The Cantine Italian Cafe and Bar Video Is Complete. Please Take A Peek.

Final version of the Cantine Italian Cafe and Bar Video project. from Kirk Tuck on Vimeo.
A fun look at Cantine Italian Cafe and Bar. Shot by James Webb and Kirk Tuck with Olympus OMD EM5.2 cameras and assorted lenses. All production and creative thought done in Austin, Texas

edit: just uploaded the final, color corrected, 1080p version to Vimeo. The version you see here is 800 pixels wide. Click through to Vimeo to see the hi-res version. Thanks!


I am extremely happy with my collaboration with talented film-maker, James Webb. We shot together over the course of a day and a half at Cantine. James selected the scenes and had the vision for the final edit. I worked as a second camera person and as the producer.

For this project we used two Olympus OMD EM5.2 cameras and an assortment of Olympus lenses as well as older, manual focus lenses, adapted to fit. All of the material was shot handheld with the exception of three or four beauty shots of food, which are

Just being happily amazed at online learning. I just checked some metrics at Craftsy.com...

In the last two years 170,919 individual people have taken my free course: Professional Family Portraits at http://www.craftsy.com

Nearly 8,000 more have signed up to take one of my two other classes.

Before the advent of online edutainment these classes would have been workshops with about 10 students in each. I would have had to teach 17,000 workshops to reach the same audience that I have with the free class.... amazing.

Post processing at my Craftsy.com studio with a Wacom Cintiq.

Behind the scenes at the video production.

Our Super Model: Victoria. 

I explain stuff. 

I play with gear.

And then we shoot.

Wooden Tripod Rocks.

Here's a $25 off link to take my Studio Lighting Course...

So much excitement surrounding the Sony A7R2. Is the camera really that great or do we all just need a big dose of new camera adrenaline on a regular basis?

Some Tues. morning observations. I've had three friends send me online reviews they've found for the new, Sony A7r2 camera. Two gushy reviews, and one less than glowing review from Ming Thein. Since there is nothing else at all even remotely as exciting happening in the higher end of photography right now the new camera has become a magnet for every variation of praise and criticism. In fact, there is little on or in the camera that isn't stirring debate among the various camps of image makers. From the armchair experts, who will surely never pony up and buy one, to the online, mercantile reviewing class like Steve Huff and Lloyd Chambers who both seem to have rushed into the frothy, early waters to claim their cameras and get out in front of everyone else with a click-driving review.

The thing that seems to make this camera different to a separate group of buyers is the video specifications. The camera is being hailed as a great video creation tool (for the money) but even in the motion market there are still multiple camps who see the camera either as the savior of small production videographers or the flimsy work of commerce's dark forces.

So, where am I on this whole A7R2 deal? Happily neutral. But most of my neutrality stems from already having two camera systems that I am mostly very happy with. And then there is the fact that I seem not to be as picky about perfection as a lot of the people who post.

Look, I was pretty happy with the performance I was getting out of the old Nikon D2X camera a few years back. I can't remember why I sold it and moved on but I'm sure it had to do with the excitement of the market, the seductive peer pressure, and the fact that the full frame D700 seemed to be such an alluring camera. It was the first, affordable, full frame camera from Nikon. But in my rush to share the glory of full frame I really didn't do much due diligence when it came to the actual image quality, the color rendering or anything else. But, on dear God! It was full frame!!!

I'll go out on a limb here and admit

Crazy Day at the Visual Science Lab Headquarters. Painting, maintenance and post processing all rolled into one.

We're wrapping up Summer and I should be focusing my full attention on my commercial task at hand, creating video modules and stylized still imagery for the folks at Hahn Public. I've been in the command seat in front of the tactical imaging computer since seven this morning, hammering out extremely wide graphics to deliver into the heady swirl of commerce.

But I've also had an insurance adjuster out looking at the roof (hail storm) and a painting company power washing not only the world headquarters building, but also the family home, in anticipation of a much needed painting of all the many doors, windows and other surfaces that want, like and need paint. The scraping, caulking and painting starts in earnest tomorrow.

Seems it's time to refresh the physical plant and make right the injuries of time and weather visited upon the epicenter of the VSL compound.

I anticipate that in the next month we'll have more than our share of construction noise and craziness here but I can't see that it will effect the business too much. We'll see....

A rare image of me actually working... Thank you James Webb.

©2015 James Webb/Zilker TV.

It's a very rare thing for me to be photographed while I am actually working on a project. Usually we're all too busy to turn the cameras on each other and for months I was disappointed that I didn't have enough "behind the scenes" imagery, starring myself, with which to regale the world. 

James took this during a video shoot we were doing for a restaurant. He was shooting with an Olympus OMD EM5.2 and an older, longer Nikon manual focus lens. I'm holding an Olympus OMD EM5.2 and manually focusing an Olympus 17mm f1.8 lens (thank you focus peaking!) in anticipation of creating video of some fresh herbs. The EM5.2 is very hand holdable with its state of the art image stabilization. 

The dorky touches of the photo include the bright hair (it's normally thick and jet black but I dyed it platinum just for this shoot --- in case anyone needed something on which to white balance...), the old analog watch (worn on the right wrist as I am profoundly left-handed), and the awkward hold on the camera.

The camera in front of my face should help to preserve my anonymity. I've heard it can be stressful to be recognized everywhere one goes..... Stopped in the airport and forced to be part of endless selfies; that sort of thing...

Back to work.

A few thoughts about style in video.

The latest 6K Nikon HD video camera? Naw. Super8 film...

I had some interesting correspondence with my recent video collaborator, James W. We shot video footage together at Cantine Restaurant earlier this Summer and our other individual projects have just given us a convenient bit of a gap in schedules that allows for the final editing of the project. While I spearheaded the initial part of the video process James is doing the clip selections and the editing.

We shot the project on two different days. On the first day we discussed a laundry list of possible shots which mostly revolved around shooting food preparation with some attention paid to food presentation and the documentation of fun activities at the bar.  We both worked with Olympus OMD EM5.2 cameras, complete with the battery grip for a second battery and to provide a headphone jack if we felt we needed one. We had a case of lenses for the two cameras that included a number of modern primes and zooms from Olympus and Panasonic as well as a collection of my old, esoteric Pen FT lenses (from the days of half frame film).

If you are familiar with the world of journalism then imagine that the two of us of have been let loose on a restaurant with the assignment of enterprise. Of looking around for fun mini-stories to shoot. Like the willowy girl at the pasta making machine, pulling strands of fettucini through the grid, or the pizza chef putting together a great