SeeingEyeBlog

The HMS Surprise, aka the picture ship from Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, finally made it underway today in the care of her new owners, the San Diego Maritime Museum. I was supposed to be a member of the sailing crew, but couldn’t make it. As you can see, though, I was in another boat to take pictures.

It was an afterthought. We had gone to a game at Petco Park on Tuesday (Padres/Diamondbacks) and then we realized that Barry Bonds was on HR #754, one away from breaking the all-time homerun record. And the Giants were coming to San Diego on Friday. We decided to go.

But we realized we were late to the party. My attempt at getting tickets at the Padres website was coming up fruitless, but on Thursday morning I searched for 1 ticket, instead of a pair. What I got was Section 107, row 11, seat 20. That translates to four rows behind the Padres dugout. They were only $38. I snatched them in a heartbeat. The problem was, the only other ticket available in the whole ballpark was in a vastly different section. So much for going with a friend.

Game day: I call my friend Tim whose ticket I bought. His wife wants to go too. I think that’s cool but I’m kind of groaning because that means we’re going to have to scalp my second ticket and buy a pair off a scalper. And they’re running a little late. I’m aware that Barry Bonds is going to be the fourth batter of the game, and I don’t want him to hit a homer before I get to the park.

We’re having trouble finding parking, and we’re all getting a bit frustrated. We’re on the lookout for scalpers, and just as we are making a turn, we see a guy flash some tickets. Tim yells to him and we pull over. We got a pair in section 108, row 14. Translation: 6 rows back from the Giants dugout.

So we’re guaranteed some good seats, but we’re still late. And I have to sell my extra seat. It was a $60 ticket, so I’m really feeling like no one’s gonna bite. Especially just for one seat. While walking, I am asking if any passersby need tickets. One guy who was in a bit of a hurry says he needs a ticket. He’s willing to pay anything, so I got face value. Now I’m happy, but just then, we hear the entire stadium erupt in “boo!!!”

Tim and I look at each other and we all start walking a little faster. Bonds is up, and we’re not in the park yet. We still have a couple blocks to go. We’re almost there, and there is a huge eruption again. We start running at this point. I’m hoping he struck out or at least didn’t hit a homerun. We were lucky.

Getting to my section was one almost like walking down a wedding aisle at a wedding. I was looking for row 11, and I was walking down a stairway directly towards the roof of the dugout. About halfway there, I was thinking, this would be a great row. This would be a great row. But that’s only row 25, I’m all the way down to 11. What I didn’t realize until I got to row 11, was that the first few rows are technically the dugout itself, so the rows don’t start until row 7. I’m closer than I thought I’d be.

The game takes on a different essence when you’re so close. When you’re far away, the game usually take a back seat to the conversations you have with the people you’re with. A piece of action happens and the crowd alerts you, and you realize you’ve been out of the game for a while. But when you can see the players life-sized, and when a foul ball could potentially kill you, your head stays in the game the whole time, and you can enjoy baseball as it was meant to be enjoyed.

As a game of anticipation, baseball is about being attentive, especially when there isn’t a lot of action happening. When you’re there with the players, you can appreciate baseball. People who say baseball is boring probably haven’t sat as close as I was tonight.

Baseball is also about generations. It’s a game that fathers bring their sons to see. And there were plenty of kids in my section. My seat was actually owned by a company who owns season tickets there. The family using the tickets had to release one of the seats because one of the people in their party needed to sit in the disabled seats. They told me they released the tickets about 4 hours before I bought them online. Lucky me.

That family was to my right. To my left was a row of guys in their 70s, each looking like they had a 8-figure net worth. The most gregarious one was very animated, and when he saw the cotton candy vendor, he bought cotton candy for every kid in the entire section. I muttered that I wish I was 12 years old.

Bonds didn’t hit a homerun, but the Padres ended up winning with a walk-off homerun in the 10th inning by Scott Hairston. Hairston’s 3-run homer in the 8th tied the game to get us into extra innings in the first place. He was obviously the player of the game. I was thankful that I got to see 10 innings in that seat, not just 9. And the win was as sweet as it could be.

My blog has been a dormant volcano of late, but that’s because I’ve been prepping my latest movie, Broken Windows, a slice of life about four women who have to come to terms with hopes and dreams that don’t coalesce with reality. We’re shooting Super16, half in LA and half in beautiful San Diego, and we have a wonderful cast in place. I think it’s a great opportunity for some subtle, understated performances, and my role as cinematographer is to support those performances. Not a lot of action, no crazy camera tricks. Just harvesting reality for arrangement, packaging, and shipping.

I recently started working as a camera operator on MyNetworkTV’s show Fashion House, a prime-time soap-opera novella that starts to air this September. I was nervous going into it because they shoot 20 pages a day, which is 4 times more work than I’m used to on the features I’ve been shooting lately. I had never worked on a fast-paced episodic show before.

Looking back, I don’t know why I was nervous at all. The page count is so huge that there isn’t much room for creativity, and most of the scenes all look the same, on purpose. The number one goal is to get the pages shot. Creativity is on the back burner.

I took this mandate as my cue to really wring the creativity sponge dry on every shot. I don’t have much to work with, but I’ve succeeded in distinguishing myself and capturing some serendipitous moments which would have otherwise been bland. The three directors I’ve been working with are all happy with my work, and I’m excited about future prospects that may come from this experience.

Cut to one cast member I’ve become enamored with….Donna Feldman resembles my ex-girlfriend, who was my muse for three years. When Donna walked on set the first time I almost had a heart attack. I don’t know Donna from Adam, so I can’t at all say she is or ever could be my muse. But I decided that since she at least resembled my girlfriend, that I should give Donna extra consideration vis-a-vis my scrutiny over her hair/makeup, and my compositions. I noticed that she wasn’t being given sufficient treatment by hair/makeup/wardrobe people, so I called for them if I saw anything amiss with Donna’s look. I wish her the best of luck in her career, and I thank her for allowing me to remember good times by the similar mannerisms and looks to which I’d been accustomed from the one great love in my life. Thank you Ms. Feldman.

These ships were both on the cutting edge of technology at some point.

A scene perhaps typical of the 1860s if they had Nikon Coolpix cameras.

The San Diego Maritime Museum sails the Star of India once per year in November with an all-volunteer crew, making her the oldest active ship in the world (she was built in 1863). The USS Constitution is older, built in 1797, with the longest Navy commission in US history. I believe she also sails every year but for some reason is not considered an active sailing ship.