Mark Wagoner Productions

Holiday Memories & Giveaway Winner

2011-12-21T12:31:00.000-05:00

In our last post, we offered a giveaway of 2 lbs of coffee from Carolina Coffee Roasting, and a delicious tin of cookies from Simply Scrumptious. And now, we announce our winner... chosen by a random number generator... Chris Ferguson, Art Director at Pace Communications! Congratulations!
Thank you to everyone who entered! We enjoyed reading about your holiday traditions & memories so much, we just had to share them with everyone. Here are a few of our favorites.

Happy Holidays & Best Wishes for the New Year!
- Mark

From our winner, Chris Ferguson:

One of my favorite holiday treats is something my wife makes (passed down from her mother): Crème de Menthe bars!

From Banu Valladares:

I don’t drink coffee or eat cookies (I have dairy and gluten allergies) but love the smells of those two, particularly in the holiday season. In Venezuela, we didn’t bake. I was introduced to the joy of holiday cookie eating and later baking after I married Jay. His mom made a fantastic “monkey bread” – carrot bread that she’d bake in a tin can…. It was the most fantastic thing in the world – moist, sweet…. And then, a stay-at-home neighbor who baked and gifted sparked the spirit in me.

In Venezuela, we make a traditional meal starting in early December – hallacas. They’re like tamales, but wrapped in banana tree leaves and stuffed with a stew made with chicken, pork and beef, as well as raisins, almonds, pickled veggies, bacon…. We made hundreds of these that we’d eat throughout the month until the day the kings arrived (Epiphany in January).

Making hallacas was a family affair. The elders took care of the guizo (stew) and making the dough. These required huge bats. I remember my grandma sticking her arm all the way to her elbow in a bat to knead the white corn dough mixed with annatto and oil for these. The youngest kids were responsible for “curing” the banana tree leaves – using the same combination of annatto and oil to clean and soften them so they could be pliable enough to wrap. The grown ups would then add a bit of dough to each cured leaf, flatten it and add the stew. The little ones could then add little bits of all the other ingredients and, as they got older, wrap the hallaca, reinforce it with a faja (a thin strip of leaf where there might be a tear to keep the stuffing from falling out) and tie them the way you wrap a Christmas gift except crossing over twice. Then, the elders would boil them twice and stuff the bottom shelves of our refrigerator as well as the drawers until they were all gone.

We never tired of eating hallacas, maybe because of the time we spent together making them, maybe because we only ate them in December while the gaitas and aguinaldos played all day and the fireworks lit up the nights.

From Terri Beam:

Every year since I can remember, my family has attended the Moravian Love Feast service in the afternoon around 4:00 on Christmas Eve. We have visited more than one particular Moravian Church over the years. Many times our church selection was driven by friends or family that may help serve and present the unique services of the Love Feast or by those that sing in the choir, as my only surviving Aunt does now. The service is beautiful, touching and invites much congregation involvement.

Regardless of your religious preferences, everyone is invited to attend these worship services all over the city of Winston-Salem, in what seems like every Moravian church (of which there are many.) Yes, the minister/pastor delivers a sermon, the choir sings Christmas anthems, but the congregation practically guides the service in their participation in sharing and receiving a cup of hot coffee in a hefty mug, a delicious Moravian Love Feast bun (baked by Old Salem, Dewey's or local food artisans) and a lighted candle to be held high in exultation of Jesus Christ's' birth at the very end of the service. There is an adult choir, a hand bell choir and a children's choir, all of which deliver sweet hymns that bring Christmas into my heart every year. There is something very special about entering that church, sitting with my family, waving to friends, trying to get my aunt to laugh out loud while she sits and faces the entire congregation that brings merriment to my heart.

It is usually tough to stifle a laugh more than once as my Mother and I sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" since we have our own way of raising our voices at offbeat times. When the buns and coffee are received by all the congregation and choir, we must all sit quietly and wait until the minister takes his first bite or sip and then we may begin our Love feast portion of food. Several people choose to balance their bun on top of their coffee mug to keep their coffee warm prior to partaking of the tasty meal. My boys and I always smile as we wait for buns to topple down the aisle with one sneeze or cough! Miss Mannerly, that my Mother is, usually comments on how one or another person is eating their bun "incorrectly" or started eating prior to the minister's signal to begin. Oh my gosh, another opportunity for me and my sister to laugh and shake the row of seats in doing so. Mother's will be Mother's but church will never be church without a little bit of laughter from MY family!

I have lived out of state several times, once in Boston and another in Chicago, but I always came home for Christmas and attend the Love Feast service with my family as Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the Moravian Love Feast and I will cherish all my memories there for the rest of my life.

Home for the Holidays... in the Studio

2011-12-14T18:52:00.002-05:00

One of the things we love about preparing for the holidays is the opportunity to bring the comforts of home into the studio. Freshly baked cookies, a cup of hot coffee on a cold winter morning, having these delights as subjects for our still photography take us to a happy place this time of year.

We've been especially fortunate recently to have two of our studio neighbors work with us on some delicious projects. Julie Watson of Simply Scrumptious created a variety of Christmas and classic cookies for us to photograph. Julie makes amazing cakes, cookies, cheesecakes, truffles, etc. for any occasion, and from locally sourced ingredients. Candy Azarcon at the Carolina Coffee Roasting Company has provided fresh and roasted coffee beans for shoots, but also keeps the studio caffeinated with our own special studio blend that she helped create. Their coffee is roasted in small batches and freshly ground in their shop just around the corner. Sometimes we can even smell the coffee roasting from our front door!

We love being able to work with and support our small business neighbors and friends, so we'd like to share their talents with you by having a giveaway! The winner will receive 1 lb. of the MWP Studio Blend (a lovely mix of Columbian and Guatemalan organic coffees) and 1 lb. of Jamaican Blue Mountain from Carolina Coffee Roasting, plus a delicious tin of cookies from Simply Scrumptious. Just reply to this email to enter, or leave a comment on our blog! The winner will be selected at random from the replies. (Tell us a really good story about a favorite holiday treat, and we'll give you 2 entries! ;)

Wishing you and yours holidays that runneth over with all that is wonderful!

Time, something to toy with.

2011-11-15T16:31:00.003-05:00

Our new Time Showreel

Time affects us in many ways, we run our life by it, music is based on time, we mark its passage with rites and ceremonies, and yet the main way that we tend to think about time is based on divisions interpreted by people. It is amazing to me that something that is so abstract and untouchable can be used by us all each day, divided up, possessed by us, then bought and sold.

I became interested in using time as a way to express emotion with photography while still in high school. My friends and I were doing these large, hours-long exposures with flares, big flashlights, boats... well, needless to say they were big productions for a bunch of high schoolers. This experimentation continued in college with things like running a roll of 35mm film all the way to the end, then opening the shutter and rewinding the film to expose it, then contact printing the result.

One of my first experiments with long exposures.

This is 2 o'clock in the morning at Reidsville Senior High.

Believe it or not but the photo guys had a key to the school.

Since those days I have worked with time-lapse, fast motion, stop motion, frozen moments in time, and motion blur to change how we think about time. My interest has three facets:

1. The technical challenge of getting all the gear dialed in just right, and planning the performance or action. This is the fun of the moment.

2. The visual appeal of how the image looks. If done well, we go beyond a gimmick to something that holds up over time.

3. The emotion - when used in the right context, time is a meaningful story telling element. You have to use the right technique at the right time to make it effective.

All three of these elements take years to learn how to use correctly, and getting them to work together can be difficult. Sometimes it just does not work, but other times when you place one into an edit and add the music, it can seem magical. That is when you forget about sitting in the cold for five hours, the dead battery at the wrong time, and the never ending purchase of hard drives!

I don't understand time, I just hope I have some more of it to play with!

Case Study: Eastern Music Festival

2011-07-12T11:51:00.000-04:00

Each summer, the Eastern Music Festival brings students from around the world to Greensboro to study with outstanding professional musicians in classical music. In addition to classical performances, EMF offers events in a variety of musical styles, through EMF Fringe, Jazz & Blues and Kids programs. As the Eastern Music Festival celebrates its 50th anniversary season, we thought it appropriate to celebrate our partnership with the festival.

Mark has always loved live music, both as a listener and a performer. So it was natural that he had an interest in documenting and promoting this unique musical event. For 15 years, Mark has contributed to EMF by photographing classes, students and performances for use on EMF's website and print pieces. He has worked closely with Director of Education Nana Wolfe-Hill to cover the events and people EMF wanted to highlight in their promotions.

Mark Wagoner is creative, talented, and professional. He has been working with Eastern Music Festival since 1996 and brings innovative and thoughtful ideas to our team. He has initiated several projects to help promote our Festival and follows through with each one, working with us during each stage so that the final product is just what we need. Mark goes “above and beyond” for EMF and we are deeply grateful for his commitment.
~Nana Wolfe-Hill, Director of Education

In addition to still photography, Mark has created multiple videos documenting and promoting EMF. In 2009, Mark proposed that these short films could became the foundation of EMF TV, a YouTube channel dedicated to videos featuring Music Director Gerard Schwarz and other students and staff of the festival. Through this venue, the public and EMF donors get a closer look at the amazing experience the festival offers to young musicians.

One other fun note - Mark once performed at EMF, as part of an ensemble of drummers performing traditional African music!

This summer, the Eastern Music Festival continues until July 30. Visit their website for a schedule of the many different events, and to purchase tickets online! Please visit our website to see more of Mark's video production and photography: www.markwagoner.com.

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-03T14:51:00.006-04:00

I had the nicest surprise last night, I received an email from my daughter Lauren with a link in it. On opening it, I saw a lovely photo of the two of us in DC where she now lives; the photo was shot by my talented wife Lynn. Well, then I read the text with the photo and was overwhelmed with emotion. It was the nicest thing about me that she wrote for a blog about Father's Day.

It is a very special thing to find out the effect you have had on your child. I guess it would be safe to say I really had no idea she felt this way.

Wishing all my fellow Dads a happy Father's Day, here is the article, reposted from Propper Topper's wonders never cease.

“If I had to describe my dad in only a few words, I would say he is worldly, goofy, and passionate.”

Just HOW worldly, we wonder?
As a professional photographer for over 30 years (and still going strong!), he has had a chance to travel or live in over 25 countries. As a result, I grew up in a household full of culture. He (yes, my dad is the main cook in my family!) would only cook different ethnic foods for dinner EVERY night. It got to the point where I would beg my mother to take me to the “plain restaurant” as I called it, a cafeteria down the street which served mashed potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and chicken—all the “normal” dinner foods that I knew my friends were eating with their families. Looking back on this now, I am so grateful that I was introduced to ethnic cuisine at an early age. Now, when I am going out to dinner, I almost always pick to go to an Indian, Thai, or Greek restaurant, and when I do get to go home to North Carolina I make sure to ask my dad to prepare me a Mediterranean style meal (my favorite in his repertoire!!). I can definitely say that I owe my appreciation of different cultures and love of travel to him and when I have children of my own I hope to be able to spread this appreciation on to them.

And the goofy part?
My dad is quite the jokester. He would make jokes with random strangers in stores, waitresses at restaurants, and anyone who would listen. Talk about trying to mortify your 13 year old daughter—I swear I thought it was his mission in life to embarrass me at all times; he definitely got a kick out of my over dramatic reactions to his shenanigans. Of course I now understand that it was all in good fun and he was not out to destroy my teenage years, and I am even grateful for the sense of humor I have picked up from him.

What about passion?
When my dad gets interested in something or starts a project, he goes all in. I would say that this is one of his most admirable traits. He became interested in photography when he was 5 years old, and he has never looked back. This is what he studied in college, and he now owns a very successful photography and videography business (Mark Wagoner Productions). I always point out his work to my friends when we are in public because it makes me so proud! I mean, when you drive on the highway and see a billboard with a photograph your dad took or when you are in Barnes and Noble and see books his photographs are in, it feels pretty cool! His passion is not just in his work though, it shows through in everything he does.

What is a gift possibility, this year? (Mr. Wagoner: CLOSE YOUR EYES!)
I have been waiting for an excuse to buy my dad Strange Maps by Frank Jacobs because I think it will appeal to both his goofy and worldly sides. I think Father’s Day will be the perfect excuse!

What would you do with your father on June 19, if you had the whole day to spend with him?
I’m lucky that this year I actually will be with my dad on Father’s Day. We haven’t determined whether he is coming up to DC or if I am going down to North Carolina, but for the first time in several years we will be in the same place! If we are in DC, we will probably go to a nice brunch and then go to a museum of his choosing. If I go down to visit him, I will definitely be cooking breakfast for him and then we would maybe go for a hike with the dog and/or a movie, obviously his pick! I haven’t seen him in several months, so I am counting down the days!

Slinkyness

2011-01-05T16:20:00.006-05:00

This iconic toy was invented by a naval engineer named Richard James in the early 1940s and first sold at Gimbels department store in November of 1945. I loved having a new slinky when I was young and it was great fun, as long as you could keep it from getting twisted.

While I was on a prop search for another project this past summer, I saw Slinkys for sale in a store, and I could not resist getting one. OK, I went back for a second one (to have as a spare in case of a kink, of course). I had this idea of shooting it in slow motion and crawling across a flat surface. After a bit of mental problem solving and design time, followed by a few hours of shooting, here is our little short visual experiment called "Slinky".

Hanging Lights

2010-12-15T15:01:00.021-05:00

Electricians Wayne and Charles hang lights, 1975. I am glad I shot these photos.

For many years my Dad, Raymond Wagoner, Sr., and his business, Wagoner Electric Company, would hang the downtown Christmas decorations for the City of Reidsville, North Carolina. Imagine long strings of lights on gold and silver tinsel that were strung from the street lights back and forth across Scales Street. Giant red bells with lights in them hung from the strands over the middle of the road.

Now for me, this was a major event in my calendar of cool things. On the big day I would wait with as little patience as one can imagine to get out of school and go downtown. I would get to help in any way that I was able, depending on my age at the time. When I was very young, that meant tagging along when my father went for coffee, but in time I was handing lights or tools up to the men on the ladders. By the time I got to high school I would work on the ladder myself, which proved to to good training for my career.

The other part of the job that was great fun and seemed at the time to carry a great deal of importance happened a week or two before the light hanging day. We would go up into a warehouse space that was over Davis Pharmacy to test all of the bulbs, and replace the ones that were burned out. OK, I know it does not sound like much, but trust me, it was big fun. See, it involved getting to bust the old light bulbs! Oh, and when you changed a bulb, if you got the aluminum tinsel into the socket (by accident, of course) the bulb exploded - like I said, big fun.

Around 1970, the Chamber of Commerce made a major change in the Christmas lighting plan for Reidsville. They decided to go modern and replaced the old gold and silver strands that were strung across the street with these "things" that just hung on the poles of the street lights. Heresy I say!

I do not know how many years my father's company did this job, it started before I came along and ended after I had moved away from Reidsville, but it always gave me a sense of pride that my father was asked to oversee what seemed like such an important task for my home town. These are moments that I cherish and will always remember.

Christmas Magic... behind the scenes

2010-12-09T12:10:00.010-05:00

In the beginning, there was an idea. Mark had an idea for a scene of an enchanted forest, perhaps at dusk or in the evening. Over the course of several months, three days of shooting, 720 still photographs, and 500 snowflakes, this idea developed in to "Christmas Magic," a stop-action animated short that we are very excited to share. We were pleased to have Natalie Jester and Kelly Swanson at Ink Production Services collaborate with us, and you can see their artistic touch throughout. You can see the video on our Blip.tv channel.

Although the final product is only one minute and 30 seconds long, months of research and planning went into creating this piece. One of the most difficult parts was finding the right elements for the scene. Trees from model train sets and miniature villages were tested for size and shape. Also, arranging the trees to create the perspective of depth in the forest took careful planning. The snowflakes in the scene were arranged on three different planes, also to give the illusion of distance. Finding tiny decorations to fit our hero tree was another challenge. Eventually, lights and ornaments intended for a dollhouse Christmas tree were located. (and the transformer required to provide electricity for them, without burning down the studio!)

Finally, our deer was assembled by Kelly and Natalie, with articulated joints to let him walk, jump, angle his head to look at the tree, and of course, wiggle his ears and tail!

We hope you enjoy viewing the final result as much as we did creating it!

Letters to Santa... behind the scenes

2010-12-09T11:59:00.015-05:00

"Letters to Santa" includes footage shot for a series of commercials with our friends at G-Force Marketing. Mark wanted the results to show "classically beautiful lighting and camera movement" to give it a traditional, yet timeless, feel. He re-cut the footage to showcase the results into this short film, which can be viewed on our Blip.tv channel. Here are a few production stills from the shoot, showing all the work it takes to make something look natural and effortless!

Mark shot the film using the Letus camera attachment, which combines still camera lenses with the video camera. This allowed for the shallow depth of field and critical focus pulls that give the video a very intimate feel.

The crew rented a real, lived-in home for the day, rather than build a set, for a variety of realistic environments. It made it a tight squeeze for the dolly and track, but they were necessary for the camera motion that contributed to the classic look.

Actors don't always appreciate the time it takes to get everything set just right... But we think it's all worth it in the final film!

August 16th, 53,33,42

2010-08-16T14:08:00.005-04:00

Thirty-three years ago today I went to work at my first freelance photo job after finishing college. I remember that day because it was my birthday, I turned twenty, and it was the day that Elvis died, he was forty-two years old. I have never been much of an Elvis fan, but I seem to remember that day in a "where were you when" sort of context.

I was at Bill Ellis's studio on Edwardia Drive in Greensboro. I printed some black and white fashion photos and shot a picture of some cedar ice-cream makers. After a few days working there, I had a call for a full-time job at Glen Godfrey Communications in Raleigh, that started in September as I recall. A year later and I was back at Alderman's where I had been an intern, then in 1982 I was off to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 18 months. When I returned to the US, I had so many options, but in October I rented the building that still serves as my work space and started the company that is now known as Mark Wagoner Productions.

Today I went by Bill's old studio and sat in the parking lot and reflected on all of the experiences and travels of the past 33 years. I have made many great friends and relationships that I cherish. There is not much I would change.

MWP wins the Greensboro 48 Hour Film Project

2010-08-13T14:25:00.007-04:00

Mark Wagoner Productions and Monkeywhale Productions teamed up to produce a short film titled "The Adventures of Martin Dockery, Horologist" under the MWP Collaborative moniker, for the 48 Hour Film Projec t. This is the third project for MWP this year. In addition to winning best film, we won best costumes, best acting, best graphics (this was for the stop motion paper animation work), and best directing.

The story is told in the serial film format; it is a good verses evil science fiction film, with touches of western movies and a nod to the late Ed Wood. It will be shown in Las Vegas in October, and if it wins there, it will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Teaming up with Harvey Robinson and the Monkeywhale crew has been a very rewarding venture, not only because of awards, but primarily because of the experience. Film making is a team project, and the goal that we have as a team is to create a space for us all to produce work at a level that surprises us. For the 48 Hour project we put together a team of 35 people, which produces its own logistical problems but opens so many possibilities. I am very grateful for all of the hard work that the MWP team put into this film.

MWP has several more projects in the works right now, stay tuned...

I've got roids, and it's fun!

2010-08-13T13:37:00.006-04:00

I have been excited for a few months now waiting for a chance to shoot some of the Polaroid film from the "The Impossible Project". These folks are mostly past Polaroid Corp. executives and staff, and they took on the task of re-engineering Polaroid film after production was stopped. The companies that made the dyes and some of the other chemicals had closed out the production when Polaroid canceled its light-sensitive photo products, and so it was necessary to come up with new solutions for instant film based photography.

There are several new films for the cameras that shoot 100 type: SX70 and 600s. The new film is not the same as you may have used in the past. I have tried 5 films and would say that the 100 type sepia film and the PX70 color for the SX70 are my 2 favorites.

Here are some of the first results.

Layla

Saliba

Grisson

Natalie and Kelly

Harvey

Phil

Lauren

Watermelon Rinds

Catching up...

2010-03-18T17:32:00.036-04:00

It's been a while since we've updated the blog, but we promise that we have an excellent reason. We've been busy working! The past 2 months or so have included shooting video on 24 commercials and 12 how-to videos, putting the finishing touches on a promotional piece for a non-profit, continuing to shoot and edit the Proximity documentary, and some still photography jobs, too! Here's a peek...

On set with the lovely and talented Taniya Nayak for Mohawk Flooring. You might recognize Taniya from the HGTV show "Designed to Sell." In case you were wondering, she is just as much fun in real life as she appears to be on her show...

Back in his Greensboro studio, Mark recently shot a cover for one of AAA's regional magazines. He still shoots stills, when the occasion calls for it, and the studio's wide loading door came in handy for getting that motorcycle onto the set.

We visited our good friends at Viewpoint Studios in High Point for a video project for Lane Furniture. Mark's new wide-angle Canon lens does a great job with those big room sets.

Mark recently put the finishing touches on a collaborative project shot with Monkeywhale Productions for the youth fitness program, GO FAR: Go Out For A Run! You can see the full video on their website.

... and that's just a few of the projects that Mark's been working on lately! We hope this little taste whets your appetite for even more visual goodness to come. Stay tuned!

Fruitcake Cookies, but not like Mom's

2009-12-10T22:46:00.014-05:00

When I was but a wee fellow, we always had fruitcake at Christmas time. It was almost always Claxton, made with sticky candied fruits and nuts. We even sold them for my high school band. While I do have a fondness for the idea of this tradition, I must admit they do not seem that appealing as a food item. Stand by Alton Brown...

The other fruitcake event that took place at our house each year was my mother making fruitcake cookies. OK, strange I know, but stick with me here - there is a pay-off. I always knew that she was prepping to make fruitcake cookies when the packages of bright, and I mean bright, green and red round fruit things appeared at the back of the our white with gold fleck counter-top. One year when I was around 10, I came into the kitchen and saw this cup of raisins sitting on the counter top. Well, I did like raisins, and they seemed fair game just sitting there...no one watching... in goes my hand for as big a fistful as I could grab. The funny thing was they were wet, but no point in putting them back, plus they were dripping on the floor. Time to get rid of the evidence, down the hatch in big gulp. If you have ever made fruitcake or cooked with dried fruit, you are probably aware of the technique of soaking them, usually in some alcoholic spirit, to soften them. Remember the part about a big handful? OK, now think bourbon. My mouth was on fire, plus I was panicking about getting caught for eating all the raisins. Of course, it was about that time that my mother came in to find me stuck with a mouthful of bourbon soaked raisins and wet hands dripping on the floor. Lucky for me she seemed to find quite a bit of humor in the whole scene and helped me with a paper towel to get cleaned up.

Back to Alton Brown... A week or so ago I was watching Good Eats on the Food Network, and Alton was doing a show on fruitcake. No candied fruit here, he was talking dried blueberries, cherries, apricots and currents. This sounded really good, so after the memories of my Mother's cookies came to mind, I had the bright idea of converting Alton Brown's recipe to make fruitcake cookies. Nice, I could pay homage to my mother and update her recipe all at the same time, especially nice since I have not seen a copy of her recipe in many years.

Here is my recipe for fruitcake cookies. Please let me know what you think about these if you make them.

Mark's Fruitcake Cookies

1 cup golden raisins
1 cup currants
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried chopped apricots
Zest of one lemon
Zest of one orange
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 cup gold rum
1 cup sugar
5 ounces unsalted butter (1-1/4 sticks)
1/2 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup toasted pecans, broken

Directions

Combine dried fruits, candied ginger and both zests. Add rum and microwave for 5 minutes to re-hydrate fruit.

Place fruit and liquid in a non-reactive pot with the sugar, butter, apple juice and spices. Bring mixture to a boil stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for at least 15 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and sift into fruit mixture. Mix batter together then stir in eggs one at a time until completely integrated, then mix in nuts.

Spoon batter with a desert-sized spoon onto cookie sheet, bake around 14 minutes. They should look brown on top and lift from the pan when done. Cool on a wire rack and store in a airtight container. Makes around 70 cookies.

Go Far 5K

2009-11-15T21:49:00.006-05:00

On Saturday we started production on a short documentary film about GO FAR (Go Out For A Run!). With perfect weather after days of steady rain, it was a great day for watching 1,000 people run a 5K many for the first time.

We had a crew of 4 people, Maciek Krzysztoforski on stills, Zack shooting and sound, Harvey Robinson (of Harvey's Kitchen fame) shooting, along with me on a third camera. We shot 750 still photos and 3 hours of video footage. Watch for the film in a few weeks and if you have small ones sitting around, check out this program, 2 thumbs up, and then some!

Watcher, a short film shot with Pinhole Video

2009-10-28T20:35:00.009-04:00

This short is the outcome of something I have been thinking about for a few months, video shot with a pinhole lens. Well, as you may know there is in fact no lens creating the image, just a very small hole made with a pin. Pinhole image creation is very old and started with the camera obscura. I have worked with pinhole photography a few times over the years, and this thought of video created with a hole in a piece of aluminum foil would not go away.

While this image is not suited to showing great detail in an object, it does have a very ethereal look and would work nicely for a baby's POV, dream state, or other-worldly kind of feeling.

This is my first test, and we plan to shoot with some different size pinholes to go for different looks. I liked this look for a horror film, so with a tip of the hat to Halloween here is "Watcher".

Save the Monkeywhale Music Festival

2009-10-05T15:58:00.006-04:00

This past weekend proved to be big on fun (bigger on wearing me out) shooting a film on the Save the Monkeywhale Festival 2009 in Greensboro NC. It was 3 nights of NC bands, 12 in all, in 2 venues. The show comes out of the Harvey's Kithchen series of short films on North Carolina music, and beyond. The goal of the festival was to help fund equipment to keep the whole thing moving and support local arts and music.

My good friends at Monkeywhale, headed up by Harvey K. Robinson, asked me to come out and shoot a documentary film on the festival. I came away with 3 and a half hours of footage that will be mixed with some video from Harvey and Zach Hadgraft to produce a music video for each band and an overall film about the festival. Watch here, Mark Wagoner on Blip.TV, and monkeywhale.com for the upcoming films.

In the mean time here are some frames from the footage that I shot at the festival.

A music soaked crowd watches House of Fools play.

Now You See Them at Solaris.

Stephaniesid at the Blind Tiger, off beat sound with rock solid in the pocket

drumming.

Bruce Piephoff, the master at work.

The Never from Chapel Hill, YES!

Martha Bassett in a glow at the blind tiger.

On maracas Katharine Whalen peforms with Alcazar Hptel.

The Martha Bassett Band.

Matty Sheets on interviews.

Citified plays the sound, nice.

Alcazar Hotel are the Czars.

Jim Avett steps in with Amelia's Mechanics.

Eating the Invaders cranks it up at Solaris on night one.

Fans went wild, or were mesmerized.

Holy Ghost Tent Revival had the crowd dancing at Solaris.

Spartan Basketball Commercial

2009-09-09T15:13:00.014-04:00

We just finished shooting a really fun TV commercial with Wilky Black and our friends at G-Force Marketing for UNCG Basketball. I have shot for many years for The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and it is always great to work on a project for the school. This was to announce that UNCG basketball is moving to the Greensboro Coliseum, this will be great both for UNCG and for local college basketball fans.

The whole spot was shot in 2 days with a small crew, lots of water, and a great cast. We used the Letus 35 adapter on our HPX500 to get a film look on the video. The camera was always moving on a 10" slider dolly. With this set-up, we were able to shoot 11 shots at 8 locations in the 2 days, with lighting on some of the sets. It was a fun shoot that turned into a great spot.

For more info about tickets for UNCG basketball please look here.

Irata-Eye of Ra music video

2009-07-08T18:47:00.004-04:00

Last fall I served as DP on a music video for the band IRATA. The song "Eye of Ra" is from their first CD. Love the song and the band. Look here for a post about the shoot.

Going Green

2009-07-07T14:37:00.006-04:00

We have made a commitment for Mark Wagoner Productions to go green. Yes we are painting our cyc wall "green-screen" green. It will give us 17'w, 14'h, 12'd, of flat Rosco green paint. This is the "official" green color so it should key out nicely. We will have it ready at all times with only the need to touch up the floor. We already have projects that are slated to shoot on our green stage area, nice! Book now, book often.

First coat done, it's like watching paint dry.

Car Rig

2009-07-07T00:52:00.004-04:00

Last week we had to mount our HVX200 on my van for a time lapse shot for a TV show we are shooting. While it was mounted, I shot a little extra footage. Here are some production stills of the rig and the outcome of the second shoot of the day. Although we had done a test shoot a few weeks ago, on this set-up we learned a lot about rigging the camera to the car. Our next rig will smooth out the shots even more.

48 hour Film, "Dance Again" PANO

2009-07-05T00:12:00.001-04:00

Here is a QTVR PANO of our shoot by Tom Lassiter.

"Dance Again"

2009-06-29T10:23:00.002-04:00

General Pictures' offering for the 2009 48 Hour Film Festival.

Enjoy!

48 Hour Film Production, "Dance Again"

2009-06-23T00:56:00.001-04:00

This past weekend we produced a film for the 48 Hour Film Project titled "Dance Again". It is about the stress of the mundane items of life and how chocolate cake makes it all better. We had a shoot of only eight hours, followed by twenty-five hours of editing. We had a great crew headed by Christian Parsons, and everyone did a great job. We got the film turned with four minutes to spare... damn, I could have gotten in one more cut!

Above are a few screen shots from the film.

Some people have asked me about how we got the look for the film. This is a very simple short film that takes place over six minutes at one small table. We do have one scene from the kitchen to help the "fantasy" aspect we needed to get in (one of the festival requirements). Anyway, we had set out to do a very simple film, but shoot it as beautifully as we could.

I had put a lot of thought into the look I wanted to achieve, and even before we arrived on the set, we did some critical work to achieve a clean image. A few days before the shoot, we brought all of the shoot monitors into the edit suite and calibrated everything as closely as we could. Here is a photo of that process. Then, our camera rig consisted of an Panasonic HPX500 - this is a 2/3 inch camera that I have spent a lot of time tweaking and setting up looks for. On the front of it, we used a Letus 35 adaptor with Canon zoom and prime lenses and a Chrosziel matte box. The lighting is a mix of soft window daylight, HMI, and tungsten lighting.

What this meant for post-production was that the color, contrast, brightness and overall look were achieved on the set. There was no correction done in post, except on the shot in the kitchen. This is big when you have a short deadline and need to edit, not spend time fixing exposure and color issues. I am coming to the place (perhaps it is back to the place) that we should create the look in-camera on the set whenever possible and change "fix it in post" to "enhance it in post".

Call me if you would like to know more about this process at 336.854.0406

Here are some production shots from Elizabeth Lemon.

These photos are from Bert Vanderveen.

And, from Tom Lassiter.

48 Hour Film Project Prep

2009-06-19T00:53:00.000-04:00

Monitors- check!

Our team has been very busy this week making plans for a shooting a film for the 48 Hour Project this weekend. We will write, shoot and edit a film in 48 hours, hopefully a bit less since we have to turn it in downtown.

2009-05-16T22:40:00.001-04:00

A long day of painting, I am one beat puppy.

Popping Pills

2009-05-14T11:46:00.000-04:00

These eye-popping images are part of an ongoing video & still project we've been working on with the good folks at Banner and Blue Zoom. For you techies out there - the movie was shot with the HPX500, and the stills with the Hasselblad H3D-39.
(For more video samples, check out our library on blip.tv.)

Proximity Hotel Documentary Update

2009-05-02T22:00:00.000-04:00

Dennis Quaintance CEO of Quaintance-Weaver

Restaurants and Hotels

We are into the main parts of production on a new film about the Proximity Hotel. Recently we had the opportunity to do the first in a series of interviews with Dennis Quaintance. This interview was shot in the lower lobby of the hotel, where we talked about the formulation of the ideas that led to the creation of the only LEEDS Platinum certified hotel in the US.

The film will tell the story of how the Proximity came to be and look at the philosphy, the struggles, and the triumphs of the construction of this important American building. We had a great shoot with Dennis. Thank you's go out to all the staff at the hotel who helped us and to Christian Parsons and Harvey Robinson, who both did a great job shooting.

Director Mark Wagoner interviews Dennis for the film.

Harvey Robinson shooting.

2009-04-22T07:40:00.001-04:00

Headed out to spend the day working with high school photo students.

2009-04-17T22:05:00.001-04:00

I spent a fun day at UNCG photographing students for admissions.

Photographs with Libby

2009-04-14T00:05:00.000-04:00

Last week I worked with Libby Newsome on some photos for a project she is working on for runners. Libby is a great trainer, she is helping me on health and fitness issues and my fight to lose weight. Her company Core Dynamics is near the Green Valley area of Greensboro. I cannot say enough nice things about my experience with Libby.

After we shot the photos for her book she was kind enough to model for some tests shots for me. This is part of the outcome of our little experiment. Thanks for everything Libby.

On Set with HGTV Personalities

2009-03-24T10:00:00.001-04:00

Recently, Mark and crew had the opportunity to produce some TV and web spots for Mohawk Flooring featuring Taniya Nayak and Chip Wade. Those of you who are HGTV junkies out there will recognize these two right away from their show "Designed To Sell." And the good news is - they are just as friendly & fun in real life as they seem to be on TV.
We had two very full days of shooting on a variety of sets that took our talent from an interior designer's office to a Carribbean-inspired living room to everyone's favorite - the green screen. It was a multi-camera shoot that included a teleprompter mounted to the jib camera.
Thanks to Chip, Taniya, the good folks at Mohawk, Viewpoint Studios and ASV Productions, and all the crew for a great shoot!

Taniya makes sure the carpet passes the barefoot test.

How'd he get that whole floor put in so quickly? Just a little TV magic...

Taniya gets a little touch-up from stylist Heather Hawkins. Like she needed any help!

Taniya & Mark at the end of a good day.

Yakov, Bald Nobbers, and Mark Wagoner Productions

2009-02-13T00:55:00.000-05:00

We just returned from a great video shoot in Branson, Missouri. We were there the week after the ice storms, which meant we had to set lights one of the days on 5" thick ice, but the gaffer and crew did an above all expectations job. Everything looked really nice and no one slipped and fell. The grip truck, lighting package, gaffer and crew all came from FILM GEAR RENTALS in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thanks to Dave and David for an excellent job. Christian Parsons also went out of his way to make the project for Wrangler Home Furnishings a big success. No really - he went out of his way, since there is not a very direct way to drive a truck load of cameras and a jimmy jib from Greensboro to Branson. Thanks to Christian for enduring 32 grueling hours of snow, trees in the road, ice, and traffic jams. Ben Root, fresh off a job for CBS, and I had a very early morning rendezvous at the airport and flew to Missouri for the shoot. Ben made the camera fly with ease in the confines of a house, albeit a 5,000 sq. foot house. Our team was rounded out buy a great cast and stylist, and most importantly, a fantastic client! Thanks to Justin for everything!

While in Missouri we shot footage for commercials, DVD's and web spots. We shot with 2 cameras on P2 cards, HMI's and Kinoflos. Camera was on the jimmy jib or dolly and tracks.

Branson is, well, an interesting place. It is a mix of Gatlinburg and Myrtle Beach, plus a dash or so of Hee Haw. We all really liked seeing the Dick Clark Used Car Lot. It was so quiet there, it is hard to imagine that they had seven million visitors last year. Glad we went in the middle of winter. Though we hated that we missed Yakov.

Inauguration Day

2009-01-21T13:01:00.000-05:00

January 20th 2009, Inauguration day in Greensboro NC. A small bit of snow had fallen over night in Greensboro, for me it was a cleansing and a sign of a fresh start. While I could not be in the city of cherry blossoms for the big day, I was happy to see it arrive none the less. It was a great day!

I had seen small hand painted signs surrounding Cheesecakes by Alex with the word "HOPE" painted on them while I was downtown over the weekend. I knew I wanted to photograph this visual symbol of the change our country and the world were about to experience. After shooting the signs and having a bit of crumb cake Alex said that the kids had a great time painting them all. It was time to head over to The Green Bean and see what was going on there. People were coming to sip some of the black medicine and watch the large screen TV set up down front. The atmosphere was excited and very upbeat. I hung out with my friend and fellow photographer Christian Parsons , had some coffee, shot some pix and headed home around 11AM.

Lynn and I watched through most of the afternoon. Now off to work and save the country.

I've got to go see a man about a mule.

2008-12-10T08:27:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the cooperation of Ruby the mule we shot new scenes for the Camelback Bridge film we have been working on this year. Jan turned out to be quite the mule drive and got about 2 hours of practice in. Thanks for all the help from Ronald Hudson and End of the Road Mule Farm for providing our new friend Ruby, complete with a wagon and a coffin. Harvey Robinson and I split camera duties with Carolyn de Berry keeping the show on track as well as doing bang of job as the pregnant women in the wagon. You could feel her pain! The weather was perfect, a bit over cast, adding to the somber feel of this scene. We shot this scene with the Letus 35 adaptor to give some very nice shallow depth of field looks.

What's our Proximity?

2008-12-07T00:29:00.000-05:00

This week we shot on the roof of the only Platinum rated LEEDS hotel in the United States, The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro. The fish eye lens comes in handy yet again. We shot an interview with Dale Freudenberger of FLS Energy in Black Mountain NC. FLS provided and designed the solar hot water system for the hotel. Dale explains the workings of the system and discusses the concepts of solar energy in a film I am producing on the Proximity. More updates coming as this project progresses.

Camelback Bridge

2008-11-25T23:16:00.000-05:00

On Friday Nov. 21 we shot the bulk of the photography for a new short film titled "Camelback". The film is being shot near Sanford NC at the Camelback Bridge.

It is a story of an older gentleman and the bridge which serves as the grounding place of his entire life. During the film we learn how the old man's life and the bridge are woven together. This is from a screen play that I wrote last winter as I was reflecting on the changes in my father's life, and how the community he grew up in was ever present in his life. While the story is not biographical of my father it does reflect some things I know about him. There are small bits of historical information included in the film.

Playing the part of the "Old Man" is a young actor by the name of Jan Hensley. Helping with the shooting chores were Harvey Robinson who shot many of the shots, and Carolyn deBerry who did all of the on set coordination and shot some awesome still pictures of the production.

The day proved to be cold but not miserable. We did start the shoot with lunch in Siler City at Johnson's Burgers, home of the best cheeseburgers in North Carolina. One of the highlights of the day and most scary, OK and pretty much fun was throwing a Panasonic HVX200 off the side of the bridge and letting it have a controlled free fall for about 40 feet, this should prove to be a very cool shot.

Southern Culture

2008-11-20T15:34:00.000-05:00

I am honored to have been asked to be a contributor to an amazing project being put together by The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss, and published by The University of North Carolina Press. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture is a 24 volume set of books that will cover everything Southern. Some volumes are finished, some still in progress, we are providing images on powwows in the Southern United States.

Irata Music Video

2008-11-17T23:21:00.000-05:00

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of working on a music video for Greensboro based band Irata. I was the director of photography and worked with Kevin Pojman and Grisson Davis who produced and directed the project. Working with me on the shoot team were Christian Parson and Harvey Robinson, both of whom shared camera and lighting duties, and Carolyn De Berry, who held the camera crew together. We had a great crew and some very cool sets, not to mention a very tolerant model who put up with some cold wind, pine trees, and driving a massive Cadillac with an 8 track tape player. We all had a lot of fun shooting for a great band.

Vote '08: Funny or Foul?

2008-10-15T13:42:00.000-04:00

This all started as a test for a ring light and became the story of getting ready in the morning. (No, it's not autobiographical.) Many thanks to our friend Andy for his comic skills and being willing to do this stuff and push it to a higher (or lower?) level of humor.

Some people may think we went too far, so we decided to take a vote, being election season and all. Is it hilarious or horrifying? Did we go to far or not far enough? Let us know what you think, and we will enter you into a drawing! Please share your comments here, where everyone can share in the fun, but also send us an email to let us know how to reach you if you win.

The poll is open until the real election day - November 4!

Current TV

2008-08-23T00:19:00.000-04:00

Our film on Paperhand made it to number one on Current.TV, Both Coe and myself were really excited.

Also I went to see the Paperhand show tonight in Chapel Hill, it was a great experience, see these guys do their thing, Really inspiring for me!

New Film-Paperhand Puppet Intervention

2008-08-21T01:06:00.000-04:00

Today has been really exiting for the new film by myself and Coe Doulas. It was uploaded to current.tv yesturday and climbed to the #2 film in less than 24 hours. Coe and I have had a great time putting this short film "Paperhand Puppet Intervention, Activists in Their Community"together. We had help from Christian Parsons and Carolyn de Berry in making the project happen. We first talked to Donovan at Paperhand in the winter, so it has taken almost 8 months to get this completed. Thanks to Jan Burger and Donovan Zimmerman at Paperhand Puppet Intervention for having us in their studio and for talking about the experiences. They have a great show in progress now please support these guys. Also thank you to everyone who has voted our film up in the current.tv count.

48 hour Film Project Award for Our Film

2008-07-04T23:19:00.000-04:00

Our Film "The Hourglass" won an award for best Art Direction. As I said before we had a great team and everyone worked really hard. The shoot day was long and very hot, then came the edit. We were ahead on our edit plan and went home to sleep.

A great time was had by all. I do wish we had not been to busy to shoot production stills.

Wish You were Here Trailer

2008-06-26T20:15:00.000-04:00

This is the trailer for a new film in production from Mark Wagoner Productions and Monk Meat Media. the screenplay is by Coe Douglas and it is directed by Mark Wagoner. It is the story of ...well, wait and see!
Click To Play

2008-06-26T19:12:00.000-04:00

This is a short piece I produced with pottery from my collection for Ben Owen. I am a big fan of his work and have pieces at home and at the studio to find out more about Ben go to his website.

Time-Lapse Greensboro

2008-06-26T10:48:00.000-04:00

One afternoon in May I stepped out of the studio and a heavy cloud cover start rolling in from the southeast. I knew then that the shoot for our movie "Camelback Bridge" had to be cancelled. Now with a free afternoon I thought I would go downtown and shoot a time-lapse of the clouds. This is the outcome.

48 Hour Film Project , Greensboro

2008-06-25T00:28:00.000-04:00

We just finished doing the 48 Hour Film Project. It was 2 long days of writing, shooting and editing, we did a film titled " The Hourglass". We had a great crew and cast plus we got our film in on time. Our team is called General Pictures and this is the 5th year they have entered, my 3rd year serving as Director of Photography. Check back to see the film after it plays in the festival on June 28th.

Paperhand Puppet Documentary in Production

2008-06-04T01:16:00.000-04:00

We continued production today on a short documentary on Paperhand Puppet Intervention. Artists Donovan Zimmermen and Jan Burger create very cool and often very large puppets. For 10 years they have been using collected stuff and corn starch to build these constructions. They bring them to life by creating plays and art events based on environmental, social, and political themes.

Coe Douglas and I are co-producing a short film on Jan and Donovan and their work. Today we shot the main interview and B-roll footage with the help of Christian Parsons, 2nd camera, and Carolyn Deberry, production manager. It was a very inspiring day in in the heart of Saxapahaw.

To find out more about Paperhand visit their website.

New Project for Mohawk Flooring

2008-05-14T22:34:00.000-04:00

Last night (actually early this morning) we finished shooting a new commercial for Mohawk Flooring. We had a great cast of 3, crew of 23, plus 5 dogs for a 9 hour shoot. We shot a large beautiful set with 2 rooms and then converted the set. The shoot was done with a Varicam on a Jimmy Jib built at 18 feet. The dogs added so much life and action to the look and feel and gave the actors great action to play off of, thanks to Bonnie and friends. Everyone worked really hard through the night to make this project look it's best. Here are a few excellent production shots by our trusty RCC intern Carolyn.

Horne Creek

2008-04-27T21:18:00.000-04:00

This is a nice place for a day visit and a chance to see a what an early 20-th century working farm was like. I always like these photos from inside the house I am drawn to the simplicity of the setting. Visit there web site to learn more. The site is off of Highway 52 south of Mt. Airy NC.

New work April 2008

2008-04-24T23:58:00.000-04:00

We currently have a few projects going for currentTV.com , stories in production include a story on a group that uses puppets for community activism. I have also just finished shooting new still photos for the College Foundation of NC as well as UNCG.

On the funny bone side of things were are in post production with a PSA on saving polar ice. This spot which was written by our studio features a guy in a penguin suit eating sushi and forgetting has lines (great job Harvey) also thanks to Gail for playing the stylist, well she is a stylist and she played one...

We are also starting to plan for the 48hour Film Project, always crazy fun and crazy tiring.