Paralympics London 2012

I am in the UK right now and this place is going crazy for the Paralympics, tons of billboards, ADs and TV coverage. This British girl, Hannah Cockroft, just did amazing race today in the wheelchair 100m, Gold.

In North East England...

...doing a documentary about a girl that loves horses and people too. We are in Newcastle.

Manchester Art Gallery

Sunday in Manchester, I was good to be alone for the day. I did a lot of walking, looking and hanging out in the city. I gave myself one destination, the Manchester Art Gallery. It it a nice museum and I had fun at the still life section, it was good to give my feet a little break and draw. We are in Newcastle now. I will be home in a week.

CORNERHOUSE, Manchester, England

We had a day off in Manchester, I might of spent a little time at this place, CORNERHOUSE. This place is legendary, I mean it says it on the building: Art, Film, Books, Food, Drink, I mean it they added a pool I would never have to leave. This place it great, check it out if you are in Manchester. I saw the new documentary "The Imposter" there, wow that film is crazy, I recommend it.

English Countryside

Today drive from Manchester to Newcastle through the lovely English countryside in typical English weather. Sorry for the dull post but we just finished documentary number 2 and moving on to the 3rd and final one. We are having fun, meeting cool people and doing cool documentary work. Happy, Grateful.

My Souvenir from Brighter Future Workshop

We just wrapped documentary #2 on this Europe tour in Skelmersdale, England. This is my souvenir from Paul. Paul is the inspiration for Brighter Future Workshop. He is a great guy and a master mechanic on wheel chairs and all mobility equipment. Thanks Paul.

horsing around at lunch

(L to R) Ty Arnold, Paul, and Chris horsing around at lunch at Brighter Future Workshop in England. We are having a lot of fun shooting these guys.

Brighter Future Workshop UK

I am directing a documentary for "Turning Point" about Peter Cousins and the Brighter Future Workshop. BFW helps disabled folks recycle wheel chairs and other mobility equipment for other folks that need them. It is a heart warming story about good humans taking care of other humans. Photo: Peter Cousins showing the floor mattes for the mobility scooters made by the workers.

I'm Down with Will Smith

Spotted on a ferry in the Irish Sea, and yes I do proudly proclaim, "I'm down with Will Smith" PEACE

Good-Bye Ireland

A snap from our last day in Ireland. We had a look at Giant's Causeway and that area in Northern Ireland.

My Canon 5D markll

I guess this is what I look like in a dark alley in Northern Ireland. My Canon 5D with a Sennheiser MKE 400 mounted on top, I use this mic for B roll type of audio. This camera made me fall in love with filmmaking again. I call shooting with a 5D "Balls of your feet filmmaking" a shallow depth of field, rich creamy picture and I love the way it feel in my hands. (photo by Ty Arnold)

Stephen of Armagh

Finished in Ireland and now we are in England for a few weeks. This photo is Stephen from the Armagh Men's Shed in Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Stranger Than Fiction, Dublin's Documentary Film Festival

Perfect timing, in-between documentaries we got to go to the Irish Film Institute's Documentary Film Festival, Stranger Than Fiction. Tonight we saw "Anton Corbijn Inside Out" It was nice to see the film, relax, get off the feet and enjoy some fine nonfiction work. I still love the idea of nonfiction filmmaking, I can't get enough of it to tell you the truth.

Anton Corbijn is famous for his photos of U2 here is a photo he did of Lance Armstrong.

Dublin Cargo Bike

A guy in Dublin carrying a long ladder with his cargo bike, almost missed the shot. Tomorrow we head to Belfast.

Love This

Love this and for a lot of reasons: ideas, photography, design and a powerful smart woman. From a student in a random search, you are epic I like your site.

Big Heart

Here is a Turning Point I did last winter.

Dublin Cyclist

If I could find this guy I would give him "The Most Fashionable Cyclist in Dublin Award" August 17, 2012. Snapshot from my phone. This guys rules and he was rocking half chaps horse riding boots, nice.

The Boys of the Bannow Men's Shed

From a few days ago, we are now in Dublin. Having a great shoot.

Tea Doll?

Like the English the Irish love their tea and scones. I like this piece of art in the dinning room of our hotel. My Aussie friend would always say to his wife, "Tea Doll?"

Ireland

A wonderful snap of the Irish countryside where we are shooting, snapped by Ty Arnold "B" camera on this shoot and and in general master cinematographer. I usually shoot the documentary stuff and interviews and he concentrates on beautiful images. We use Canon 5Ds and 7Ds, I use a 24-105mm lens mostly and he uses the all the other lenses, wide and the 70-200mm. We are having a great shoot. Peace

Irish Shed

John Evoy of the Irish Men's Shed Association.

Patrick of Killarney (and me)

Had a great time shooting in Killarney at the Men's Shed. I could not resist and had to do some art at art time with Patrick. We are having a grand time in Ireland doing this "Turning Point" documentary about John Evoy and the Irish Men's Sheds.

Joe's Garden Centre

Joe of the Killarney Men's Shed. (and friend with a stick)

Tom of Bannow

Ireland. I am in Ireland doing a documentary about Irish Men's Sheds. People can be so lovely. Thanks for the scones, crack, and for sharing. (Crack: Irish for jokes)

Denis

Worked with this guy today in Ireland. John called him a gentle giant. Another person that spends his life helping others. A beautiful man and check out his shed. Peace

John of Ireland

John Avoy of Waterford. I am doing another documentary about another brilliant mind that has dedicated his life to helping others. More Details later

Ned of Waterford

Ned taking a break while we film a documentary about his son. On location in Ireland.

Phoenix Multisport now online

OK the half hour documentary I directed about "Phoenix Multisport" for the show "Turning Point" is now online check it out below. Scott Strode is awesome and this is an organization with a big heart. I am happy how this turned out. Big thanks to the production team that worked on this one: Marty, Sam, Greg, Tom, Rich, John, Brandon, Agustina, Jenirae, Micah, Paul, Cameron, Palmer, Frederik, Hyesu, Anne, Alicia and Janene. Enjoy!

London to Manchester

OK landed in London and got to cruise around and feel the Olympic spirit. I am big fan of the Olympics, like I have said. We grabbed lunch and headed to Manchester. Tomorrow we head to Ireland to start our documentary project there. The weather is perfect here. Peace

fly London, film in Ireland and England

OK I am packing my bags for a flight to London. I will be shooting 3 documentary projects-- Ireland, then back to Liverpool and then Manchester. Three episodes of Turning Point. Last night had a great night with my oldest kid, she did her first Laser race. Life if good. (oh yeah, The Clash one of my favorite bands, one of the best shows I have ever seen was the Clash at the Hollywood Palladium- Joe Strummer was the man RIP) Peace

Ranch Exit

"Ranch Exit" Fuel TV spot from Solpin Films on Vimeo.

Here is a blast from the past. This is Fuel TV spot from back in the day. I wrote and directed this spot. It was inspired by a kid I went to high school with that never wore underwear, he was a serious surfer, he always had his trunks on. It was also inspired by some rough neck farm kids I went to college with in Idaho that water-skied in irrigation ditches on the farms behind pickup trucks. Happy Tuesday, tomorrow I head to Europe for 3 documentary projects, I will let you know.

Usain Bolt

This is my favorite dude at the Olympics, I am swimmer and love to watch swimming---stroke and fitness perfection, but this Bolt guy, brilliant.

...plays like an art film

Watching these YouTube videos of sailing at the Olympic is cool. Hours of great sailing footage and no narrator telling you that the person's toe wasn't pointed or something like that. Very lovely to watch, I feel like I am watching an art film.

Optimist Sailboat

Sorry I am a bit annoying but here is another shot of my kid rocking the captain's hat on the Opti sailboat during Sailing Camp on Jordanelle near Park City, Utah.

downwind

Can't get enough of these snaps of my kid rocking the Opti sailboat at Park City Sailing Association's Summer Sailing Camp.

photo of the day

Hipstamatic snap of cool friends and neighbors. Oh yeah and they have the coolest house in our funky groovy town of Midway, Utah.

The Captain's Hat

I bought this hat in NYC a few weeks ago for the costume/dress-up box and no one can resist this goofy hat. My kid rocked it to Sailing Camp today. This is her 3rd year of sailing camp and she is looking great. Oh yeah while in New York City I was talking to a sailor and she knew all about the Park City Sailing Association, Super Cool, it is a great group, super fun. There are 2 week left of Sailing Camp and there is still room check out the PCSA's website.

brilliant examples of web videos

"Real Actors Read Yelp Reviews"-Web short? Creative treatment of reality? performance art? horseplay? or people just dorking around online doing cool stuff??? whatever...This is funny stuff. Thanks for the link- from an old student of mine, Sunny.

Creative Growth Art Center

Working with great artist like Chris Coy you get introduced to cool stuff everyday. Chris told me about a place called Creative Growth in Oakland, this place is amazing. Here is blurb from their web site. ABOUT: Creative Growth Art Center serves adult artists with developmental, mental and physical disabilities, providing a professional studio environment for artistic development, gallery exhibition and representation and a social atmosphere among peers. Here are some samples of their work:

Dan Miller

George Wilson

William Scott

Judith Scott (I had nothing to do with this or have I filmed them---but maybe someday---I Just think it is cool) Happy Thursday