Did Anyone Miss Me? I Missed Me

NOTE:  This blog has been cross posted with my new Blogspot account.  You can visit the blog there at www.PhotoLynch.com/blog

Hello there everybody!   I am sorry for disappearing on you all.   I've been going through some really serious life changing times in the past few months and am currently still going through them.   There was a time when one of my friends... a good friend,  I won't name any names, told me that I should not make my blog so personal.   I took his advice.... but in doing that I found that I came up with far less things to discuss.  In my keeping it short and simple... I kind of lost what I wanted this blog to be about.   I don't really see it as an advertising piece, but as a chronicle of my life and struggles, discoveries, and beauties I found.

So I have decided.... I must come back to this blog and retake it as my own.  In all honesty, I don't care if you don't read my posts, or if they are too long for you.  This is my thing and I want to fill it with good, honest to god, content that is from my soul.  In doing that, let me explain in a short not so descriptive version of what has been going on with my life.

Basically this entire Summer 2010 has been hell for me.  I have been going through a ton of family troubles and am now going through the Divorce process.  As you all know, I am a father to a beautiful little girl named Madison and now must take over as only single parent for awhile.  Without going into details about my wife, it is her story to tell if she wishes, I can say she has been going through some very rough dark times in her life.  I love her and wish her the best.

Unfortunately, with my stress levels on the ultra high, dealing with all these issues, and adjusting and coping with everything changing I have hardly had time to do much of anything.  August has actually picked up a lot for me and I'm feeling a lot better for myself, but things have been changing.   I have not had time for business of any kind.  I did 1 photo session for a Maternity client all Summer.  That was it.  Because of the sensitive nature of Maternity Sessions, I will not be sharing the photographs with all of you at this time.   Instead let me tell you some exciting news.

As I announced back around the end of May / June I was hired by www.BurbankNBeyond.com which is owned by the former Editor in Chief of The Burbank Times (local paper I used to work for).  He asked me to come on board and do some Freelancing for local news stories.  It was fun, but when the Schools all let out for Summer a lot of the events in Burbank just go dead.  This happens every year unfortunately.  Something about the relationship with the Schools and weather changes this town.   This was ok, because that is when my own troubles started up.  At the end of July though, that is when something interesting happened.

I was out one evening, actually visiting a friend at the hospital when a message went out.  We get these text message / email alerts when a "Full Emergency Response" is issued in Burbank.  In this case it was for a commercial fire up town.  Normally 9/10 of these alerts end up being false alarms i.e. Food on the Stove, Over Heating Ballasts, Electric Shorts, etc.  About 10 minutes later I get a call from the Editor.  He tells me there is a huge commercial fire up-town and to respond to it if I can.  He was stuck at another event and could not cover it.  I didn't have time to run home and get my 5d Mark II, but I had my G11 on me and jumped in the car.  I got up to this huge plume of smoke that was potentially toxic / hazmat. I Got up-wind from it and started shooting.  Halfway through the fire, I decided... this would make a great little video.  All I had was my 720p iPhone 4, my headset for it, and my G11 and an idea.  Here is the video that re-opened quiet a few doors for me this past month.



Hope you enjoyed that little video, it was fun making it and impressed a lot of people that I was able to do that with the basically pocket sized tools.  In the end, it's not the equipment you use... they are just tools,  It's the story you tell that matters.

Because of that video, I was then asked by the Editor to become the Video Editor and do all the videos for the site.  I have now gone back into editing and filming and I am building together my 5d Video Rig.  It's really a cool thing... can get very expensive, but I'm enjoying it a lot.   I am also picking up some Editing Freelance work on the side referred by Photography acquaintances that do not do Video.  That brings me to where I am now... I'm not sure how much still photography I will keep doing as I move more into the video / mixed realm, but I do plan on sharing it all with you guys.  I have also thought about starting a new blog / site all about video where I can showcase and talk about and review products, DIY gear, etc.  Either way it looks like it will be fun... I'm also trying to plan some travel for this year so I can see some beautiful places, meet interesting people, and capture amazing photographs and videos.

Thank You everybody for reading.  I'm leaving you with a few of the videos I have been editing.  I even filmed on one of them (Be Bop In the Park) look for my name in the credits.

ENJOY!