Gilles Luka - I can believe

Did a low budget french music video for an artist named 'Gilles Luka'. Brett and I did steadicam all day with a 7D. Cool track and really nice people. I got a few pictures (as usual taken by Brett) with the model boxers and a former cruiser weight champion.... I think I can probably take him :D

I leave tomorrow for Jamaica to do a Rihanna music video with Anthony Mandler. I get home on the 2nd and leave from the airport and drive to Atlanta to shoot a NASCAR crash with Artie for a TV show called 'Necessary Roughness'. Should get some good pictures to upload when I get back on the 6th.

Busy 30 days!

Where to start... This may have been the busiest 30 days of my life. I probably worked (or traveled) close to 500 hours in the last month or so.

I was shooting the second unit (and day playing on first unit) of the Charlies Angles pilot. We shot mostly hard nights. Around the same time, Burn Notice started season 5 and I started shooting second unit there as well. I also did some under water work for the Burn Notice season 5 promos. There were a few music videos, some commercials, the television stuff and finally Wrestle Mania 27 in Atlanta.

Most of the work was with Brett and the new addition (from the old school) to the team Greg. Greg was in California and Costa Rica for the last few years and came back to Miami just at the right time. It was so busy in town that there were a few days that we literally could not find an available crew member to fill several positions.

Every thing went well and we have a ton of kick ass footage for a bunch of different clients. Aside from being tired we all had a great time and a good amount of fun. I made a quick slide show with a few pictures from the various shoots (mostly taken by Brett).

Coming up this month we have some more Burn Notice, another music video or two and yet another trip to Atlanta. This one is with Artie for a Nascar sequence for a television show. Further down the road it looks like Charlies Angles is going to shoot a season of the show here in Miami and shoot a couple of days of second unit per episode.

In the next few months we also have HBO/Stars doing 'Magic City' and Warner Brothers doing 'Rock of Ages' staring Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway and a host of other 'Big Stars'. Looks like Miami is going to stay busy for the foreseeable future.

Ikelite Underwater Housing

Just got a new Ikelite underwater housing for the Canon 5D. The little guy totally kicks but. It takes all of about 2 minutes to set up the camera and make it ready to dive and about 45 seconds to change a lens. It's rated for 200+ feet and it is so small you hardly notice it's there. Not to mention, every single function of the camera is available while it's in the housing.

The timing on this purchase was no accident. Less than 2 weeks after I got it, I've used it for 2 days on the Charlies Angles Pilot and a day for Burn Notice promos, it's almost paid for itself already.

I've been shooting second unit for Charlies Angles and it's going great. It looks like they will come back in June and do the first season of the show, go South Florida. Burn Notice (and The Glades) starts today and I have my first day of Burn Notice second unit on Friday.... 5 seasons and still going.

Next week Brett, Greg and I are off to Atlanta for Wrestlemania 27. We did 24 in Tampa a few years ago and it was the definition of a 'Big Show'. People fly in from all over the world (Russia, Japan, etc.) and pay as much as ten grand for a floor seat! Look for some pictures from Atlanta next week.

Ford Focus Rally

Been working a bit on a new show for the internet, Ford Focus Rally. It's streaming, real time and interactive by the people that do Amazing Race. It's been pretty cool stuff. We worked at Homestead Speedway and up in Macon Georgia. The crew does a few other locations and then I may meet up with them again on the West Coast.

The host is none other than Jonny Moseley, Olympic snow skiing bad ass. He's a super cool (as you might expect) dude and seems to be having a good time hosting the show. I've always been good at flashing the instant uber cheesy 'big smile' when a camera gets pointed at me but I think Jonny has me beat.

The rally cars are actually stock Ford Focuses with some extra cool gfx. I wonder why Ford doesn't offer show room cars that look like this. If I was going to buy a Focus, I'd want it to look like this:

Home Again

Season 2.5 of Make it or Break it has come to an end. I had a great time and got to work with a great crew. Mikey and Jill got to spend some quality time with my West Coast family and I got to do come cool stuff and meet some great people.


I also got to work with several amazing people including Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci (who hold a total of 11 Olympic medals, 7 of them gold).


I also had a chance to have a mini high school reunion with some of my closest friends from South High.

I even managed to get in a day of snow boarding with my brother and a couple of days at the indoor gokart racing track with Kurt.

It was a fantastic trip and a great job but I'm glad to be home in Miami.

2011 here I come!

The toughest man alive

'Make It Or Break It' is going great. I have what can only be described as a kick ass crew. Greg Barnett is our stunt coordinator and the other day we had a boxing sequence. We needed a stunt guy referee and Greg just happens to know 'Judo Gene Le Bell, the toughest man alive' http://www.genelebell.com/.

We had him at the gym set and I had the chance to hear some war stories from one of the original cage fighters. Gene is such a nice guy and so fun to hang out with. The only problem was I wanted to spend my day learning some new MMA techniques instead of shooting our TV show. All of the fighters wanted pictures with Gene and he was nice enough to pose until we all got a shot. Greg's wife Barbie took this shot of me. Gene was only posing for a picture but he still put some power into his choke hold. If he had put any real effort into it he would have choked me out in seconds........

Atlanta and a short visit home

Before I agreed to do 'Make it or break it' I had told Artie and Tim that I would shoot the second unit car chase sequence on a Pilot in Atlanta. So when I signed up for MIOBI I told them I would have to leave for 2 days for the prior commitment.

I had also scheduled in a long weekend so I could see Jill and Mike. I ended up merging the two together so after the second day of shooting in Atlanta, I caught a late flight home on Thursday night. I got to spend all day Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday with my family. We went to My Gym, swim lessons and the water park.

I'm at the airport now waiting to get on my flight back to LA. This time however, I only have 14 days until Jill and Mikey move out to LA with me for the next 7 weeks! Jill is looking forward to having some time off of work (something she hasn't had since I've known her) and all the West Coast family is looking forward to having my family a bit closer for a change.

7am call tomorrow at the stage and I woln't get in until midnight, good thing it's only a 3 minute drive.