Looking for “American Marriage” Couples

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 9:57 am Posted in Engagements, Fashion, Film, News, Personal, Photography, Portraits, Website, Weddings

If you have been following me on twitter you already know I have been working on the documentary “American Marriage” with my talented friends Mike Flanagan and Courtney Bell. Please read this full post for some amazing special offers for couples getting married before the middle of June 2010.

“The new documentary film “American Marriage” is looking for couples who want to have their nuptials featured in the movie. One of our main fundraising avenues has been filming weddings. Couples have taken the money they would have paid videographer and donated it to the film’s budget through the International Documentary Association (making their donations tax-deductible), and in exchange we’ve filmed their entire ceremonies and receptions and delivered the wedding video on DVD, just like a normal wedding videographer.

The shoot itself is exactly comparable to a normal wedding videographer shoot. We film the ceremony preparation, the ceremony, and reception on a single 3CCD HD Camera (the JVC 110u, a professional theatrical quality HD camera as opposed to the Prosumer HDV cameras standardly used in the wedding industry). The groom wears a microphone to ensure the highest quality audio of the ceremony. The footage is edited, and assembled with graphics, music, and minimal effects (dissolves, etc). We provide the couple 3 DVDs, authored with chapters and animated menus.

Because we’ll use some of the footage in the finished film, we ask the couple to sign an image release waiver allowing us to do so. We also ask that they make a donation through the I.D.A. and forward us a copy of the Paypal receipt before we arrive to film the event. We also ask couples if they would like to have a short “When Harry Met Sally” style interview that will be included in the movie.

You can view the trailer, which features footage from several weddings who took advantage of this model, below.”

There is no set donation amount. We ask that couples donate what they can afford. If you have a budget for a videographer we hope that, if you choose this opportunity, you would still be willing to use that budget to help the film.  If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity please click on contact in the menu above.

If you chose to make a donation and be in the film I am offering 20% off any of my photography packages. You can view my portfolio on my website.

Here are some links for the film
Official Website
Facebook Fan Page
International Documentary Association Listing
IMDB Listing – I got my first cinematographer credit on this film
Mike Flanagan – the man behind the film

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My Passion – The Early Years

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 6:53 pm Posted in Personal, Photography

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you will remember at the end of 2009 I went through my office and closet. While doing this, I pulled out all my old negatives and prints from my early years in photography. All the images below are more than 10 years old, made from scans of prints which were in my old portfolio. I would post more images, but I only have the negatives and no prints. Maybe one day I will get around to making prints and do another blog post. I hope you enjoy.

The following images are from when I was interning at The Aegis in Bel Air, MD.

My lifelong friend Trent Gladstone and the annual Harford County Young Life Golf Tournament.

Falling Branch in northern Harford County.

The last image is very special to me. Just yesterday I found out my friend Josh Komarnicki passed away over the weekend. Josh is standing there with the umbrella towards the center of the frame. I took this image while we were on a trip to New York City October 19th 1996. It was record rainfall day for New York City, the subways and roads were flooded. Even with an umbrella, we were soaked. It is a day I will never forget.

I was just getting into photography at this time, and so was Josh. We had so many great times together shooting for The Aegis, making prints in the darkroom, and just hanging out. Even though Josh and I lost touch when he moved to Virginia, I know if we were ever to get back together it would of been like old times. Josh was a free spirit and incredibly talented, I am sad he is gone. I will always remember him especially since he was there during my early years of discovering my passion of photography. Please lift his family up in prayer.

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Elizabeth LunaJanuary 28, 2010 - 12:38 pm

Thanks for sharing!

My First Half-Marathon

Sunday, January 10, 2010 8:10 pm Posted in Personal

Earlier today I completed my first half marathon to the tunes of U2, Bush, Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters, and Tree 63. I raced in the inaugural Los Angeles 13.1! The race started on the Venice boardwalk, went all the way up Venice Blvd to Culver City, then we turned around, and ran all the way back to Venice finishing up at Main and Rose. I had been training for the past several months for a half-marathon. I had actually planned to run one in October, but that didn’t work out. Then I was going to try one in December in Vegas but decided to pass and save some money by running closer to home. Here are some images Victoria took earlier today. Keep reading for more about my experience and finishing time.

Me just before the race.

The race started but it took me about a minute and a half before I could cross the start line due to the crowd.

I started out the race pretty well. I took it slow: running my first mile in about 9:45. I reached mile 3 by 27:00, so I was on my 9 minute mile pace to finish under 2 hours which was my goal. I was feeling great! About half way through mile 6 I started to feel my arch of my left foot rubbing against my shoe. I had run more than 6 miles at a time before with my shoes but never had any problems. Just after the 7 mile marker I stopped for about 20 seconds to see if I could adjust anything to fix what I was feeling. I ran about another 10th of a mile and stopped again, for about 30 seconds, taking my shoe off and retying it but still had the same problem. I started running again hitting mile marker 8 around 1:12:00, still on my pace. By then, the arch of my right foot started having the same problem. I kept running since I didn’t have anything else I could do, and as I continued my feet hurt more and more.

I hit mile 10 at 1:32:00, but my pace had slowed. I continued running, knowing I only had a little over 3 miles to go. I was pretty sure if I had stopped running and started walking I wouldn’t have been able to start running again. By mile 11 my right little toe started hurting. With every step my feet hurt. I kept pressing on. By mile marker 12, I knew I wouldn’t finish under 2 hours but I knew I would come in just over 2 hours. I slowly crossed the finish line at 2:02:35 while listening to “Blessed Be Your Name” by Tree 63. You can see my result here. As soon as we got back to our car I took my shoes off to discover 2 giant blisters where my feet were hurting. Luckily I have Victoria to patch me up!

All done!!

Me holding Gideon after the race. Gideon got to wear my medal

My cool new medal. The middle part with the 13.1 spins around.

Overall, I am pretty happy with how things went. I have no doubt that if my feet weren’t hurting I would have finished in under 2 hours. At the end of the race my stamina was still good and I could have kept going if it weren’t for my feet. Plus I completed the whole race without walking or stopping except for the few short seconds to mess with my shoes. I guess now I need to do another half-marathon to hit my goal of under 2 hours. Who wants to run with me?

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TamraFebruary 11, 2010 - 5:42 pm

Rustin, that is fantastic! Too bad about the blisters but you pulling through those was tough! Grrrr. Way to suck it up and just keep going. I love that song, “Blessed Be Your Name.” Awesome motivator for sure.

Gideon’s a little man now! Wow, growing up so fast.

Heather DisarroJanuary 12, 2010 - 10:28 am

congrats on doing well in your first half! such a great accomplishment!

cgcJanuary 11, 2010 - 7:35 am

What a role model you are! You have set worthwhile goals and worked until you made them. You deserve to be proud! Way to go, Rustin! Tell Victoria that we loved the pics!

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