Loving my own story!

     I have to be honest:  When I decided to purchase my 7D and 5DII, both with High Def. video capabilities, I did not want to use these cameras to shoot video. Wanna know how much video I shot?  (2) One minute clips of my daughter.  That's it.  For over 3 years, that was all the video that I shot.  Why?  Because I wanted to be the best photographer I could be, and not a guy that shot pictures and video.  Shooting film or video at the level I want to achieve takes a handful of different skills isn't that easy just because I create photographs.  There are some similarities, but telling stories with moving images requires a different level of technical ability and storytelling techniques that are much different than creating photographs.  That's my opinion anyway...

Filming for Bob Krause Golf (Click on Detroit)

 

The similarities in shooting film (video) and photographs are as follows:

1.  You need to understand light.  Different types of light have different colors, which means different effects, moods and results for storytelling.
2.  You need to understand exposure, composition and all that technical stuff.
3.  Angle, filling the frame, creating an emotional impact (all under the framing and composition label) are all important in creating a successful results.

That's the short list.

     What are the differences in shooting film and creating a still image?

1.  Maintaining focus on moving subjects verses still subjects for photographs.
2.  You don't need to worry about sound quality in photographs.
3.  There's more "showing and telling" in film.
4.  People talk in film.  So where do they look?  Who do they talk to?  What are they saying?  Is it important?  Is it impactful?  Do we care?  Where should the camera be when you have two or more people in the scene?  Etc...

And that's just the short list...

     So you see, to learn how to be a really good photographer and continue to be one is always a work in progress, it's always something we strive, push and exhaust to achieve.  You never fully arrive.  Why would I want to stop half way and then try to take on being my own Director, Cinematographer (or Director of Photography), Writer and Producer?  This also means more equipment, which means more expenses.  Why would I want to do that?

Because someone asked me to.

     So before I knew it, I was reading and practicing and practicing and reading and experimenting and experimenting some more and... (you get the point)... all the while trying to start the business all over again as we moved back to Brighton Michigan.  Creating and establishing your own business is an Full time-overtime job.  Your brain does not shut off.  There's too much at stake!  The last thing I needed to do to myself was to add to my overflowing plate.  But then again, I was an actor for over 25 years, living in New York... talk about becoming fearless!

Filming for Bob Krause Golf (Click on Detroit)

     My biggest concern for McKindles Photography was that I'd be spending a lot of time doing something that wasn't helping the business.  I didn't want to invest all the time and energy and resources and kill the momentum we had built in this relocation process.  We held off making any name changes or official announcements until I felt like I could offer a product that I felt good about.  And once again, my wife and father-in-law were leading the family charge of support.  The entire family kept reminding me that my experience in knowing how to build and tell stories professionally, from Broadway to Television, as an actor, a director, choreographer, script writer... all of these tools that I've used to create the photography business will take care of the rest.  I never wanted to just "shoot some video" or just "take a snapshot".  I tell stories because I love to and it's what I do.

     And because I trusted them and their support, the company exceeded my expectations and in just a few months, we've been SO busy!  Due to this success, we felt it was finally time to let people know what we had to offer, and it was time to order more business cards so I needed to make a decision, so we decided to officially become McKindles Film & Photography last week!  We still have some business things to tidy up, but the cards are being printed, shirts embroidered and I'm more excited than ever to be a business owner!

     So what does this mean to everyone else?

     We are still a Commercial, Portrait and Wedding photography studio.  But we now offer businesses several ways to create video content for their websites and personal films and slideshows for people announcing engagements, pregnancy and any other special stories to tell!  We call them films because to me, there is a major difference in approach to shoot a video and making a film.

     That's the big story here.  It may not seem that big of a deal to everyone else, but for us, it just got that much more exciting around here and to quote myself, I LOVE MY STORY!

 View more of our film work here...
http://www.mckindlesphotography.com/videofilm/