Kicking ass at life

2012-03-26T22:47:00.001-05:00

I really enjoy taking photos at night. I'm still playing around with my camera's full potential. It seems the more I look the more I can get around some of my limitations, whether it be with an intervalometer or some homemade gear.

Sig - Day 2 Picture 2

2012-03-25T23:05:00.005-05:00

I've been getting into this technique lately, if nothing else for my own learning and curiosity. Its fun to have a blank canvas that is unlimited.
If you understand the process behind making a picture like this, you will know that as I'm making the photo, I really have no idea where these letters are or how they will look. Given this, it makes me laugh that I have my best penmanship when I'm doing it blindly.

Gotta love light scribin...

Crow - Day 1 Picture 1

2012-03-23T11:16:00.005-05:00

I took this picture a few days ago, and true to the theme of this project, the meaning is in the story. Back in high school, what was probably around 2005 or so, I had a pet crow. His name was Duke and by "his" I mean I wanted him to be a boy so he was.
The idea of a pet crow was never something that I considered prior to this, much like any regular person. However I have this thing where I am always fascinated with exotic pets and the possibility of caring for something unique. Well it turns out in the spring that boy crows and girl crows make little baby crows, and these can be taken out of the nest for free. Now I don't recommend actually doing this but one way or another I acquired a young crow that spring.
Taking care of Duke wasn't so tough either, soak some puppy food (dog food would work but we have crow puppies here) in water and there you go, breakfast of champions.
Sometimes around March I'll see a crow nest and think about giving it another go.

One a day

2012-03-23T11:11:00.004-05:00

I've been working on an ongoing project. The idea behind the project is to produce one picture a day. This is easy enough, but I want to produce a picture with meaning, every time. Now being on day #31 I'm starting to get the hang of this thing, and what I'm seeing most is that so much of the meaning behind these photos is the stories behind them. My original medium for this project was/has been facebook of all places. This was just because I realized I could change my cover photo everyday and that seemed fun. The thing is I only can write so much in a caption.
So here is where I will change paths a bit. I'm now going to post each picture on this blog, everyday. I will still post them on facebook, but the real project will exist here, with full stories to accompany each picture.

In da woods

2012-01-26T13:32:00.003-06:00

I've been snowshoeing quite a lot lately, bringing my camera with me most days. It was unusually warm today, about 35 degrees. The snow was thick and heavy and the light was great.
Let me know what you think of the pictures, what you like and dislike, your feedback helps a lot!

Laminate wood floor installation time lapse

2011-12-29T17:22:00.003-06:00

My dad wanted to install an affordable, yet durable artificial wood floor in our basement room. Dimensions of the room are 12x22. Install took around 2 hours or so. The flooring is waterproof and sound deadening as well. I'm really happy with the final product and what this laminate stuff has the potential to do.

New Projects

2011-10-25T17:15:00.005-05:00

I've been told that I should write about some of the stories behind the videos that I create. The videos come from a wide variety of projects, trips, vacations, and random adventures. It makes sense that there should be a place for the stories that go with these videos to be heard.

I've decided to start with some of my newer videos and continue the trend with future videos. I'm also going to re-post some older videos that have cool stories worth sharing. Whether 10 or 0 people read this doesn't really matter, but hopefully those that do read it can take something from my stories.

The first video I want to share is one of my newest time-lapses. I've been working on these time-lapse videos lately and have really enjoyed the learning process. The thing about time lapses is that they take time and a good location, so it becomes somewhat of an ongoing process to get a cool time-lapse of any real length.

This one started at about 4:00 in the afternoon and ended at 11:00 pm, with about 4500 frames when all was said and done. My goal was to use a few different angles to get a well-balanced video of the camping, which went fairly well.

Another part of this video that was new to me was shooting stars as part of a time-lapse. I like what I got here, but have bigger and better ideas for the next one, which hopefully will be coming up soon. Check out the video below:

Grandma Gets Revenge

2011-09-28T14:51:00.002-05:00

I think this one is older but still is awesome. Some people...

Kick Ass Wisconsin Fall Time Lapse

2011-09-21T00:07:00.003-05:00

Check out this cool time lapse video shot in Wisconsin on a cool fall evening:

Oak Island Money Pit

2011-09-14T15:48:00.003-05:00

Haven't heard of "money pit" in Canada yet? Don't worry, I hadn't either up until a few months ago. Typically these stories are pretty empty and don't live up to expectations, however the Oak Island money pit is fascinating.
Regardless of its origin, the engineering and planning that must have gone into this is amazing.
Check out the story below:

Wakeskating video is awesome

2011-09-13T10:42:00.001-05:00

Never seen "wake-skating" before, but this video is sweet. Their movie comes out 11/11/11, and is said to be a gamechanger for the sport.

NOISIA VISION Teaser from NOISIA VISION.tv on Vimeo.

dog fetches beer

2011-09-12T12:03:00.001-05:00

Who doesn't want a dog that can do some cool tricks?

scary stuff

2011-09-12T11:59:00.002-05:00

I'm always impressed by these guys who are able to not only climb up to these spots, but then balance hundreds of feet off the ground on a tiny rope.
Good stuff below:

More Wingsuit Awesomeness

2011-09-09T16:26:00.002-05:00

I love wingsuits, so you get another awesome wingsuit video.
Nothing like falling in style..

Need4Speed: Cruise Control from Phoenix Fly on Vimeo.

UFO's over Notre Dame??

2011-09-09T11:22:00.003-05:00

So this is trending on Youtube today and I thought I'd share. Apparently alien ufo's came to the Notre Dame football game...
Skip ahead to 1:22 to see the UFO's

HD Wing Suit awesomeness

2011-09-08T17:49:00.003-05:00

I love a good wingsuit video. Makes me want to just go flying off the side of cliffs with a parachute and nothing else. Unfortunately some of us just have to resort to watching the video those crazy guys get...

Long-Lining from BASE-Book - Matt Gerdes on Vimeo.

Crazy Highway Drive

2011-09-08T11:19:00.001-05:00

So this video became popular earlier this year. Just a normal day driving down the highway holding a camera and then....surprise!
Check it out:

2011 Best Fails compilation, starts with a bang

2011-09-07T12:05:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't like fails compilations? These are the best fails of 2011 and are pretty good. Gets ya excited for the rest of the year's fails too!
Check it out:

Wakeboarding Hurricane Irene

2011-09-06T10:51:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Irene came and went, leaving some destruction and a lot of water in its wake. No reason to let a hurricane ruin your end of summer fun right?
That's what these guys thought too, check out their backyard wakeboarding:

Video of the Day

2011-09-05T11:40:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen this street fight video yet be sure to check it out, one of the best I've seen on the net!

Rebecca Black Disables Comments

2011-05-19T17:51:00.001-05:00

So the best part about Rebecca Black's "Friday" was the user comments.

I give her credit for creating a viral video that pretty much topped most other viral sensations in recent years, however the song sucked.

What seat should I take on the bus? screw it, i'm riding in a convertible, with my seatbelt off....with awkward girls that I may have never seen in my life..

The comments on the other hand, well they provided some quality entertainment. Not only were a lot of the comments hilarious, but in the time it took you to write out yours, there were 10 new ones waiting for you to read.

Call me crazy, but those comments were driving views to her already popular video. Disabling them means that now when people are bored out of their minds after 20 seconds they will just leave, rather than read what everyone else wrote.

YouTube marketing 101, engage your viewers.

NFL Draft, who cares...

2011-04-29T08:53:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting in the bar last evening watching the NFL draft. The first thing that comes to mind is how the heck are all 8 TV's showing the NFL draft? I mean there's gotta be a chance that someone else in the bar besides my buddy and I who wants to actually watch something.

Seeing the players get picked in real time doesn't change anything, you can still look it up tomorrow in about 5 minutes. So what's the big excitement in seeing that crap live?

As I'm sitting there barely watching I can't help but hope that most of these guys don't get picked. You see, they went to college to play football, not to get a degree. Most of these guys are good enough to make it in the NFL, and good for them. But if they don't get picked they are hardly qualified to do anything other than good ole Mickey D's.

How awesome would it be if these guys got a serving of real life? Because that's what will happen eventually anyhow, maybe not now, but 10 or 12 years from now they will "retire", and then what? You think they'll be loaded from playing in the NFL? Well see no one ever taught them any financial responsibility either, and when push comes to shove a lot of these guys will need real jobs. When that happens they might regret squandering that college education.

But hey, who wants to get smart anyhow?

jonesin for summer

2011-03-24T09:12:00.000-05:00

Aren't you?

I am not going to tell you how much I hate winter or am sick of snow. I don't and I'm not.
I'm just a fan of all things summer...especially being outside all day.
This summer is shaping up to be a pretty awesome one too! At least 2 trips out west, with one involving a week long fish sampling trip in a national park and 120 mile white water raft trip out of the park.
I want to see some cool wildlife this year, new stuff. Hopefully stuff that is dangerous to be around.
Wrestling a gator would be cool.
Swimming with sharks would be kinda sweet.
Punching a grizzly in the face would be the best.

Who knows...

Maybe more of this kind of stuff:

Youtube Partnership Insights and Insight

2011-02-21T14:17:00.000-06:00

I often get asked why it is better to be a youtube partner.
They want to know why they should be working hard to get the partnership.
This is a valid question since it seems as though there are many grey areas that are poorly understood, and as an aspiring youtube partner I'd want to know if it was worth it or not..

...it is

My most recent youtube video talks a little about one of the most important tools for a youtube partner, insight statistics. Check it out below:

If you have any questions please feel free to post them on youtube or here and I will answer them in the next episode..

Thanks for watching

I'm a Youtube Partner

2011-02-12T11:54:00.000-06:00

I am a Youtube Partner. That probably doesn't need to be capitalized.

Its nice to get the extra benefits of being a partner like the channel customization and branding. I like those things.

I get a lot of questions about my partnership. How did you do it? What is it like? How much do you make?

I can't really answer a lot of those as exactly as you might like because of what I've agreed to but I can give you a lot of good advice nevertheless.

This video is just a little sampling of where I'm going to go with this. Think of it as an introduction.

Please leave your comments or ideas for topics on this post of the video.
My next video about partnership will be more in depth and will answer the viewer questions.