Almost Certain Unplugged

So the first video in a short unplugged video series came out for local indie band Almost Certain. The song is a cover of I Miss You by Blink 182. I had the pleasure of coming with Everett Glovier and Hamid Praya Ali of [kp] mag studios to film the performance. Check it out and let us all know what you think of the performance and the video.


Random Movie Fact: In the 1984 film Splash, before Tom Hanks accepted the role of Allen Bauer, it had already been turned down by John Travolta and Michael Keaton.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

I MADE IT!

So I have to say I am more than a little proud of myself after yesterday...I don't think things could have gone much smoother honestly. So I woke up at 4am to get myself all ready and collected to leave by 7am (I know I take forever to get ready). So Druid Hill Park was easy to get to but was packed due to the big marathon race they had there. Then it didn't help that once we got there we walked to the opposite side of the park and almost didn't make it to the spot on time, it was intense but we got there. The engagement was awesome and was really cool to capture video and photos from. After that I got back home and prepped for my 2pm gig which was all the way up at the studio I rent out in Forest Hill. The client got there on time and did her video all in one take which we ran through a few times to get different angles. It was cool for a promotional video and has a nice quirky feel to it which is what the client was after. Once I got back from that I wasn't feeling too hot and had quite the stomach ache for some reason and that persisted up until I left for the last gig which was at Pier Five. I have to say it was my toughest gig just because of the fact that I had stomach issues and my lack of sleep was catching up to me. However I pulled through and before I knew midnight had come and I was all done. I took over 500 photos last night which is about an average of 100 per hour and after reviewing a lot of them this morning I have to say the vast majority I like, unlike that last event I did, but I have improved dramatically since then.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, as the Orcs have black blood, it was only natural that the inside of their mouths should not be pink but black as well. To achieve this, the Orc actors had to swill a liquorice-based mouthwash prior to each of their scenes.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Nervous

Well today is the last full day before my triple booked Saturday. The hard part is not going to be the gigs themselves it is literally everything before the gigs that has been stressful. I almost lost one yesterday due to some issues with what the plan for filming was but after some back and forth things are back on. The first gig is proving to be my most stressful since the area which it takes place is the same spot they are doing a big once a year marathon at Druid Hill Park. I have only been to the park once before for a film I worked on and it is big so as long as I can find the spot to park I will be ok, just trying to avoid getting towed. So there is that and then my last gig is at Pier Five which I thought that was going to be easy but the spot at which it is taking place doesn't seem to be the same spot which I thought I was going to have to go to since it is located at the building next to it. I know super confusing but no matter I will get through it. In between I will be up at my buddy's studio so I will at least be in a familiar spot in between my first and last gigs. All I know is come tomorrow around 1am once I get back home I will be feeling a lot better that is for sure!

Random Movie Fact: In the 1978 film The Swarm, Michael Caine stated in an interview that during filming he thought the little yellow spots left by the bees on his clothing was honey so he began to eat it, unaware he was eating bee poop.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Preparing

So right now I am preparing for a triple booked day this coming Saturday. Starting at 8am until Midnight I will be working on different photo/video gigs. The most confusing seems to be the first one on Saturday at Druid Hill Park, maybe it is just because I haven't had a good chance to look over the directions but it seems like a big race is going on there or something, I don't know I am not familiar with the park so that doesn't help matters but we shall see. The next gig is around 2pm and is a promotional video spot for a self help company, it is contained to being only at the studio so it will not take too long. Finally, I have a christmas party I am doing photos for at 8pm for a car sales place to end the day. All three are totally confirmed which is a rarity and is really nice but the more I think about it the more the first gig scares me with the confusing nature of it.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1961 film West Side Story, the actors in the rival gangs were instructed to play pranks on each other off the set to keep tensions high.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

The Promotional Battle

So yesterday I had hoped to get a brochure done, business card design, and a website done before the day was through. Instead we only got the brochure done and even that needs to be tweaked a good amount from what we came up with. I think it was just an off day for me and my buddy yesterday, I think I was hoping he would spearhead the design more and vice versa for him. So in the end we both were kind of lost in the design phase, what we have on the front and back cover work perfect I love it, but the inside leaves a lot to be desired. I think what we really need is more about the company, like how we got started, what we are all about all that good stuff. Right now it is more of a here is what we do as far as services kind of thing. Either way though it will get done just a lot slower than I thought it would be.

More photo editing for me today, gotta finish up the dj photos and also finish Ashley's headshot photos for her acting application.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2001 film Life as a House, the featured house had to be removed after filming, but costume designer Molly Maginnis led a group of parents that had it dismantled, reconstructed, and enlarged to become a library for the Kenter Canyon school in Brentwood, California. The new library opened in April 2004.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

The Plan

So for today here is the plan...I am going to go out to my friends studio and work on three separate but equally important missions. 1. Start designing a website for To Tony Productions, a priority that has been high on my list for a while now, and something that needs to happen to help expand things at TTP. 2. Awesome flyers, I want to start going out to more events and hand out flyers for our services to people. A lot of companies in the area are available online but don't really appeal to the average consumer, my goal is to start working on that market more effectively, especially around my home area. 3. Make new business cards, I like the ones I am currently using but I hope with some new business cards to have a way to show people that we have a facebook, vimeo, eventually a smug mug, etc. Plus I want to add a little more flash to it, the current ones are all white which was cool for the whole less is more effect but I am a little over it at this point. That is the agenda for today, hopefully we can at least get moving on all three but if we just get the website close to completion I will be happy.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2005 film The Weather Man, the food that hits Nicolas Cage throughout the film is thrown by director Gore Verbinski.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Today's Forecast

It has been a beautiful couple of days here in Edgemere, Md, the high is 63 degrees and for December 5th that is pretty amazing. I got up extra early today, in part due to a possible meeting with a model which I may push back due to a few things coming up the next few days...but also just to get an early start to the day. Lately I have been sleeping in a lot, due to the lack of motivation (not really depressed but it has been a rough patch for me) to really get moving in the morning. Today I wanted to change all that and come 7am I was up and moving around. So today looks like it is going to be a much better day.

So yesterday was back on the photo edit work load, which I had stepped away from just because I have been editing so many photos lately I got a little tired of it. However I got back on the horse and finished edits for a long standing client I have on hold since September (it was a free gig so it kind of got put on a backburner due to the number of paid photo gigs that came after). I also started edits for a client I did a studio shoot for on Saturday...I also have to get to the headshots I did for Ashley and the birthday party I did last Saturday night. So in short a lot of photo editing.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2002 film Big Fat Liar, the blue dye was tattoo ink that was sprayed in several layers on his body occasionally throughout the day to keep it topped up. According to Paul Giamatti (Marty Wolf), it was fairly easy to apply, but was a bit more difficult to get off, particularly his feet, for some reason. They stayed blue for several months.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Recent Purchase

So recently I decided to buy a Canon 50mm usm lens. It was a long standing debate for myself to whether or not to buy the USM or the L series lens. After sort of not being 100% with the purchase, it came in the mail yesterday and I have to say all my worries went away after using it for a little while. I am not saying that this lens beats the L series in any way, it is pretty darn close...and for me pretty darn close does not validate the extra 1,000 dollar price tag of the L series glass. If Canon would bring the L lens down to about 500-700 dollars maybe it would be a different story but the L 50mm is just too expensive for the little bit of improvement you get.

Why did you buy a 50mm? Don't you have a 24-105 L lens? Good questions (invisible person) yes I do have a 24-105 but I purchased the 50 because for one it is a prime making it much faster than a zoom lens, and the other reason is the low light capability. At 1.4 the 50mm is perfect and since I just got off a gig where it was truly almost pitch black I need a lens that can respond quick and stand up to the lack of light coming into the lens. Pair this 50 with my 85mm that I already have and I now own two prime lenses that will pair nicely when I am at a gig with harsh lighting.

What is your set up at most photo gigs? Well in an ideal situation I like to have two cameras, one being my 5D Mark III and the other either a T3I/T2I or a 60D. I like this combo the best because I get full frame photos and the APS-C photos. Also in an ideal situation I pair my 24-105 L lens with a Tokina 11-16 wide lens that a friend of mine lets me borrow for gigs. This way I can get a wide range with my 24-105 (pretty much covers all my bases for different looks from a zoom) and then I will go super wide with the 11-16 and just get awesome big wide shots. Now for low light my new set up is going to be the 50mm on my 5D and the 85mm on the T3I. Finally if I can't get the 11-16 then I will pair my 85mm or 50mm with the 24-105.

Just giving some insight today, hope this helps.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1984 film Starman, the only John Carpenter film to have an Academy Award nomination (Jeff Bridges, Best Actor).

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Last night...and today

So yesterday definetly took a number out on me but was a lot of fun. I had two photography gigs, one sort of last minute and the other I was booked for a while in advance. The first was promotional pictures for a DJ which were taken at my friends studio. The DJ brought in his gear and a few different outfits so it was cool to do those photos, a good experience. After that I had to head back home and gear up (literally) for the next event which was a birthday party at The Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore City. I ran a two camera system for this event, my 5D Mark III with my 24-105 f4 L lens, and the other my parents T3I camera with an 85 usm lens. It was a familiar area of the city and parking was a breeze so the trip wasn't too bad and when I arrived around 8:30pm I had plenty of time to get prepared. It was a cool party with good music, people, and food so what more can you ask for?

I will say the one thing that bugged me had nothing to do with the people, it had a lot to do with my camera. Once the party started the lighting was dim, I mean as dim as it gets, it felt like a degree away from pitch black. I accounted for this by having a flash on both my cameras, however with the 24-105 the biggest issue was focusing...Since it was so dark the lens had nothing to grab focus to and the flash I was using is an older one that probably has been eclipsed several times over by newer flashes. I think in the future I will look for something that can provide continuous light for me to focus from and then flash, or hopefully the recent purchase of a 50mm usm lens will do the trick because that 85mm was just way too tight in on people to get really great photos from. I love the 85 lens but I saw last night that it just does not work in a tight room. I still got some great photos though, just rambling about lenses.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1997 film The Game, David Fincher claimed in an interview in UK film magazine Empire, that there is a can of haggis in every scene of the movie. This was done as a joke, because "Haggis" is the nickname of cinematographer Harris Savides.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Apologies

My apologies, I was gonna be on a serious roll there for posts for a while but things got a little screwed up when my picasa photo album reached its maximum capacity. So now I am stuck at a crossroads which is either start paying for extra data to post photos up or get a separate Smug Mug account just for my photography, or my third option get a full time website (which I have to do). I think what I may do is get a Smug Mug to put my photos up on, get my website up which will be able to direct everyone to my blogspot, vimeo, smug mug, and facebook all rolled into one nice package. That way people can have a one stop destination to few all of my content and if they want to get deeper immersed into one or the other just go to those pages. Now just to have some money to do it all and maintain the websites. That is where I have been on the matter, now just time to execute.

Otherwise it looks like today I have two gigs, both photo related: a birthday part and a studio photoshoot. It will be nice to be double booked again and I am looking forward to both. I also have a lot more photo stuff going on including what looks be my first triple booked day in a while. Wish me luck.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph, Disney first began developing an animated film about the world of video game characters in the 1980s. At that time the project was called "High Score" and in the 1990s was titled "Joe Jump." In the 2000s, when the movie was finally pushed forward, the first two months of story development focused on Fix-It Felix Jr. as the main character.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Happy Thanksgiving!

So today I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a great day with their family, friends, and loved ones. Enjoy the time you have together and eat lots of food.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1977 film Jabberwocky, originally erroneously promoted and released in some countries as "Monty Python's Jabberwocky" against the wishes of Terry Gilliam. Threats of legal action resulted in the Python reference being removed from the title on all subsequent reissues.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Feels Like Photo Week

So I was going back over some of my old photos today and I came across some old photos me and my girlfriend took the day before we started filming Voicebox which was back in May. For some reason I kept thinking to myself that the pictures were not good enough to be used or something...I hadn't forgotten that I took them, just overlooked them. Anyway I found three of my favorite photos and did some touch ups and here they are. Enjoy!

Random Movie Fact: In the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, the Mexican restaurant Veronica visits with the girls from the station is named "Escupimos en su Alimento". In Spanish, that means, "We spit in your food".

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

M and T Bank Stadium

So while I was at the charity event back in October I decided to take two pictures of the stadium since that is where the event was being held. We were up pretty high in the stadium itself and the field was beautiful especially in the serenity of emptiness in which it was. Here are the two photos I got of it.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1995 film Hackers, the high school scenes were filmed at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, one of a few elite, exclusive high schools for students gifted in math, science and computers. Real school seniors were extras in many scenes. In the real school, the pool is on the first floor.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Believe in Tomorrow's Children Charity Auction Photos 2 of 2

So here is the second round of photos from the Believe in Tomorrow's Children Charity Auction. Enjoy and check out yesterday's post for the rest of the photos.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2007 film Hitman, during the restaurant sequence, the scene in which Nika (Olga Kurylenko) talks about owning a squirrel/chipmunk when she was young was actually true for the actress, and the scene was improvised during filming.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Believe in Tomorrow's Children Charity Auction Photos 1 of 2

As promised a while back here are photos from the Believe in Tomorrow's Children 30th Anniversary Charity Auction at M and T Bank Stadium. It was a great event to say the least. Great people, food, items for auction...it was a blast, I was very honored to be the official photographer for the event. So here are the first set of photos from the night.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2009 film The Ugly Truth, after wrestling with the Jell-O twins, Gerard Butler ad-libbed the line "I can still taste you. You know what I mean."

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

This Past Week

So this week has had its share of ups and downs, which seems to always be the case. I would have been posting up more this week because I had the free time for sure but I have been going through a lot of personal stuff (long story) that has been distracting me from writing. But I digress, the meeting on Monday went really well, I showed up professional attire, great attitude, we had an awesome discussion, so I was really proud of myself and it was a great learning experience. I haven't heard back from them and it is now Saturday, so I am almost confident they ended up going with a different company but we are young and I can see how they could of gone with a more established production house. It was an honor in itself to be considered among the big dogs around the state so I am happy just to have had the opportunity. In other events in my part time job with Render Perfect we did a cool green screen shoot which was a nice experience since I am still getting green screen lighting down to a science and we also had a shoot at the newest Goodwill store with a professional grade Jib, which was cool to see in action.

As far as today I have a meeting at 11:45 with a photo client (finalizing the contract and all that) as well as probably helping with some family business. We have a lot of great stuff coming up I have just had to get over my personal problems, which I am slowly doing...

Random Movie Fact: In the 2011 film A Dangerous Method, Christoph Waltz was initially cast as Freud, but dropped out in favor of Water for Elephants. Had he stayed, it would have been his second collaboration with Michael Fassbender since their work on Inglourious Basterds. Christian Bale was also considered for the role.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Huge Meeting

Today is going to be a big day for us at TTP. We have a huge business meeting with what could be our first big corporate client. Corporate video is usually something that I tend to stay more away from, not because I can't do it just because it doesn't have much appeal to me. However this client proves to be an exception to that case by actually having some really cool stuff going on as a business. It is a unique opportunity for us as a production company and I just hope everyone will be thinking good thoughts today for us. Wish us luck...knock on wood!

I will posting up photos from the charity event we did on October 27th as long as the company receives the raw photos today, if not I will wait for them to get the materials.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom, Laura Bishop shouts at various family members through a bullhorn. The idea came from co-writer Roman Coppola's childhood, as his mother Eleanor Coppola used a bullhorn in a similar fashion.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

La Cakerie Grand Opening

Today I was with my friend Zach (not the one from the pictures put up yesterday), shooting some footage of the grand opening of the new bakery, La Cakerie in Towson. Zach has contact with the owners and investors of the company and he was asked to film the grand opening today and asked me to tag along, so since I had another client postpone on me, I was able to come and work as a second shooter. It was cool, I got to get all the smooth artsy cut in shots while he focused primarily on getting the wide angle stuff so it was a great pair. The place is in a nice little part of Towson and if you have the time it is worth checking out, the food is delicious and they have great prices on everything. La Cakerie!

In addition to that, I am working on some photo edits for the charity event I did last weekend, I am sorting through a lot of them and if it wasn't for the hurricane I would have had them done a lot sooner but Sandy kind of slowed things down since I didn't have power...however here we are and they should be finished soon. Got some other things coming down the pipeline right now but I am waiting for things to flesh out before I go too deep in discussion with them.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1987 film Masters of the Universe, the reptilian henchman Saurod's throat was made to expand and contract by having the performer, Pons Maar, blow into a tube that ran from his mouth to the throat of his costume.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Zach

So I have been sitting on these two photos I took of my friend Zach for a while now, I put them up on our facebook page but I kept forgetting to put them up on the blog until tonight. I like the nice use of black and white in them and that is thanks in part to the fact that he was wearing a white shirt. He was on the computer at the time rapping away so that is why his mouth is open, on the one which to me is the only issue with the photos. Otherwise I think they are very solid photos. Also it is or at least was his facebook profile picture which always makes me feel more confident in my work. Check it out and enjoy! More photos soon to come.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1995 film Friday, the neighborhood where the film takes place is the same street where the film's director, F. Gary Gray, grew up in South Central, Los Angeles. Principal houses that were used for filming were houses of old friends of the director. The scene where Deebo punches Red into the air is the house that F. Gary Gray grew up in.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

October is Over

I hope everyone had a safe and productive Halloween yesterday! Halloween has to be one of my favorite holidays and this year I got to spend it with my girlfriend Ashley and I watched Evil Dead 2, what more could you ask for. October was our biggest month to date for To Tony Productions, no questions. We got to do a lot of great stuff, including coordinating a film shoot with Travis Pastrana, do photography at a huge gala event at M&T Bank Stadium, go on several film shoots with a fellow production company in Towson, start planning for our next music video, being the official photographer for the 3rd Annual Dundalk Zombie Walk, and working with a Los Angeles based crew at the Virgin Mobile Free Fest. It was a lot of traveling, hard work and dedication but now that this month is over I look back with a big smile knowing that TTP is moving forward at a great pace. We may not be moving at breakneck speed but slow and steady win the race.

So what is in store with November? Well we hope to start and finish filming for our next music video before the end of the month. I have perhaps one photo gig this weekend but as of right now it is up in the air. We will be working with a company based out of Seattle to do an intimate poem reading video, hard to explain but it will be pretty cool. Finally we will continue to work alongside [kp] mag studios and I will be doing my part time work over at Render Perfect Productions in Towson. It should be a fun and productive month, probably not as big as October but we will be constantly booking more work as the month progresses.

Random Movie Fact: In the 2010 film Easy A, Olive's family members are all named after foods: her parents' names are Dill and Rosemary, both herbs; her younger brother's name is Chip, and the one at college is named Kale, and the fact that her name, Olive, is also something edible is the subject of a joke in the movie.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Dundalk Zombie Walk Photos (Part 2 of 2)

Here are the rest of the photos from the 3rd Annual Dundalk Zombie Walk. It was a great event and I hope next year even more great people and zombies can come out to the event.

If you would like any prints of the photos or any of our photos for that matter, feel free to contact me at totonyproductions@gmail.com. We accept all different forms of payment and can do shipping as well.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess