Yearly Archives: 2010
marathon
Eating Coke candy for breakfast this morning may not have been the greatest idea, but I think the virtue of having something to chew (and decidedly yummy, at that) was the only thing keeping me awake after filming two weddings in two days, and hence alive after my drive back to Ottawa on only a few hours of sleep.
Sheer force of will kept me going through the weekend, though I’m sure that remembering to stay hydrated helped too. I wanted so badly to pull it all off, just to know I could do it. At one point, during a gap of time when the wedding party was taking a break, I went to my car, put the seat back, covered my eyes, and passed out for about 25 minutes. Normally, I can’t sleep except in the most comfortable of conditions, but such was the extent of my exhaustion.
Beginning the second wedding was the most mentally challenging part, knowing I had another 14 hour day ahead of me when I barely got any sleep and my body was starting to feel the sore from running around with so much camera gear strapped to me the previous day.
I was lucky enough to meet Mike, an assistant photographer and cute Italian guy who carries this casual attitude about him that lets people bring their guard down around him. I’ve needed to meet someone like him for so long, just to remember the world isn’t all tragedy and cynicism. I also got to see Preston, and even though I never had a chance to catch up with him, it was good to know he was doing alright.
The final tally for the last two days and nights:
Hours slept: 11
Hours spent filming: 30.5
Number of movie clips taken: 939
Gigs of footage taken: 116.93
Number of pounds of camera gear carried on each day: 19.5
Kilometres driven: 1376.13
Courses eaten at reception dinners: 15
Red pockets received: 1
Cousins seen: 6
Names forgotten: 3
Kitties petted: 1
Hugs given/received: 7
Canon 70–200mm lenses seen: 5
Cantonese words spoken: 29
Years since I last saw Preston: 8
Chocolate covered espresso beans eaten: 10
Chocolate covered strawberries eaten: not nearly enough
Ukuleles strummed: 1
Words exchanged with dad: 34
Kisses from aunts: 1
Number of bite marks on forearm from trying to stay awake during drive home: 4
Painkillers taken: 3
peacock
A few snaps of Jeff and Darren from a quick shoot last night. I never realized how much I need my new 70–200mm lens after getting a full-frame camera; 70mm is much too short, even in my small studio room.
It’s strange to see so much natural vignetting. I’m not sure if it’s the lens or the way the light falls off when spread across the background from one direction.
Aguado Dionisio — Study in A Minor (arranged for ukulele)
Got my new tenor ukulele and it’s an absolutely gorgeous instrument, although I’m sure that’s related to the cost1. After a few weeks of trying out the Aquila’s they came with, I put on some Worth brown strings with the low‑G.
Study in A Minor is a great piece to learn because it’s relatively simple (so I don’t get discouraged too easily), but there are three tricky parts to focus on improving. They’re also each difficult in their own way, gradually working the dexterity or flexibility in a certain finger or two.
I wanted to film this as a record of the way the ukulele sounds now; it’s a solid lacewood spruce body, so the tone will develop over time as the wood matures. Also, so I can have a quick reference of what it sounds like with longer nails on the picking hand (which were promptly cut after, because they were driving me nuts). It’s relatively clear sound, whereas without nails it’s sort of “wet”.
I first learned this on a soprano ukulele, and I had to retrain my fingers to stretch on the tenor. It was a BIG difference, and I didn’t think my fingers would stretch far enough at first.
It feels amazing to practice something for weeks, and to finally have it click one day. Then you never want to stop playing cause you’re afraid you may lose it the next day.
- Jesse says I paid “real instrument” price for it. [↩]
Will you sign my banana?
No better place for a bachelor party than in the market, where people see you in a giant banana costume and assume you’re either getting married or lost a bet.
Before going out drinking, they went paintballing, though this still didn’t preclude the groom-to-be from having to wear the bright yellow costume in the field.
One of several bachelorette parties we ran into that night.