David is great, he was a revolutionary in a way, someone who developed
Videography into an art form as we know it.
I can tell so many people, myself followed his work in Russia for years.

""It was because of Dave we went for a Glidecam and never looked back (just forwards and at a shiny new Steadicam)""

Yes, but some of us are going back to tripod and handheld, slider, and it's all great :)
Variety is the must!

oh we use all that too. well, not handheld but on a spider brace.

Just watched SODE Production's 'Save the Date' videos, I vote for them! ^0^ The shots, color grading and the 'chemistry' are top notch!

I would think that there isn't any rhyme or reason to the Top 25. Everyone is on the list for different reasons and the word 'influential' is possibly the key. I can't speak for anyone other than myself but the people I voted for were the ones that had influenced me the most, whether that was through their actual work or other ways that they contribute to the industry.

How do you measure who is the best anyway? Number of weddings per year? Price per wedding? Turnover per year? Number of years in the industry? I don't think there's any benchmark. There's most likely some videographer out there churning out 100 low-budget, low-quality weddings per year and making more money than anyone. Does that make the 'sausage factory' videographer better? There might be a videographer out there charging $20K+ per wedding and doing 3 per year. Who does the most SDE's? Who uses the most cameras? Who uses the least cameras? Who's the best left-handed shooter? Who can handhold a Steadicam Merlin+fully-loaded-XHA1 for the longest while balancing on one leg?

See what I mean ... :)

Influence, while ambiguous, is possibly the best measuring stick. That's how I looked at the 2007 Top 25 list when I stumbled across it - i.e. these are the people shaping the industry and influencing its future, whatever the reason is that they made the list.

From my perspective, I'm stoked that some random guy from a small town in regional Australia who hasn't shot many weddings (and certainly hasn't made much money from it) can make it onto such a list. How and why did this guy make the list? No idea. But I think it says a lot for the exciting future of our industry that it was even possible.

Cheers,

Matthew.

Agree 100% on the 'influence' point :D
Pardon me, I just can't help myself to praise those videos :D

That's why he is always smiling :)

Oleg will also be a featured speaker @ Re:Frame San Francisco this October - it's his ONLY North American speaking engagement! Don't miss it! Re:Frame Collective Website

I view this with mixed feelings. Sure it would be nice to have the recognitions but there is also a dark side. It isn't a pleasant site to watch people jockeying for position. This can even cause the camaraderie of the forum to break down. As it is now, there is a "natural" recognition among peers. If someone is good, it shows and they are recognized, albeit informally, by their peers. If there were to be a DVINFO Top 25 (or whatever), the not so pleasant side of some people would become apparent. Some would be motivated to lobby and inflict various forms of manipulative slime to get the recognition so they can plaster the accolade on their website. Some people deserve and graciously receive accolades but others are self serving and even ruthless.