Conversation is good – and well thought out debate is often even better.

Mark Robert Halper

Conversation is good – and well thought out debate is often even better.

Mark Robert Halper

As you know I'm not a native english speaker / writer and I sometimes have problems trying to express myself, so please do excuse if for any momment I've not been polite to Robert or any other of your guests as that was never or will be my intention. As I've writen in the past I think one should try everything, who am I to say that this is right or that is wrong.

Regards,
Tiago

Another great show! 5***** Thanks Robert Halper for sharing your experience with us! And congratulations on your work! Love the light!

I agree with “wolf666″ when he talks about still & video being 2 different disciplines, speacially when we're talking weddings or portraits. If a photographer wants to do video he should learn the right techniques and became a proper videographer, however, like everyhting in life, to try to do all is going to reduce the quality of ones work. I think in a wedding either you shoot or you film, try to do all and you'rew asking for trouble.

What I think is happening is the possibility of with just one kind of equipment (like a 5D mark ll) to do both kind of work – still and video, but one at a time. A videographer and a photographer can now share the same equipment, reducing the costs, but one professional shouldn't try to do the others job. Instead of buyng video equipment & photographic equipment one can now buy 2 or more 5D Mk ll and each professional will carry one, sharing lenses, filters, tripods, etc. and this way reducing the costs. Maybe one can try to use one or two frames from the video if one miss a shot (and this is really good!) but techniques, plans, etc are so different. What works in still in not going to work in video and vice-versa. We must also keep in mind that there will always be the editing part and this means at least the double of the work and time.

However for a photojournalist this video & still is a great advance as one can take the shots and make a small video of a news and put online asap, and that's interesting and was already being made with smaller cameras all over the world, even with Iphones.

Considering Roberts' moving portraits I'm not so excited about them, I think they do not work, it's better to do a proper video than those “kinda creapy” shots. For me a portrait is a “still”, a “moving portrait” is just a video or a slideshow presentation, it's not photography. Nothing personal Robert, it's just my understanding of it.

Cheers and keep sharing!

I think many people new to the industry disregard veterans' advice, which is foolish. There's an old Cuban saying: “El diablo sabe mas por viejo, de por diablo” which translates into “the devil knows more because of his age than because he's the devil.”