Tag: Ross Ching

Ross Ching

Ross and I have known each other via the Internet for a few years. Until this evening we’d never met.

While Stef and Helaine were bowling tonight (Ray Romano. Next lane. “Oddly attractive in designer jeans,” reports Stef) I was driving to Westwood to meet Ross Ching. I am a fan.

Ross and I have known each other via the Internet for a few years. Until this evening we’d never met.

I marvel at his meticulous work in time lapse. His videos have been seen millions of times online. He is the master of this genre and smart enough to see he has to keep ahead of the pack.

Smart is the part of Ross that’s most impressive. He has a better ‘big picture’ view of life than I had… than I think most 24 year olds have.

He started as a teenager making skateboarding videos with his friends. They were slick for high school level production. People were impressed. He kept moving.

Ross began shooting time lapse using a DSLR, a still camera, with an intervalometer to control the shutter. He shot the low hanging fruit–clouds, stars, the graceful motion of water. With his series of Eclectic videos and the help of Twitter and Digg he became well known. Again he kept moving.

A film school graduate from San Diego State and Ross works for a production house here in Los Angeles. He shoots music videos and commercials. He keeps adding to his technique.

While we sat drinking coffee I watched his video for Kina Grannis’ “Valentine.” Then I watched again. The second time through was spent hitting pause and quizzing him on the shoot and how he achieved what was on the screen. Though post-production is sometimes looked upon as a magic bullet this shoot’s success was cemented in pre-production and detailed planning.

I suspect Ross is organized in ‘real life,’ maybe obsessively so. He’s definitely organized as a director. I wonder if he understands how valuable that is?

I gave him some advice: Don’t worry about money. If you’re good the money will find you. Enjoy what you’re doing. That’s much more important. Successful people are nearly always doing what they enjoy.

Another Busy Day In The Southland

He is the reason I had the opportunity to walk through a TV studio during an all nude show! Does that deserve thanks? These people should have remained clothed!

Another busy day in the Southland. We have only so many days in the warm California sun and so much to do. Helaine and I picked up Stef and headed south to “The OC.” We were meeting my cousins for lunch.

Cousin Melissa picked the spot which meant I was heading to a vegan restaurant for the first time in my life! The menu does list things like cheeseburgers, but without meat or cheese! Everyone working there looked gaunt.

“Is this like when grandma tried to convince me regular coffee and decaf were the same?” I asked Stef.

My burger was actually mostly shitake mushroom and it was pretty good–but it wasn’t a cow derived burger. I’m sure the burger tasted better than I allowed it to taste in my mind.

Cousin Melissa is an attorney currently running for the California Assembly. We were glad she was able to spring the time. I suspect she was glad to.

We are a small family. Cousin Michael and I have been close since birth. We don’t see him or Melissa enough.

As long as we were in Costa Mesa why not hit the mall? OK–that’s not my idea, it’s Stef’s, but I was willing to play along. I had “Clicky” with me and anything new is fodder for photography.

The mall is called “The Lab” and it is marketed as the anti mall. There’s an Urban Outfitters there. That’s not particularly anti.

What is different about The Lab versus everything we have back east is this mall is open air. There’s also some pretty interesting art on display including a fountain made of rusting barrels.

Possibly the most interesting moment of our mall adventure was when I mistakenly began to enter the Ladies Room. No harm, no foul, but I was close.

We drove back to Woodland Hills where I dropped Stef and Helaine then drove to my friend Howard’s office.

Here’s how Hollywood and the real world differ. While I waited for Howard someone at the reception desk showed me his new head shots! He’d gone from young and friendly to dark and brooding. I think the dark and brooding will work–if he has talent. This is a town of head shots!

Howard’s office is on the top floor of a midrise on Ventura Blvd. You go past the receptionist then down a hall full of busy people into an outer office and finally Howard’s corner office. The full length windows give a great view of the San Fernando Valley and even open to allow access to a small patio that hugs the outer wall.

Howard was on the phone as I walked in. He spends most of his day on the phone.

Before long Burt Dubrow joined us. Burt is a pioneer in daytime talk. He produced Sally Jessy Raphael and Jerry Springer among other shows. I’ve known Burt since he moved Sally to New Haven from St. Louis.

He is the reason I had the opportunity to walk through a TV studio during an all nude show! Does that deserve thanks? These people should have remained clothed!

I’ve got one more stop before the night is out. I’m heading to the West Side to meet and have a cup of coffee with Ross Ching. I’ve written about Ross before. He’s a young guy just getting started. I learned about him after seeing his time lapse videos. He’s a working director now. Very talented.

Scarily, tomorrow’s agenda is just as busy!

The King Of time Lapse

Not to be too gushy, but it’s like discovering Spielberg before he did episodic TV. This guy will be that big.

I have been following Ross Ching’s work for a few years. He’s a West Coast guy not long out of college. He is the king of time lapse photography!

Though his first movies were abstract, a technician honing the mechanics, he’s now branched into more mainstream projects including commercials and music videos. Not to be too gushy, but it’s like discovering Spielberg before he did episodic TV. This guy will be that big.

Ross just posted a new time lapse movie “Running On Empty.” It asks and answers the question, “What if tomorrow everyone’s car disappeared.”

A New Obsession

I always thought this was done with video or movie cameras. Not so. The best looking time lapse photography is taken with still cameras, like “Clicky” my Canon Digital Rebel.

I have spent the last day or so obsessing. It all started with a link, that led to a link, that led to Ross Ching’s website and Eclectic 2. Ross Ching is the master&#178 of time lapse photography. Eclectic 2 is his latest masterpiece.

Simply put, time lapse photography speeds up action. A full day of traffic or clouds or anything can be boiled down to a few seconds. The true fluidity of nature, usually masked by our normal time frame, becomes instantly obvious.

clicky.jpgI always thought this was done with video or movie cameras. Not so. The best looking time lapse photography is taken with still cameras, like “Clicky” my Canon Digital Rebel&#185.

An electronic switch controls the shutter, allowing it to open at set intervals and for a set amount of time. Officially, it’s an ‘intervalometer.’ I’ve already ordered one on EBay. It’s coming from China.

Ross also uses a telescope’s planetary mount to slowly pan and tilt the camera. Normally, these are used to track the motion of the Earth, so long duration photos of the sky can be taken without the stars smudging or forming trails. It has to be capable of very slow, very dependable, but steady, motion, like turning 180&#176 over a few hours.

Sounds like a good Father’s Day gift.

After hundreds of still photos are taken, a video editing program is used to piece them together producing the finished moving image. Because a digital still camera usually has better optics and a better sensor than a ‘regular’ video camera, the finished product can be spectacular. But, because it’s a time lapse, this is all very time consuming with a few minutes of video taking hours and hours.

There are some pretty cool video on the web, but none cooler than those from Ross – a college student. If you haven’t clicked to look yet, you really should.

Right now I’m chomping at the bit to join in. I have my own ideas on some shots that might be very interesting.

&#185 – I don’t know which is stranger, that I’ve named my camera, or that friends have actually referred to my camera by its name without prompting! We’re all very troubled.

&#178 – Since I wrote this, I have stumbled upon 599 Productions in Burbank. Wow, these are amazing too. Where Ross concentrates on rural settings, “599” shoots lots of nighttime city videos, which I find particularly attractive.