As I've gotten deeeper into my career as a professional skateboarder who is forced to film himself due to a lack of support from the industry (as well as having crippling anxiety, a testy demeanor and basically 0 friends), I've encountered certain challenges when it comes to stacking footage.
Here's the deal: I believe myself to be a talented photographer.
I had a mentorship from an esteemed skateboard photographer when I was in high school and I was the Editor-In-Chief of my high school newsmagazine, a postion that was very photo-heavy. I did recurring features for each issue where I would shoot rolls of students and profile aspects about them, including: a skater of the month, a page that showcased a particular student's fashion style, a collection of portraits, etc. I even won various awards in photo contests in my county growing up.
I know composition, I know framing, I know lighting, I know to make sure to show where the skater's coming from and where he's landing. I know all that shit, tough guy, as it pertains to skate photography.
But here I am at 38 years old, on the cusp of really breaking out as a professional skater, with a pro-model shoe on the way, etc., and after basically giving up the camera to focus on my writing abilities for the past two decades, I have been forced to move from behind the lens to right smack dab front and center in front of it. And I'm doing it dolo.
So, in addition to basically being s.o.l. when it comes to filming lines, I have also noticed this one problem when it comes to framing shots of me, albeit on a cell phone camera:
Now, maybe most of my skate photography as a youth was of undeveloped kids and otherwise vertically-challenged ppl, but I am a reasonably tall drink of water (over 6 feet) and -- although I have been told that it is always better to stack footage that is horizontal/landscape style and NOT vertical/portrait (aka dad-cam style), maybe for including it in a video, it's better that way, which makes sense -- invariably, I have to move the camera further back from the obstacle if I want to shoot horizontally without having my head taken of in-frame.
No big deal, you might say.
Well, moving the camera further back then does not ideally capture the gnarlyness of the trick (generally the heighth of the obstacle). The moving back of a mere foot or two can turn a really dope looking trick into some run-of-the-mill, amateur hour shit.
So, what do I need, either equipment or technique-wise, in order to be able to film myself in landscape mode and get my whole body in the shot, not look like Ichabod Crane, and still have the trick seem as impressive as possible?
Do I need a fish-eye adaptor? Do I need to hunch lower on my slides and grinds? Am I just fucked and relegated to dad-cam footage for life? Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.
Topic: Manute Bol Dudes Post Up Here... (Read 523 times)