Projects – Hal's Photo Blog

Erin Gunn and Jo Celso for Wolfpack Hustle

Hal — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 22:09:30 +0000

I had the pleasure of photographing Jo Celso and Erin Gunn, the two fastest women on fixed-gear bicycles — possibly in the world — for Wolfpack Hustle last week. Shot with two 2400 watt Profoto heads in the middle of a Downtown street on Sunday morning. No retouching.

Golden Gate Bridge

Hal — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 00:42:01 +0000

This is a still frame of a vertical time-lapse I shot last week in San Francisco. The final product will be part of a physical digital installation in San Francisco’s SOMA district. I’ll share more when the project launches!

Super 8 Camera

Hal — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:12:14 +0000

I borrowed a really neat vintage Super-8 camera from my friends at the Hand Prop Room, a massive warehouse full of all kinds of film and TV props. It covers two floors, and has everything you’d need to make a room look like the 1970’s, or to make a team of dozens of unthreatening extras look like a police SWAT team with assault rifles.

No SWAT team today, but I thought this old handheld movie camera looked pretty neat, so I took it back to the studio and spent a few hours lighting and shooting it.

Up-close with a tilt-shit lens:

I love the little details, like the visible shutter in this lens, and the etched-in focusing points. It’s got the same aesthetic as a Swiss watch, except it’s a bit grungy with age.

Lake Tahoe Coding Retreat

Hal — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 05:23:51 +0000

For the last week, I’ve been holed up in a cabin in Tahoe with Josh Michaels, Michael Ang, and Moshen Chan. They’ve dubbed it “Coding Man”, as the three of them typically go to Burning Man every year but decided to skip it this year to hole up in the Sierra Nevadas and crank out code.

We’ve done a little bit of hiking, and I’ve shot a few timelapses up here, but for me, it’s been a break from traveling so that I can sit down and focus on work I need to get done at the computer. It’s work I can do anywhere, but this is a beautiful place, and it’ll do just fine.

Josh and Mang have been working on getting the new versions of Magic Window for the Mac and iPad/iPhone out, while Moshen works on his app (and Magic Window’s sister app), Living Earth. Let me tell you, it’s going to be a killer update. I’ve been going through all the content I’ve shot in the last five months (I’ve shot almost 100 timelapses) and preparing 20 new scenes for the new updates. Once this is done, I can start over again gathering even more content for the next updates.

The only irony in the situation is watching three programmers who make their living writing relaxation apps get frustrated and swear at their computers and iPads every half hour or so, while completely surrounded by the type of “relaxing” aspirational lifestyle we sell to our customers.

C’est la vie.