Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Time Lapse Reel


I've been sitting on some of my recent time lapse footage and decided to edit together a short reel of my favorite shots. Many of these clips have been used in work for the Travel Channel and several corporate shoots for Cisco Systems. Time lapse photography often presents challenges - early mornings after a 14 hour day or tough weather conditions (cold or hot). However they are often my favorite images from a shoot and I look forward to capturing more complex shots using rail systems and more advanced rigs in the future. I hope you enjoy.

Monday, December 5, 2011

EMMY Win! PBS Documentary "Hecho A Mano"


"Hehco A Mano" won an Emmy on Saturday night in Ft. Lauderdale for Historical and Cultural Programing from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, Suncoast Chapter.

This is my first PBS documentary as the Director of Photography for Common Machine Production and I'm proud to be part of such a great short film. "Hecho A Mano," was the culmination of many hours of sweat equity on everyone's behalf and the beautifully candid stories of the main characters.

"Hecho A Mano" is now the winner of :

*EMMY, Historical & Cultural Programming National Academy of Arts & Sciences 2011
*Best Florida Documentary, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival 2010
*Best Local Film, Miami Short Film Festival 2010
*Best Documentary, Miami Short Film Festival 2010

Director: Brett O'Bourke
Writer: Gaspar González
Director of Photography: Richard Patterson
Assistant Editor: Jorge Rubiera
Assoc. Producer: Christine Sylvain







Sunday, November 20, 2011

Art Basel Miami 2011 - Hit Record and Don't Look Back!

Tomorrow I hit the record button for two weeks of work in Miami centered around the annual art show, Art Basel Miami. It's great to be in the old neighborhood and this is without a doubt my favorite time of year in the 305. I am shooting a variety of projects focussing on the artists and exhibitions that will be taking place here, and tomorrow is the kickoff with a video piece on RETNA, a well known visual artist from Los Angeles that is producing a large scale piece in the design district.

While preparing for my shoot tomorrow I watched the following trailer for "Here Comes The Neighborhood" documentary project which highlights the stunning and abundant murals that have flourished in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. It's really well done and my hat goes off to the film makers and shooters. Constructed in 2009 for Art Basel Miami, The walls now feature work from over 30 artists including Futura, Shepard Fairey, RETNA, and Kenny Scharf.


Let the fun begin!



Monday, November 7, 2011

Commercial Reel


Video reels and portfolios are always a work in progress, but at a certain point you have to let your them leave the house and find their own way in the world. Here is my most recent edit and over the next few weeks I'll be re-editing my documentary, music, time lapse and steadicam reels as well.

Cut, copy, paste...



Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A GILT ridden Portrait Shoot



A few weeks ago the style makers and party planners of the national lifestyle collective, GILT Groupe, met at the Hudson Hotel in New York City for their annual sales meeting. GILT asked me to make a series of 80 stylized portraits of executives and reps throughout the day.

This sounded easy enough except for the fact that I had four hours to make the shots. This meant I had 6-10 minutes per person, which is not exactly the type of time you want under normal circumstances, but I accepted the challenge.

My camera of choice for this shoot was the HASSELBLAD H4D-31. I could have selected a Canon 5D or 1Ds MK IV, but I prefer the depth, tones, and most importantly sharpness of the Hasselblad lenses and camera system. 35mm DSLRs are great, but they still don't have the punch of a medium format system. And for me, creating portraits with a medium format camera just feels more natural.

Going this route would not have been possible without an awesome digital tech manning the work station and watching my back. I was lucky enough to grab Mike Isler for the day, which was a good thing considering we ran into a number of technical problems with the camera and Hasselblad software. Shooting with a tight schedule means you have to cover all your bases, have a back-up, and spending the money where it counts to make your life easier.

Organizing hair by and make-up was the key to getting the shoot off to a strong start and staggering the reps. We managed to capture a selection of great shots of each person. Having the client on-site to approve the images for each person was also helpful to keep our momentum.

However, my favorite part of the shoot came the following morning when I took the Hasselblad out for some street shooting. I really enjoy the functionality and ergonomics of the Hasselblad H4D-31. It's controls and autofocus are really quick and I like the positions of the shutter / aperture dials.

All in all... a great day of shooting.






Monday, July 25, 2011

Phantom Camera Shoot - Life at 2000 FPS

Sunday was a definitely a fun day. Yesterday, I had the good fortune to work along side a talented group of professionals that included Director, David Fishel, and Director of Photography, Ian Bloom on a short film born from David's imagination and captured using the Phantom v640.

Pulling focus at a T-Stop of 1.4 and watching the Phantom capture life at 2000 FPS was amazing. Learning the software was equally intriguing from Ian. Shooting at such a high frame rate using an approximate ISO of 200 demanded a large amount of lighting and definitely added to the already toasty temperature of the studio.

The camera was mounted on a Caroni Lambda head via a Z-Jib (also know as a Zero Gravity Boom Arm) that offered DP a number of options to maneuver the camera around the set.

It's always great to work with a talented and able crew that share a passion for a illustrating a good concept especially with such a fun set of toys.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Time Lapse NYC

Like most of the U.S., New York City is currently experiencing a heat wave and for the past three days I've documented this tropical spell while shooting time lapse for a new show to be aired on the Travel Channel.

The production company and crew were great to work with and provided me a enormous amount of freedom to get the shots. I had an opportunity to use the Meade Coronado mount and 497 controller as well as the Orion teletracker.

Both worked extremely well. I am partial to the Orion since I have more experience with this model and can navigate the controller easier.

The rig was mounted on top of a Sachtler ENG 2 D HD tripod with a Video 20 S1 fluid head. I definitely got a workout from carrying this monster set of sticks around NYC, but they provided me a very stable platform to mount the motion controlled head and 5D camera package.

Here are some pics I shot with my iPhone during my shoot:

I look forward to sharing the results with you from my three days of urban trekking when the show airs in the fall.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Frankencamera

Tonight I'm gearing up to film a performance for my friend and long time collaborator, Jorge Rubiera and his band, Animal Tropical. They are making their NYC appearance tonight at The Cake Shop in the Lower East Side. Balancing a Paps Blue Ribbon budget and a desire not to spend any more money, I decided to pool together a bunch of loose parts lying around my apartment.

Tonight I created my first Frankencamera (insert thunderbolt and a screaming damsel sound effect here).


The core of the rig is a Zacuto Universal Baseplate, V3, and 12-inch rods ($530). Yep, it's an expensive baseplate, but it comes in very handy for my steadicam operating because it allows you to manipulate the side-side adjustments to help stabilize various cameras and setups. The camera is a Canon 7D ($1400), Canon 24-70mm lens ($1400) with a Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 2 ($375) and the follow focus is the IKAN Follow-Focus Cine-kit ($400). The light is a Bescor LED-70 ($70) and I'm using a small offset bracket from RedRock Micro as a handgrip.

Finally, after realizing that the rig was going to be too heavy for me to handhold the entire performance I decided to use a Manfrotto 244 Magic Arm ($100) and a standard super clamp as a shoulder brace and counter weight.

Sound will be recorded with a Zoom H4N mounted in the back of the room. A line will be either plugged directly into to the Zoom from the sound board or we will have to settle with capturing the ambient sound.

Pros: Perfectly fine to be used as a blunt weapon in the Lower East Side and it didn't cost a thing since I owned the stuff.

Cons: At $4275 Not cheap by any stretch of the imagine and definitely not appropriate for a paying client.

However, it good to know all those episodes of MacGyver didn't go to waste.

I look forward to posting the results of the shoot.




Monday, June 20, 2011

ProFoto Acute B2 - Tommy Munoz


A day on Deerfield Beach, FL, featuring the ProFoto Acute B2 and the photographic work and technique of wedding photographer Tommy Munoz.

Everything went great, my shoes were soaked and we wrapped moments before a downpour. I was shocked by the weight of the pack and thought the battery was actually missing when I lifted the Acute B2 during the shoot.

In the age of extra baggage fees and excessive charges for cases weighing more than 50lbs, you can bet a few of these will be replacing my Pro7Bs on my next shoot.

Client: ProFoto USA

Creative Director: Ab Sesay, ProFoto
Producer: Richard Patterson
Camera A / Steadicam : Richard Patterson
Camera B : Jorge Rubiera
Editor: Jorge Rubiera

Thursday, June 9, 2011

X-Rite: John Paul Caponigro


I had the pleasure to direct and shoot this video piece on artist, photographer, and educator John Paul Caponigro for X-Rite.
We shot this piece in Maine and John took our production team to several amazing spots.

The food wasn't bad either.

I hope you enjoy and thanks John for a great tour.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Weekend GoPro Hero

Ok... GoPro Mr Hero

I decided to finally become a certified scuba diver and it's a shame that I have waited so long. My dive shop, South Beach Dive and Surf in Miami Beach, is a few blocks from my house. The dive destinations were either off the coast of Miami, or we would travel down to Key Largo.

My instructors were very cool and knowledgeable. The prices for the gear and instruction at the shop were very competitive to what I found on-line, so I purchased my equipment there... I say support local businesses when you can.

So, now that I have an excuse to strap a GoPro Hero to my head I decided to make a series of videos documenting my new adventures.

The USS Spiegel Grove served as the backdrop to this video. I spent a little extra time on the edit. Diving from a submarine was definitely not covered in my advanced or nitrox classes.


Friday, April 15, 2011

The Whistler Film

Last week, the crew of Common Machine and I headed to Louisberg, NC to document the highs and lows of the International Whistling Competition. Our main subject, Tim Eggert, did great and won first place in the Allied Arts field of competition with a little help from Mr. Michael Jackson.

I hope you enjoy his performance and they'll be more to come as we assemble our film...

Thursday, March 24, 2011

JANTZEN 2011 Spring Summer Catalog Shoot

Life's a beach...

JANTZEN swimwear asked Richard Patterson Images to document their 2011 Spring and Summer shoot at the Boca Raton Resort and Club... and this is how it went.
Producer / 1st Camera - Richard Patterson
Editor / 2nd Camera - Jorge Rubiera
Gear: SONY EX3 Canon 7D Glidecam x22

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

WLRN Film Premiere

Congratulations to the crew of Common Machine Productions. Our film, "Hecho A Mano - Creativity in Exile," will premiere on WLRN -Channel 17 this month:

Sunday, February 13th 7PM
Thursday, February 17th 9PM
Saturday, February 19th 7:30 PM

I hope you all have a chance to see the flick. Popcorn on me for the first 100 peps :) !

Monday, January 3, 2011

Photo District News article

Happy New Year Everyone!

My first article as Director of Photography is featured in the latest issue of Photo District News discussing the creation of Hypernova's music video, "Sinners."

Thanks to the crew and MAC Group USA for all your help once again!!!