UWOL #15 - Please Do Not Feed The Wildlife
 

Here it is.
Theme was a bit of a stretch, but I went out twice and the wildlife was hiding somewhere...
This a local preserve to me, one I've visited many times and I've canoed the river more than once.

Enjoy!

Here is the HD version on Vimeo:

Bob,

Really very nice images. I thought the naration was gentle and very pleasing to my ears!!! You have a good voice for making voice overs!!! I think this is one of your best to date!!!

Bob... The piece was tranquil and the fall colors drop dead gorgeous. I thought your composition, framing and editing was superb, and the pans were really really good. I liked how we were in essence seeing this both as observers and at other times through the eyes of the person visiting. The VO was nicely done and as Dale said very comfortable to listen to.... good balance of ambient sound, music and narration.

As was widely reported, in this round wildlife proved elusive for quite a lot of folks, and if there was anything missing in yours, it was not your fault - just not a lot of Grunt, Squeak and squawk.

Overall...an excellent presentation.

Chris S.

Bob,
It is a pleasure to watch your peaceful video. The Narrating is good and Oliver's music gives the right mood to this beautiful area.

Bob, thank you for teaching me something new today. This was a pleasure to watch.
Nice, crisp colors of the fall, and you had an interesting story.
I like the scene at around 1 minute where the guy on the bridge is looking at the river and the birds flying away.
Spectacular scenery you have there!

You always make good videos, but this is one of your best.
Thank you for sharing!

Bob- Nice video. How lucky you are to live close to such a great place. Several years ago I was camping in a public campground in Guadalupe Mountains NP. I was cooking dinner on my Coleman stove. I had just heated some refried beans and set the saucepan on the picnic table while I heated tortillas. A large Mule Deer marched into camp, put his nose in the pan, and proceeded to eat all the beans! Then he stood there at arms reach licking his lips. While I was standing there with a stunned look on my face about a dozen people came running up with cameras. I still live in dread of seeing one of those photos show up some day with the caption- “Please don’t feed the wildlife”!

Bob,
Very peaceful and relaxing. I know how frustrating it can be to look for wildlife and not see them. Sometimes it seems like they are peering from their hiding places and laughing at us.

Your narration and camera work were very well done. Overall a nice entry.

Bob,

That sure was a nice location. Has anyone mentioned it was a relaxing and peaceful film yet? Good music and editing, you made the most of a bad situation; you do a good voiceover too.

The Fall colors in the woods were just beautiful.

I did chuckle at your "...and maybe a chance to find some wildlife" comment. I feel your pain. I can identify with the geese flying away too, I saw lots of birds' bums as they all decided to move off after they had watched me set up the camera. They seem to be linked to the 'record' button somehow.

Liked the footage of the waterfall at the dam, and the "mirror" reflections later on.

Very good.

Bob,

Love this area of Illinois. My grandparents lived in Glennview so I used to visit often.

Very peaceful and serene. Seems like that was a common theme in many of the films. The music and VO complimented each other and totally worked for this film.

Loved the shot of the geese flying up over the dam with the early morning mist rising over the river.
Also loved the mirror reflections juxtaposed against the turbulent water spilling over the dam.

Beautiful Fall colors.

For going out twice, you came back with some beautiful footage!

Also liked that you gave the film a chance to breather. I was able to take a scene in and digest it before I had to move on.

Good job!!

Bob: Beautiful, sweet and soothing images. What did you shoot with. Can you let us in on your method of getting such nice smoot pans. And did I catch a slider in there too in the mallard section ?

Thanks all for the kind words...

When I went back the second weekend, it was amazing how much things had changed...
The trees over the bridge were bright yellow, with leaves falling all over...if you look at the long shot of the bridge from the week before, those trees are mostly green...
And it had rained a bunch and the water was high and muddy....it didn't have that sparkle from the week before...
The only animal I saw the second time was the dog on a leash...

Trond...That guy on the bridge was me... :)

Chris...The secret of the pans....just take about an hours worth and use the best few seconds....
I'm using a Panasonic HMC-150 I bought back in February....still working it out.
It sits on an old manfrotto setup with a 3126 head...I picked it up on ebay a few years ago for about $100....
Not sure about the slider, as I don't know what they are...there were a couple of other birds flitting about, but I just didn't have the reach to shoot them...
I need to get a quality teleconverter, but they are costly....

Bob,

Even though you showed me your entry before I had to watch it again just to make sure you did not do a George Lucas and make changes to a perfect film. I'm glad you did not. I agree with everyone's comments except for that terrible music. Who could compose such drivle (LOL).

Ahh, just like being home and walking through....

Hey wait a minute, you mean this is where you live!

Wow, we live in very similar looking areas..

All kidding aside, I loved this piece, mostly because the areas of my city, that I love, look and sound and feel, very similar.

Ahh, the flowing water and the music was soothing to the soul. What a nice place. Looked like perfect lighting. Especially liked the forest greens and blacks. Do you adjust in-camera/ mid,stretch or press?

Thanks Bill!
I used one of the Panasonic factory presets, "F3", which bumps the saturation and detail a bit....
Plus, I added some mild color curves and did a little level adjustment later...

Mid, stretch or press? Now you're talking over this novices head...LOL...