Thursday, January 26, 2012

What has Mark been up to in 2012...SSSS+R

What has our friend Mark been up to thus far in 2012??? Oh just hanging out with a bunch of beautiful professional dancers and getting paid to do so.  I have said it before but I will say it again.  Rough rough life Mark! Rough life! (during projects such as this, Mark likes to reference his favorite movie line in "Blazzing Saddles".  Like Mel Brooks as the Gov. says "work, work, work"...)
All kidding aside though, Mark has been hard at work in Calgary Alberta Canada capturing and editing imagery for the 2012  Drill Crew Calendar.  This is the 5th year (perhaps 6th?) that Mark has shot for the Drill Crew, which are the Calgary Roughnecks' (National Lacrosse League) 17 member dance team.  An amazing team of ladies lead by multitasking leader Dana M. 
Given a short turn around time the calendar was shot in the course of three long days, and an additional 3 days of rush image editing and final selection processing. The Drill Crew's designer Rheana Fehr, then whipped up the design in another 6 quick days and it has since hit the presses and will be ready to debut at the January 27th home game.  The calendar will show off the Drill Crew in their three official uniforms and is set in the unique setting of a 100 year old building; a new local lounge on 1st street SW called UBU.
A lot of work went into the creation of 13 final images plus large and somewhat intricate group shot. Approximately 6000 frames were shot from Saturday morning until Monday afternoon, which also included the profile shots in two other outfits; thus the combinations upped the shutter count. This is a new 55 hr record for Mark in terms of what he likes to call “SSSS+R” or “scouting, setting up, shoot, strike the set, and repeat”. And once this project was behind him he proceeded to sleep (you could call it the "5th S")  alot once he made it back to San Diego to visit Boo Kittty. 
Even after the imagery was handed to Rheana, Mark's work was not done.  As that would be too easy, which as we all not is not Mark's style. So in an effort to one up the year before, Mark once again collaborated with Jean Levasseur of Phocus Productions. The two have created an amazing fast paced promotional video, which will hopefully be used to to generate some buzz and sales promotion regarding the making of the calendar at the next home game in Calgary on the 27th and beyond.  Stay tune for a link to it on Mark's You Tube page after the official debut and release.
*Mark would like to thank the Management at UBU for access to their lounge, along with their help and patience.  http://ubulounge.com/
** Mark would also like to send a big thank you to Dana for all her assistance in pre-production and throughout, including sharing Mark's editing purgatory for two days.
***A big compliment to Rheana Fehr for designing another great calendar this year. http://www.designsbyrheana.com/
****Thank You to Jean Levasseur of Phocus Productions in Montreal for video vision and knocking it out of the park once again.
*****A lastly another big thank You to Scott Neiss- former Marketing Director of the NLL and now Israel Lacrosse Director for his behind the scenes marketing advice. (Congrats Scott on receiving your big award...!) http://www.lacrosse.co.il/2012/01/neiss-wins-award-of-excellence-from-taglit-birthright/
And if the above shout outs did not remind you enough of the big entertainment awards event that COULD be exactly where we see Mark next.  Stay tuned for more insight on his whereabouts. 
Until then…..
Charli

Jessica and Willow ham it up in front of the Camera    


Jessie illustrates how she towers over Mark    


Jessica making sure "Shooters' "  loyalties are with the Drill Crew and not the Outriders during the NLL season..


Tracy poses for a video shot- while posing for Mark's camera



Make Up Artist Karen Malcolm adjusts Petras uniform...


Janis and Petra have fun in front of the camera...    


Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Adios 2011 and Hello 2012 and too many resolutions to count…….

Before I begin to ramble too too much a great big Happy New Year from Mark Mennie Photography, which is New Year’s resolution numero uno! I am taking the bull by the horns this year and despite Mark’s unwillingness (based upon his Art Skool background), changing Mark’s company name from Mark Mennie Photographer to Photography.  I mean I have been on board now for over a year so we are a COMPANY not an individual.  Right?  Okay it is more my need to always be grammatically correct, but humor me and say you know what I am talking about.  Thanks!

Moving right along and quickly as we have MANY resolutions and plans for this year ahead, I want you to check out just how many miles Mark covered in 2011.  I know that Mark travels A LOT but this definitely puts it all in perspective and baffles me at the same time.  Starting in Yuma, AZ on January 1st, 2011 and ending in Solana Beach in San Diego, CA on December 31st, 2011, Mark covered over 63,000 miles by Plane and Train, and that does not count an Automobile road trip in Missouri adding 1100+ miles, or even Helicopter missions photography such as the long middle of the night mission to Wandering River AB (where the heck is that?) or to Calais ME (the very NE corner of America) to the grand total.  WOW!  You got to check this out for yourself. 


So I had planned on closing with all of our plans for the year to come to get everyone pumped up on what you can expect from MMP in 2012, but the fact that Mark plans on traveling even more pretty much makes everything else pale in comparison.  One thing is for certain you can expect to hear a lot more from us through not only our blog , eblasts and website, but also coming soon MMP’s very own Facebook page. Among other projects and social media plans I personally am looking forward to a chance to work more closely with all of you and look forward to great great things in the year ahead. 

Until then…..

Charli 
Dubai 2011

Burning Man 2011

Burning Man 2011

Colin Collins-MO

Dog Beach (February 2011)

Dubai (November 2011)

Dubai-Tim Horton

Dubai 2011

ISAP-Set Up (June 2011)

Norman-Happy, TX

Outriders Practice

Titrotor Pilot-Morgan

Art Show Vancouver-Waldy Martens