Blog

on set with derek webb | nashville, tn

nashville | before the stage

On a recent road trip to Nashville, my brother and I spent some time on Music Row. The street musicians captured my interest and I hope to shoot a collection of their sub-culture in the near future. Subtle scenes of hopeful musicians littered every corner and alley. This one is a favorite.

Ryan Walters | Central New York Photographer

spaced out | dropkick the robot

Please be sure to select HD for the best viewing experience. Simply click the "HD" logo near the lower right of the video, then click Play.

This is the first of a series of live music videos shot in studio with Dropkick the Robot. These guys are phenomenal musicians! They are dedicated to their craft, and their music reflects it. We had the opportunity to collaborate with them to produce a series of seven songs, which were all performed and captured live.  This is the biggest video project we've shot to date! It involved several months of planning, production meetings, putting a solid team of operators together, innovating some lighting methods for a relatively small recording studio, and executing a nine camera shoot in full 1080p!! We shot everything at 24fps to lend a film look to it, and I lit the studio with a cinematic style in mind.

 

This is 1 of 6 songs captured on a Sunday evening in March. The remaining 5 will be published very soon, so check back if you're interested in seeing them!


The band, Dropkick The Robot, is based within the Midwest, containing a huge range of musical talent with a variety of sounds that are showcased within this meeting of creative minds.

The production utilized a mixture of Canon 5D Mark ll's, Canon T2i's, Arri D Flex kits, and several assorted Canon L Series lenses.

In Post-Production (handled entirely by the very talented, Tim Kotthoff), the H.264 files were immediately backed up to multiple drives and then transcoded to ProRes 422 and ProRes Proxy files. These transcodes were also backed up. The ProRes Proxy files were then all synced in Final Cut Pro 7 and cut/assembled using Multi-Cam within Final Cut. After all of the cuts were approved each of the songs were taken offline from ProRes Proxy and reconnected online to the ProRes 422 transcodes. They were then all color corrected and graded within Color.

We hope that you enjoy it!

 

This project couldn't have gone as smoothly without the following people's dedication and willingness to help:

Tim Kotthoff | Producer, Co-Director, Editor, Colorist

Ryan Walters | Producer, Co-Director, Director of Cinematography

Eric Becker | Camera Operator

Cari Smick | Camera Operator

Gary Winchester | Camera Operator

Michael J. Kraemer | Camera Operator

Eric Witthaus | Camera Operator

Dan Mehrman | Sound Engineer

Big thanks to the band as well!

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Photographer + Cinematographer

 

channeling vedder

This is a shot from about a year ago. I came across it while doing some "spring cleaning" on my Mac today. Unfortunately, I don't even remember the name of the band. They played at The Pageant the first night Option//Control did, and I remember thinking how much the lead singer seemed to channel Eddie Vedder. It wasn't just his voice, but his look, his movement and his stage presence.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Photographer + Cinematographer

zimmer + hoelck | st. louis musicians

shane zimmer. if you follow my blog, you've seen this man before. it's been too long since I've published anything, and in light of recent events in my life, I've been revisiting some of Patrick Hoelck's work. I was a fan of his work while I was in school.  he's known for his very dark, very moody images, and incredible color work. the expression on shane's face, the depth in his eyes, and the Hoelck treatment, tell the story of my life well right now. it's truly a dark time, and this image sums it up.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

if you're into it, check out Hoelck's site.

patrickhoelck.com

craig | vice vega

This is Craig of VICE VEGA. The guy is electric on stage! I had the pleasure of working with the band a few months back to produce promotional images for their upcoming album. Since the shoot, their sophomore EP has released and they're currently touring. Catch them at The Pageant in St. Louis February 5th at 8pm, and hit the link to download both albums free!

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer