There were two locations utilized in the shoot. One on P Street NW in DC and another in a Baltimore recording studio. Most of the footage was captured using a Canon t2i DSLR. Both locations had their challenges but I think things worked out more or less. For the P street location, the sun was rather harsh so we needed to find spots in the shade to shoot.

For the recording studio location it was the opposite problem … there wasn’t enough light. All we had to work with was the available light in the studio. Even with a 35mm 1.4 prime lens the ISO needed to be bumped to 800 to get a decently exposed picture. For a sub $1000 camera, the t2i produced a nice picture but it’s very apparent that the low light capabilities are lacking compared to the Canon 5D Mark II. It also made it difficult to film because we were shooting wide open at an apature of 1.4 which didn’t give the actor much headroom. It was very easy for him to move in an out of focus.

With all that said, it didn’t matter in the end because the footage will be chopped up and displayed in short clips in the beginning of the film. I’m anxious to see how everything will come together. Below is a Picasa link to some behind the scenes photos for the shoot. I will have to confess that my girlfriend took most of these shots as I was operating the camera. In my opinion, I think she did better than I would have!!

“Pawn” Behind the Scenes: Day 3 on picasa

A shot from the set of Pawns

This past weekend I had the opportunity to be apart of the making of a movie. I was invited to help as a crew member and take some behind the scenes photos. The last time I was apart of a movie production was way back in Frederick where I and a few friends enrolled in a 72 hour film festival competition. This experience was different in that there wasn’t a rush to try to get everything done from the writing of the script to the editing of the film all in three days!

The crew members were great and I was really impressed with the actors! It ended up being a lot of fun and I learned a thing or two as well. It took two days to shoot most of the movie and it is now ready for post. To contact the director and author of the screen play, go to Rosehaven Production website.

Below are some behind the scenes stills that I took from the set of “Pawns”. The images are also available on picasa at the following URLS:
“Pawn” Behind the Scenes: Day 1 on picasa
“Pawn” Behind the Scenes: Day 2 on picasa

Pawns BTS Day 2 90 photos
Pawns BTS Day 1 112 photos

Invisible People, originally uploaded by lonny.gomes.

We’ve all done it … walked by the homeless person like they aren’t even there. Perhaps some may even go as far as to walk on the other side of the sidewalk and to look the other way as they pass by. And you know what, I understand it. It’s easy to dismiss homeless people as drug addicts or lazy unmotivated people. That may very well be the case for some, but perhaps the reasons for their current predicaments are a bit more complex then that.

When I first moved to the DC area, there was a concert that I really wanted to go to. None of my friends were interested, so I took the metro on a Thursday night down to what was then The Nation (which is now the Nationals stadium) in southwest DC to see Slick Rick, Raekwon and scratch DJs perform. It was a great show but it had an extremely late start. It was already almost 12 AM when Slick Rick got on stage. It was then when I remembered that the DC metro closes at midnight on weeknights. I had a good 15 minutes though and I thought I was fine. To my surprise, that particular metro closed at 11:45. I had arrived at 11:50 and just missed the last train.

To make a long story short I ended up getting stranded in DC for the night. I made my way down to Union Station and ended up talking with a homeless man. He didn’t ask for money, he really just wanted conversation. We spoke for a good hour or so about life and how he came upon his unfortunate circumstances. He wasn’t always homeless. He used to have a job, family, and a roof over head but had a streak of bad luck which has put him on and off the streets.

As I spent time with him, I began to see things. We walked down to the greyhound station because I wanted to buy him something to eat. He was hesitant to sit down at the table, but I told him to wait there while I went to get his sandwich. When I came back, he was getting hassled by a security guard saying he needed to move on. I then told the officer that the guy was with me. The mans face was plastered with embarrassment and I felt bad for putting him in that situation. I never would imagine being harassed by just sitting down in a public place but that is the reality of his existence.

By the time we parted our ways it was already about 2:30 in the morning and there was no way I was getting home for I lived well over an hour away from the city — far from the reach of the DC cab service. At that hour I did not want to be randomly roaming the streets. I needed to find a place to sit and wait for the metros to open. On First street, there were a congregation of homeless gentlemen who were attempting to find comfort and some shut-eye on some concrete steps. I figured there was strength in numbers and I joined them. And you know, I’m not sure how they were able to do it but it was unsurprisingly very uncomfortable. It wasn’t really cold outside but the cold concrete really seemed to seep threw to my core guaranteeing I wouldn’t be able to stay warm. I tried sleeping in several positions, but you really couldn’t lay out extended because every so often a beat cop would come by and wake up those who were laying down on the ground. If you could manage to sleep propped up against the wall, you were fine.

It was rough and I was counting the seconds down ’till the metro would open so I could make it back home into my bed, which I used to think was uncomfortable. Before the metro opened, there were promising signs of life with people walking by our group every so often. I of course, wasn’t able to sleep so I would observe the people as they passed by. I was amazed at the onlookers attitude towards us. They either would give a disgustingly condescending look which if it were verbalized would say “get a job you bums”. There were others that would walk by like we didn’t even exist. I really was offended by it, and according to the guys, it’s something that they are now used to. It was then where I was able to slightly empathize with those I was sharing the concrete with.

In a more recent occurrence, I had a conversation with a homeless man during one of the #snOMG winter storms that passed through DC in the winter of 2010. I was exiting the Gallery Place/China town metro and a seemingly healthy man was asking for change. The snow had recently stopped and the sidewalks had long disappeared under the several feel of snow. I told this guy I could buy him a shovel that he could keep and make some money shoveling sidewalks. He had no interest in taking me up on my proposition and actually became offended and began to spew profanities at me. In this case, this man didn’t want to work even though opportunity was all around him. He easily could have cleared a hundred or so dollars by shoveling snow but he preferred hustling for hand outs.

Both of these experiences gave me two completely different perspectives on homelessness. On one hand, there exist some people who really got dealt a series of bad hands in life and were never able to reshuffle the deck and rebound for various reason. On the other hand there are those who truly are looking for a hand out instead of a hand up. The one thing I’ve taken away from these experiences is that it isn’t fair to judge. I mean honestly, had I been in the same situations as some of these people, would I have been able to overcome the trials? Would you have been able to? I guess that’s an unanswerable question but it is worth a moment of pondering.

In closing, regardless of what you think of homeless people, they are in fact people and not some discarded trash. Out of practice, I personally don’t give money to anyone who is asking, but after sharing those concrete steps for a few hours with some homeless guys I’ve learned that looking someone in the eye and saying “I don’t have any money, but have a nice day” can go a long way.

Mont Saint Michel, originally uploaded by lonny.gomes.

In this photo is a picture of Mont Saint Michel which is located on the coast of north western France. This was one of the most impressive sights I saw on my trip, mainly because I didn’t know anything about it. When we were arriving there we could see the structure miles (or kilometers I guess) away and it really was impressive. Apparently, Mont Saint Michel was an Abbey, and then turned Prison and then an Abbey again. If you’re ever in France, this is definitely a worthwhile stop to take!

My Block, originally uploaded by lonny.gomes.

I haven’t been posting much lately, but that should change because I recently got a new digital SLR! I loved my Nikon film camera but I finally broke down and came to the realization that film is dying.

I’m happy I made the switch. I really feel as if I can be more creative in the digital realm, and not to mention it’s much more cost effective. Another added bonus is that it feeds into my need for instant gratification. I kinda do miss the “wait” to see how the film came out, but not enough to switch back!

This shot was captured with my Canon t2i (550D) and was an attempt at a long exposure using a nearby garbage can as a tripod. The location was 14th and V … It’s not technically “my block”, but is close to it!

Birthday Party in DC

Took this pic at my friend’s birthday party in DC.

Night at Taboq, originally uploaded by lonny.gomes.

The L'Enfant Metro

Today’s iPhone photo of the day was taken in outside of the L’Enfant Metro station. There was this random light display that is exhibited on the south exit. Just something a little different.

iPhone sunrise

I’ve been dabbling in photography here and there for the past few years but recently I’ve felt the urge to get back into shooting. I used to have a decent point and shoot camera, but after it was stolen I’ve been left with just my iPhone and my Nikon F3. My F3 is a manual focus film camera and it really has been a great learning tool but alas I do feel it’s time to drop film entirely. I pay a minimum of $10 a roll for developing and if I’m lucky, there will be 2 or 3 frames that I actually will like from any given roll!

My other camera is the one in my iPhone and let’s face it, the iPhone is an amazing piece of hardware but the on-board camera is sub par. I believe it was Chase Jarvis that said that the best camera is the one that’s with you. It is in that spirit that I am starting an on-going thread that I’de like to call “iPhone Photo of the day”. I’ve taken some interesting photos (to me at least) with my iPhone and I will periodically share them with the world on this blog. At least in the beginning they will not be retouched in anyway. Let’s see how it goes!

My first photo I took way back when I first got my phone. It was a beautiful sunrise that I caught just at the right time.

The use of Auto-tune is a controversial subject. Some music purist believe there is not place for it. Some use it purely for the vocal effect while still others use it because without it they would sound horrible. One thing to note is that for Auto-tune to work correctly you do have to be able to carry a tune to a certain degree, you just don’t have to be perfect.

I recently put out a mix tape. I wanted to include a “diss” of a fellow DJ but I wanted to do it in a creative way. I ended up recording a song using Auto-tune, singing a “parody” of Snoop Dog’s “Sensual Seduction” track. I figured if he could sound good with Auto-tune, me a former Jackson 5 could have been should be able pull it off as well! Check out the final results below. I think I just may have Snoop beat! Well … maybe

Download audio file (Mass_Innovation_short.mp3)

I had the “pleasure” of experiencing this historic event by effectively being snowed in my neighborhood. The buses were down and the Metro soon came afterward and already having 2 incidents with my car in the snow I definitely wasn’t going to be driving! Being that I did most of my growing up in a middle-class New England town where there never was a shortage of snow come winter time, experiencing winter snow storms in the city is truly a unique experience. I had a similar experience in 2003 where I was stuck in New York City in a huge snow storm and one thing I noticed both in DC and NYC is that when the snow starts to fall in the city, so do people’s inhibitions. People forget about their age, about their differences or social standing and all come together to make snowman, slide down hills on improvised sleds, and have snowball fights.

With the advent of social networking and smart phones, collaboration is much easier to achieve. Some people organized a snowball fight to take place on 14th & U. I wasn’t aware of this plan but I happened to be walking on U Street and heard people laughing and screaming in the distance as I approached 14th street. It was actually quite a site and I took part in one “battle” for a bit which was timed based off of the red lights. About 10 or so minutes after I left the scene, a few of the “snowballers” threw a snowball (or two) at a hummer driving by. The driver got out of the car and proceeded to show his gun. He didn’t point it at anyone but the gesture definitely was an abuse of his power.

The one thing I do feel that many people haven’t been saying in regards to this situation is that the kids really shouldn’t have been throwing snowballs at moving traffic. The cop’s reaction was unprofessional and although it may fly in the hood, it’s not gonna work with the U Street crowd who are armed with iPhones and youtube accounts! Below is footage from the incident. After the detective pulls out his gun there is a kid that still nails him in the face with a perfectly placed ball of snow!

Despite the snowball fight incident, it was beautifully refreshing to see DC covered in generous layers of white fluffy stuff. For that one day, the snow covered the harsh realities of life and for a moment brought joy to an otherwise politically charged and divided city. Below I captured some images and video of the snow storm, or as it was referred to on Twitter, the #snowpocalypse of ‘09.