The hunting industry as it relates to production is changing and changing in a good way.  Over the last couple years there has been a marked improvement in the quality of story and effort people are putting into their work to share why hunters are so passionate about a life outdoors.  Over the last couple years three of our friends have been killing themselves to push the envelope even further.  Donnie Vincent and his crew of two Kyle Nickolite and William Altman have just released the trailer for their first installment.  The Rivers Divide is a story that will hit home with any bowhunter and many that are not as the overall message to me is one of persistance and moving towards a goal.  Here is the trailer if you haven’t caught it yet

No sense in spending anytime talking about Donnie as the Sitka Insight Blog just posted a tremendous write up,

http://www.sitkagear.com/blog/2013/04/25/Athlete-Insider-Donnie-Vincent.aspx

His soldiers Kyle and William are a team that are incredibly rare.  Either one of them would thrive in any production environment.  Kyle is barnone the best editor I have ever met.  His attention to subtle details and the implication of a sequence is incredible.  His job is obviously completely dependent on what William hands him and he is getting passed golden nuggets.  William is a boss with a camera either shooting stills or video.

What they are doing is special.  Do whatever you can to get yourself in front of this film when it starts running in the Full Draw Film Tour.

While walking through Wal Mart the other day Dustin noticed a promotional poster for the feature film Les Miserables.  He said man that girl looks like Kimber!  It was hauntingly similar.  A moment later I thought what a great challenge!  In one hour shoot+retouch try and mimic the portrait.  Studying others work and making an attempt at breaking down their lighting scheme based on the image is truly fun for me.  Based on the poster to me it was obvious they used one light to create the image.  Many light modifiers would work but to me it looked like a beauty dish.  I have no idea if that is true but its what we used in our shoot.  Its definately not an exact replica with the eyes being the weakest part of my image but man in one hour its amazing what can be accomlished.  I am thankful to have a little beautiful model right here in my house to help us learn and push ourselves.  The modeling fee was one new barbie doll  She’s worth it!

Matt

Recently we once again had the opportunity to work with our good friends out of Wichita.  Burly studios gave us a call to shoot second unit on a film they were commissioned to make for Beechcraft.  The job was ambitious and the deadline even more so.  We had two days to gather enough assets to make Beechcraft and it’s employees proud.  The company truly is remarkable, with buildings so big it makes sense to ride a bike across them and aircraft that more resemble artwork than a flying machine we were like kids in a candy store.  Visual interest in every direction is a simple way to describe it.  The finished product is amazing and we are proud to be a part of this film.  We want to thank the director Chad McClure for once again letting us do what we love and get paid for it.  Take time to watch the video below.  Its worth it!

Early in the week Dustin and I had the pleasure  of again collaborating with Burly Studios.  This time on a national commercial spot.  While we have been working in the media industry for a couple years now this shoot was no question a new experience for us.  This shoot was what I like to call “A Real Set”.  Makeup, trailers, actors, grip/electric crew, and a designated director “Chad”.  A totally new world for the Rockhouse crew.  Normally we are lighting, set designing, scouting, shooting, and oh yeah getting our own coffee.  To say it was awesome is an understatement.  It was truly remarkable to see a group of 20 people all handling their skillset without direction.  It was a living machine.  People everywhere all with a unique task, aimed at creating a spot that everyone is proud to put their name on.  We are truly thankful for the people that our careers have put us on a collision course with.  We hope everyone is having a great winter!

Matt and Dustin

Last night the crew loaded up and travelled all of 1/4 mile to my brothers shop to shoot some stills for his website.   We decided to try something different for our lighting setup.  While normally we would take strobes to something like this,  instead we loaded up two 1k tungstens and a small cheap LED.  We wanted to create a soft large key using the 1k’s bounced into a 6×6 white and the LED simply for a rim light.  My opinion of using this setup for run and gun stills.  WIN  The only drawback is the time to change locations is greater due to the big bounce, c stands, and light stands.  Strobes are faster no doubt but having the ability to look at the scene and actually see the light is really great.  Oh and you don’t have to watch strobes fire 600 times in a couple hours which is much more comfortable for the subject and the shooters.

Today marked the final day of Duck season in Kansas.  No better way to close out the season than to crush drakes at 160fps.  Zach White and Aaron Hitchins invited Dustin and I to come with them for a hunt that we will never forget.  Zach and Aaron are pro guides for their business Prairie Thunder Outfitters and spend the entire fall guiding clients, a dream come true for many avid waterfowlers without a doubt.  The amazing thing is that Zach and Aaron, while living a life under decoying waterfowl, have never really just hunted together for the sake of their own enjoyment.  To go out with no clients, expectations, or stress and just call and decoy birds to their own guns.  When Dustin and I were invited to one of their favorite spots we jumped at the opportunity. The early morning brought mist and fog and reservations about taking the EPIC with with us but the risk was worth it.  The clouds cleared, the fog rose, and the ducks came bombing in.  We limited with three guys and the imagery is just what we have been after for a long time.  Today we rode the backs of true waterfowl professionals and realized images that we can’t wait to share in the future.

Dustin and Matt  (Rockhouse)

After arriving back home from a recent trip I realized I missed two things.  First and foremost my kiddos and secondly it’s been awhile since I created an image just for the sake of learning.  So I figured an easy solution to solve both would be spend time with the little monsters and my camera.  The idea revolved around funny enough my kids running away  Not that they would because they love their daddy so much but the idea makes me laugh.  8 images and a couple hours retouching and this is what I came up with.  My models did charge me though a trip to the store for chocolate.  Cheap enough for now  Composite photography is a huge passion of mine as no story is impossible.  The imagination can run wild and the limitations of modern photography are solvable.  I hope everyone is having a great winter!

Matt

Over the last couple years Dustin and I have done a bit of traveling.  British Columbia to South Africa and too many states in between to list.  Our work puts us in some extraordinary places.  We are grateful for the clients and friends that have given us the oppurtunity to experience this world.  All the long days and short nights are worth it.  Our hope is this reel lights a fire inside of people and gets them outside.  I love the saying “Live like a Lion”  Being a carnivore for life is the only way to live.  We hope everyone is having a great winter!

Matt and Dustin

Rockhouse has been fortunate enough to change things up over the last month. Typically we spend our time capturing the moments that we are most familiar with in big game hunting, but over the past couple weeks our cameras have been pointed to the skies. Our mission was to fill the lenses with waterfowl. Hunting with both Prairie Thunder Outfitters in Central Kansas and Green Tree in Southern Arkansas has definitely been a treat and made that goal easy to achieve. We gained new friends and found more fascination in the outdoors. Not to mention how excited we were to see new parts of this beautiful country. Thank you to all that were involved. It was a pleasure and we can’t wait for you to see the final product.

Dustin and Matt