This Past Weekend and the Gaps

So this past weekend was freaking awesome! I got to go to the Virgin Mobile FreeFest and do DIT for a company that flew in all the way from California. They were a great bunch of guys and while we didn't have a long time to chat, the little time we did have to talk was super informative and worth all the time in the world. I got to get the VIP treatment around the fest and got pampered with free food and swag as well as seeing some awesome acts from the media area. The piece de resistance of the day though was being around a Red Epic camera which was the first time I got to see it up close, it was a beauty and just an awesome rig the videographer had set up. Not only that but I got to handle all the footage coming in from the Red and it was beautiful. All around great time with a chill crew and a cool event.

Now to address the gaps in my blog, sorry each month I strive myself to post something every day but each month I find out very quickly I just can't do it. Some days are just big on a lot of down time which I don't want to write about because me talking to potential clients all day is just plain boring. Or on the other hand I get overloaded with work and I have a ton to talk about but I don't have time to because I am busy...then when I do have time to it makes for one huge blog post which I don't like to do either. I am going to try to find a middle ground soon and hopefully have a month where I blog every single day without missing any...

Random Movie Fact: In the 2008 film Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the one-eyed Troll Mr. Wink was named after Selma Blair's pet, a one-eyed dog named Wink.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Photo Portfolio 2

Here is a new photo portfolio of all of my best work. Remember if you would like to book a photo session feel free to call us at 443-683-1185 or email us at totonyproductions@gmail.com

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Random Photos of the Day

Today I went around my yard and took some random photos, I hope you enjoy them. Let me know what you think.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1999 film Anna and the King, 3 months into filming an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis hampered the filming. Some sets had to be relocated because they were too close to pig farms (the main source, transmitted by mosquitoes). All the cast and crew were given a vaccine by the set doctor, and some sets were sprayed with insecticide before crew turned up to start filming.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Luke!

Today is yet another day for more pictures! Yesterday evening I ran down to a friend of mines house to take pictures of his Jack Russell terrier named Luke. I have known Luke since I was a kid and he is now an old dog. Since he is old his health is starting to decline so I figured I would do something nice for my friend and try to take some great pictures of the dog before he gets much worse. I was hoping to sort of capture the dogs spirit in the pictures, which in some cases I think I do. Have a look at the pictures, I hope you enjoy them and any feedback as always is awesome!

Random Movie Fact: In the 1997 film The Fifth Element, the hero (Bruce Willis) and the villain (Gary Oldman) never meet, nor do they communicate in any way.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! I hope it is a good day for all of you and yours. May today bring fun filled joy, hot dog eating, and safe firework launching to all! Be careful and if you are somewhere hot like here in Maryland, make sure to stay hydrated. Our country is a great one and thanks to all those who have fought for freedom I can voice my opinions and thoughts on a blog such as this. I love this great country and hope our liberty can ring forever!

Random Movie Fact: In the 1972 film adaptation of the musical 1776, In the song Is Anybody There, sung by John Adams, the lyric "Yet, through all the gloom, I see the rays of ravishing light and glory" were from a letter by the real-life Adams to wife Abigail the day after the Declaration was adopted.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Walking Past This

So last week while I wasn't home my dog jumped the fence and ran up to a lady walking her dog. My dog is a 95 pound German Shepherd and when she "plays," with a little dog she does get a little aggressive, however she did not really hurt the dog or anything, the vet said minor bruising which tells me that my dog was in fact just playing rough with this little dog. However since then this house I call home has been turned upside down and my parents are fighting to get rid of the dog, even threatening to just get rid of her when I am not around. Once I brought up the fact that legally I own the dog and if they do anything I will call the cops, of course my father who refuses to lose anything turns the psycho meter up and says some sh*t I don't even want to repeat.

Anyway why am I bringing all this up? Well the fact is this leaves me with no choice but to move out from my current residence and start living on my own. Is this earlier than I wanted to leave? Yes, but with no other real options, I don't have much of a choice. My parents threaten it at every chance they get, if we even get in the slightest of arguments, my dad always says "You know what, if that is the case you can just pack your stuff and leave." I am tired of it, sick of it, so that is exactly what I am going to do.

All my life since I am the oldest child, I have always sort of had it rough. Not only that but being the only son makes it even harder. The relationship I have had with my parents has never been good. I seem to be the one working the hardest but yet get punished the most. My sister who is two years younger than me on the other hand has had everything handed to her, cars, money, college, all of it scott free. Me on the other hand, I have had to work so hard to get exactly what I wanted and I have always tried to show my parents but they just don't care. It sucks ya know, mix all of that with the fact that for a while I was like the youngest of my cousins and I got picked on a lot. I have always been the outsider of my family and I don't know why but I just have.

However for all that is going on right now, I am truly blessed to be alive and thankful that I have what I have. Sure it is going to be hard living on my own but I am going to make it work as best I can and while the past has sucked it doesn't mean for one second I am going to stop fighting.

Random Movie Fact: In the 1980 film Raging Bull, when the real Jake LaMotta saw the movie, he said it made him realize for the first time what a terrible person he had been. He asked the real Vicki LaMotta "Was I really like that?". Vicki replied "You were worse."

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Hello!

So last night I did the photoshoot for my friend Mary and it went great! It was fun and interesting checking out new locations she had picked out for it, and they were really sweet places. A lot of times it is hard to trust the client when it comes to location scouting/picking but she hit it right on the nose last night. It was also the first time using strobes with my still work after a friend of mine convinced me to do it and boy did it make a world of difference. The pictures turned out awesome! Like I shocked myself with how well they turned out as far as quality...Mary was really great to work with and naturally knew how to pose which was great to see, she definetely has the right mindset for photography. I hope to be able to do more and can't wait to continue to work with strobes.

As far as today I am meeting with local country musician at Starbucks at about 11am in Towson. We are going to discuss the possibility of a music video and some of the details about it. Right now we are in ultra pre production since we are essentially working out a deal at the moment. After this step as long as nothing crazy happens I expect to move into pre production and to get the ball rolling on this video. Other than that however I am going to be chilling with a friend of mine today and apparently Hector is supposed to be getting back home today from Cali, but we will see how true that holds up.

Random Movie Fact: In the Japanese film Audition, the dog bowl of vomit fed to Asami's (Eihi Shiina) prisoner is in fact the actual vomit of actress Eihi. Takashi Miike claims that Eihi is a method actress and insisted on doing this.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess

Voicebox Troubles...Resolved

So I thought I was really going to have a bad breakdown yesterday but somehow I managed to rebound from all of it quite nicely surprisingly. Well yesterday started normally but I had to take my dog to get trimmed at Petsmart and she is crazy around other dogs so we give her little calming dog pills to help her relax and of course I say something before they take her back and they wouldn't take her to get groomed. They said is she is on that medication that they can't groom her so that was very frustrating because she is a handful as it is and then I can't even get her groomed...its a long story. Anyway to the important stuff.

As I was dealing with the stresses of yesterday my lead actor says he can't do the film since he just got surgery done and doesn't think he will be healed enough to do the film. So at first I was like oh great now what my main boy is out of the film, but it is all good because I am too clever to let that stop me lol. I instead am switching the gender of the main character to a girl instead of a guy, so now it is going to be a coming of age story revolving around two girls who are not sure about their feelings for one another. It is something that I think works super well with the story and is really helping me to focus my mind to how the film will look. It is one of those things that happen and you think it is going to ruin it all but actually turns out to be a great thing. I think that is exactly why it happened.

*PS All done my zombie film, more details coming up shortly on that.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess