When Mike asked me what my dream job is, I told him that I’d be a director. So he asked me to direct the next segment of his documentary because I tend to have a good sense of the larger scope when it comes to storytelling, and that would let him focus on the cinematography and the interview.
Our roles overlapped more often than not since this was his creative vision, but that only meant we made a great team. I could bounce an idea off him, and he’d immediately understand what I was talking about. And if he saw a technique I could do better, he’d tell me how to work differently and I’d understand without needing an explanation.
It’s fascinating to get a glimpse into someone else’s photographic process. I’d love to include more in this video because there were a lot of brilliant, touching, intimate moments during the interview, but it’s Mike’s project and it wouldn’t be right to reveal the concept to the world before he did.
When the shooting was done for the day, something which took several hours and left us thoroughly exhausted, we took the night off for food and more photography.

Cockburns haggis with clapshot (potatoes mashed with swede turnips and chives) and onion gravy. I couldn’t possibly resist ordering haggis while in Scotland. It has a taste similar to ground beef, only with a much richer taste. Eating this gave me the meat sweats.

We rented Canon’s EF 400mm f/2.8 L IS lens to film parts of the documentary, which meant we could also get some nice moon shots too at such a focal length. This lens is so big, the case has wheels.
100% crop.

I wanted to see if I could get a few shots of a tiny village across the water, and it turns out they happened to be setting off fireworks at that exact moment. I didn’t even realize this until I looked back on the photos on my display. It was much too dark to see with the naked eye, and only showed up when I left the shutter open for 25 seconds.
Europe 2010 travel diaries
- France: Arrival
- France: Day 3, Chartres
- The Partisan
- France: Day 5, Chartres
- Baby Scary Party
- France: Day 6, Paris
- Call me McNgangus
- France: Day 7, Rochefort-en-Terre
- France: Day 8, La Roche-Bernard
- France: Day 9, Rochefort-en-Terre
- UK Detour: Day 10, Chartres to London
- UK Detour: Day 11, London
- A passenger in London
- UK Detour: Day 12, London
- UK Detour: Day 13, London to Ullapool
- UK Detour: Day 14, Ullapool
- UK Detour: Day 15, Ullapool
- UK Detour: Day 16, Ullapool
- France: Day 18, Paris
- France: Day 19, Chartres + Paris
Last photo is absolutely amazing.
Thanks! I was pretty lucky.
Jeff, I’ve been enjoying all the photos and videos you’ve been posting. We plan to take a trip to Europe for the first time next year, your trip really excites me even more.
Oooh, I can’t wait to see your photos!