Chicago

The Journey Begins

What an apropos title for this update. This journey began when I happened to meet a popular DJ from Chicago, Kaskade, earlier this year. I'm quite a big fan of his music so it was kind of a huge deal for me to meet him in person. At the same time I also met his videographer who is an incredibly talented and kind person and eventually had me help out on a couple future projects which I was extremely eager to work on. The first was Electric Forest Music Festival out in Rothbury, Michigan. If you haven't heard of this, you're missing out on life. Take a look at the video below that I helped out on. While working at the festival I got to experience it on a pretty intimate level that many didn't. I can say that it was unlike anything I have ever seen. Just the pure love for music was completely there in the forefront of the people there with an incredibly designed festival backing it. I can go on and on trying to describe the things I saw there but it won't do it any justice because you'd have to see it to believe it. I really hope to continue going there to this magical forest. Happy holidays everyone.

 

-W

 

Kickstarters!

Hey friends!​

Over the past few months I've worked on 2 Kickstarter videos. Both for great companies that have been a joy working with. They both are custom hand made items made in U.S.A.​ The first one is Cross Bags: A fully customizable men's messenger bag company. Later on they plan on launching tote bags, back packs, and more. They're also launching a beer koozie with the Kickstarter as a nice little gift incentive to their contributors. I must say the beer koozie is genius!. Take a look.

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​The 06 Messenger

​The 06 Messenger

​The bags are mostly made out of leather, wool, and wax canvas. Three great materials to keep your gadgets safe and have a stylish bag! Their Kickstarter campaign can be seen here! Also their Cross Bag's website. Any bit helps even if you just share the page to spread the word would be appreciated! I made the video with good friend of mine Brian Morgan. Be sure to check out his website as well!

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​The second company is Peter Field. Peter Field is all about custom mens clothing. They're starting out with just ties, pocket squares and vests but later on they plan to offer the whole mens regalia. The materials are all really nice and the ties are made to your fit. Be sure to check out they're Kickstarter campaign as well here!

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Thanks for reading!​

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Chicago Startup Weekend

A few weeks back I shot some video for Chicago Startup Weekend at The Merchandise Mart. I've recently started doing some work for a company called Robotoaster. Robotoaster is a great company that does a lot of marketing and ad video work ranging from bands to promotional videos. It's growing very fast and I'm glad to be a part of it! Chicago Startup Weekend was something very new to me. Essentially, a bunch of designers, business management, and techies get together and pitch ideas. Those ideas will then form groups which in turn will hopefully become a successful company. On the last day of the weekend, Sunday, the companies will pitch again but this time their basic company outline to the selected judges. Those Judges will then pick a winner that goes to Global Startup Battle. All of it is a fascinating process involving people working day and night getting ready for their presentations. Just being there filming a lot of the event was very eye opening. It was crazy to see companies form out of nothing in a matter of a few days. Down below is the promo video I helped shoot on. Check it out! Also check out Robotoaster. Like the page and such. I'm going to try and post more often as i'm always trying to update my website. Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/RoboToasterLLC

http://robotoaster.co

Strange Clouds

This morning I had a difficult time waking up because it was so dark outside. I checked my Facebook feed when I woke up as I usually do and I saw a bunch of my friends posting pictures of the sky. I decided to get up on my roof and see what it was all about. We've been having very hot weather here in Chicago. Yesterday it was supposed to be 98 degrees and it ended up being around 108 degrees.. I stayed inside all day knowing this. Here are a few of the images I took this morning before it started to pour.​

Chicago at Night

I often like to go out shooting on my own. I feel as if it clears my head and it's very relaxing. Sometimes I will bike down the Lake Shore path and bring my camera along with. I most often will find interesting things to shoot. Just last week I had a very interesting experience when riding. Here are a few of the pictures I took on that ride. 

A Pentwater Sunset

Me and my family have been venturing up to Pentwater, Michigan for sometime now. My family has built a lake house right on Lake Michigan. For years we have cherished it dearly. We go up every summer and it's like our own little getaway house. A mere 4 hour drive from Chicago and we're there soaking up the sun on the beautiful beach. One of the most memorable things about going up there is the sunset every night. It's a breathtaking experience seeing the sun set over Lake Michigan. This time I just happened to capture the moment just when the sun was setting. 

Gotham City

It's known by many that in the world of Batman, Gotham City is modeled after Chicago, Illinois. It was awesome to see Christopher Nolan's first 2 Batman films be shot in my lovely city. Unfortunately, the 3rd, The Dark Knight Rises was shot in Pittsburgh. I don't exactly know why. Chicagoans were a little disappointed by this. Nonetheless here is an image I took that  has the same dark tones as Nolan's Batman series. Enjoy.

HDR is Fun

I just recently got into HDR photography after years of not really understanding what it was exactly. After I had gotten my DSLR I would bring it around with me and take pictures of nature, landscapes, architecture and other things that piqued my interest. I never used to be too big on editing images other than just slight color or light issues. HDR really changed my outlook on photography. For those who don't know, HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It's where you take multiple images at different exposures using bracketing. After you've taken your pictures you can use a certain software such as HDR Efex Pro(What I use) which can be plugged directly into Photoshop and this is where you will combine the images you've taken. After this process is complete you can adjust the image to make it look the way you'd like it or add effects. It gives images a higher dynamic range of luminosities. Therefore, you can see the dark points, at exposure points, and over exposed vividly.  Below are some HDR images I have taken in the past.