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.

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

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.

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.

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...

"The Whistler."

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

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 :) !