Moonstruck…by a Supermoon!

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Sheryl Checkman

Super Moon over the east River in NYC

Sunday evening I was lucky enough to go down to the East River promenade in Carl Shurz Park on the upper East Side of Manhattan to witness the rise of the supermoon! This past weekend’s full moon was the closest that the moon will get to the earth’s elliptical orbit for 2013. As I stood on the promenade waiting for the moon to show it’s face I was in the company of other photographers waiting for the same event. A few had fancy SLR cameras on tripods, some like me a point and shoot or an iPhone. I used a Canon G11 point with a tiny tripod so that I could use the night shot settings without getting a blurred picture. It worked out pretty well although I must say that I was a bit envious of the fancier cameras, with long lenses, which could really get a much better perspective. But all in all I don’t think it’s too bad for a point & shoot! Below are a few of my other shots – some with a little added creativity! Enjoy!

supermoon rising behind Roosevelt Island in NYC

My first shot as the moon was peeking out from behind Roosevelt Island.

supermoon rising NYC

I experimented using a sunset mode and got this colorful photo!

Dots of light… A minimalist view!

Sony Action Cam Video Part 2: Take a Swim with me!

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Sheryl Checkman

Asphalt Green Pool

I promised I’d update you on my efforts with my SONY ACTION CAM that I was given for the Moving 212 project, so here it is! When I last left off I was the proud new owner of a Sony Action Cam plus all the accessories that I would need to create stellar action footage for my part in the Moving 212 project. My assignment was to produce two, 5 minute videos doing something active. My first attempt was to be taken while swimming laps at my gym, Asphalt Green. I placed the Action Cam into it’s waterproof housing, along with the supplied anti-moisture pad, grabbed my goggles, swimsuit and cap and headed for the pool. For this first try, I placed the camera on the side of my google strap with the strap attachment, turned the camera on to shoot and proceeded to swim.

I couldn’t check out what my footage looked like until I got home and uploaded it to my computer. There were a few things that I noticed once I did this. First – it’s important to make sure that when attaching the camera, you make sure that it is right-side up! The first clip was all taken upside down! Yikes! Luckily, I could adjust that in quicktime so all was not lost. The next thing that I noticed was that having the camera on the side of my head was not the best position for it since every time I turned my head to breathe, the camera turned with it!

This is how my Action Cam looked on the neoprene belt that I rigged to hold it onto my back while swimming.

Next time I ventured into the pool I wanted to try another angle, having the camera on my back. Unfortunately, the only attachment that the people at Sony didn’t give me was one that could accomplish this. So I had to use some good old-fashioned ingenuity. I had a neoprene belt that used to hold my old waterproof iPod for swimming with tunes (now I have one that fits on my google strap). I attached one of the adhesive mounts that came with my camera to the plastic pocket that used to hold the iPod. Then using a needle and thread, I sewed the plastic pocket down so that the camera would sit flat against the belt when I put it on. With that figured out I headed off once again to the pool. I shot a few different variations, changing the positioning of the belt and camera to see what I would come up with – even turning the camera backwards to hopefully get my feet kicking. What I didn’t realize until I got the footage home was that since the Sony Action Cam has a very wide angle lens, anything right in front of it, up close looks very big! So you can imagine my chagrin to see what it made of my rear! That footage will never see the light of day!

Any way, check out the video below for a sneak peek at what will hopefully be part of my final video to be on exhibit at the Sony Store on Madison Avenue for the Moving 212 project!

Ready…Set…Action! Behind the Scenes for my Sony Action Cam Video Shoot

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Sheryl Checkman

Last week I received an email selecting me to represent NYC in a very cool project called the Moving 212 sponsored by Sony and Flavorpill. My assignment: pick up a SONY ACTION CAM from the NYC Sony Store, along with a bundle of mounting accessories (which I get to keep!) and shoot some video from the unique perspective that only I can see while doing something…er…active! The Sony Action Cam gives you the ability to capture action from a variety of views not possible with a regular camera.

I arrived at the Madison Avenue store on Tuesday morning and was introduced to Tim, one of the store Sony Experts who was going to train me on using the Action Cam and all of its’ accessories. No sooner did I sit down when Tim brought over a shopping bag packed full of some pretty cool swag!

Tim spent about an hour showing me how the Action Cam worked. He even showed me this cool app called Sony PlayMemoires that I downloaded from the App Store which allows me to view what the camera sees and change the settings right from an iPhone or Android device as long as you are in a wi-fi area. We couldn’t get the app to work on my iPhone in the store but I was able to figure it out when I got home. So I am able to use my iPhone, my iPad and my Google Nexus 7 Tablet…cool!

When I left the store I headed home to plan my upcoming shoots! I have to deliver 2, 5-minute video clips using the Sony Action Cam. Since I won’t be skiing during the time frame that I have, I decided to try out my camera in the swimming pool. Later that afternoon, I got a call from Brian at the agency with some suggestions as to how I could best film myself in the pool.

Armed with my new camera, waterproof case, google mount and headband mount, I headed off that evening to the Olympic pool at my gym, Asphalt Green to see what cool footage I could get. I first attached the camera to my goggle strap and started to swim laps. I swam for about 40 minutes, all the while changing around the camera position as best I could as well as trying out a few different strokes. I wouldn’t know how it all looked till I got home and could view the footage on my computer so I was shooting blind, so to speak.

When I got home and took a look at the footage, I realized a few things. First, I need to make sure that the camera is right side up where I place it (the first bunch of laps I swam were upside down!) Thankfully, QuickTime allowed me to correct that on the computer! I also realized that placing the camera on my google strap was not the best idea since each I turned my head to breathe, the camera turned with me! A whole lot of footage like that will be sure to give someone a headache watching it! A better position I think would be on my back so the camera can capture more of me swimming. With all of the stuff that Sony gave me, the one thing missing was a belt ;to strap around my waist. But not to be deterred by that detail, I rigged up something that will hopefully work. I had a neoprene waist belt that I had bought to hold my waterproof case for my old iPod that I no longer use. I used one of the adhesive mounts that came with the camera to the plastic on the belt and tonight I am going to see how it works!

Stay tuned for my next post which will take you with me on swim #2! Till then, as my Life is Balance swim t-shirt says, “Don’t Forget to Breathe!”