UWOL#1 Driven By The Winds by Bruce Foreman
 

As suggested here is a link to the video file. I linked to the one on this site because the file hosting site I've been using has periods where download times are impossible.

http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challen...ByTheWinds.mov

Anyway, I too, am enjoying the submissions from others; this is turning out to be a lot of fun. And I am seeing a lot of creativity from what people are doing with these challenges.

Bruce Foreman

Wind Farm
 

Hello Bruce:

I liked the way you pulled it all together from the opener right on through. I got a kick out of the size of the wind farm hundreds you say.....the farm in my home town consists of one windmill. I guess the term wind farm doesn't cut it up here.

Thanks Brian

Bruce, real nice video. I totally agree the potential these windmills do for our power needs.

Off topic: This have nothing to do with your video. In Norway large windmill farms have been built along our western coast. Some are located in an area where White-tailed Eagle have their breeding ground. Several of the eagles have been killed when they try to passing through on their way to the sea.
So it is a discussion here right now where different interests are confronting each other.
My personally view is that both have the right to exist but not in the same area. Putting these large mills in a vulnerable area where endangered species reside is not a good idea.

Didn't mean to annoy you with this comment Bruce, Sorry if I did?

Awesome video Bruce! I think you made it into my top 5! Wonderful looking footage, nice editing, great music. NICE JOB!

Very cool story to go with it, I think you did a nice job in there.
~Gabriel

Great footage....
 

I really did enjoy it Bruce. I got lost watching the shadows of the blades. Did anyone else feel like they were bending on the far side?

Randy

It sure does! In some areas one windmill like this can go a long way towards providing a lot of the electrical energy needs of one household. That one in your hometown may show the way of the future for many.

No apology needed here. You make a very valid point and it is a shame adequate consideration was not given to locating the windmills in other places away from the breeding grounds.

And thanks for the kind words. I think we all win here, I have not seen all of the videos but I know I will not see any that I won't appreciate.

Bruce

P.S. I just watched yours and am absolutely stunned by the beauty you have shown us. I'll post more in feedback later.

Thanks a lot, Gabriel.

But as I watch the others I have to feel humbler, and humbler and...

Yeah, ME! Those are all on private property and I could not get away from the angles that gave us that illusion. Not with the few roadside locations suitable for shooting from.

Bruce,

I can empathize with you on so many things being where it's difficult to get the best shot. I was cruising roads looking for raptors and had the worst time trying to find somewhere to get off the road and get a shot when I saw one, or even slow down to get a quick shot from the car. Our rural areas here are not densely populated but they are continuously populated, one house right after another every where you go. Thankfully one of my main subjects (the Merlin) is residing for the winter in a local cemetery. So far, no complaints from the residents! Enjoyed your work, good job.

Rick

Bruce, beautiful. I never knew they were so big and yet you made them seem almost graceful. I think I would like to see those someday. Again, a great job on the video. Bob

Hey Bruce,

Just finished watching your film. Very nice. It reminded me of Sunday mornings with Charles Kuralt. I used to love watching that.

You film was well shot and very informative. You took me along for the ride the whole way. :)

Well done. I like the reverence you give the subject. I wish we had a few of those in the yard. Nicely presented.

FYI - There was some serious pops in the audio on my end.

I really liked the progression of the video, it moved very smoothly, with seamless transitions. It was interesting to see the windmills from so many different perspectives.

Ruth

Hi Bruce!
 

Yay! One of our great DVC contributors comes over the the UWOL. No AWOL here.

I enjoyed watching the wind farms and hearing the information you provided. I had no idea that 200 of those babies could power 35-40K homes. You have educated me. Fantastic!

You have an excellent voice and great delivery! May I call on you for V.O. some day? I noticed a difference in the audio when the V.O. came in. It wasn't there (or noticible) at the very beginning so am guessing that it was done in a different inside location? Maybe blending some outdoor, breezy, natural room tone in with the V.O. might help? Just a thought.

The drive immediately took me back to California and seeing the wind farms there. They really are quite a site to behold. Your choice to position the camera in the passenger seat and show a bit of the hood helped to "take me along".

Best wishes~
Bradley

PS: I'm a Canon fan too. Was that the Rebel? I have a 10D

Kinda gets in one's blood, doesn't it?

You hit the nail on the head. Outdoors opening scene I used a Rode StereoVideoMic on a stand close by. Wind was so strong some of the noise got past the Deadcat. The rest was voiceover and there I encountered a problem. Cheap Labtech dynamic and I didn't know how to set basic mic input gain in the computer. With gain in the NLE set at max I still had to get within about 2" of the mic to get anything much out of it. So that definitely affected the audio quality.

Now I know where to set input gain on the computer and can get plenty of OOMPH where I need it. Next project is to get a mini stereo to mono adapter for the Rode SVM and see if I can get better voiceover audio out of that.

It's the original Digital Rebel (300D). I'm a retired photographer, did weddings part time while still on active duty, ran my own studio business for 10 years after retiring from the military, then got on with the air force as a civilian staff photographer at a training base and did that for 13 years. I was in on the changeover from conventional film/wet process to all digital photography at Goodfellow AFB.

Since my still photography is more at a personal level these days, the original Digital Rebel suited me just fine. The 10D you have is a pretty good "work horse".

Bruce
Well done. I like your choice of music and as mentioned the sound of your voice. Wind farms are becoming a big deal here. One thing we have is wind most days.
Gordon Hoffman

Great example of "progress at conservation" clearly illustrated, visually and verbally. Effective subtle contrast between the stark white images and the soft sell of your script.

Hi Bruce.
I recognized the music from Smartsound, I've used it myself in a diving/snorkling video, last year:)
I also liked you point of view, with the windmills. We're gonna have some in our neighbourhood too, if the goverment agreed on it. I'm a bit worried about the white tale eagle though, getting hurt, but as you say, the windmills produce clean energy. Nice editing and of cause I liked the music :)

Nice work again Bruce! The visuals were awesome! Great camera work..
My only knock would be to remove some of the hiss from the dialogue.

Very nice work though, you've been busy lately!

Mike

Hi Bruce- I'm curious what you think about your changeover to digital?

Yes. The 10D has been a great workhorse camera. Am seriously considering a 5D now as a primary and keeping the 10D as back up.

Best wishes~
Bradley

Bradley,

I was all for it! Something new and different from what I had been doing for years, and yet still the same.

I don't want to go back to conventional film wet process photography for anything. When I had my own studio I was pretty well tuned into Kodak Vericolor films for portrait and wedding photography. I had polaroid backs for the Mamiya RB-67's and Photo Control Camerz gear used in the camera rooms so I could test out ideas and concept changes and see results immediately. Then test and "lock in" proper exposure on Vericolor before using new techniques.

Now we do a tentative analysis with the LCD on the back of the camera then move to the computer to do it more critically.

When I went to work for the air force I got into a different kind of process management. Instead of tray development of B&W prints, we used a Kodak RoyalPrint processor which was a bear to clean every couple of weeks. Instead of small scale B&W film processing on steel reels in small tanks, I had sheet film hangers that held 4 4x5 sheets of film, large stainless steel tanks in a big stainless sink with nitrogen burst agitation and had to "baby sit" the whole development process in total darkness by feel until a few minutes in the fixer.

The day the lab chief "took B&W processing away" from me I almost did cartwheels when he left the room. No more dumping used chemistry and scrubbing stainless tanks and sink every two weeks. For B&W prints all I had to do was total desaturation in HSB and adjust contrast in Photoshop till it looked good.

When they took the E-6 process away from me, I celebrated! The periodic lift roller racks out to scrub clean, and mix new chemistry took me two days each time (that machine was a monster!).

So for me the changeover to digital in that photo lab was a tremendous reduction in PHYSICAL LABOR. Everyone thought working in an environment like I did was just a snap. Just walking around and taking "happy snaps".

Now I'm retired, when I need to do something I grab one of two digital cameras and do what I have to, then order good prints from mpix.com or head for SAMS with a disk.

I love digital!