Panasonic LUMIX GX85 Production in New Orleans

The project that was such a big secret… the shoot that in February took me to an undisclosed location for an undisclosed reason… is FINALLY OUT. And I couldn't be happier.

In January, Panasonic told me about the pending release of a new LUMIX camera, the GX85 (GX80 in Europe, and now I know it's called the GX7 Mark II in Japan), and asked me to create a couple of videos and a collection of still images for the launch.

The assignment

This was no small order. Myself and a crew of nine more were involved in producing the "Impressions" video, which includes footage of me shooting in New Orleans and a voiceover of my impressions of the camera, as well as a "4K Sample" video that includes a sequence of 4K video shot on the new camera, and also twenty still images for advertising and marketing use.

The Crew

Gary Kout / ElsewhereFilms.com (Producer)
Crista Rock (NOLA DP / Shooter)
Liz Barker (NOLA PA)
Amzie Adams (NOLA Fixer)
Brent Streeper (Editor / Motion Graphics Artist)
Sean McCoy / Oregon Sound Recording (Post Audio Engineer)
Michael Paul Caruso / Magnetic West Music (Sound Design)
Chris Vanderschaaf / Apple Box Creative (Colorist)
Tyana Andrews / PhotoJoseph Studios (Assistant)
(and me) Joseph Linaschke / PhotoJoseph Studios (Director, on-camera "talent" (he says loosely), Script writer… whatever is left)

We could have easily used several more people, but as with any production you're limited only by your budget.

Little Freddie King, a blues legend in New Orleans, performed and posed for us. What an incredible character!

That photo above is my single favorite from the trip. I just love how it came out, and working with Little Freddie King was incredible. This image, along with 19 others, will be used in various ads and marketing efforts on the camera. I've seen a couple of proofs and can't wait to see the photos in print!

Here are the two videos we created. The first, "Impressions", is with the voice over. The second one is a collection of beauty shots made with the camera, all shot in 4K. These videos are both online in 4K as well, so if you have the bandwidth, be sure to enable it!

I'm thrilled with how this turned out, and I hope you enjoy it, too!

The Rest of The Week(s)…

So what else has been happening since I last posted?

Live Training… it's alive!

You know how I've been talking about the production/broadcast studio I've been building for… well, pretty much forever now? It's finally done. OK, "done" is a big word… nothing is ever "done". But it's fully operational, and I just broadcast (and recorded) the first in my new Live Training series "Lightroom for Aperture Users" last week. Episode 201 is all about importing photos. We go through the differences and similarities between Aperture and Lightroom, which is how this entire series will be done. If you're an abandoned Aperture user looking towards Lightroom, this is definitely a series you'll want to follow.

As with the previous Live Training classes, they are created on a weekly to biweekly basis, usually selecting a different day of the week and time of the day each episode. Watching live is free; the recording is available to purchase afterwards. Watching live allows you to participate in the chat and even call in via Skype with questions!

New TWiP Apps podcast

In the last few weeks I've also recorded four episodes of the new TWiP Apps podcast. As of this writing it's not online, but we expect it to be out early this week. Of course I'll announce on twitter once it's out but if you check in with ThisWeekinPhoto.com you'll see the new show pop up there as well.

The format is really cool. Every episode is around a different photo-related app (on any platform), and we invite the developer (or a representative from the company) to come on the show and talk about their app, do a live demo, and of course undergo my analysis and questions. The first four episodes were all great and I can't wait for this to be live!

Another Lynda DIY Photographer video released

There's another free episode of my DIY Photographer series on lynda.com now! This one is titled "A creative solution for overhead photography" and is one of the most in-depth videos in the series. I create an overhead camera stand (think like an old copy stand) out of PVC pipes. It's pretty cool and if you need something like this, quite an affordable way to put one together!

As always, you can watch the current DIY video for free, and if you want to see the whole series (along with my other lynda videos), grab a free trial here.

I'm going to Tbilisi, Georgia!

Talk about exciting… I'll be attending a workshop with the incredible, amazing, iconic, (what else can I say without sounding like the total fanboy that I am) photographer John Stanmeyer, founding member of the VII Photo Agency and winner of many awards including the World Press Photo of the Year award in 2014. The workshop is in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia in June of this year.

I've decided to document the build-up to this workshop as best I can, as I may turn this into some kind of storytelling video later. I shot an opening video last week and also broadcast it on Periscope (my first time using that service). If you want to follow along, be sure to follow @PhotoJoseph on Periscope!

Coming up next

Next week I'll be at NAB for Monday and Tuesday, primarily to learn a few new things on this whole broadcasting gig and also to do a short presentation on web broadcasting in the "Web Video Symposium" on Tuesday, April 19 from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm in NAB N255. My slot is at 10am, titled "Setting Up a Web Studio". If you're at the show, come by and say hi!