Megan and I headed up to nearby Roan Mountain for their annual Rhododendron Festival this weekend (happens to be the locale of our first date). Megan was toting the still camera up the mountain and I decided to take the video camera in hopes of shooting some stock footage of the Rhododendron in bloom. Unfortunately the blooms were unimpressive and not really worth capturing this time. However, I was able to capture a butterfly flying around.

I was experimenting shooting in HDV and anxious to see the results. Here is a few seconds of the footage I threw together. I also was experimenting with the new compression H.264 Anyway take a look and see the difference, I was pretty pleased with the experiment.

This past week I had a video shoot and had the awesome opportunity to take flight in a helicopter thanks to my friend Alan. He asked where I wanted to go and I immediately said lets fly over Bristol Motor Speedway. One problem, I didn’t have a still camera and my video cameras were being used for the real video shoot taking place. Thanks to Sara, who just started working with me, for letting me use her still camera to take the pics. I guess she is already due for a raise

I sent some of the pics to Bristol Motor Speedway, and they are using one of them on their web site today for the picture of the day so check it out today if you get a chance. Otherwise it will probably be gone since is titled picture of the “day” and not picture of the “month” Just in case here is snapshot. The credit line should actually say: Helicopter provided by Alan Bracken, Camera provided by Sara Manny, and thumb to push the button on the camera provided by Kyle Long.

I have to admit that I use Facebook. It is probably the #1 tool that I use for procrastination. They just recently came out with a new feature that allows people to add custom applications. One such application is called Hotlist which allows you to add logos for all of your favorite things. So needless to say I was able to waist away a full morning playing around with this.

I find it fascinating how many things we recognize just by a simple logo and all the things that are associated with it. I am sure this is a dream for anyone studying marketing and demographics. Here is a look at my hotlist. Next time someone asks me to describe the things i like i think i will just use this.

My friend Steven James just had his video trailer released for his new book The Pawn. I had an awesome time editing this one.

Steven is a great storyteller and his new book is sure to be full of suspense. Sorry I can’t give away the thrilling secrets, just be sure to check it out in bookstores starting Sept. 1st. Also, everyone who is super cool and nice will watch it on youtube and vote for it helping him with the promotion. Thanks

Here is a recent video for Bracken Paving promoting theirCourts for Kids program.