Cobra Den Invitational: Wakey!Wakey! – Ambling Alp (Yeasayer) from Goddamn Cobras Collective on Vimeo.

Wakey! Wakey! is a band on the same label as Pearl and the Beard, who we made a video for in September. This video is a start of a new music series, in the tradition that la blogotheque and Black Cab Sessions have done so well. These are more relaxed, less produced videos than music videos–which in theory means we should be able to pop these out a bit faster. For example for this particular song, we did two takes with three cameras. Barely anything at all!
Cobra Den Invitational (the working title to this whole she-bang) will most likely approach band (with cute video invites) and get them to cover a song and do one of their own. Wakey! did this Yeasayer’s song which is the hotness but now I am not certain which version I like better.

I didn’t really do much for this video. I sat in the background of the video to fill some space and sat in on a few editing sessions. But I’m still very much proud of this pup!

Speaking of Yeasayer’s, have you seen their new video? I love these people.

Feel free to comment on your favorites.

La Jolla – Images by Will Parson

This week I took a trip up to Bakersfield to shoot some portraits of my dad, singer J. Parson, for the album art on his next release. It was just before feeding time, so the horses repeatedly intruded, tried to eat my umbrella and ultimately made for some good shots.

Check out www.jparson.com if you’re into cowboy music.

One roll through this cheap plastic camera yields twelve photos. Of those twelve, which I took while quickly walking up and down the boardwalk in Pacific Beach at sunset, here are eight nine I’m willing to reveal.

Will had a lot of fun with light this month, shadows and subject popping from their light sources. He also got outdoor photos that don’t involve snow which I am pretty jealous about. As always, he was a ramblin’ man, heading home, meeting Ozzy and hanging out with furries. When are you going on your road trip Will?

In other news, another photo of Will’s reminds me of one of our favorite found-on-flickr photographer’s photos. His name is also Will.

Will Parson

Will Stern (WillPower on flickr)

They say a good photographer never shares his/her contact sheets. Let’s just say that “Digital Contact Sheet” is a nonrandom sample geared toward the interesting, and will happen again whenever I deem a raw series of photos worth sharing for educational or entertainment purposes.

This time it’s La Jolla local and former model/actress Bonnie Horne. I walked by Horne once but on registering those sharp sunglasses I had to stop and ask for a photo. She said it reminded her of her performing days, and indeed she was perfectly comfortable in front of a lens.

Steeping the People from Jackie Snow on Vimeo.

Here is my producing debut. I shot the video on my 5d mark II and then edited it on Final Cut Pro. I only had a 4 gig card, severely limiting what I could shoot, so please excuse the lack of b-roll. Also, the sound was only recorded through my camera, a big no-no to anyone trying to shoot anything worthwhile on HDDSLRS but I did what I could with what I had. I loved doing this project, I bought 16 gig card, and have my eye on a wireless mic so expect more projects.

This weekend I traveled to East County San Diego, where distance from the coastline starts to manifest itself in a way that’s consistent with many areas in California – with a populace that’s more rural and more conservative. Several hundred people gathered at a well-kept public park in El Cajon to voice their dissatisfaction with taxes and the government that collects them.

I tried to see past the signs and star-spangled denim, and found a group of humble folks who were just plain mad. Mad, and tired of a government they feel ignores them to such a degree that some of those same people decide to dress as revolutionaries to seal the commonalities with the British-suffering colonial America.

In any case, I ended up feeling drawn to these people, not just because of my own conservative upbringing, but as I’m always drawn to people who feel strongly and earnestly about an issue.

Speakers included congressional candidates, California gubernatorial candidates and 52nd District Congressman Duncan Hunter, whose brief speech seemed mild in comparison to the other speakers. Several even happened to express hatred for the same endangered fish.