BOSCO — "Cruel"
Dropped on NPR — “Cruel” music video by the formidable @hellobosco.
It was an honor to work with such an incredible team/family of intentional artists who gave their everything to make this as awesome as it is.
CREDITS:
Director - @fosteraddington
DP/Colorist - @alimsabir
Editor - @darthvadenz
Lighting/Grip - @mwilso26
AD/Script Supervisor/Writer - me
Producer - @vonallen
Art Direction - @hellobosco
Carlina Muglia / 2nd AD, Set Photography - @carlinamuglia
Any Churdar / Line Producer, Set Design - @ace.chudro
Sydney Anebrete Kosse / Set Design - @_strangerdanger
Additional Cinematography - @skull.lady_
Additional Cinematography - @caseydoran_
Location Scout, Set Design - @gabrielladanielle
MUA - @drvco
Stylist - @cdhouseofstyle
Hommeboy — "Otherworldly"
This was a lot of fun.
While in Atlanta to work on a short film written by Matthew Addington and myself, we had a couple of days set aside to work with some friends on their personal projects.
HOMMEBOY (Kawan Moore) was the lead actor in our film, and wanted to put something out for his new single, “Otherwordly.” So, with the help of some friends and a few choir robes, we put this together.
CREDITS:
Directed by HOMMEBOY
Cinematography by Matthew Addington
Second camera and set photography by me
Mattiel — "Keep the Change"
While I wasn’t able to attend this shoot in person, the director (frequent collaborator Matthew Addington) contracted me to create the original script.
As is common in the world of film production, the initial scope or concept undergoes frequent changes. What once seems essential later seems tertiary. A new idea arises and changes everything. While what was written for this video differs from the final product, I’m thrilled with how it came out in its simplified form.
You can read my version of the script here.
credits:
Shot and directed by Matthew Addington and Alimzhan Alan Sabir
Produced by Mattiel Brown
First AD and Set Design by Remy Ciuba
Edited by Mattiel Brown
Congruence Yoga Productions
So, here is a project that’s been in development over the last 4 years and is now picking up true, pranayama steam.
As I’ve said before, I only aim to do work that brings benefit and beauty to this world, simultaneously supporting my nuclear family and my broader family which includes all that is (¡Les amo a todos!).
We cannot change the world without first changing our individual hearts and minds, and few things have been so effective to that end in my own life than being introduced to yoga by my soul sister Congruence Yoga. We want to share this with all who are ready (or at least yoga-curious) because we know first-hand how transformative yoga can be.
Together, she and I have embarked upon another practice (under the tutelage of director/dp/human Foster Addington): producing intentional, artful, and cinematic photos and videos that represent high quality yoga instruction.
We want to share this with the world by working with studios we respect to help them share their teaching through high-quality imagery, web development, and subscription channels.
If you are a teacher or studio that wants to know more about what we do and how we can work together, send me a message. Or, if you know a teacher or studio that might be interested (worldwide), send them a message.
Much love to my brother KillGXXD for the glorious tunes.
Namaste.
Photojournalism: The Listening — On Authenticity
I'm going to let you in on a little secret:
I really don't care about photography for the sake of photography, disembodied from anything other than the desire to take a cool picture.
My background is in journalism and my heart is burried in novels, which means I'm all about slow-form #longreads with the goal of dipping the reader into a narrative to explore and reflect on what it means to be a person. Sure, that sounds kind of lofty, but I'm not really one to do anything halfway. All or nothing.
I use a similar approach for my photo taking. It's not enough to simply take a shot of something that happened, I want you to feel like you're there with me, experiencing the exchange of energy.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I was hired by Riverviews Artspace to cover The Listening's most recent performance session, where poets and musicians shared art based on the concept of authenticity.
I've taken pictures at a few of The Listening's events, but this is the first time I put down my camera and picked up my guitar for one turn, and a sheet of typewritten poetry for another. Both pieces were meant to tie in with what I wrote in my guest blog post.
The first is a song I wrote to myself to help me calm my anxiety and to remind myself of what is most important. It's called "Focus on Breathing." I usually intro the tune with an a capella rendition of the Astanga Primary Series' Sanskrit opening invocation. It's designed to help practitioners quiet mental chatter before practice.
According to yoga teacher Kino MacGregor, the sonorous nature of the Sanskrit language is such that chanting or even simply listening to the mantra brings about this calming affect. So, in this instance, I sing the invocation both to quiet my nerves and to open listeners to what I say next:
Focus on Breathing (You Ought to Be)
Rise and fall again (we're spinning)
In infinite space.
But you'd rather
Choose to kill
Your own self if it suits
Your self-imagery pursuits.
But if silence
Is what you came for —
Well, you're never gonna get it
If you never shut the fuck up.
Rise and fall again (we're spinning)
In infinite space.
But if you focus
On what matters —
What goes in what goes out
Is what makes us who we are.
You'll be conscious,
You'll be free,
You'll be all the things you always suspected
You ought to be.
And I ought to be showing the pictures that I took at the event. I hope you enjoy — I hope you pick up on the love and intent with which the performers put themselves out there. It wasn't for money. It wasn't for fame. It's just humans being humans.
On Being Your Authentic Self (guest post and film for The Listening)
Read my words on The Listening's blog
Short promo film I created to showcase the general experience of The Listening.
As my life has been in a fairly consistent state of flux since ... forever, the concept of "being authentic" (and no, in case you are worried, I never use the #liveauthentic hashtag).
For me, being authentic has less to do with searching and finding but more so with simply being still and realizing what and where you actually are.
Nick George, founder of The Listening, asked me to create a guest blog post in honor of tomorrow's session. If you attend, you'll likely see me doing a bit of photojournalism for Riverviews Artspace.
You may also see me perform a song and poem. No promises. But it's likely.
In the meantime, you can read my guest post on The Listening's website.
Video: Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon — "Cali Cab"
A quick note on the creating process.
Sometimes, art can be messy. The way you intend things to go doesn't always happen — mistakes, happenstance and a bit of deus ex machina can get in the way.
And when plans go awry, you have three options:
Delete everything and never try again.
Release it as is.
Smile. Give it another shot.
My first inclination was to take route No. 2 for this project. I wanted to get the video out fast, and despite its flaws, I still enjoyed it. Still do. It was meant to be a continuation of the musicians series I began with my first-ever time picking up a camera in 2013, and was filmed in conjunction with a photo pack for my friends at Death to the Stock Photo.
My buddy and creative partner Matthew Addington now lives in Atlanta. We still toss around creative ideas and share projects, so I sent him the first draft to see what he thought.
In not so uncertain terms, he recommended a re-shoot.
"You know what's wrong with it, so why not fix it?"
Touche.
I knew next to nothing about recording audio (shameful, given the number of years I've been playing guitar), and now I know slightly more. The Zoom H4N I was using has an awful preamp hiss when you boost the recording level all the way. Lesson learned.
As for the over exposure ... I'll be honest: it didn't bother me all that much. The most important component of my work is the "human element," and that part felt locked in for me. But I took his advice and scheduled a time with Jeremiah to re-do.
Ok, so here's the original:
First Draft
We liked how it turned out, but in addition to my previously mentioned technical errors, Jeremiah was not thrilled about his mispronouncing the same latin phrase I used above. (In the heat of filming, I thought it was tongue-in-cheek intentional.)
For the second go-round. I hung a blanket from my backdrop stand to dampen the natural reverb and changed my audio capture set up, going in direct from the guitar and putting the mic up close, while also using the built-in H4N mics to capture the room tone.
All was going well, except I had a CF card issue — my camera display looked like a broken Atari game after a couple minutes of recording — about five takes in a row. Tried a few things, and finally got a solid take at the very last moment before Lloyd had to leave for a choir performance.
The final version is different, still imperfect, but I'm much happier with the end results. If you like what you see and hear or know a friend who would, feel free to share.
Enjoy.
—@MARCELOASHERQ
If you dig my content aesthetic/intention and would like to invest in your own personal project or business, click here to hire me.
For more on Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon and his music, read the story about our first collaboration.
Wedding Film: Bekah + David
Note: A version of this post originally appeared on my wedding site.
If the version of who I was 10+ years ago approached me now to photograph or film his wedding, I would have turned him down.
No offense, past me, but you were a hot mess. I got married just two weeks after turning 21 to my beautiful wife, in the summer of 2006. Drunken, self-focused and spiraling in so many directions — non of which represented a functional adult who knew what it meant to truly and actively love the person I was going to meet at the altar.
Don't get me wrong. My wife and I had been best friends all through college, and I don't regret my decision to marry her; she's the best person that I know and we now have three amazing daughters who exist in shocking contrast to who I used to be in my former life as an addiction-prone, immature college student with only a shade of introspective understanding.
Life is much different now, and my new vantage point (more than 2 years into sobriety and active wellness practice) allows me to acknowledge a good thing when I see it.
And Bekah and David are clearly a good thing.
Full disclosure: I cried a good deal when editing this film. I originally intended this to be a 4 to 6 minute highlight reel, but with all the different movements of the day and the raw energy of two people deeply excited about joining their lives together — I couldn't (in good conscience) do it any other way than it now exists.
Hope you were moved as I was moved.
NAMASTE
Wedding Film: Brad + Jordan
My first attempt ever at filming a wedding.
Dropped in deep end and this is what came as a result. Enjoy!
Glass Oaks' "Dim Coal Night" (Nashville, Tenn.)
I've been doing a bit of soul searching this week in Nashville, taking a break from the Lynchburg, Virginia, backdrop.
While staying with some old friends, another group of friends traveling back to Lynchburg from San Diego stopped by, some of which are from the band Glass Oaks, and I filmed them playing an acoustic rendition of their new song, "Dim Coal Night."
When you give a writer a camera (part 2)
Lucas Quarantotto, my younger (but much stronger) brother, recorded this and the last video in succession, since it was getting to point where his fingers were getting cold to play.
As I said in the video's description, we normally play this together (with myself on slide), but I love hearing it this way -- as he originally put it together -- on an old Yamaha someone gave me in the 9th grade.
Bad luck blues. Lucas Quarantotto. Good stuff.
Recorded with a Canon 5D Mark II at Colony Live (www.keepcolony.com)
First attempt at filming: Lucas Quarantotto — "Future Daughter"
This past winter, I wanted to try a new medium: DSLR videography. I have been able to tinker with this more in recent months, but here is video one of two of my first attempt.
This was shot in the gymnasium of the Keep Colony (a venue called Colony Live), on a very cold night. I finally started messing around with Premiere Pro this week, so I took some time to upload this to YouTube.
So here it is. My younger brother Lucas Quarantotto (we play in a band together, along with our older brother and another friend) practicing one of his originals, shot on a Canon 5D Mark II.
And now, here's is what the venue space looks like in full swing. Video by @fosteraddington.
Colony Live Promo from DuckDuck Collective on Vimeo.
