New Office Furniture

Okay, so everyone has been asking me what happened to my office furniture. Well, here's my new office! On the back desk is a Windows machine and on the front desk is my new MacBook Pro and a Powerbook G4 that I use to make time-lapse films. I connect my Nikon D200 or a D70s directly to the G4 via a USB cable and use Nikon's software to control the camera. I'd like to point out one final thing. My desks and bookcase were designed and built by me. They were not kits. I built them from solid, marine grade plywood. This is the same type of plywood used to make cabinets on yachts. I applied heavy duty black formica to the desktops and stained the rest.

Rob Sunrise

This is what Rob does when he's worked all night and returns home at 7:30am. Actually I filmed a short time-lapse but I'm going to incorporate it into some additional footage. This is all you get for today. Deal with it.

Ocean Moonlight Time-lapse

What does Robert do when the moon is full and he can't sleep? He sits on the beach with his camera and tripod and watches the moonlight and clouds over the ocean. Today's image is the last frame of a 2 hour time-lapse sequence. There was a strong breeze from the southeast and the clouds were moving quickly, even in real time. Other than being resized for this page, the image appears exactly as it was shot and has not been adjusted. The exposure is ISO 400, F4 @ 18 seconds, using a Nikon D200 and 12-24mm ED IF DX Nikkor lens. As it says below, this photo was taken at 2:26am. The illumination is all from the full moon overhead. Notice the stars in the background.

The original footage is HD 1920 x 1080 but here's the YouTube version:

Downsizing?

Yes, this is my office. No, my company isn't downsizing. I'm getting all new furniture tomorrow and I needed to clear out the old stuff. We're actually planning to open our New York City office soon. =)

Hiro's Sashimi Salad

It was another Sunday night and I was in Miami, working on web sites like BudgetVideo.com. Around midnight, my friend David either makes some raw food or we go to Hiro's Yakko-san. Tonight, David was busy so I went to Hiro's by myself. My photo of the day is Hiro's sashimi salad, made with organic field greens, avocado, daikon radish, cherry tomatoes, sprouts, and thin slices of whatever fresh fish is available. Everything is raw of course.

Raw Chocolate

Tonight I made a batch of raw, 100% organic chocolate bars. Raw you ask? How does that work? Well, here's my recipe:

1/4 cup raw, organic agave
1/2 cup raw, organic almond butter, smooth
1 tbsp. raw, organic coconut oil
1/2 cup David Wolfe's raw, organic cacao powder (plus more as needed)

Pour the agave into a mixing bowl. Add the almond butter and the coconut oil. The raw coconut oil will be a white paste at room temperature because it hasn't been boiled and refined. Mix in 4 tablespoons of raw cacao powder. Stir until completely smooth. Keep adding more cacao until the mixture is about as thick as dough. Form the mixture into cookie size "bars" and place on a flexible tray suitable for the freezer. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn and place in the freezer for about an hour.

Once frozen, they're perfect. You can keep them in the freezer indefinitely but whenever I make them, they don't last long. Believe it or not, these chocolate bars are actually good for you! They're "choc" full of antioxidants, magnesium, and more! Watch this short video where David Wolfe talks about the nutritional benefits of the unprocessed cacao bean...

Minivan Crash on A1A

No, I didn't crash! I was driving home from Miami just before sunrise as I usually do on Monday mornings. When I reached A1A and Sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale, I saw a couple of police cars parked in the middle of the street with their lights on. It was 6am and the sun was just starting to create an orange glow on the horizon. It was quiet. There was no traffic yet. I pulled over to the side of the road and started shooting pictures of the scene. There was no ambulance and no signs of any injuries. Both airbags in the minivan were deployed. Maybe the driver had already been taken to the hospital or maybe he fled on foot. I thought it was odd that police cars were blocking the entrance to Birch State Park, which is just to the right of where I'm standing. News Helicopters arrived and circled above. By the time I left, morning traffic was being diverted away from the scene. People heading south on A1A were forced to turn around and head back north. Luckily I was already inside of the road blocks and continued home to write this blog. =)

Nikon D200, ISO 400, F4 @ 1/60