Been awhile since Ive updated, so just writing a quick one to get you up to speed…

Vacation: The family just returned from vacationing in Reno, NV at Grandpa and Grandmas house for a week. We had a great time and I’ll write more and post pictures soon.

Report Cards: The kids got their report cards in the mail on Saturday. Kailey earned all A’s and Caleb earned all A’s and a B. Also, Caleb won a Reading Award for having among the most AR points in the 3rd Grade. He’s been racking up the AR points by reading the Harry Potter series (I think he’s on book #6).

ATA: Kailey and Caleb earned their green belts before we left for vacation. They missed the belt ceremony, but received their belts tonight at practice.

Soccer: The local parks and recreation (PARDS) is now hosting an adult coed soccer league at North Park in Denham Springs. Its 7-vs-7 on a short field and I was drafted onto a team by my kids’ soccer coach. I was able to make it to my first practice this Sunday and I think its going to be a lot of fun! Its been a few years since my last attempt to play and I’m WAY out of shape, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge. Plus the FIFA World Cup starts in a week or so and I cant bear to watch without getting a strong urge to play.

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So, here we are. Nick and I, on a plane to Houston and then our connection to Tampa. We are as prepared as can be expected for the tasks at hand. Hotels, cars, cash and models. Sounds so glamorous, hahaha. Oh wait, here come the pretzels, so delicious and free. Yum.

I bought a new camera this week… The GoPro HD Hero. We’ll use it for car mounted shots and maybe some interesting timelapse, too. If I have time I will post some pics to my Flickr and update the blog some more. If not, Ill do it when I get home. You know, right before my trip to San Antonio.

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I’m working on posting some photos today and will post an update when they’re available.

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You guys may have noticed that the last image posted and also the one above are of a higher quality than I usually provide with my photography. No? Well, its at least more expensive. Thats because I just bought a new camera. The Canon EOS 7D. Oh yeah.

I’ve spent the weekend getting acquainted with it and so far, I’ve taken a couple hundred raw photos (and a few HD videos) that amount to over 6GBs of material. Most of it (read: pretty much all of it) unfit to share. However, I see this as a good opportunity to remind everyone of the two places I will be sharing these materials in the future… My Flickr page and my Vimeo page. I’ll be posting to these sites probably a little more frequently than usual. I’m hoping also to shoot some greenscreen footage to test how the 7D holds up in this category. If it comes out any good I’ll post it to my Vimeo page.

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IMG_0045, originally uploaded by mfreyder.

This is our dog, Zoe. Pretty much the best dog ever. Yep, I said it… Ever.

Toyota - Blue vs Red from Mike Freyder on Vimeo.

Here is a spot I designed/produced awhile back. We had a last minute request for change of color scheme and I thought it would be nice to show both, side-by-side. Which one do you like better?

It was my first day with the camera and I was not used to the setup, so all my footage was underexposed.  Cut me some slack, my DP eye was rusty.  I did some heavy color correction and grading in After Effects and uploaded it for all the world (or 58 people so far) to see.  All-in-all, it’s a nice camera at it’s price point ($6999 price at B&H Photo) and the workflow is super-simple.  Cheap SDHC cards work great, but if we purchased the camera we would use it in conjunction with the highly regarded AJA Ki Pro to take advantage of the uncompressed, albeit still 8bit, HD-SDI signal to record Apple ProRes (HQ) at 220 Mbps.  However, I’m afraid that we’re looking for a little more from a camera for my agency’s work (www.MoranAdvertising.com | www.MPGCreative.com).

http://vimeo.com/7118460
Video Specs:  Shot 720p60 to the internal SDHC card and conformed in Cinema Tools to 23.976 fps.

If you’re interested in more details or a more professional review of the camera, check this review done by Philip Bloom or the JVC product info page.

JVC GY-HM700 Camera Test from Mike Freyder on Vimeo.

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Just got back from another soccer match.  The kids have really improved this year.  I think they’re more comfortable on the field and the coaches this year are fantastic.  Next season they should be moving up to the larger field.  It will be more running, but they will have more opportunities to work with the ball in space.  I think that will be the point when they decide if they are going to enjoy playing as they get older.  They really seem to enjoy it for now.

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IMG_1246, originally uploaded by mfreyder.

We took the kids to North Park to go fishing this morning. We caught one small, slimy catfish. We had a great time though, the weather was fantastic!