Head Shots

A few weeks ago I was asked to take some headshots for the gang at Midday Connection. Normally I don’t feel very comfortable taking pictures of people - there’s a lot at play when your subject is human. First, people tend to are how they look. Second, they usually need these pictures for an actual purpose - that’s pressure enough. And third are the time constraints.

Generally speaking I restrict myself to either scenic or architectural photography. There is a lot less pressure for me in situations like that. I love landscape photography - the biggest issues are waiting for a cloud to move for better lighting, or scaring a bird away because it flew into my shot.

There are times when I take pictures of people, but it’s usually more in a casual setting, no pressure. Like taking pictures of my nieces and nephews on vacation. So when Lori, the producer of Midday Connection, asked me to take their new headshots, I wasn’t exactly jumping at the opportunity. But she was persistent.

The other thing that made me uncomfortable walking into the shoot was that they needed these pictures taken with the dreaded digital. (For those who haven’t read my bio, I’m a snob for 35mm film.) These all-automatic computer devices like to take over too much -they constantly want to tell me what my focus should be or to change my f-stop, etc. You have to pile though menu options to make one simple adjustment that on my fully manual 35mm would only take a flick of my finger. But I bit the bullet and made it through.

Thankfully the story has a happy ending. The Midday crew - Anita, Melinda and Lori -were pleased with the outcome. If you would like more information on their daily radio program, check out their website www.middayconnection.org

Here are a few of the successes.

BolexH16 Supreme

This little beauty is a Bolex H16 Supreme. Built in 1955, this 16mm movie camera weighs in at just a little over five pounds with a film capacity of 100ft, (at 24fps that’s 2 minutes and 46 seconds.) Variable frames per second: 8, 16, 24, 32 and 64.

Why is this important? Because she’s all mine! I stumbled across this while poking around one day, thanks to my wife Ellie, who loves to shop at antique stores.

I’m looking forward to giving it a test drive soon. I’ll let you know how it goes.

If you or someone you know and love is needing information on their Bolex camera I found this site extremely useful. http://www.bolexcollector.com/

Article in The Suburbanite

A few weeks ago I sat down with Kyle Brown with The Suburbanite, at a Starbucks and had a great time talking with him. If you would like to read his article feel free to click here.

Peter-John Campbell

Cleveland International Film Festival Winners

Congratulations to Philip Hunt and his team at Studio AKA on winning this year’s “Best Animated Short” from the Cleveland International Film Festival for their film “Lost and Found.”

I must say "Lost and Found" is the finest animated film I have ever seen, it was an honor to run against it. I wish them the best with the Oscar nomination. I hope they win. For more info on “Lost and Found” check out Studio AKA’s http://www.studioaka.co.uk/#/work

If you would like the complete list of winners from this year’s Cleveland International Film Festival click here.

Peter-John Campbell

Cleveland International Film Festival

I just got back from the Cleveland Film Festival!

Well we kicked off the weekend with a surprise visit to the dentist for my wife. Other than that, our trip to Ohio is going pretty well. It’s great to be in the Cleveland International Film Festival, since Ellie and I grew up about an hour south of Cleveland. So the whole fam was able to come along this time.

My film was the first on in the program I showed in; there were quite a few good films in the program. One film if you get the chance to see it - it will probably be at next year’s Oscars winner - is called “Lost and Found” by Philip Hunt, really well done.

There was a great turn out; Cleveland knows how to throw a party. I was the only director that attending the Animated Shorts Program, so when the Q and A came up at the end, I had a lot of time to field questions from the audience, which I worried about, being that my film ran first, but people seemed interested.

I believe they will be announcing the winners of the festival tomorrow, so hopefully I can put that info out soon.

Other than that, I guess that’s all I have for the moment. I look forward to catching up on some much needed sleep.

Oh yeah and one random picture for you, in my Ohio adventure
of a forlorn Chik-Fil-A Mascot.

Peter-John Campbell
www.claymorepictures.com

Cleveland International Film Festival

Tomorrow night, Ellie and I are jumping in the car and crossing the great state of Indiana. Oh how I miss Interstate 80, it’s been at least six weeks since I’ve driven that trek.

The Cleveland International Film Festival is going on right now, ‘The Story of Seema” will be showing this Saturday morning March 27th at 9:30AM, if you’re able, I would love to see any of you while I’m home in Ohio. http://www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/films/2010/story-of-seema

Keep checking back, and hopefully I’ll have some pictures to show.
Peter-John Campbell

Welcome WCRF Listeners

Thanks to WCRF’s Mark Zimmerman for having me on his morning show today. If you’re a WCRF listener or this is just your first time here, thanks for stopping by. If you would like to take a look at any of my films feel free to visit my website http://www.claymorepictures.com/

If you are thinking about coming to the Cleveland International Film Festival, please do. I will be at the Saturday March 27th program, I would love to meet you. You can get more information by going here.

If you are wanting more information on Ralph Borde and his work in India please go to http://www.charasia.org/

Many people have ask me about the future of Seema and what I want to do with this subject. At this point, I have two follow-up projects that I would like to do, and a few other ones lingering in the back of my mind.

First, I am working with Ralph Borde of Charasia on a documentary regarding the human-trafficking that is happening in India. This is such a broad subject that it is hard to address it in any one project. But the goal of the film is to expose the major issues and reasons that this problem even exists and what we can do about it. The documentary, I hope, will be a haunting story with a glimmer of hope as we show the work of Charasia.

Second, I have laid out a full length, live action feature for “The Story of Seema.” This will obviously be a more extensive and detailed look at this problem. It would be built off the short, and would follow Seema's life from childhood to her old age. Exploring the life of Seema, an everyman, if you will, mirrors the stories of millions living in India today.

If you are interested in supporting either of these projects, or have any other questions, feel free to email me at pete@claymorepictures.com. I would be happy to talk with you about it.