Amber Waves: As a content creator and working photographer, I spend a lot of time in the car searching for locations to shoot footage. Over the course of my career, I have accumulated hundreds of out-of-the-way places to shoot stills and video. I have to admit, the process is fun. Exploring, even on a small scale, is fascinating. Each excursion out into the regions of the map that were once only names heard on weather reports is addicting. A dirt road, good music and a camera slung over the headrest of the passenger seat are all very satisfying after a gray winter.
Because Clean Cars Are Boring
Summer weather and farm roads are the perfect recipe for great on location shots.
Video Field Notes: New Jersey Shore Lo-Fi
Blurry and overt saturated and deliciously lo-fi, shooting real film on the New Jersey shore.
Video Field Notes | June 1, 2016
What do you do when you are in your hometown shooting B roll for an upcoming project on a beautiful spring evening? You build an homage video showing just how pretty the Collar City can be. Enjoy Troy.
Video Field Notes | May 30, 2016
The weather is heating up and the landscape is filling in with green. The skies have been active this week and Nor'easter Films' shooting schedule has been just as busy. This is a collection of sights from the week.
Video Field Notes | May 21, 2016
What makes the Tour of the Battenkill in Washington County, New York such a special race in the minds of so many is the dirt. These dirt roads cutting though swaying inland seas of cornfields also symbolize summer for me. I am often storm chasing on roads exactly like this one. There is simple beauty in dirt farm roads that is easy to understand.
Video Field Notes | May 16, 2016
Daybreak Albany: Those who get up before the sunrise know the feeling of owning the city before the rest of the world wakes up and takes possession.
Nor'easter Films Aerial Cinematography Bumper
Storm Season is Coming...
Some public domain footage used via NOAA and the United States Department of Commerce.
Video Filed Notes | May 11, 2016
This was the scene last night of fisherman on the Hudson River from the Green Island Bridge in Troy, New York. I grew up in this city. I can see my first apartment in this video. Troy will always be home no matter where I live or travel. We probably all feel the sensation of viewing our collected personal histories in an image of our hometowns. In part, this one is mine. The sunsets the past few days have been spectacular because of unseen smoke in the air from a distant wildfire. I wait all winter for sunsets like this one.
Video Field Notes | May 10, 2016
Creating content is more than a process, it's a way of life. When speaking with other photographers and filmmakers, I find a common theme in the way we all view the world. As content creators, we define what we see in imaginary composition frames until we can actually record what we see in a beautiful and meaningful way. I try to shoot everyday and the lines between still images and video are often blurred.
Video Field Notes are clips from the process, a way of recording a location or a feeling in an informal way. They are my notebook as a filmmaker.
This scene was captured last night at the Tomhannock Reservoir in Valley Falls, New York. The afternoon was cold and windy on the shore, but back through the trees, the wind was all but gone and the sunshine was more than inviting after a gray winter. I don't tend to like Spring much, it's a stop over that is somewhere in-between two of my favorite seasons. And while most see new life, I can't wait for the deep greens of summer.
Tell Your Story
On-location: Manufacturing Documentary
On-location on May 4, 2016 capturing manufacturing documentary footage in Troy, New York.
Water Connects Us All
Water Connects Us All: As filmmakers, we spend a great deal of time off the grid in locations that are supposed to be pristine. Most times, one doesn't have to look too hard for evidence of humans. This video focuses more on the pollution you can't see with the naked eye. We are contaminating our groundwater and the organisms that populate the habitats near water sources at an alarming rate with discarded medication and cleaning products while abandoned mills and dams choke off life downstream.
This collection of B roll was shot on location in Albany and Rensselaer Counties of New York State. New York State is home to some truly beautiful natural areas that are easily accessible for hikers of all abilities.
Nor'easter Films has an extensive library of video clips and longer pieces for purchase and integration into your project. Use to the contact link on this page to inquire about your specific needs.
Nor'easter Films | Aerial Operations
Pre-dawn Sounds of the Forest
Coyote, Owl or Sasquatch? You make the call.
Woodland Sunrise
The sounds of a woodland sunrise in Upstate New York.
Nor'easter Films Storm Reel
Not all location video has to be stabilized and have high production value. Sometimes, the act of documenting an event unfolding in front of the lens is all the is required for a compelling video.
Here are two favorite severe storms from the 2015 storm season: The first clip is a wall cloud sweeping over farmland in Easton, New York. The second clip is a severe storm cell parked over the Hudson River at Troy, New York dumping immense amounts of rain just to the west of the camera position. Both are iPhone videos.
Looking forward to the 2016 storm season.
-Nor'easter Films
Petersburg Stream
On location in Petersburg, New York.
Halfmoon Rotation | 07.31.2014
Rotating Storm in Halfmoon, New York on July 31, 2014.