – wide, medium and tight shots from different angles and moving quickly as I do. It slows me down to change lenses and since I’m shooting journalistically, I’m apt to miss some good moments when I do.

Like anything else, these cameras have their pros and cons. But what I’d really like to see is a video camera with a big chip. I’m hoping the manufacturers are listening and that will be the next generation of cameras.

June 10, 2010

Having Fun with the GoPro Hero Helmet Cam

One of the great gadgets I saw at NAB this year was the HD Hero camera from GoPro. It’s intended to be an adventure sports camera that can be mounted on anything from a surfboard to a helmet to the side of a vehicle but we’ve been having fun with it on our Opening Our Eyes journey going through markets and bazaars.

We had a fabulous day in Istanbul today before heading to our next subject in Warsaw, Poland. After seeing some of the great landmarks in the city, we spent a couple of hours walking through the Grand Bazaar wearing this amazing little camera strapped to our head. Depending on how fluid your stride is, you can get some stunning hi res imagery that gives a viewer the feeling that they are having the experience themselves.

You cannot preview the image you’ll get as there is no eyepiece, but the lens is a wide angle lens with auto exposure and auto focus so shooting blind isn’t such a crap shoot. You have to do a bit of testing to determine how it reacts to various light conditions but the exposure compensates nicely as the lighting situation changes and it’s pretty much right on target. The audio is also pretty good quality, at least for any b-roll shooting.

For the price and the ease of use, the imagery this camera shoots is spectacular and it’s a lot of fun shooting in situations where you might not be able to use a larger camera. I’m suitably impressed and I haven’t even really tested all the capabilities.

We had a lot of fun today with it in the Grand Bazaar and got a lot of funny looks and comments. Check out our walk through Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar and see for yourself.

June 9, 2010

Back to My Beginnings

I became a visual artist , not as a photographer, not as a filmmaker, but as a storyteller using images and later video to tell the tales of other cultures, lands and people through my eyes and my journeys. My camera was my tool – it was a means to an end. The end being the story that needed to be told.

I’ve spent the last 30 some years documenting the world through my lens, whether it be for magazines like the National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian or Travel & Leisure or for major corporations. I’ve been blessed and have truly lived a charmed life. But there have been times when I’ve started to go off kilter – or stray from the essence of my being. It’s easy to do, especially in a culture that is obsessed with the drive to succeed – the definition of success being to make a lot of money and have a lot of “things”. Don’t get me wrong – I also enjoy the rewards that money brings – but for me that means having the resources that help me to live a full life.

A few years back I was shooting a documentary on the Delta Blues Musicians and I spent a memorable afternoon with blues drummer Sam Carr. As we were winding up our conversation under the shade of old tree he sat back and said “I’ve lived a rich man’s life in a poor man’s shoes”. That comment has stayed with me over time and when Sam died last year, I was told that his family was grateful for the interview that I captured that day and used his comment as his epitaph. I was humbled and honored, but mostly felt richly rewarded that my personal project had touched the lives of others.

As we wind up our first stop in Africa on our round-the-world trip, some of the fears and trepidations I had that came with taking a risk, and heading out to the unknown for 3 months, have vanished. In their place is the calming realization that this was what I needed to do at this point in my life and I was grateful I had the means to do it and the stamina to travel on a shoestring budget. Africa puts things into perspective – this vast continent is so wild, colorful, rich, poor, exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. Africa has taken its hold on me and has sparked my true spirit.

My daughter and I decided to take some time to get out of the city and go to Murchison Falls National Park, after shooting the first part of our documentary about people making a positive difference in the world. We saw

Murchison-1772 copy — Elephants along the Nile

elephants, hippos,

giraffes,

Murchison-1311 copy — Giraffe, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

antelope, cape buffalo, baboons,

Murchison-1607 copy — Baboon, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

slept in a tent and sat by a fire in the evenings under a canopy of stars that stretched from horizon to horizon. We chatted with people from countries all over the globe – all of us different yet with a common cause – the love of the journey.

Of course I shot still photos

Murchison-1161 copy — Cape Buffalo, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

as well as some VIDEO but more importantly I absorbed this rich experience and it energized my spirit and my soul. This is the “fire” that I need every now and then. I think we all need a spark every once in awhile and to get past the science of the photographic craft and back to the essence of the art and the story. That is what ultimately leads us to create the kind of visuals that will resonate with others. That spark is different for all of us but nevertheless an essential ingredient for the creative process. It’s not the tools, nor the techniques that define the message or create the images that strike a lasting chord with those who see them. I was fortunate that I learned that years ago and now I’m reminded of those lessons as I get back to my beginnings.

We leave Africa today and continue our journey – next stop Istanbul, Turkey and then on to Poland where our next subject awaits.

June 2, 2010June 2, 2010

Photographers and Video

I’ve been reading a lot of the still photography forums over the past few weeks and I’ve seen a lot of questions about capturing sound with the hybrid HDSLR’s. I’ve also seen some misleading information so I’ve decided to take a few minutes to clear up some misconceptions.

First – Audio is everything in video. People can tolerate a mediocre image but if they can’t understand or hear the audio – they won’t watch. See for yourself – turn the sound down on your TV and see how long you stay interested in the program – even if the image is stunning.

Second – You have many options of capturing audio with the HDSLR’s depending on what you are shooting. I think many still photographers assume everyone is going to be shooting “indie films” with crews. One of the things I find appealing about some of the new technology is that you don’t necessarily need a large crew and a Hollywood budget. And sometimes, if discretion is in order, you’re better off with a small crew. With that said – you should know how to capture good audio.

Third – NEVER use the camera to capture audio – it just isn’t good enough. And I would probably say that you shouldn’t plug an external mic into the camera via the mini plug. I don’t think the audio quality is good enough, especially for an interview.

Fourth – Either use a pre-amp with XLR inputs like a Beachtek or JuicedLink and an external microphone. Make sure you get the mic close to the audio you want to capture. And most importantly monitor the audio through a good set of headphones.

Fifth – Capture your audio independently with a good quality digital recorder like the Samson H4n Zoom and sync it later in post. Syncing sound in post is a snap with a great software application called Plural Eyes.

Lastly – Audio is everything! And remember as you add video to your skill set, you’ll be using your ears as much as your eyes.

June 1, 2010

Outside My Comfort Zone

The older one gets and the more settled one gets in their own ways, the more difficult it is to push oneself outside their own comfort zone. I know this full well, as I am now immersed in a project and a journey where I’m pushing myself every minute of my day and will be doing so for the next three months.

I’m in Uganda, Africa right now and every day I face several challenges. Everything from attending to my personal needs and safety, to negotiating taxi rides and reconfirming upcoming flights to making sure that I’m getting the content that I will need to create the documentary I’m working on, Opening Our Eyes. Little things become much harder and take a lot longer to deal with than if I were at home. And every minute it seems like I’m facing a new learning curve.

Last night, for some inexplicable reason I couldn’t get an internet connection with my laptop. Nothing had changed from the night before when I was online for a good 3 hours, yet all of a sudden – I couldn’t get online. Since I’m working with a digital workflow and totally dependent on a computer, I brought a backup laptop just in case. The “just in case” scenario has already come into play and that backup laptop has become my connection. A few weeks ago when I wrote the blog My DSLR Kit for My 3-Month Road Trip, I received numerous comments telling me that I was taking too much stuff. A part of me agreed but after only one week into this trip, I have used every piece of gear that I had packed. Call it paranoia or the voice of experience but I’m glad that I have the backup, regardless of the extra gear it necessitates.

Building a comfort zone happens gradually, where you set up your business and lifestyle and things click into place over time. But nothing ever stays the same in life and if you’re not proactive, before you know it you get in a rut – whether it be a creative rut or otherwise and when change happens – and it always does – your comfort zone disappears regardless if you were the one that made that a conscious decision or not.

I’ve always known when to “rock my own boat” – when I’ve become dangerously too complacent. I knew at this point in my life it was time that I really push myself outside my norm and as hard as it is at times, I’m confident it will bring great rewards my way. It already has.

Any time I leave the country, especially since I’m usually shooting when I do, I challenge myself on many levels. Yesterday, we were following one of our subjects through a crowded downtown area in Kampala as she went about her errands and searched for just the right fabric in various shops. It was chaotic and a test of nerves as we made our way through the crowded streets dodging vendors, scooters and buses. We were also testing our GoPro Hero helmet cam which was a lot of fun. It was hard enough to blend in being the only “mzungus” (whites) on the street, let alone wearing a camera on your forehead. But check out the VIDEO and see for yourself how it is to negotiate your way through the streets of Kampala. And that’s what I love about this little “adventure sports” camera – it makes the viewer feel like they are part of the action. You can also see what I mean when I say that I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

May 30, 2010

Shooting Video in the Field with the Canon 5D Mark II

The first two days of our Round the World Journey, shooting the documentary Opening Our Eyes has been quite full and I’ve faced numerous situations – really putting my tools to the test.

Our first full day was spent at the offices of Wrap Up Africa, which are located in Kampala, Uganda. In addition to shooting b-roll of tailors at work, we shot several interviews. Our main interview was with Wrap Up Africa’s founder, Letha Sandison, followed by interviews of a couple of her staff members. We also did interviews of some of the cancer victims that Letha has helped. Here is where I not only needed to be attentive to my technical details but be sensitive to the situation and the people that I was interviewing. Hearing some of their stories is heartbreaking and hard for many Americans to fathom. Sure, we all watch the travesties taking place throughout the world on the nightly news, but it’s quite another experience to speak with people who have experienced horrendous tragedies in their lives that are simply unimaginable.

One woman, Evelyn who works for Letha had been abducted and held captive by the LRA, which stands for the Lord’s Resistance Army, and is not exactly a charitable group. She managed to escape after most of her family had been killed in front of her. She is now raising three orphans who had been victims as well and works with Letha, helping others.

Our set up was simple and deliberately so. I set up the Canon 5D Mark II and captured my audio separately with the H4N Zoom. I had two mics – one shotgun on a small boom stand and another lav. I will sync them later in post. We chose a room that had ample window light as we are traveling with only a small camera light and nothing else. Our biggest challenge was that the cabinet installer decided to do his work the day we were shooting – so the sounds of hammering and drilling made up our ambient background sound. But the mics were placed close to our subjects and did a pretty good job of boosting their audio above the din of the environment.

The next situation we faced was shooting b-roll in the dirty environments of a potter’s studio and a foundry. Again we used the Zoom to pick up the ambient sound of the environments. After a morning with the artists, we packed up quickly and headed to Mulago Hospital to visit the children’s cancer ward. We were not allowed to shoot video but we did shoot some still images and was happy to have the hybrid cameras that captured beautiful files – far better than frame grabs from a traditional video camera.

Then we headed to the market, which as usual is always a trying experience. For anyone who has traveled to congested third world environments, you know what I mean by “trying experience”. You must be aware of your personal belongings at all times, while shooting and I wish at times that I had eyes in the back of my head. On top of that I’m sensitive to those that don’t want to be photographed. It’s exhausting but at the same time exhilarating because of the exotic nature of the environment. My daughter wore the GoPro Hero helmet cam that is a tiny camera made for adventure sports but she had a lot of fun walking through the market recording the event with running video as we walked through the market.

I was shooting video with the Canon 5D Mark II and used a shotgun mic on top of the camera and run through a JuicedLink audio mixer. I’m embarrassed to say that somehow, even after lots of testing – I came back with no audio! Luckily the helmet cam Hero picked up very good ambient audio so I’m able to use that and layer it in post. In the chaos and confusion of the market, I probably didn’t set it up right and today I will do additional testing so as not to make that mistake in the future. But the video was captured beautifully and I will interweave those clips into the documentary with sound from the interviews and ambient sound from the Hero.

I am realizing one thing though and that there is nothing easy or streamlined when shooting video with these hybrid cameras. The results are stunning, but the shoot and workflow are much more tedious than when shooting with a video camera. Perhaps at the end of this three-month journey, I’ll be singing a different tune – I certainly hope so.

I’ll keep you posted as I get access to the Internet, which is iffy, and we’ve been off line for the last two days. But there’s something humbling about being off the grid and I’m learning to take it in stride and appreciate what I have. Today is Sunday and we are resting and storing up a bit of energy for the coming week. Please read more about our journey at Opening Our Eyes.

May 28, 2010

Arriving in Uganda Under the Full Moon

It’s early morning in Kampala, the sky is just getting bright and the animals are making their music.

Our first day in Uganda was a full but relaxing one. We had arrived the night before under a full moon after over 22 hours of flying. We had left JFK on Tuesday morning and got here Wednesday night, so somehow we lost a day but we’ll make it up after we’ve completed our circle around the world, three months from now. Security in the three airports (New York, Johannesburg and Entebbe) had been a breeze and even though my daughter and I had backpacks full of camera gear, computers and hard drives, no one even blinked an eye, let alone opened anything up.

Letha Sandison of Wrap Up Africa, our first subject of our film, picked us up at 9AM and after changing money, getting a mobile phone with a local number and getting a bite to eat, we went to the local university to meet with two artists. The artists, Bruno, a potter and Sega at metalsmith were working with Letha to make buttons for the garments that she creates for her foundation Wrap Up Africa. Letha’s foundation is two-fold and is a great example of sustainability. She trains family members who have children ill with cancer to be tailors and in turn they sell the garments that they make through her foundation so they can pay for their children’s chemotherapy and hospitalization.

Even treatable cancer can be a death sentence in Uganda if a family doesn’t have the resources for medical treatment. Letha created her foundation to help these families who are dealing with cancer but her task is not an easy one and finding funding is difficult in a country and continent where Aids is so widespread and becomes a priority.

After visiting the university we went to the offices of Wrap Up Africa and entered a room where women were busy sewing. We met her staff and made a plan for shooting there today.

So we are off to start our first day of filming. We’ll shoot some interviews, do some b-roll as well as some stills. Last night we did some testing and I gave my daughter some lessons in capturing audio. She’s a quick study and has the trained ear of a musician so I’m confident she’ll make a great audio person. At any rate after 3 months, we’ll both find our groove. So we’re off and running.