Jason Hunt

My friend and extremely talented actor Jason Hunt is in the process changing agents and decided it was a good time to get some new images for his card. We teamed up yesterday afternoon and shot some character shots near his Kitsilano home in Vancouver.

 - Private First Class Jeremy C. Burrows, 2010.

 - Private First Class Jeremy C. Burrows, Last Stand, 2010.

 - Detective Muska, Crooked Vice Cop, 2010.

  - Detective Muska, Crooked Vice Cop, 2010.

 - Eric Chalmers, Sports Dad, 2010.

 - Eric Chalmers, Sports Dad, 2010.

The End.

Sasquatch

Ever since I started making recordings I have been struck with how tough it is to get good clean ambient recordings without having any unwanted hum or background hiss on the track, if you really listen you'll notice that theres a substantial amount of noise pollution in our day to day lives. So while we were camping at Alces lake in Whiteswan provincial park twenty two kilometers from the nearest paved road I thought that on a moonless night far away from any human beings would be the perfect time and place to get some ambient recordings of the forest that surround the lake. I drove for about ten minutes on the dark dirt road stopping and turning off the engine every couple hundred meters or so to have a listen to the sounds outside. Eventually I just chose a random spot since they all sounded about the same, it was quiet, not a breeze, not a cricket, not a sound, everything was dead still.

I stepped out and left the the car with its headlights on the road for illumination, set up my stereo microphone on a tripod and took a few steps into the black forest and began recording. Its at this point when I realized that my recorder which I had recently acquired had an electronic fault that embedded a crackle in the recordings making it impossible to get decent sound, frustrated, I made my way back to the car. As I was approaching I noticed that mosquitoes, moths, beetles and many other insects attracted by the headlight were floating around the front of the car. Despite the crackle I set up my microphone just in front of the right headlight and began recording. About two and half minutes into the recording I heard a chilling sound coming from the forest to my left. Sharp and decisive snapping sounds moving from the left of where I was facing to the far left behind me. You can't really tell from the recording but it was moving fast and didn't seem to disturb anything around it.. it just went "snap, snap, snap!" as it moved, I stood still and listened as it passed to my left eventually it went further and further away until I couldn't hear it anymore. I have no idea what it was, if you know, please let me know or post your best guesses under the comments section.

- Strange sounds in the forest, (Apologies for the poor audio quality), Alces Lake, Whiteswan Provincial Park, BC (01:16 min, Please use headphones where possible), 2010

The End.

Leather Boots & Open Skies

As some of you know I have just returned from a week long road trip to Calgary, Alberta. And I must admit it was one of the best trips have have taken in a long time. Two thousand nine hundred kilometers of scenic highway, rustic dirt roads and crackling camp fires punctuated with moments of breath taking stillness and rambunctious exuberance & excitement. We (my friends Jean-Mare, Nicola and Myself) had planned to only spend two days and three nights in Calgary, the rest of the journey would be "on the road" time where would camp and explore as we went along. For the trip I made a decision to only shoot film using my Leica M6 and M4P since I wasn't in the mood to shoot digital and lets face it.. there ain't nothing like film.. as well as the fact that the smaller film cameras were smaller and more mobile. I also brought along my Marantz PMD661 digital audio field recorder and a couple of microphones to record any interesting sounds I'd come accross. Over the next few weeks as I get the slides which I shot processed, scanned and colour balanced and the audio processed I will be posting them on the blog as well as the corresponding "on the road" stories to go with.

For now here are two recordings I made while we were camping at Alces lake which is in Whiteswan provincial park which is about fifty kilometers as the crow flies south east of Fairmont Hot Springs. We arrived there on our second day of our traveling all tired and dusty. We set up camp in the passively dimming late afternoon light and then drove back on the dirt road on which we came to take advantage of the natural hot springs which we had spotted on the way in. The hot springs were made up of four separate rock pools starting off extremely hot and getting progressively cooler as the water approached the nearby river which was FRIGID. I started out in the top rock pool which was the warmest and almost seemed unbearable but as the sun went down and I became accustomed to the temperature it became "just  right". It was a really special moment there we were soaking in a natural hot springs in a pristine wilderness with a beautiful river flowing only a few meters away. Pretty soon it was time to head back up to the camp site and get the fire going before it became completely dark. The recordings below are of a pot of water being boiled for brushing teeth and tea and such and the second is of Jean-Mare pouring water on the fire out before we went to sleep. Keep and eye out for the future posts on the trip.

- Boiling water on the the camp fire, Alces Lake, Whiteswan Provincial Park, BC (08:45 min, Please use headphones where possible), 2010

- Putting out the the camp fire (CAUTION: Its gets loud!), Alces Lake, Whiteswan Provincial Park, BC (01:29 min, Please use headphones where possible), 2010

Details: Recorded with Marantz PMD661 Recorder and a Rode NTG-1 Shotgun Microphone.

The End.

Hobos Just Wanna Have Fun

This past Saturday night was the second annual Hobo Hoedown which was held at an undisclosed open air location. It seemed to me to be the wrong side of the tracks near Main Street and Second Avenue. Moonshine, baked beans and old sandwiches were in good supply which lead to a rather festive mood among the wayward travelers. There were a few train hoppin' musicians among the lot, Shiloh Lindsey, The Moonshine Express, Shirley Gnome & Her Gnomes to name a few. Luckily I had my recorder and microphone on hand and managed to capture Jarred Greff and The Johnnie Ninety-Nine Hillbilly Alumni Orkestar performing a few numbers for their peers.. (please use headphones where possible)

- Sound Check (04:42 min) 2010

- "A song about not having money and trying to be in love with people who do have money" A Dollar or Two (06:18 min) 2010

- Track 02 (03:14 min) 2010

- Another Sound Check (03:44 min) 2010

- Track 03 (04:15 min) 2010

  - I didn't shoot any pictures that night, but heres a shot of Jarred playing him and his brother Scott's prized mandolin, the same mandolin in the show, Vancouver, 2009

Details: Recorded with a Marantz PMD661 and an AT8022 Stereo Microphone.

The End.

Alfonzo's Ride

My friend Alfonzo had asked me to take a picture of his Modified Nissan 240SX about a month and a half ago. I was taking a comfortable dip in the well of procrastination when my conscience finally pushed me to just go out and do the shoot. I gave Alfonzo a call to see if he was free and he came right over. I had spotted this location a few nights earlier and thought it looked pretty cool, we set up in no time at all but due to the sun only going down at 9:30 PM our poor planning made us wait for about two hours before we could start shooting, eventually the sun dipped down behind the mountains and we shot the image below. (be sure to listen to the audio and to enter the competition near the bottom of the page).

 - Alfonzo and His Modified Nissan 240SX, Vancouver, 2010. (Details Below)

- Behind the Scenes: Engine Troubles, Vancouver, 2010.

- Alfonzo (and I), waiting for the sun to go down, Vancouver, 2010.

  - Follow Alfonzo and I as we drop off a package at the Fairmont Hotel, Listen to the clip below.

- Alfonzo and Myself drop off a mystery package at the Fairmont Hotel in his Nissan 240SX, Vancouver (09:30 min, Please use headphones where possible), 2010

*Who wants to win the mysterious mystery prize? Post a comment with your guess of what was in the mystery package that was delivered in the audio clip above.. and I will mail you something rather intriguing.. I won't say what the winning criteria are but everyone gets two guesses. good luck!

DETAILS:
1990 Nissan 240sx Specifications/Modifications

Engine (ka24et):

Garret t25 Turbo
Gladman Manifold
FMIC (front mount intercooler)
2.5`` Intercooler Piping
2.5" custom downpipe
3" Stainless Catback Exhaust
SAFC Neo Fuel Managment/Tuning (Car was Dyno Tuned at Racing Greed)
Bosch diverter valve
Methanol Injection System, mounted in the trunk (works during boost)

New Non Turbo Parts:

Timing Chain done 5000kms ago.
New Slave Cylinder
New Brake Master Cylinder.

Suspension, Brakes and Wheels:

Eibach Proline Lowering Spring.
Sportmaxx 962's 17x9 all around gunmetal
Rims wrapped in Sumo Firenza Streched Tires. Lots of Tread left.
25mm spacers all around.
Hawk HP Brake pads

Body:

180sx style sideskirts
Chuki front bumper
Bings lip 

Interior:

Both passenger and drivers F1 spec fiberglass bucket seats.
Short shifter
Momo Replica Steering Wheel
carbon fiber b&M shift knob
SAFC NEO
Boost , Oil pressure, and Wideband (Air Fuel Ratio) Gauges all on drivers side pillar. All autometer gauges.

And special thanks to Kevin Roberts of Vast Avengers Pictures for loaning me his Canon 17-40mm lens.

The End.