Learning to See

This is the Dawning

Jon Roemer — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:22:51 +0000

On location Monday in Red Bank, NJ. Leaving lunch, transitioning from shooting portraits in the morning to architecture and details in the afternoon, and folks on the street were all staring up at the sky and pointing.

Sun halo. Red Bank, NJ. May 14, 2013.

Job Site

Jon Roemer — Fri, 03 May 2013 03:02:48 +0000

In late 2011 I made a short, The Crane Life. It was an example of what could be created from four small time lapse sequences, shot in pairs, during one visit to a job site. Lots of promise for what was to be an ongoing series documenting a construction project in Manhattan. In theory we would see the building rise before our eyes, in reality the building has risen but the project stalled. Only a few site visits were made, mixing a bit of stills, live action video, and time lapse.

This work was shot in 2011 and 2012 using Canon 1Ds Mark III’s and a Canon 1D Mark IV. The former for time lapse stills, the latter for both time lapse stills and video.

Job Site builds on The Crane Life, adding some of the live action footage shot before it (during the excavation of the foundation) and time lapse footage shot just after it.

Pave Paradise

Jon Roemer — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 03:49:58 +0000

When we moved in, just over the seventeen years ago, the driveway was a mess. Roots from tall spruce trees had lifted it up, sections had hidden layers of brick going back to (?), and other areas had the world’s ugliest aggregate concrete. But… the road in front was scheduled for rebuilding and it didn’t make sense to re-pave the driveway until that was done. Then we had two kids and with childcare bills it didn’t make sense to repave it.

Now, seventeen years later, it finally made sense. The road in front is being rebuilt and everyone’s driveways were torn up for at least the first fifteen feet.

We also lost two of the tall spruces up front by the road due to a fire caused during the road construction (long story) – that freed up another parking option for the driveway.

So, now was the time. Bix was one of the first to take it for a spin.

Driveway, Bix, studio, and spring. Princeton, NJ. April 24, 3013. Click to enlarge.

Hipsta Feed 3

Jon Roemer — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:09:41 +0000

This past Saturday, on location in Brooklyn, for a magazine cover shoot:

Doesn’t look like much but turned out to be a great location. Brooklyn Bridge, NY, NY. April 13, 2013.

Just about as DUMBO as you can get. Manhattan Bridge, NY, NY. April 13, 2013.

Red and green and stripes. Chameleon hoodie or planned? Manhattan Bridge, NY, NY. April 13, 2013.

Around the corner from the studio:

Forsythia painting machine. Princeton, NJ. April 16, 2013.

The Fordham Law Experience

Jon Roemer — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:47:50 +0000

Hot off the press, The Fordham Law Experience is a companion piece to The Fordham Law Difference which I finished late last year.

The Fordham Law Experience:

The Fordham Law Difference:

The Fordham Law Difference currently has over 50,000 views on Fordham Law’s web site.

El El Amor

Jon Roemer — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:01:49 +0000

El El Frijoles, the documentary I premiered last week, is starting to garner a lot of love.

El El Frijoles, the restaurant, is featuring the film on their home page as well as in their most recent email blast, We’re a Star!

Planet5d selected El El Frijoles as the film for the re-launch of their VideoLog. The VideoLog went live yesterday and the direct link to El El Frijoles on the VideoLog is here – you can rate the videos. So, feel free to pop over and give El El some stars.

Planet5d was founded by Mitch Aunger, aka planetMitch, in 2008, and has quickly grown to become one of the most active resources on the web for filmmaking news, information, and discussion. My film, Maine Shimmer, was featured on Planet5d last June.

Canon C300 Firmware Update Coming in October 2013

Jon Roemer — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:35:23 +0000

Dan sits in. Subject off-center. Canon C300 display. New York, NY. March 20, 2013.

Canon just announced a long awaited firmware update for the Cinema EOS C300 coming this October. It will not add 1920 x 1080 60p but it will add Push Auto Iris, One-shot AF (both seen in the new C100) and “Shifting Display Location during Magnified Focus Assist.” Put another way, you’ll be able to move the focus area to any position within the display when you magnify the frame to focus.

Very excited about the last item, it will make the C300 behave much like a dslr when it comes to checking focus. I rarely have my subject smack dab in the center of the frame…

But October, really (?!)

Full Canon Press Release.

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Update – corrected the release date. Hopefully it’s a typo on Canon’s part. Eight more months to get a firmware update.

Space Oddity

Jon Roemer — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 01:24:02 +0000

This is not an April Fools post, it is still March 31st, though it *may be one on me for all I know.

I do check my web stats and probably too often. If I happen to see that someone is currently on my site I will look at my Google Analytics Real-Time data to see where people are, what they are viewing, and how they got there. Just now this is what I see:

That was at 8:53 PM and over the Middle East. Now at 9:11 PM they are off the coast of Australia:

Can you hear me Major Tom?

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*Google April Fools prank. 41 visitors = 4/1, April 1st. Active page = April Fools.

El El Frijoles

Jon Roemer — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:19:55 +0000

In the woods of Maine, in a barn in the middle of nowhere, resides some of the best Mexican food you’ll find anywhere.

A documentary about El El Frijoles and its owners, Michele Levesque and Michael Rossney:

Michele and Michael were kind enough to let me be a fly on the wall for a few days, hovering about their activities, and then sitting down with them to discuss their restaurant.

Watch at your own risk, it will leave you hungry for more.

El El Frijoles is located in Sargentville, ME.

This production was the epitome of a one-man band, it was shot by me with no crew. I did the post-production editing, grading and sound optimization as well. The filming was done with a Canon C300 and is a mix of handheld, monopod, and sticks work. Post was done in FCP X.

The video can be found on my main web site, too.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

Jon Roemer — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:09:13 +0000

Over the years, as I have glanced at my web stats, I have seen some surprising things – one example from a few years ago was links to my site from an online photography forum where members were citing some of my images as an example of the Leica look. The images they linked to were not shot with a Leica. Yesterday, in my stats there were multiple referrals from Flickr to my site. That’s something I’d normally be concerned about, I do not have a Flickr account nor do I want my work posted there, but it turns out the web referrals were for a different reason.

A Flickr attempt by Ryne Myers using one of my images as inspiration.

The original image, my portrait of Survivor winner Sophie Clark. Coney Island, NY, March, 2012.