Welcome to Michael’s blog. Michael Andrew, (aka Michael The Maven) is a freelance producer, photography instructor, tech innovator, and when needed, disaster aid specialist. Disclaimer: Michael is a participant in Bhphoto & Amazon affiliate programs that provides an advertising commission if you purchase through links on this website.
I published a video a few months ago and had about 3-4 people ask about the Eyelead Sensor stick as an option. It actually has many positive reviews & videos by respected websites and photographers. I found a serious problem with it. DO NOT USE IT!
If you are looking for training on your camera, check out my training videos here:
My friend Darren Natoni recently asked a GREAT question on Instagram when he noticed lights flickering in his Instagram stories. Its a little complicated, but this is my full answer and should make sense after watching this video.
Being that Lucky Besson has made some of my most favorite films, like the Professional and The Fifth Element (Luc Besson Filmography, I wanted to give “Anna” shot.
As much as I hate to say this Anna felt like a movie I had seen many times before maybe Red Sparro, maybe atomic blonde, with a dash of Cinderella, it is that kind of a movie. If you enjoyed those films you’ll probably enjoy watching this the theater. It is definitely not as bad as Rotten Tomatoes hasn’t rated (30% last time I checked) and it probably could have been better. (I would put it more in the 55-60% range.
SPOILER ALERT: – There were some interesting twists and turns, the film does a great job of misleading the viewer, but here is something I had a really, hard time with: Empty Handguns. Anyone who has spent any significant amount of time on the range can feel the weight of a loaded gun, vs the weight of an empty gun. You would expect this perception to be even more precise for a trained assassin. There were literally two “jobs” Anna was on that she did not recognize this, even more troubling the second time when she had been warned about it after the first. It kinda ruined it for me! There was one amazing fight sequence (in the restaurant), lots of background, but felt a little slow in places.
So, you are in the market for an ND filter? You have come to the right place! ND filters, also know as neutral density filters are designed to reduce the exposure of light.
Why would you want to do this? There are many applications, however the most common is when you are shooting in daylight conditions and you want to use a longer exposure or a wider aperture. Landscape photographers will often use many second exposures, or sometimes videographers want to use wide apertures to get a shallow depth of field, but they cannot because the image would over expose. Of course there are many other times to use ND filters, but whats with all this terminology? What does it mean?
You have come to the right place, let me break it down for you!
I heard so many positive things about this film and enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody, I thought Id give it a try. Make no mistake, Elton John is one of the biggest & most successful musicians of all time. I was surprised to learn there were so many familiar songs I have heard that didn’t know were his. I appreciated learning about his lyricist and his role in Eltons success. In many ways, the film kind of felt like a review of all of his hits and of course his backstory. It was definitely engaging in that you can feel the pain and the reasoning for his pain, being desperate for real love.
There were many things I thought were fantastic, Taron Egerton was simply amazing in his depiction of Elton. Amazing cinematography, directing, acting, emotion. Even the colors were all very well thought out.
SPOILER ALERT-
This is what I didn’t like about the movie, the story itself.
We all suffer greatly. Each and every one of us, including feelings of wanting to be loved. The film is great in that you can really relate to what he went through personally, however I felt that his suffering & struggle was more about his inability to deal with massive success brought on mostly because he was gifted from day one.
Here’s another way of saying this: How many stories of an individual being desperate for love have we never heard of because they were not successful? Is their pain and suffering any more less because they were not? Shouldn’t we actually try to empathize more for those who weren’t born as music prodigies, who do not have the fame and resources to tell their own stories because they were not? Wouldnt their stories be more interesting as they didnt have such a gift to their advantage?
Maybe thats brutal, but the film goes to great lengths to point out he was very, very good with music naturally, he was born with it. Yes, he had to study and practice, and he was no doubt prolific, but for me to summarize the story would be “he was a prodigy raised by unloving parents and his massive success alienated him further from meaningful relationships, which was compounded only by his feeling sorry for himself and his access to drugs”. Not the most inspirational story when you look at it that way. I find stories where there is a massive obstacle to overcome against all odds more inspiring. The obstacles Elton dealt with were his parents and him feeling sorry for himself. (Ouch) Right?
That said, this self destructive journey is very common with many highly successful musicians, they find a way to use their success to self destruct. Some prevent it before it happens, others end up killing themselves.
But…the good part is he eventually matures, learns to deal with it, and finds the inner peace he was looking for. I felt like I appreciated the movie more for understanding about how prolific Elton John was than his personal struggles.
Any movie that can make you sit and analyze enough to do a review like this is obviously a good sign. Definitely a rental if you are into music biopics.
Being that Lucky Besson has made some of my most favorite films, like the Professional and The Fifth Element (
I heard so many positive things about this film and enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody, I thought Id give it a try. Make no mistake, Elton John is one of the biggest & most successful musicians of all time. I was surprised to learn there were so many familiar songs I have heard that didn’t know were his. I appreciated learning about his lyricist and his role in Eltons success. In many ways, the film kind of felt like a review of all of his hits and of course his backstory. It was definitely engaging in that you can feel the pain and the reasoning for his pain, being desperate for real love. 