Travelling. Flight. Noise Canceling Headphones.

I don't get to travel as much as I'd like to, but I do end up flying four to five times throughout the year.  I flew to Japan last spring and during that trip I found out what a pleasure noise canceling headphones can be.  At first glance, they seem like a great solution to tune out talkative adults and (more likely) crying infants on the flight, but after many uses I have found them to solve a few other issues.  Jetlag being the largest.  I noticed that when I fly with these on, I feel far less groggy, disorientated and fatigued.  I believe (however not backed up by any science whatsoever!) that tuning out all of the external noise and the loud roar of the engines creates this less stressful flying experience.

I have a pair of noise canceling headphones from Sony.  I found them to be the best buy for the price.  These headphones can get fairly expensive, some nearly the cost of a new computer.  This pair has functioned very well, the battery life is long and they are relatively compact.

I can't fly without them anymore.  We are constantly bombarded by noise in our daily lives, and flying is a social overload.  These could also be used at the office, or at home, to tune out unwanted distractions in our daily lives.  (I once used them while they were jack-hammering the concrete next door!)

Noise canceling headphones work in two ways: First, the simple part; most of them are closed ear design, meaning they physically block the sound by covering your entire ear..  The manufacturers even use special sound-obsorbing foam to keep out even more external noise.

The second half of canceling noise is a little more high tech.  A small microphone and speaker mimic the exact sound coming from outside the headphones.  Two identical sound-waves that point towards each other cancel each other out!

Overall, this makes for a much more tolerable flight experience.  Give it a try next time you fly.  Head over to your local bestbuy or fry's, pick out a pair, use it on a trip, and if you don't like the result, return them- my bet?  You won't take want to take them back.

Things to Consider When looking for a Videographer.

I was going to write an article on "What to look for in a Videographer or Cinematographer"  As it turns out, a friend of mine James Burkart of Burkart Studios wrote a fantastic article that is on his website, describing in great detail what to look for, and things to consider when commissioning a videographer for your wedding.  James is also a very talented videographer, meticulous about sound, and I don't hesitate to recommend him to anyone!

Minnesota Timelapse

I love where I grew up, southeast Minnesota.  Minnesota is absolutely beautiful in the summer.  Lots of sunshine, rain when we need it, and beautiful clouds.  I shot this time-lapse this past summer while visiting Minnesota to shoot a wedding.  This is the view from my parents garden on the back side of their house.

Minnesota Timelapse 2010 from Luke Goodman on Vimeo.

Beer: Brewing and the Keggerator

I have not shot my first wedding for the year, but I absolutely can't wait for this season to start!  My first wedding is April 8th down in San Diego (Hi Clare and Doug!) Then the season is going to be picking up momentum quickly. I have a few great shoots planned in the next month or two (if this rain will ever stop), and I'll be sharing them as they come back from the lab. In the meantime, a bit about one of my hobbies.

Keggerator: Keg+Refrigerator. In other words, a convenient way to serve beer in your home. My setup works just like a tap at any bar you might go to (although mine is MUCH cleaner). About three years ago I helped my longtime childhood friend George and his father brew a batch of beer in their Minnesota kitchen. At that point I had already loved beer, but I found that this was only the beginning. Shortly after this event, I purchased my own kit similar to this at morebeer.com. Morebeer has a location in Los Altos, and the staff is very friendly and helpful.  I found that it was surprisingly easy to get started brewing!

A brewing overview:

Brewing consists of malting grains (think of making tea with grains), adding malt syrup, adding hops for flavoring and bittering, cooling the grain tea (now called wort) and then pitching (dumping) yeast in a fermenter. The yeast then ferments, eating the sugars and creating C02 and alcohol. The beer is then bottled or Kegged, aged and ready to be served. This process is no more difficult than baking a batch of cookies or making bread.  You can make any style of beer, and it's usually phenomenal!  I have brewed 28 batches of beer in three years, and I have yet to have a beer that hasn't turned out.

Here's a short clip of my Keggerator with my homebrew being poured off the tap.  Thanks to Pamela for being my hand model!



Currently I have the following beers either brewing or in keg in my home:

Simcoe Pale ale Dry hopped
Honey Wheat ale
Simcoe India Pale Ale
Seduction Stout
Russian Imperial Stout
Rye India Pale Ale
English Traditional Bitter
Irish Dry stout

...and a keg of Drakes Denoggonizer

I encourage anyone who loves beer to try brewing, as it's been a really great hobby in the last few years. Here is a great book on brewing from amazon, it has all the information you could possibly need.

Fraud Protection and Stolen Credit Card Number.

Three weeks ago we took a trip to Las Vegas for WPPI, the worlds largest photography convention. Pamela and I had a great time seeing friends, meeting new people, learning from other photographers and most importantly being inspired for the coming wedding season. We are booking up, and very excited to work with all of our new clients!

Three days after our trip, some odd charges started showing up on my credit card. I never lost it, and I'm very careful with it online.  I am also careful with my passwords for my online accounts. I use a piece of software called 1Password and it's absolutely a life saver. 1Password allows you to store ALL of your passwords, credit cards, and account info in one place, where it is encrypted online and accessible from all of your computers and devices. Have you ever forget one of your passwords? 1Password sets this up perfectly, not to mention you can have it generate very secure passwords along the lines of: "th37fqrtlmp89043ngk."

More to the point of this post, I believe someone in Vegas pulled my number, and started using it overseas. Five unauthorized charges showed up in Europe which prompted Capitol One to give me a call. They seem to have a good fraud protection department. They sent me a list of transactions online, which I verified as authorized or not, then closed out my account and sent me a new card.

Through this process I learned that by federal law you are only liable for $50 maximum, as long as the charges are reported in time.  Many card companies will even cover the $50 (as mine did), and the card user ends up liable for nothing at all. This is the way it should be, as credit card companies make a fortune from their users.

My advice?  Watch for credit card skimmers (which scan your card as you use an ATM), and keep a close eye on your transactions each week, if not bi-weekly. Use a website like Mint.com, a completely free tracking software that allows you to view all of your accounts at once, such as auto/house/student loans, bank accounts, credit cards and more!

Super8/16mm Wedding: Heather and Larsen

I love film. I mean I LOVE it. There's nothing more fun to me than shooting real film. Don't get me wrong, I love high definition and all my wonderful video toys; i'm pretty nerdy like that. But film, FILM, editing weddings shot on film makes my stomach leap, and it's such a rush.

Heather and Larsen wanted a vintage wedding film. There is nothing artificial about this, aside from it being edited digitally. There's no filters, no special effects, everything is organic, vintage and I believe Beautiful. This is probably my favorite super8 and 16mm wedding film yet!

Wedding Heather and Larsen TEASER Super8/16mm from Luke Goodman on Vimeo.