I have always admired the work of fine craftsmen. I have also lusted after great sounding guitars. So it was natural that I eventually sought out accomplished guitar builders. I met Brian Burns a few years ago when I thought I could become a guitar builder myself. I have since come to appreciate even more the experience, patience and attention to detail that a great builder must possess to hand-craft a great sounding guitar.
Rudy Giscombe recently died of prostate cancer but his legacy lives on in his many friends. Here is a sample of how he touched the lives of those who knew him well.
I have recently completed production on an 11-minute mini-documentary following the development and construction of phase 3 of Butte College’s solar project. This record setting project makes Butte College the first in the world to become “grid positive.” It was an exciting 2- year process being there from the start all the way through to the ribbon cutting and final commissioning of the arrays. Being a one-man-band, I enjoyed every step of the process from shooting to writing scripts to narrating and final editing.
I was honored to help Wendell Summers, the co-pilot for Admiral Byrd during his second antarctic polar expedition, assemble an hour long video documentary of his recollections of that historic adventure. Here is a clip from that story.
A friend of mine, Lou Mars, not only operates SmartWebSales.com, but he also is a professional drummer. In fact right now, he is attacking the world record for marathon drumming right here in Chico, CA. You can follow his progress and cheer Lou on here; http://www.ustream.tv/channel/lou-mars-world-record
Or check out some pics of his continuing attempt:
http://www.brianpetersonphotography.com/Client_Proofs/Lou_Mars_Record/
The drum set on the right (the gray one) will be raffled off at the end of the attempt. Tickets are only one dollar and all proceeds will go to the charity Little Kids Rock, an organization that gives instruments and music lessons to needy children.
California State Parks contacted me to help them develop a promotional video to use in their new visitor center that would give visitors with limited mobility a good sense of the beauty of the falls without making the steep walk to the bottom. The project soon broadened into a general look at the history of the immediate and surrounding areas. I used a small crew to provide lighting and grip work as I was using my 21-foot crane and EFP Steadicam for many of the setups. The video was mass replicated and has become one of their top sellers.
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Solar arrays continue to pop up throughout the Northstate. I was commissioned to shoot a series of images for Chico Electric and Mitsubishi Electric today of two new arrays on the Butte College campus. This campus is now the most solarized community college in the state.
As the panels below are mounted on an angled scaffolding that is already about 8-feet off the ground, this shot required the use of my 21-foot camera crane to get an angle that showed off the project.
- Butte College water treatment facility solar array
During the past couple of weeks I had the pleasure to again work in news with ex-colleague and friend, Debbie Cobb from Action News here in Chico. I produced a short three part news series from the footage I’ve acquired during the past 18 months documenting solar installations here in Northern California, the main one, of which was the record-setting rooftop array installed at the Sierra Nevada Brewery by Chico Electric. The first part aired tonight and the following two nights will feature parts two and three.
Local up and coming drummer, Lou Mars, is getting propular. Lou recently came in first place in the national, Drum Your Way to Hollywood contest. From the notoriety gained from that exposure, Lou was asked to provide a demo tape to see if he would be a good fit for an upcoming Hollywood music video with a 1950’s feel. Instead of simply doing a straight drum demo, Lou and I decided to go one (make that five) steps further and create our own music-video-within-a-demo-video. I brought in my 21-foot camera crane to provide cinematic opening and closing shots, used my broadcast HD video cameras, and used lighting that mimicked that of a Hollywood set. Short story is, Lou’s incredible talent and showmanship got him the gig and the “demo” video was deemed so good, the producers actually cut many shots into the final music video. Check it out!
I’ve been following the solar array installation at the Sierra Nevada Brewery since it began in October of 2007 for inclusion in a documentary on solar energy in the north state. When completed, the rooftop array will be the largest privately owned array on a commercial facility in the country. This morning, solar panels were being installed on one of the few remaining roofs that still are not making power. But the crews from Chico Electric, the contractor installing the record-setting array, get going before sunrise. So that meant it was up at 4:40 this morning to load both photo and video equipment, get down to Chico, and bum a lift up to the tall roof by 6:00am. The smell of hops while watching the sun come up over the Sierra Nevada mountains is an experience I won’t soon forget.
- Solar Sunrise