Headshots

This weekend I had a really creatively stimulating few days. Friday I attended the casting for F*ckload of Scotch Tape, the feature film that I'm producing with Julian Grant. It's a film noir murder musical, that we are rotoscoping. Should be amazing in all it's weirdness!

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of shooting headshots for Brittany, a beautiful girl that is looking to get into production and wants to also do some modeling. She is naturally gorgeous, but the light, the combination of great make-up by Kal Marshell, and my photographic eye knocked these out of the park. If you ever have headshot needs, or want to refer people to me I am more than happy to work within their budget, and for their needs.

Thanks and cheers,
CAE

So Much To Talk About

I've been so busy working that I haven't had time to even blog!

Let's start off with Roundabout American. Roundabout was an indie feature film that Boris Wexler concepted years ago when he came from France to the US.  I initially jumped on board in the pre-production/funding stage.  Julian Grant came on as the Producer which I was very excited about. I got the chance to learn from an incredibly experienced Producer/Director with innumerable resources and stories to share. I was the Line Producer, and we shot 21 days in July and early August.  From there, I immediately switched gears to work on a Dreaming Tree Films project.

Mary Kay Inspiring Stories. MKIS was a great female empowerment program designed to not only increase the awareness of domestic violence, but also encourage the purchase of the Beauty that Counts lipsticks that $1 of each sale is donated to shelters ending domestic violence.  I was the supervising producer down in Los Angeles, overseeing 3 documentaries, each starring a celebrity voicing over the docs. We had Maria Menounos, Joanna Garcia Swisher and Alexa Vega as our stars.

They were incredible women and it was a great experience. Hearing the stories from the victims of domestic violence only makes you realize how lucky you are if you never witnessed that growing up.

Call Me on Tuesday. Shortly after I returned from MKIS, I headed down to St. Louis to work on the indie feature film, "Call Me on Tuesday." The film starred Jason London, Kevin Sorbo, Danielle Harris and Lochlyn Munro. 

It was a real treat to get to work on a film in the St. Louis area as I got the chance to stay and catch up with my good friend Chad. I don't know how exactly we finished the film in 15 days of principle photography, but we did and it didn't even feel like work! It was an incredibly fun film to work on. We were blessed to work with the Sauget family, and shoot in Sauget, IL, which is essentially a town that's a sound stage. We could shoot wherever we wanted. We had access to the most amazing locations (a former industrialized Zinc plant!) that we would never have had access to before, or we would have paid an arm and a leg for it.

As the Unit Production Manager, I was responsible for keeping the budget on track, and keeping the camera rolling on set. I fielded any problems that arose, and created the environment for which the film could be shot. It was an amazing experience, and I'm so fortunate to have had it!

Currently, I'm back in Chicago. I have a few photoshoots lined up, as well as some transcription work. I'm going to be an extra in a TV Commercial shooting tomorrow out in Toyota Park which should prove interesting. All in all, it's been a whirlwind few months and I can't wait to see what the upcoming months hold.

Cheers,
CAE

Gili Trawagnan: Where the Cats Go

Arrival into Gili Trawagnan: sandy. Horsey. Hungry.

They don't have cars on this island. Only horse drawn buggies.



We stopped at a cafe off the beach, (every cafe was off the beach here, the whole island is about the size of my neighborhood in Chicago) called Superblatt! So much European influence here.  I got my favorite, Nasi Goreng, friend noodles with chicken, veggies, etc. And then we headed to our hostel.  At a room rate of $22US per person, per night, I was expecting nice, but basic.  It turned out to be awesome.

Every place in Bali has an in-ground pool, lined with volcanic black rock to keep the water warm. The villa we had had a lovely porch, and to get to it you had to walk through a lush garden of plants, flowers and cats.



We headed out to the beach to figure out what to do with our time. We learned you can go snorkeling right off the beach, you can rent bicycles and cycle around the island, you can go horse-riding (very expensive!), or you can just exist and see where the tide takes you.  We headed to the beach and I explored the coral wash-ups on the shore.



It began to rain and we headed back to the hotel to change before dinner. We went to this sushi restaurant, which was great for the price. The best part was the fish was so fresh, I could almost imagine it being caught that day.  After 1 drink of which Maggie and I were both buzzed, we headed to sleep for the next day was going to be busy.

We woke up early the next day and had our lovely breakfast looking over the water. See my lovely french press coffee maker, overlooking the water. Literally. It was about 1 foot on the other side of the table.

We decided to rent bicycles for the day and explore the island. I couldn't help but sing that song, "In the summertime... when the weather is high...  you can chase right up and touch the sky..."



Stopping whenever we wanted, we took our terrible mounts to about 10 different beaches.  I stopped to take this photo and literally bled for it, as there was garbage stuck in this yucca plant. When I went to grab it, the spines all over the leaves stabbed me viciously. The price you pay for art.


We wandered a little while longer down the road and stopped for another swim.

The road was rough, but the only hard part about the bike trip was the sand patches.  Literally, you would hit sand so thick you couldn't bike through it. Submitting your feet to the puddles below, you then needed to rinse off in... the water! Time for another swim. Sigh.

About halfway through the island (15 minutes of solid biking, more like 40 minutes when you factor in the sand bogs) and we stopped for lunch.  I had just fruit, and went for a snorkle off of our buru on the water.  I saw about 29 fish. Not a whole lot to see here.



We realized that we had to get the bikes back shortly after that, and decided to really push it. Turns out just around the next bend was the starting point. We got them back at 2pm on the dot. Just in time to try a "magic mushroom" shake... JUST KIDDING! But yes, you can legally, and in cafes, buy hallucinogenic mushrooms.  A fellow traveler told us that it's similar to marijuana, and thus, deemed 'safe'. I will depend upon others to describe it to me.



Afterwards, we decided to get massages in the late afternoon. They were overpriced for Balinese standards, but cheap compared to US standards.  120,000 rupiahs, which is about $13USD for an hour long massage. After the massage, we showered and got ready for dinner.  Our villas were having the biggest party on the island that night.  We strolled over to La Cucina Italiana for dinner, which was owned by a real Italian woman.  It was actually pretty authentic, and we left with full bellies and sunburned toes. We planned to go to the Irish beach fiasco, but right as 9pm hit with my full belly, I got so knackered we called it a night.  We had to go back to the main island of Bali the following day, to get my passport from the consulate and check in to our place in Ubud. 

One of the best things about Bali is all the fresh fruit.  Here are some of the local delicassies... all available for price dependent upon a few things:

• How rich you look
• How desperate they are for your business
• How desperate you are to have said item
• If it rained, will rain, is raining or sometimes because it has not rained...
• The position of the moon in relative context to Jupiter...

You get the picture.

The following day before we headed out, I went for a wander around the island to take some photos of what daily life was like.  I got up early enough to see the fish monger selling her fish as the local kitten hungrily looked on, hoping for a fresh fish morsel.




I also found one of my favorite things to photograph, an ethnic baby! This little boy was waiting for his mom to bring him his breakfast.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, except for the boat almost left early without us.  But no, we got on, headed to the roof, and back to Bali, Ubud - the cultural and art center of Bali! Gili, which has to be the home of more than 1,000 stray cats, was a fond place to go and play.  But as the Balinese petals revealed themselves, we still had a bit more of Bali amazingness to experience...

Herro, Miss Engrof! We are so happy to see you! and Squee's of Terror

Day 1. Kuta. What is there to do?  First off, we had to get my passport situation sorted out. So, I called the US Consulate, turns out it's a pretty common problem.  I just had to take a taxi into Denpasar, drop my passport off at the consulate, pay $82USD and wait 3-5 business days. It would be cutting it close on the other end, as we had plans to be either out in the Gili Islands or up in Ubud.  But, it had to be done.

So Mags and I procure a "Blue Bird" cab, the only ones you can trust because they run the meters correctly, and headed off.  Kuta is built like a circular ring road: you are at the top, you have to go all the way back down to the bottom to get back up again.  Such a mess. The trip was close to an hour, and the fee was 75,000 rupiah, about $10USD.  The cab driver waited for us at the consulate, taking a nap in the heat.

Now let me tell you, I was super stressed out at this point. I didn't want to get stuck somewhere. I didn't want to have problems. I semi-didn't trust that I could leave my passport with strangers, (but for Pete's sake, these were the strangers that are authorized to issue passports!)  Still, I walked in, expecting a lot of stress, finagling, and problems.

Turns out, I waited 4.3 minutes, went in to see the Yankee head of the consulate, and that was it.  Took no time at all, had to fill out 1 form (in which I opted for the larger, 48 page addition! If I fill that up, I will have to apply for a new passport. I've got 5 years. Game on.)

It was the most stress free experience ever. Maggie had to get additional pages added on while she was in Bangkok and she said it was an absolute mess. Took 2 hours, lots of stress. Not a Balinese patio, with no line and 1 form to fill out.  I don't think I could have "planned" it better.

One more cab ride back to the city, and then we were planning out trip out to the Gili Islands off of Lombok.  Bali is it's own island, within Indonesia.  Lombok is a similarly sized island, across a small stretch of water that has 3 smaller islands off of it.  You can take a slow boat, 6 hours or so, or a fast boat, 2 hours.  Since we were slightly crunched on time, we opted for the fast boat. Not realizing the price was VERY negotiable, we paid way too much.  However, only when you are out at the islands do you realize that is the case. SO. If you go: We paid 1,000,000 rupiah each, for return. That's around $100US.  You should pay around 250,000 rupiah, each way.  If your travel agent in Kuta is being a jerk, only pay for 1 way and pay for the return on the islands where they are MUCH cheaper. Lesson learned.

After this, we went to our "spa" day, which I had booked before our arrival. I wanted to give Mags a present for her birthday, which I had missed in January.  So, we had a 'couple's massage', (not the first nor the last time we felt like we were on a quasi-honeymoon) a foot rub and a milk bath.  Oh the milk bath. It was a large tub filled with water, milk and flower petals on top.  The only problem was, it was about 120 degrees. Not ANYTHING you want to feel when you are in the tropics.  After lots of time spent easing each body part in, we were in the tub. It felt really good on your skin. But I needed about 3 hours afterwards to properly cool.

We decided since we were staying another night in the Kuta area we wanted to change hotels and get down to where the action is in Kuta beach.  I highly recommend the J Boutique Hotel in Kuta! We moved on to this bungalow place down by the water. When I say bungalow place, I mean tropical paradise, lush gardens, surrounding a pool, with every bathroom open to the outside. It was beautiful, but buggy. We met up with a German dude sitting out on the porch next to us who told us a bit about the area.  He had been coming to that spot for 14 years to dive! We headed down to the beach, and were very disappointed. It was covered in trash.  I think it must have some technical draw for the waves, because the surfer's love it, but those of us there for visuals: avoid Kuta Beach.  It also is where the backpackers hang out, so lot's of party party. The Bali bombings were on this stretch of road, if that gives you an idea the seediness.

But, it was as if Bali was revealing herself to us, one flower petal being peeled back at a time. Kuta town: nothing much to do, but great accomodation. Kuta Beach: great accomodation, stuff to do, people to meet, but still not quite our ideal of 'Bali'. Next up: Gili Islands.  We got up super early to catch a lift down to Padang Bai, (Padang Bay basically) and our fast boat out to the islands.  After a slight mis-communication problem between our driver, our location and meeting up, we got in an Isuzu Trooper equivalent and headed to the Bai.

Here's where I can get into the Balinese driving style.  Most island cultures have a somewhat hectic, but loving nature to the way they drive. 3, 4, 5 vehicles across the road at any one time, there are frequent toots and honks of horns, alerting the motorbike driver in front of you, 'Hey, I'm here and I'm passing you.' or 'Beep, beep! Scoot your boot over, I'm overtaking! Have a great day!' It's pretty subtle, but if you listen you can hear the love in each tap of the horn.  But not today. Today, we had Mario Andretti, hell bent on global domination driving us. He was overtaking. He was tail-gating. At one point, we were sandwiched between a bus, a car and 3 motorbikes, and he was still bent on passing.  I couldn't watch. Every so often I would glance ahead and let out a 'squee!' of terror.

After we made it to the Bai, we had a short amount of time thanks to Andretti to hang out, grab a snack, use the toilet, etc.  I used this time to start shooting. What first? Flowers!

Every morning, the Balinese make offerings to the gods.  They contain usually some sort of flower or plant, some sort of food (could be a few grains of rice, or more substantial food) and a smoking incense punk. They are everywhere, on the morning stoop, in the middle of the road, on the back of a motorbike, on the roof. Maggie learned that the offerings on the ground were to the evil spirits, to keep them down there and the offerings higher up were to the gods in the mountains that are good.

Soon after, we boarded our fast boat, got our in-transit snack of a donut! and water, and headed out.  I immediately wanted to be up on the roof, even though I knew I would get a lot of sun. Boats make me nauseous, so I wanted the fresh air and views to keep my mind off things if I did get sick.  It was absolutely beautiful. We passed by Bali's eastern coast, headed through the Strait of Lombok (I could be making up this name) where we saw numerous dolphins jumping in our wake, and finally arrived.  First, we stopped off at the Lombok port, where I took another opportunity to take some photos.  What's really striking in Balinese culture is how much work the women do, and how relatively little the men do. 

We watched as women carried bags of rice, plywood and numerous other things on their heads to the awaiting boat to load up.  The men simply looked on.  I took a large amount of photos of the women, here's one of my favorite below.

 I also took a shot of 2 Balinese boys sitting on their boat.  One of them saw that I was taking his photo and then I could not get them to stop staring and waving at me.  Lost the subtlety of the moment!

A short 20 minutes later we had arrived in Gili Trawagnan, our home for the next 3 days.  Tropical island bliss! At the Irish Tra Na Nog Villas.

Bali Hai!

Hello My Friends!

Carla has gone postal again, this time back to Southeast Asia for a little rest, a lot of relaxation and some seriously fun times. I'm going to take you through the first week I spent here, traveling with Maggie Fezekas in Bali, Indonesia.  But the adventure doesn't begin there, no, it begins 72 hours before in a little town called Chicago...

About 3 days before my flight was scheduled to depart Chicago O'Hare for a stop in Seattle, a stop in Seoul, and then finally in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Vietnam, I got an email update from Orbitz saying my flight itinerary had changed.  The new itinerary had me getting into Seoul with a 40 minute layover to get to my flight to Saigon. 40 minutes. Were they nuts? I had no idea if I had to go through immigration, customs, re-check my bags, anything but I was certain 40 minutes was not. enough. time.

So I called Orbitz, waited on hold for a long time, listened to some fantastic hold music, etc.  I spoke with a very nice agent who said he was working with Asiana airlines, and the airline assured me "40 minutes is enough time."  I wanted other options.  That's when the Orbitz man suggested... a DIRECT FLIGHT to Saigon.  What? Was this possible? I needed to call back after 4pm that day to confirm my seat. 

After a few hours of working, squirming, and general anticipation, I called Asiana airlines directly.  Unfortunately, no dice. They had never heard of a direct flight. Argh. But, again, they assured me, 40 minutes was enough time. I said, okay, but on record, your airline is putting me up in a hotel, and feeding me if you don't connect me in time.  They said, okay!

So. I pack up the 5th grader (some of you remember that is what I call my backpack when I travel) who has now been on the Subway diet and resembles a 2nd grader! Amazing what traveling with 10kg worth of stuff will do for your peace of mine. I find the more stuff you bring, the more stressed you are. Come to think of it, I will probably unload half of my clothes here as I brought t-shirts that I can throw away, and some other clothing that is so well-traveled with me it is probably best if I leave them to rest in a foreign country. (Ahem, jean skirt from 2004, I'm looking at you.)

Arrive to the airport. Jump on a plane to Seattle. Arrive in Seattle for a 3 hour layover. Bam.

"Asiana Airlines regrets to inform you that your flight leaving Seattle is 3 hours late due to weather leaving Seoul, and you have been automatically re-booked the following day to Saigon. 7pm. The following day."

So with the kindest of kind glances towards the Asiana ticket counter, I hunkered down and waited to board. After all, I was already technically on Vac-Asia.  What was I in a rush to do? Relax? Read my book? Think?

After a relatively low-stress flight (minus the screaming baby in the seat in front of me, btw tangent, how is it LEGAL to bring babies under the age of 1 on flights? I swear, the baby was crying because the pressure hurt his ears. The pressure was hurting MY ears, but I'm old enough to know how to pop them to relieve the pressure? I think they should open up an airline JUST for babies. Call it, Banished Air, and save the rest of us some unrest!) we landed in Seoul.  I was most concerned that if I had any problems the following day getting to Vietnam, it would effect Maggie and my trip to Bali. That's where I draw the line, Asiana! Don't mess with my Vac-Asian!  So, we get in, are unable to pick up our bags as they have been checked through, I've got my camera, my contact case, my toothbrush thank heavens, and that's it. 1 night in Seoul, here I come!

I met a really nice couple in line from Colorado, traveling to Thailand.  We commiserated and shared the long bus ride to our hotel.  Once there, at 11pm or 3pm to my body, we had a free dinner of Bulgogi and they nicely asked me to join them for a few beers out in Seoul. Might as well make it a mini-vac-asian and explore.  We went out around 12:30am and grabbed a couple beers in the Itewan neighborhood? street? area? It was busy but felt so Western.  Then we headed up to the night shopping district. At this point, it was around 2am. And the mall was HOPPIN'! Who would have thought in Seoul they shop until the wee hours of the morning?

We wandered around the market stalls, most people bartered a little, but I had my eye on other things to buy during my travels.  Tony and Ginny, the couple from Colorado and I then headed over to a local noodle place to get some eats, because again, it was the middle of the night aka late evening for us and our stomachs were a growlin'. We went to this hole in the ground (not wall, as it was below ground level) place and got some good authentic food. I got dumplings in this spicy, seafood soup broth. So. Good. The toilet at the restaurant? Not. so. good.  The biggest decision was which direction to face. The door? Or the wall?

After that, we headed back to the hotel to go to sleep around 4am.  I was pretty gross after traveling, and my clothes were not the warmest. Seoul was still around 40 degrees F.  After a fun eventful night, I went to sleep in the "Business Lounge Suite" of the Royal Seoul Hotel.

The next day, I woke up early around 9am, but I forced myself to go back to sleep to get on Asian time. Sounds counter-intuitive, but I had a plan. Force yourself to sleep late, don't sleep on the plane to Vietnam, then arrive, sleepy time.

After a 1.5 hour bus ride in the SPRAWLING AND VAST METROPOLIS that is, Seoul, we headed to the airport. The Seoul airport is beautiful, and I think designed the exact same as the Dubai airport in the UAE. I got a Caribou Coffee before boarding! Yes, I did! And then a short (6) hour flight to Vietnam.  Once I arrived, I had to get my visa by presenting a letter and some passport photos. The letter appeared somewhat sketch as you can either pay $120US to the consulate in Washington, or $23 to an agency that gives you a letter and you pay $50US on arrival.  I wanted to save the time and agro of shipping things back and forth between Washington, and come on, saving $50USD would mean I could have:

• 7 1-hour long massages
• 14 30-min foot massages
• 10 Balinese traditional wooden masks
• 102 bottles of 1 Liter water
• 4 Balinese puppies

It's a no brainer.

After some minor stress on my part as my Vietnamese is just not where it should be, I got the visa, got my baggage (thank you!) went through Immigration, met Maggie and cabbed it to her lovely apartment.

I had roughly 10 hours before I needed to return to the airport and fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Go through customs, immigration, get our baggage, re-check in, re-enter customs, immigration and security and get on a flight from KL to Bali Denpasar airport. At this point, I could not wait to get on to my next airplane! Maggie hates to fly! So, we get on to our AirAsia flight, which are built for Asian sized people, not Carla-sized people. I was sitting as upright in my seat as possible, and my knees were still jammed into the seat in front of me. At the window seat was a tiny little thing that was sitting cross-legged, talking on her phone. Wait, I meant SCREAMING on her phone. The Vietnamese language is meant to be spoken 6 decibels louder that what level the hard of hearing people listen to.

"Mai HOW dong GOO CHI GAH!" (Direct translation not available)

Which means, I'm on a flight, talk to you later.

During take-off, Maggie was particularly nervous, so she grabbed my hand.  On the other side, the Screaming Peanut as she will now be known grabbed Maggie's other hand. It was a sweet gesture, but we still can't determine if she was scared, or if she was comforting Maggie.

We made it through all the hoop jumping in Malaysia, and I can now say I've spent 3 hours in KL.  Most of the time, we were trying to negotiate the Hot and Roll seller to sell us some food in US dollars, Vietnamese Dong, Korean Won or anything other than Malaysian currency. Nope.  I'll go hungry.

Once we landed in Bali, the drama also began with my passport. Now, a mere mortal might be lucky to go through filling up their passport in 8, 10 maybe 15 years. It took me exactly 5 years to the day to fill up mine.  I landed in Bali and there was literally, no place to put the visa.  The immigration officer made me sweat (literally) it out, then gave me a stern warning, "This is the last one. You need more pages."

So, Mags and I met our driver who took us the 4 minutes from the airport to our first hotel in Kuta, the J Boutique Hotel, at US $30/night, per person.  It was extremely nice.

And here is where our Balinese Adventure begins.

Kuta, Bali

Sprite Refreshing Films!

I have the most exciting next few months, both with work and personally planned.  I cannot wait to delve into the production on set for Sprite Refreshing Films. We are in Atlanta, currently, for intern training. We have such an amazing group of interns - both Dreaming Tree Films alums, and participating university interns.

Tomorrow I head off, with my inters in tow, to Dallas where we will start our first week of production.  In each of the cities I am traveling, we will have 7 days to teach 10 youth filmmakers how to put together a short film. They do everything from casting, sourcing props and locations, getting food donated, shot lists, shooting the piece and editing it for a final SAG Experimental short film.  It's an amazing 7 day journey, where the kids start off as being timid, shy and nervous about making things happen to go-to producers, shooters, editors and young-adults!

After Dallas, (I fly OUT on Superbowl Sunday to avoid the craziness) I head to Los Angeles, where I will catch up with the lovely Sarah Dien/Dunn. Our film will star Donald Faison, of Scrubs and the epic 90's film Clueless. I am so excited for this production, as it's going to be big time, and a huge amount of pressure. We have a great script, and I can't wait to make it happen.

After LA, I get to head off to the other coast and New York City! I'm so pumped as this is the first time I will get to spend time in the city. I've passed through it, gone to it when I was young, but I've never been able to explore the city.  I'm looking forward to it immensely! We're staying in the neighborhood of Tribeca.

Once SRF wraps, I head back to Chicago for what looks like a few epic weeks of work, possibly heading out on the road again and then I'm back for a day or two before flying to Asia to visit Maggie! Hitting Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand for a couple days, and then we might go to Bali. That should be amazing.

I can't begin to express how content I am right now. There have been so many great opportunities that I have had the privilege of being part of in the last year. I am so thankful for what I have been given, and for the people in my life.  I can't wait to get to Asia and shoot photos which will be part of my next Lofty show! I'm slowly learning about living in the moment and fluttering around this feeling of contentment.

Thanks and Cheers,
CAE

Feeling the Itch...

And it's been... what... nearly 6 months on the dot since my return from my European adventure last summer and that means...

I'M GOING CRAZY WANTING TO TRAVEL AGAIN!

Luckily, I have a plan.  Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in March with Maggie! Before that, I'll be heading all over the continental US for our Sprite Refreshing Films program. Looks like I'll be in a few of these hot spots: Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York City and naturally, Chicago.


What I've been up to in the meantime: I've been shooting a few head shots, doing a lot of work on my coffee table book, working my tail off for transcribing tapes for a PBS documentary and just networking, networking, networking.  I have been so blessed with such a volume of work in the past few months, and I hope to continue that into the next year.  2011 already looks like a great time for new projects.  In February and March, I'll be the exclusive photographer displaying my work in Efebina's Cafe in Pilsen, address is 1640 S Blue Island Ave. I'm excited to have some of my classic photos from around the world, as well as some of my unreleased photos from recent shoots.

Lofty Young Artist Series also looks like it will be happening in April, with a great selection of artists involved.  I can't wait to start growing that project more, so make sure to keep following the blog.

In the meantime, check out some of these great shots I took of a colleague's daughter. She's applying to be part of her high school's acting program and they require head shots and resumes.  

Cheers!
CAE