Baltimore, MD
 

I've just bought a GL-2 and I am learning to edit in Final Cut Express. Eventually, I want to do documentary filmmaking, but for now I am just focused on getting some practical experience. If there is anyone in the Baltimore area (or between Baltimore and DC) who is interested in collaborating on a project - drop me a line. -- Bob Reed

Welcome Bob!
 

You've come to the right place for your interests! Since folks don't have to register their locations it's hard to tell if you have neighbors here. Hopefull someone will reply.

Welcome aboard Bob!

hey there i'm from baltimore. glad to see someone in the area on here.

i work downtown at web/cd-rom place but my real passion lies in video and motion graphics primarily. i do mostly video and animation type stuff for cd-roms and websites for the most part and have a terrible little canon elura mc2 right now (hey its free). but am slwly getting up the nerve to buy a real camera and hopefully up the antie on my work.

i personally would like to get into commercials and doing cool bumpers and stuff but you gotta start somewhere.

i stick pretty much inside after effects and use premiere to edit every now and then. but why mess with 2 or 3 apps when after effects does it all.

i'm a newbie to this community hoping to gain some knowledge but if you ever need some cool graphics or anything feel free to e-mail me anytime.

Thanks for the words of welcome!
 

Jeremy - I started with an Optura (yes, the original Optura model). Worse yet, my wife bought it during a visit to Japan and all of the controls and menu items were written in Japanese with no option to switch to another language.

Fortuntely, she is Japanese and could read it all. But I had to carry around a crib sheet for months until I memorized the order and location of everything.

I work for National Geographic in DC - not as a videographer, but in the IS department.

It was being around all those writers and photographers and graphics people that lit the fire inside me. I observed how documentaries were written and produced and thought "I can do this." and that's where I am today - just beginning what will probably be a long journey.

I have already learned a lot just from perusing this community. -- Bob

Hey Bob,
I also have the original Optura (U.S. model<g>), although I don't use it any more. It was actually an excellent 1-chip camera. Don't pitch it!

Approximately 20 years ago my dream job would have been to work at National Geographic's I.S. department. I didn't know anything about the practical realities of that group but I just wanted to be at National Geo.

Alas, life led me in other directions and the closest I ever got was a subscription which I've maintained for 30 years.

So what'd I miss? <g>

Canon Optura, Work life at NatGeo...
 

Ken - You should have taken the leap and sent in your resume. It's actually a great place to work - interesting work assignments, lots of fun things going on and some of the nicest people I've ever met.

I am part of a team working on a digital asset management system which will eventually hold millions of hi-res still images (NG defines high-res as 100 MB uncompressed TIFF files). We are working on the eCommerce front end for selling publication rights on previously unpublished images.

Before I started on this project, I never knew that the average photo shoot involves up to 50 rolls of film. They get lots of really wonderful shots from each assignment, but they choose only 6 - 8 photos to go into each story. So there are countless thousands of great shots that have never seen the light of day.

They've been including some digital camera shots (still life stuff) into the magazine for quite some time, but very soon there will be the first cover that was shot digitally.

If you like tech toys - and I think it's safe to say that most of us on this site do - working there is kind of like dying and going to heaven.

I know I should be more humble when I'm talking about my job, but I just feel really lucky to be there. -- Bob