N°14 Ton That Dam

This colorful French colonial-era apartment tucked away at 14 Ton That Dam street in Saigon's district 1 is home to some chic cafes and boutiques and happens to be a great spot for shooting video and grabbing a bite to eat.

Scouting Locations in Saigon

If you're on the lookout for places to shoot models in Saigon that are safe, quiet and won't break the bank, here are a few suggestions. The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts in district 1 (above), built in the early 20th century by a French architect, has some lovely light. Admission for... Continue Reading →

30/4 Park Rushes

It's been too long since I've posted any new videos, so here's a peek at the first minute and-a-half of a mini-documentary I'm working on about young people in and around 30/4 Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. One thing I discovered is that when converting the ProRes 422 files to QuickTime H.264 using... Continue Reading →

Lunar New Year Vietnam 2014

Phuong, a 21 year-old accounting major studying in Saigon, invited me to spend the Tet holiday in her hometown in Dak Lak province. Located in the Central Highlands, the region is noted for its coffee plantations and a sizable population of ethnic minorities. To get there, you have to catch a bus at Mien Dong... Continue Reading →

Sunday Afternoon in the Park

There are always loads of photographers in and around the park, especially on weekends: wedding photographers, amateurs, fashion photographers and television crews. Last weekend, I had the good luck to run into Thanh, a cameraman with VTV, a Vietnamese broadcasting network. I arrived at the park at around three in the afternoon, where they'd been... Continue Reading →

30/4 Park Revisited

I recently added a new tool to my arsenal - a handheld stabilizer that goes simply by the name of Hand Held. I have no idea where it's manufactured. The Freefly MōVI it is not, but then again, it doesn't carry a $15,000 price tag either. It's elegantly crafted from brushed aluminum (no plastic!), with leather for... Continue Reading →

30/4 Park

What an ordeal it was trying to upload this video to YouTube! First of all, Apple's QuickTime only allows videos of up to 15 minutes to be uploaded to YouTube, and the clip is almost 24 minutes long. Then, when I tried using YouTube's own uploader instead, I had to verify my account, but when... Continue Reading →

More x264 Comparisons

Here are some screen grabs of clips exported to QuickTime with the x264 Encoder, with and without 2.2 gamma added, then uploaded to YouTube. They were first converted to QuickTime files using ClipWrap, then transcoded to Apple Intermediate Codec before importing to iMovie.

Vietnam Winter 2011-2012

Most of the photos here were taken in Can Tho, Saigon, and Hoi An, using my Canon Powershot S95. The quality of the photographs is much better than the video, but then again, that's what it was designed to do.

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