SilverKottage

On Sunday 18th July 2010, I was at the Brighton Saddleworld Dressage NSW Young Rider Championships 2010.

There, I filmed some young riders in the Preliminary Horse 1C and 1D at Arena 1A and 1B, Sponsored by the McCarroll Group.

Below is a shortened sample of what I filmed.

On the day, I managed to film the following riders and their horse:

Preliminary Horse 1C

Preliminary Horse 1D

If you would like to purchase a DVD of your test, please email me at bernardlau@silverkottage.com.au or call me on 0413 593 838.

A DVD is $35.00 plus postage and handling (around $3 in NSW).
A digital copy of your test is also available at the same price.

With Avatar making all the waves in 3D, how can Canon let Panasonic be the only one with a 3D camera.

Now you can shoot like James Cameron!

In their line of professional grade DSLRs, Canon has just announced the Canon 3D. Which… shoots in 3D HD. Full specs haven’t been given out yet, but from the looks of it, it should be 1.5x wider than the 5D/7D.

It’s a pity that it’s a dual lens system instead of a single lens that branches to two. But I guess the reason for that is so that people don’t have to invest in brand new lenses… they just need to get a duplicate lens, or shoot the same focal length at the same aperture… with two different lenses.

To really push a shoot to the extreme, try not eating or drinking for 24 hours and then film an event at the beach. Make sure that the event is running 30 mins late and you have to stand in the hot sand for that whole time.

Zappa zappa zappa!

Good thing I sat down before I had to shoot, or else I really would’ve collapsed with thousands of people watching… lol.

From the words of the Fuhrer himself:

The last Downfall parody that Phillip Bloom will make about Canon’s relentless onslaught of HDDSLR awesomeness.

Canon 550D, the 7D killer

The Canon 550D is the successor to the Canon 500D, an entry level DSLR that can now shot…. 1080p in 24, 25 and 30 fps and 720p in 50 and 60 fps. That’s Canon 7D territory!

I guess this is what happens with technology. You buy the latest computer then 6 months later, there’s another one that’s half the price and just as good.

Am I sad? No. It’s great that it’s cheap. I’m sure a lot of my friends will get it, so I’ll be able to borrow it as a B camera. Maybe if it’s real cheap, I’ll even get it as a back up.

In the end, the body can only do so much, it’s all about the lens… or at least, that’s what I thought until I saw the diff between full frame and crop sensors in low light…

 
Some say, Smurf berries can power the school for months!

By now, most of the entire world would’ve watched Avatar already. Or else, their $1.4B sales are from the fanboys.

I have a secret to tell you that might make you go blue.

I’m not going to comment too much on the film, since I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about it. What I do want to say is that I enjoyed the film and it’s 3D use is very subtle. Revolutionary in that after a while, you’re not aware of the change in depth.

James Cameron is excellent in his main genre of Sci Fi Action. Even if people do say the story is a cliche, I think it’s fine as new audiences, particularly the teens, would not go watch Dances with Wolves, Pochahontas or Fern Gully.  Actually, even I haven’t seen any of those films. The one film that Cameron’s Avatar most similar to me is The Last Samurai, but at least that film was more heroic and Cruise’s character was captured by his enemy instead.

If we were CGI, we’d get to make love on screen.

Now, everyone is hoping for an Avatar sequel… which really, won’t be about Avatars. Unless the Na’vi can jack in and take over other creatures’ bodies. The most logical followup story would either be A) The humans invade Pandora with Star Destroyers and a Death Star or B) We delve deeper into Pandora and it’s dark secrets and past.

Actually, if you think about it, the scene where all the tribes team up is basically 10,000 BC.

What should Cameron’s next film be?

 
Probably not World of Warcraft… Cameron doesn’t want Raimi’s dirty seconds and people would just mistake it for Avatar2.

I recently watched the new trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Unlike a lot of people, I’ve known the new film is a live action contuation of Disney’s 2D animation adventure in Wonderland.

The mouse called and said we’re not going to be in the sequel.

Back then, this movie was way too trippy for me. Smoking caterpillars, invisible cats and screaming queens with flamingos as polo clubs.

And you know what? Tim Burton’s is just as trippy. I just hope that they’ll be some surprises in the film as judging from the trailer, it seems very similar to Prince Caspian.

Didn’t I see this garden somewhere before?

Trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. CHANGE PLACES!

If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t update for a while (not that I update often anyways…), I’ve been on a trip to Brunei and as soon as I got back pre Christmas, my family took over a restaurant in Chatswood, Sydney Australia.

It’s Modern Australian. At the moment, we’re still adjusting some nook and crannies with the new team. But I’ve got high hopes that the place will hit it off on the North Shore.