Mid Summer: Where is 2016? /  by Aren Bjerke

Oofdah!

We are on month Seven and I'm freaking out. Well not really. Life has a way of doing what it wants. Although I have plans and goal for this year and I'm working on them, through those goals other things have sprouted and blossomed. 

Video has consumed me. My gaming channel has been a fun project that has really grown into something solid. It was a way to keep my self busy during the cold months with creative ideas. I think it worked, however I've grown obsessed with the show. Hell or high water, 8pm Central time every Wednesday. This week we were without power and had to borrow a backup generator to power enough devices to air our show! I love it. It's funny to scroll back even to April and see what we were doing then compared to what we are doing now and what we WANT to do here soon. 

With that power outage I took the time to test out the GoPro in situations you wouldn't normally stick a camera. I'll find out quick here if I got anything good from the monster that left us in the dark for a day. Could be great bonus content for the Ambient 4k page! Witch by the way, has over 8k views! We are so thrilled to see that number continue to climb and we hope we can keep seeing growth as we head into the back end of 2016.

Anyways, I leave you with a photo I took while we watched the storm perform for us Tuesday night. Thanks for reading, seen you soon. 

-Aren

Entering Spring /  by Aren Bjerke

Minnesota isn't a stranger to cold weather, nor is it a stranger to STRANGE weather. Last month we has a 60 degree Saturday and everyone lost their minds. That day has put spring into motion a bit. Although it's still cold out and currently snowing as I wright this, there is a presents of spring.

Now I'm no fool, up here, March plays out like the Wild West. It's the moody month full of fluctuating days. But things are moving forward! This weekend is on track for more beautiful weather and as a bonus, I'm off work! With any luck I'll get out there and try out my new toy, Gopro Hero 4 Black! :D I'm probably just going to film slow mo all day just to see it in action. But still could be fun!

Now, inside the house we have been hard at work with Godawful Gamers. Pretty sure we just finished our 9th episode yesterday. Other than the 1 minor technical hiccup at the beginning, it was on point last night. And the hiccup is kinda funny anyway. Here is last nights episode if you would like to check it out! These projects are a great challenge. We learn something new each week and come up with new ideas as we go along. It's also a cool lesson in social media and what works and why. 

That's all for now, figured I'd touch base with those who follow. See ya!

2016 and Rock N Roll /  by Aren Bjerke

I realized I totally skipped the holiday season in terms of posts, figured it was overdue. Unfortunately, the holiday season is a dry spot for me in terms of creativity. I spent much of it working and the remainder of time with family and of course, shopping. What was missed? I did take photos of family, for family. Pretty sure that's about it.

However that was also the time our awesome Yule Log videos accumulated a bunch of views and we set into motion a lot of what we needed for our Streaming Channel. As the time of this writing, we have 2,677 views over at Ambient 4K for our Yule Log videos. Although we were aiming for more, we are very pleased with the realistic turn out and we still notice continuous growth!

Godawful Gamers is the name of our new live stream channel we set off this year. It spawned from the random streams my roommate and I would film last year. We currently air every Wednesday at 8pm central time Here. And you can find the past recording on our Youtube Channel Here. We have a lot of fun making it and we push our selves every week to better the show while offering variety. My goal for that this adventure it consistency. 

Now with that all cooking, I'm using that momentum to take on 2016 harder than I did in 2015. The show is going great, and I went out last night to a local show to shoot photos. Something I've always wanted to do but have yet to try. Turned out great and I had a blast! It's always good to find new outlets of creativity and challenge myself on new things, subjects and locations.

The Night Before The Post /  by Aren Bjerke

So I've been meaning to post for a while now, But been super busy! As I type this blog, I am coming on my 12 hour of uploading a 120GB file to YouTube. I will finally be able to pull the curtain back on my "secret project" I've been planning and working on since early September. But more about that possibly tomorrow! (technically later this morning)

In streaming news, although I've been fairly inactive online, I'm not dead there either. I plan to set a weekly schedule here in the next couple weeks for Nick and myself to stream. I realize that random streams with little announcements are fun and all but don't really make way for our loyal fans! So with any luck we will have a set time and place, maybe a fancy logo or something. Who knows!

As for weddings, the recap of the wedding from this spring is up! As well as the photos of the lovely wedding I did early this fall. Both look fantastic! All that's left this year on this front is to work magic on the third and final wedding. All three have been such an experience for me and I'm honored to be asked to be apart of them. I can't wait to see what 2016 has in store!

I also have my first stock video up for sale! This was a side adventure when I rented the Black Magic Cinema 4k camera back in September. I figured if I could get a few good shots up, a download or two would really help with the costs of this creative adventure. you never know what kind of B roll film people might need for their project! Although I only have one up now, I hope to add a couple more here soon when time arises from that weekend. And possibly some HD shots down the road if all goes well! For now you can find my first clip here: http://www.videoblocks.com/video/A-View-Down-The-Creek-kw8L9Cd/

4K Filming Weekend! /  by Aren Bjerke

So last Tuesday I picked up my rental of a Blackmagic Cinema 4k camera. I only have it for the week so I had to put it to good use. The main reason for the rental will probably be revealed late next month, a fun little project my roommate and I thought of. However I use the extra time I had to shoot everyday things with it. It was a great chance to familiarize myself with some next level equipment, and possibly make some content. I have a Gillin' clip I plan to upload here soon just more as a test video more than anything. As well as a few shot I hope to submit to videoblocks.com to help pay for the rental.

I will say, shooting in 4k RAW is bananas. Literally 24 DNG photos per second. No container file for them all, just thousands of uncompressed frames. Moving, and doing anything with this much data is daunting, but with patients it should yield something cool! The Blackmagic software does show signs of being able to handle it all a bit better than my usual Adobe products. So I may also learn new software out of this too! I can't wait to share it all with you!

Looking West under the 494 bridge.

September Creativity /  by Aren Bjerke

Today I pick up my one week rental of the Blackmagic Cinema 4k camera. "Why?" You may ask. Simple, because I want to. My creative train has been rolling for a while now and I'd like to keep it going. I have one special use for it planned later this week, but other than that I plan to just film stuff with it! Mostly B reel stuff, possibly see if I could sell it to make some money back. There is a lack of 4k content and I hope to help change that. In the end, it's just an opportunity to mess around with it at a much lower risk than just buying one. But with any luck, I may pick up a camera of my own. 

I've also been on Twitch a lot more recently. My roommate and I have been going for a nostalgia trip and playing a classic Gameboy game. They say to be successful, you just got to make content. We have been reviewing each stream minutes after we finish and come up with a list of things we can do to improve for next time. It's exciting watching it all come together. With the most recent addition being a green screen, our little set up feels more official. More... Real. 

My roommate and friend helping me set up for our first green screen stream.

Weddings! /  by Aren Bjerke

My last vocal post on my page was very early this spring. I had left that note saying I was hoping for a great year, and hoped for time to devote to any creative ideas I may have. Although I've done a poor job updating it on here, I have been super busy. On the "Gig" front, I've had two wedding so far this year, a proposal plus another wedding next month. The first wedding was a video shoot. I shall have the recap of that posted on my site here soon. It went really well. I let my fears take control in a way to cover my bases and prevent any unrecoverable scenarios from happening. Since the gig was paid I was able to invest in some new gear, witch really brought the project to life. The final result was great! The couple was very happy, and now I have a demo copy for future projects. (As well as a few new toys) The thing I took away from this was that I should still take a few photos for cover art and scene purposes.

The second wedding was late this summer. It was a photo shoot. This was something I was more comfortable doing since I've taken way more photos than I have videos. However, it still had it's challenges and scares. But again, the end result was stunning. I had just gotten a new lens and it really pulled through for me. Great detail and color, really helped in the low light, and had a great range of zoom. The only times it failed me were when I needed a wider shot, and that can technically be blamed on my camera. What I learned from this event was that my backup camera could use a second battery and that I needed more memory cards! With memory cards being the bigger issue, and me trying to future proof my choices, I got a sweet memory card adapter that lets me use my SD cards in my older camera!

The proposal came a week after and ended up taking place near by where the second wedding had been. Up until a week ago, this area was foreign to me. The groom and I went out there days early to scout out the area and the timing of "The Question." Days later we pulled it off, as planned right at 5pm. No hiccups, no close calls. 15 minutes later with about 30 or so photos, I was done! The final collection can be viewed under the photos tab titled "David's Proposal."

With that all beings said, I'm really looking forward to the 3rd wedding. I have a bit more experience under my belt and an arsenal of new toys to enhance the experience not only for my customer, but for me as well.

The annual 4th of July Bash! /  by Aren Bjerke

For those of you who don't know, July 4th is a big deal to me. Each year for the last eight or so years have been filled with friends and good times. It has a way of reuniting old friends and creating surprises that make life more enjoyable. Last year I tried to capture some of its moments with photos. And although it worked, the photos could be very hit and miss. So this year I did a video. It was a fantastic holiday and I'm glad I got to see so many faces.