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My Joshua Tree Film “Beloved” Is Finally Ready to Show
While still not 100% complete, I finally got the editing to a place where I can show my film Beloved. It’s a short film about Joshua Tree that started out as just a test of some equipment. But then I was having so much fun capturing the images and footage that I decided to put a little something together. I hope you enjoy it.
You can also see it in HD on my Vimeo channel.
Joshua Tree Part 2
Morning Time Lapse Shooting at White Tank
I woke up the next morning to a pleasant surprise…clouds! I wasn’t expecting weather, but I was glad for it’s arrival. Clouds always make time lapse more interesting. I set up shooting two shots in the rocks then I fixed up some tasty grub for breakfast.
Soon I packed up, backed up my shots onto my laptop and then out a dirt road to a section of rocks not named on the map. As I drove downhill down the roads, the clouds were building behind me and starting to look threatening. I reached the end of the road just as drops were hitting my windshield. I quickly gathered up the 5Dmk2, a Gitzo and ran out in to a field of desert flowers to get a shot set-up before it dumped rain. I managed to get a few 10 second video clips of time lapse before the rain forced me to retreat inside my truck.
After more than 10 minutes of rain I decided to move on. When I reached the highway it was raining, then sleeting for a minute, then snow and back to rain in about two minutes!
Rainstorm in Joshua Tree
I waited out the storm by heading into town to re-supply. When I came back the rain was gone but clouds still filled the sky which would make for some more good time lapse. I headed up into the center of the park looking for places to shoot.
Shooting Under The Liftgate In A Rain Storm
Here’s the set-up I used during the day for run and gun shooting.
The 5dMk2 run-and-gun rig.
Shooting with a doughnut was essential during the day with bright sun.
While the light got good I scouted out spots to shoot and a spot to camp. I landed at Hidden Valley Campground site #1. Right on the way in but a great spot for time lapse shooting. When the light started getting low I hightailed it back to camp to make camp and set-up to shoot again. With no one to slow me down I was shooting probably 10 set-ups a day or more. I was having a blast!
Kessler Cineslider rig with 5DMk2
The first shot I set-up for was a moving time lapse on the Kessler Cineslider. It took me about 10-15 minutes to set up and program and then off it went. I also shot some straight video here which is what I ended up using.
Just before sunset I headed up to Keys View which overlooks the whole Palm Springs Valley below. Alot of smog made for not-so-great conditions but I still got a few good static shots and enjoyed myself.
The view from Key's View
Dead tree at Key's View.
At sunset I headed down to the Cholla Gardens to catch near sunset light. What a spot! Gorgeous!
The Cholla Gardens at Joshua Tree
Mature Joshua Trees
I spent one more day in Joshua Tree and then came back a few weeks later for one night to Hidden Valley Campground again. So all told this film as shot over four days and three nights. If you’ve never been to Joshua Tree you should visit. It’s beautiful and the park service does a good job of maintaining it. Stay tuned for the film in the next few days…
Joshua Tree Part 1
Recently I needed someplace beautiful to test some photo equipment so I decided to head out to Joshua Tree National Monument. I decided I might as well try and put together a little short film instead of just shooting tests. Added bonus: I’ll get to spend more time editing and brushing up on Final Cut Pro. Before I left I gathered and packed equipment. Checked and re-checked it, charged batteries. This really felt like work. But it was fun. I felt like a kid about to embark on a wonderous journey of discovery. Before I knew it my truck was packed to the rafters with a surprising amount of gear needed for video and time lapse. I should have brought an assistant!
I think this was my fourth trip to Joshua Tree. I decided to head in from the southern entry point near Thermal since I’d never been that way. The exit to the park is way out in the middle of nowhere, past Indio and if you blinked you’d miss it. If you traveled just 10 miles further east you’d be at Chiriaco Summit where you’d find two cool reasons to get off the freeway. #1 The George S. Patton Museum. #2 An Oasis in the desert: A Drive-Thru Dairy Queen!
A left turn off the freeway at the exit for Joshua Tree and a slow seven mile climb up an old narrow pothole-pocked paved road leads you into Joshua Tree National Monument. The park contains over 750,000 acres of spectacular rugged, desert beauty.
As I entered the park and paid my fees they informed me campsites were almost sold out. It was a beautiful Saturday morning in May so no wonder. I was the fool. It immediately became a priority to secure a campsite within the park NOW.
I checked out and beelined it on the park road through Pinto Basin like a bat out of hell. As the elevation increased traveling up the massive alluvial fan the flora visibly changed with lots of colorful wildflowers everywhere. I even saw Octotillos in bloom and then passed through the beautiful cholla gardens in the upper reachers of the basin. Reaching White Tank campground, which I knew had beautiful rocks, I pulled in and scoped the almost-full campsite. I ended scoring a sweet spot overlooking a jumbled rock garden of house-sized rocks which faced east.
My campsite at White Tank Campground. See my truck?
I immediately broke out the cameras and set them up to shoot time lapse sequences.
- 5DMk2 rig on Kessler Motorized Cineslider
I wanted to test out the new Kessler Motorized Cineslider so I mounted a Canon 5DMk2 with a Zeiss 28mm lens. The set-up took me about five minutes to set up and get shooting. I then set about looking for a spot for the 1DsMk2. I wanted to select a nice spot but was limited to keeping it near the other camera, so I could watch them both. After all there were lot of people around (relatively speaking).
Canon 1DsMk2 Set Up At White Tank For Time Lapse
Once the cameras were shooting I made camp, fixed myself some dinner (thank goodness for Subway) and cracked an IPA. Life was good. I caught a couple sequences at sunset and then re-programmed both cameras at dusk for star shooting.
5dMk2 set-up on the Kessler Cineslider at White Tank
Night Set-Up using the 5dMk2 on a Kessler Revolution Head
This is the set-up that produced this short clip below. I believe it was set for 30 seconds, ASA 800, f4, with a 5 second interval and was exposed for about two or three hours. The flickering red light is from my campfire which I eventually had to put out since it was so windy. Luckily I had no problems with camera movement thanks to the super-awesome, beefy Kessler K-Pod I was using.
Once it got cold I retreated into my Denali and read, watched a movie on my laptop then snoozed for a bit. I woke up in the middle of the night to a spectacular moonless display of stars and the Milky Way. The 5D was still snapping away but the other camera had stopped. I retrieved it, changed batteries and CF cards like a ninja (remember it’s about 2am now) and re-set it to shoot a little short Milky Way sequence. And off to bed I went again.
To be continued….
Joshua Tree Time Lapse Teaser
OK so life keeps getting in the way of editing, so my Joshua Tree blog post is going to be delayed. Here’s a little RAW teaser:
White Tank – Joshua Tree from John Early on Vimeo.
To see it bigger and better got straight to Vimeo
Joshua Tree Trip
Man am I tired! Just spent three days out in Joshua Tree shooting stock and testing time lapse. I can hardly wait to start processing and editing! Right after I pay some bills and finish a couple estimates. Stay tuned for the story and pictures in the next couple days…
Timelapse Fun
I thought I had posted this already, but I guess not. Have been experimenting lately with time lapse imagery. Here’s a test I did of some wilting lettuce on spec for a local art buyer. This is a 9-day time lapse of a wilting head of Napa cabbage. Pretty cool. It’s a big download so please be patient.
On Location in Mammoth Part 3
We woke the morning of our prep day looking at 16″ of fresh powder that fell the night before. The grip truck hadn’t even made it to Mammoth. We told them to stay in Bishop overnight and they’d come up the next morning. Here we are arriving on location in Mammoth.
Warming by the fire was a treat to escape the 20 degree weather outside.
Prepping the driveway. The client wanted no snow on the driveway so guys had to chip away the snow and ice and melt it with huge propane blowtorches.
Serious icicles.
Joel, the lighting master, setting a strobe over the entryway.
Gilhooley, setting an on-camera fill flash, next to the H2.
Overview.
Gilhooley issuing commands.
Huge icicles
Time to wrap
Next stop after the shoot was a tasting session at the local Mammoth Brewing Company. Yummm. HIghway 395 double IPA was my fave!
On Location in Mammoth Part 2
OK – So we recently hit the road to Mammoth. A fun six-hour one-way road trip with my producer, my assistant Tim and my agency client. I know what you’re thinking…six hours in the car with your client! But this client is super-cool and fun to be with so the ride just blew by.
After a pit stop at In N Out in Lancaster we hit the open road leaving the babylon shitsdem of LA behind. Such a great feeling – even when in a car!
After about four hours we stopped in Bishop for jerky at the world famous smoked meats establishment.
$50 bucks in jerky later we were ready to trade the Buttermilks for Mammoth Mountain.
As we turned right on Minaret Road in Mammoth and rounded the corner past the Village here is what we saw. 
Incredible! But hey I was worried since we needed no snow on our driveway for a snow shot of a car in front of a cabin. (yes that’s right – legal team of manufacturer stated no snow in the driveway for safety reasons) And it was 23 degrees and dumping! I knew it would be OK though since we had a team of snow melter on standby for the morning to melt the snow and dry it off the driveway if need be.
Downtown Mammoth at 3:00pm.
Driving through near-blizzard conditions
we pulled in to the carport at the Mammoth Mountain Inn.
Damn it was cold. 19 degrees and blowing snow in my face at 25 mph! We hurriedly unloaded and retreated into the lodge.
….to be continued …
