So, the deal is that you get the prompts for what’s to be included in the short films on Thursday night. You have 72-hours from then onward to write, film and edit the film. When the 30 teams gathered at the Grand that Thursday, I was a nervous wreck. I’d seen several year’s worth of the best of the films and worried about prompts too outlandish or quirky to make sense and I really wanted the piece to be organic, to have the prompts flow naturally and, most importantly, make sense. This year’s prompts assuaged my fears:

• An empty chair
• An invention
• A damaged good
• The line of dialogue: “Is this legal?”

Totally doable.

They let us know the films had to be shorter than in year’s past by a whole thirty seconds. Dang! 4:30 isn’t a lot of time and the race was on.

We met as a team at The Spar and brainstormed over Spar fries and a little wine, brain food of the Gods. I felt honesty was key and wanted to keep the locations simple. The story line evolved that night was a sweet tale of friendship based on real-life events of two special people in my life: my eldest daughter and a buddy we made at the Doe Bay Fest last year. These two became fast friends at the festival but, as luck would have it, we both lived in T-town and have been able to connect throughout the year.

Our screen writer, Marcy, magically transformed our ideas into a script overnight. We scored a great location at the Pantages, one I’ve always wanted to use: the sub-basement. It holds the relics of years of productions, many from the defunct Tacoma Actors Guild. It’s a haunting, beautiful place. We spent Friday filming nearly all day and I was convinced we had a keeper by the next afternoon as the first rough cut came into form.

Sunday’s work came quickly into focus: sound, color, titles, refining. We were finished five hours before the deadline, and three seconds short in length. I was happy: would the rest of team like it? We met that night for dinner at our home and a mini-screening. As a filmmaker, it’s a trip to see people watch the work for the first time. Wonderful and terrible, it’s a bit like seeing your kid ride a bike for the first time: your heart bursts with equally with pride and fear for what’s next.

In the end, I think the entire team was really pleased. We can’t wait to share it with the rest of you, so I hope you’ll come on out and support this great event tomorrow. See the above poster for details.

Lastly, I want to offer my sincere thanks to the entire PUNCH team for your amazing work!

Here’s a fun picture of the PUNCH cast and crew (minus our “gal Friday” Kelly and me, behind the camera) at the mini-screening last week:

Cast
Boy: Ethan Campbell
Girl: Violet Michener
Man: James Venturini

Crew
Director & Editor: Jesse Michener
Screenplay: Marcy Rodenborn
Camera: Jesse Michener & Jesse Lamora
Boom: Jessica Brown
Gal Friday: Kelly Chappie

One last thing: you may have noticed a new moniker gracing the film screen shots. It’s true: Jesse Michener Photography will soon be known as Grit City Pictures. Stay tuned for the re-launch this September!

EDITED TO ADD: the News Tribune did a nice write up on the festival and included some mostly-accurate quotes from me. Yay!

How would you like to participate in a short multi-media film project celebrating the mission, vision, and values of Pont Defiance Zoo and Aquarium?  Jesse Michener Photography and the Zoo Society are working on an exciting project to premiere at this summer’s epic event, Zoobilee.  We’ll be filming at the Zoo on May 8 from 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. Participants are asked to sign up for a 30 minute slot for filming by May 7 (see below for details!)

So what will you do? We’ll as each participant to answer one or more of the following questions concerning their interaction with the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.  The answers are intended to be 1-3 words in length and should fit in large print on a hand-held chalk board. Please think about how you might answer these questions prior to arriving for your photo shoot:

1. With WHOM do You ZOO (with family, friends, grandchildren, etc.)?

2. WHAT do you ZOO (tigers, elephants, walrus, wolves)?

3. WHEN do you ZOO (sunny, rainy, weekdays, field trips)?

4. WHERE do you ZOO (Use this to highlight Point Defiance Zoo Features)?

5. WHY do YOU ZOO (For education, inspiration, for our earth, for species survival, for community, etc!)?

Excited? Ready to sign up? Please send the times you are available to Melissa Sackett at thesackettfam AT gmail DOT com.  Please type “Mission/Vision Slideshow  Participant” in the subject line.  You can communicate with Melissa  via e-mail if you have any questions concerning your participation or if you would recommend someone you know to participate. She’s the go-to gal for all things pertaining to schedule! Yay, Melissa!

Hope to see you there (and spread the word!)

xoxo Jesse

Photo by Sarah Alston

I’m so excited to show you what I’ve been keeping under wraps for the past month or so! My friend and fellow photographer, Sarah Alston, hooked me up with one of her favorite charity events this winter: the Leukemia and Lymphoma’s Firefighter Stairclimb. Firefighters from around the country (and world!) gather each year to climb the steps of Seattle’s tallest building, the Columbia Tower, raising money to fight blood cancers like Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s Disease and Myeloma. Their combat gear alone weighs about 50 lbs. They climb all 69 flights of stairs, stopping mid-way for an oxygen refill. It’s pretty incredible.

I had to keep quiet until last night’s awards ceremony, where they revealed the total fundraising amount. The total was a record for the organization and event itself: the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb raised a whopping $1.2 million in 2012! Amazing!

Check out the Stairclimb homepage and the LLS for more information. Thanks to Jesse Lamora, once again, for his great second shooting.

The night was a financial success for BCPA, too. Their efforts raised $320,000 for arts programming for over 35,000 students in the south Puget Sound. Pretty darn amazing. Well done, Broadway Center, and thanks to everyone who came out to support arts education. Kudos to Enjoy Productions for their stellar event programming. From the auction to the acrobats, it was a sight to behold!

If you see an image you like, head on over here and you can purchase a print. I’ll donate the proceeds of any image sales right back to BCPA Conservatory program. Win!

As a born-and-raised Tacoma gritizen, comparisons to Seattle give me hives. I’ve been done with the comparisons, the are-we-good-enough vibe since I moved to LA with my dad when I was thirteen and heard my stepmother tell someone we were from Seattle. Truth is, Tacoma isn’t Seattle and never will be.  Tacoma is to Seattle what John Bender was to the rest of The Breakfast Club: vital, aggressive, surprising – perhaps a little nuts at times. Who cares? He ends up with the hot girl and the possibility of a hopeful future. Win-to-the-win.

Us, too. We’re going to be just fine, we just had to crack some skulls to get here. Other people are investing in our collective cultural evolution, and for that I’m pretty thankful. This show was a sign things are changing, in a real and important way. Thank you, Broadway Center. Thank you, Immanuel Presbyterian. Thank you, citizens of this fair town. You did good.

A little about Cathedrals: it’s produced in partnership with the Seattle Cathedral series and the BCPA-sponsored shows will feature unique contemplative concerts by indie singer/songwriters in amazing large spaces. For this first show, it was Pearly Gate Music, The Maldives and Pickwick. I was so excited to be invited to shoot the event. (You may remember I shot a Seattle Cathedrals last fall. They are so fun!)

The music was, of course, brilliant. I’ve loved Pickwick and The Maldives since last year’s Doe Bay Fest.

Three cheers to overshooting, holding my breath and great access within the space: this one was tough with tricky lighting at times:

Links:

Pearly Gate Music
The Maldives
Pickwick
Broadway Center for the Performing Arts
Immanuel Presbyterian
The Camp (formerly Camp 6)
Seattle Cathedrals presented by The Fremont Abbey Arts Center

Angie’s grandmother and great-grandmother on her grandmother’s wedding day (left), and Angie and her mom on the right (thanks to the Harris family and Sarah Alston Photography for use of this image). Watch for this lovely tribute to her late grandmother, in the video, too. You can see Seth’s mom commenting about how beautiful Angie looked. She did look beautiful, truly!

Thanks to the Harris – Hallock family for having me out to Lord Hill Farms for your special day. By the way, have you seen Lord Hill Farms? It’s in Snohomish, just a half hour from downtown Seattle. The place was stunning. It had that rustic/charming feel, but it was expansive and the catering was delish. I can’t wait to shoot there again.

I’m finding that having a videographer is a newer experience for many people. Folks are used to getting their picture taken, but being filmed is a new thing for most. I think my team and I do a great job of being both observant and out-of-the-way when needed – but can also direct a group like no body’s business! It’s a fine line and one a good videographer has to do well to put folks at ease. I think we’re on the right track (though I do think we need a sign on the camera that says, “we’re shooting video” because people think we’re doing stills. Their reaction is always priceless when they realize what’s going on).

Special thanks to Sarah Alston Photography for another great connection – Sarah and I work like ninjas together, it’s really great how we’ve managed to navigate the photographer/videographer dance.

A quick aside, click play and then pause to give the video a chance to load. Let it load for a spell, it won’t take long. Grab a beverage, maybe a tissue.

I discovered a new artist for this project: Matt Epp. He’s from Canada (but I won’t hold that against him) and I heard him while streaming Pandora and editing clips for this wedding. His song, This Old House, was perfect for Angie and Seth, and Matt graciously granted permission for use of it in the video. I’m trying to talk him in to submitting for Doe Bay Fest this year.

Congrats, Seth and Angie! It was a wonderful day and I hope you love your video. xoxo

PS: if you’re in the market for a wedding/event videographer, let’s talk! I’m in the midst of portfolio building and have screaming good deals going on right now

I have to thank my friend and fellow photographer, Sarah Alston, for referring me to Liz and Jay. Not only are they beautiful, they were so fun to work with – the whole lot of them! Keep your eyes open for the way they used plaid as an homage to Liz’s father. It was such a touching tribute to him and something I’ll always remember.

Guess what? I’m taking on a few more portfolio-building gigs this year, so if you’d like to be considered for a wedding shoot, drop me a line (click on the contact link above).

Lastly: Liz and Jay, THANK you for allowing me to be a part of your special day. I hope I did justice to the beautiful event. I know you will have many happy years ahead and in some small way, this will bring you many happy  memories.

*Marriage pun at no extra charge. You’re welcome. 

Capturing a Sense of Place 2: Words & Images

In 247 words or less what is your favorite place to hang out in Tacoma? Why? What’s it like? How does it make you feel? What’s unique about it? Do you have a special memory of the place that keeps you coming back? How can you best capture those thoughts and feelings in seven to 10 photographs that complement and add to the story you are telling?

Two working artists – photographer Jesse Michener (Jesse Michener Photography) and author Mary Boone (Mary Boone Writes) guide you through the nuts and bolts of creating compelling photo essays in this day-long , very hands-on workshop. You will learn the power of sparse elegance, how to draw out the emotions within the story and use that as a connecting point, and how to plan your shots with the story you want to tell. You will learn to see everything around you and techniques to identify and focus on the essential visual elements. You will learn to tell compelling stories through your work. There will be a critique session at the end of the workshop. When completed, the photo essays will be exhibited online.

Funded through a grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
Photograph: Caroline Transue

On a happy note, I took this picture yesterday in my yard: Rose, interrupted.

I’m out of coffee and wine, so the timing for the great thaw is good.

I asked to photograph the babies as a gift to Mrs. M. Not only has she taught my girls beautiful music this year, she’s taught them lessons of a different sort: love, patience and and the sight of an ever-expanding belly that rocks and rolls nearly all the time!

Welcome to the presidential twins: Reagan and Jackson! Good work, Mrs. M! They were seriously the sweetest babies!