M1: Chapter 1

ed:The video was removed for a day because I was asked by senior staff to do a quick edit. It is now back on Youtube. 

We have now posted M1: Chapter 1 on Youtube for Rush University Medical Center. Shot with Nikon D800, along with some GlideTrack movement.

M1: A student's journey through medical school

We got the Year In The Life project posted on YouTube today. This is the preview for the project. Chapter 1 is in the can and will be posted in several days. This footage was shot entirely with a Nikon D800, usually on a monopod.

U.S. Navy Blue Angels in Chicago

I had the pleasure of spending last friday morning with a few members of the United States Navy Blue Angels. The team was in Chicago for the Air & Water show, the largest such show in America. Well over 2 million spectators lined the shore of Lake Michigan for the 2 day weekend show. But they had a little time on friday to spread some goodwill for sick kids at Rush University Medical Center. The original plan was to get still photos of the Blue Angels with the kids, and I was to get a nice group shot of the team with a U.S. flag backdrop like I did for the Olympians. But due to their tight schedule, my colleague got the stills with the kids and I got simultaneous video footage. We didn't have time for the group portrait. I editided a quick video package that afternoon.

I shot the footage with the new Nikon D800, 24-70 mm lens, auto white bal. I edited the piece with Adobe Premiere 5.5. Exported the file as a mp4.

Tomorrow...Steve earns his wings

So, readers might recall my Olympic medals shot from a couple weeks ago. Tomorrow, it looks like a go for a Blue Angels pilots shot. They are in town for the Chicago Air & Water show and doing some goodwill visits while here. I am going to try to something with paper airplanes!

Stay tuned.

Year in the Life M1 video

We began gathering footage for the Rush University "Year in the Life of an M1 (1st year medical school)" video doc. I think it went very well. It was new student orientation day on the campus.  I edited together a 25 sec "coming attraction" preview piece. I have to run it by some admins on Tuesday for the green light. I will link to it if/when it is approved.

The first day footage was entirely with th Nikon D800. We also did a short interview session with Joe in the studio with some glide track action. Lighting was ambient fluorescent with 2 led panels with green gels for color balance.

Next Project Begins Tomorrow

This week, I will start a new long term project for Rush University Medical Center. I (along with my colleague Lauren) will begin documenting a Year in the Life of a Rush medical student. We already have a student who has agreed to the project-Joe. He is from California and seems like a good subject to work with. I spoke to Joe today and he really is looking forward to the process. We plan to work with him around once or twice a month. We want to learn about his experiences on campus and even around Chicago. We hope to shoot footage with him in class and out. This will turn into around a 10 minute video at the end of the school year (summer 2013).
Someone asked me if we will follow Joe all 4 years of medical school. I said, "Lets not get ahead of ourselves. We will take it one year at a time."
We have also been asked to turn some of the monthly footage into highlight reels for the Rush University website. I will link to the highlights here as we progress.
We will be shooting with Nikon D800 and Panasonics (with Sony wireless lavs) depending on the situations.
Video shooting begins 08/08 with new student orientation.

Steve Wins gold!

This afternoon I had the pleasure of working with 4 former Olympic athletes. They were all swimmers from various years of summer Games. We took lots of photos with some ill children in a Chicago area medical center. These folks were great with the kids, spending time with any who welcomed the visit. Then we went to my studio and did a nice group shot in front of a large U.S. flag, and they kindly let me rock their Olympic Medals for a bit. This was for a wonderful organization called Swim Across America. They raise money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment.

Thank you-Olympians! It was a great day.

Craig Beardsley, Janel Jorgenson McArdle, Jamie Rauch, Christine Magnuson

Senator Richard Durbin receives photograph

Renently, Illinois U.S. Senator Richard Durbin was presented with a photograph I took of the new Tower on the Rush University Medical Center campus.