Emergency by TQ - My first vertical music video
This one was a challenge but also SO. MUCH. FUN.
Once we decided to film vertically, I had to research the best way to do it. I read so many articles in preparation. I wanted to make sure I didn't screw this up...
Filming with my camera vertically was such a change... there is a lot less space around the subject so I tried to get wider shots that would give me a little more freedom in post. I also used a tripod for a LOT of this to make sure it was stable.
Right before we began filming, I told T we should make the video like it was opening on his phone and taking over the phone of the person watching. He loved the idea so we really ran with it. I decided to get screen recordings of things I might want to use and he came up with the idea of make the videos actually scroll as if they were in an instagram feed.
Ultimately, the result is one of my favorite videos ever! I love everything about it: the message, the actresses-- Ashley (www.instagram.com/htashup) and Genesis (the daughter of instagram.com/_piarry_ ), the locations, and the editing.
I'm really proud of this one and I think the world needs to see it! Shout out to TQ for writing music that actually MEANS something. <3
Faster - TQ // Official Music Video
TQ and I have worked together for some years now. I've watched his journey and I knew this song had to be one of the first videos from the new album. It means something because it's from his heart but it's also how we ALL feel... we're trying to get somewhere faster and it feels like "it" will never happen.
Watch the video for a little inspiration. Maybe it'll help you find some patience. <3
Thanks to my friend, Danielle, for the ideas we used in this video! She's always there when I need to bounce thoughts around and she always has GREAT feedback.
TQ - The Kingdom [Official Music Video]
This project was personal. I've worked with TQ for almost a decade. The first music video I ever did was done because he sent me a video clip and said "Can you do something like this?" Well, I wasn't about to say no. So I opened up Adobe Premiere and started learning it before he came in town to shoot. I watched tutorials and soaked up as much knowledge as I could. I stayed up LITERALLY all night editing that video so we could release it ON Valentine's Day. In the end, we had a great video that was filmed in my dining room with a Canon 7D. No one ever knew that part, though.
Fast forward to The Kingdom. Because of my working relationship with TQ, I've had a front row seat to the roller coaster that is Indie Music. One day it's about the trends and the next it's about money. But then comes the PURPOSE behind the gift. I've seen the evolution of this in his work and I believe 100% that all the years we've spent working together was just training for THIS moment. For THIS album. For THIS calling.
I'm tired of music that doesn't say anything. Give me something with some substance.... something I can listen to when I'm down and it'll lift me up. Give me something that will make me THINK... something that will convict me in some way. Well, I promise you'll get all that and more with this new album. The Kingdom is just the beginning.
Filmed at Crichton Castle outside of Edinburgh, Scotland and a random road near Glencoe, the scenery could NOT have been more perfect for this project. Poor T froze but it was all worth it. Watch the video above!
Ciroc Studios HTX // Houston Music Photographer
The Midas Group and Ciroc put on their second installment of Ciroc Studios HTX on Thursday, June 7. Hosted by Bryan-Michael Cox and Keisha Nicole, the latest edition of Ciroc Studios was a hit! I got a little creative with the photography this time. Sometimes I use random tools to get dope results. It's not photoshop... it's all done in camera! For some of these, I shot through a prism and a copper pipe. If you have questions, feel free to comment or shoot me an email.
Go check out all these artists because they were fire!
www.instagram.com/thisiskeithjacobs
www.instagram.com/iamjackfreeman
A Call to Remember my Calling...
How many times have I lost focus on my purpose? Too many to count.
To be honest, I've been in a bit of a funk lately and it's affected every area of my life. Work, friendships, personal life, health. I lost my passion for my calling. I've been watching my kids deal with tough stuff and I've been right there with them dealing with my own tough stuff. I've skipped workouts. I've hurt a friend. I've acted on emotions rather than logic. I've basically acted like a spoiled brat. I used to think when you got to a certain age, you just had it all figured out... as if adults get some sort of certificate that gives them all the secrets to life. Then I got to adulthood and realized we're all just taller kids still trying desperately to figure it out.
My calling is more important than my comfort.
I wasn't put on this earth to live a comfy life and have every luxury at my fingertips. My life isn't about finding a man to share my burdens so things are easier. It's not about having a huge house for my kids or the nicest car. I was put on the earth to fulfill a purpose that only I can fulfill. My calling is so much more important than any of these physical "discomforts"... and as long as I'm taking care of my children and making sure they feel loved, everything else outside of my calling is irrelevant. I am called to create. Period.
My showreel from the last year opened my eyes to the truth.
God didn't give me talents and opportunities for me to squander them away. Eight years ago, I lived in a 2-bedroom apartment above my parents' house with my four kids! Last year, I literally traveled the WORLD. I can't take this lightly anymore. I can't let myself lose focus again. There will be times of discouragement, but allowing that to seep into other areas of my life is where I've gone wrong in the past. This showreel from the last year brings tears to my eyes every single time I watch it. God has been SO good to me and I'm ashamed to admit that I've ever lost sight of my purpose even for a second. But thankfully, I know He'll continue working on me until the day I meet Him face-to-face.
"For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable." Romans 11:29
"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6
I've Seen You Move - 2017 Recap
As I reflect on 2017, I'm amazed at the opportunities God put in my path. The ways He moved in my life changed me... spiritually, personally, and professionally. Not only did I get to document an adoption in China (a calling He placed on my life years ago), but I also shot two international weddings, shot a music video in Scotland (which will release this year), spent more time in an airplane than in my car, and wrapped up my 6th year as a full-time creative. I also accomplished a personal goal of reading through the entire Bible for the first time!
God has been so good to me. Just a few years ago I was newly divorced, kinda broken, and not sure how I would provide for myself and my family. Now I get to do something I love that actually means something for others. The one thing I've prayed for over and over in the last 5 years is that God would allow me to travel the world and document moments that matter. He definitely came through on that!
This song from Elevation Worship is one of my favorites and it's carrying me through to 2018! Listen and enjoy while you scroll through some of my favorite images from 2017. Do It Again by Elevation Worship
Grand Canyon taken from a helicopter.
Maia Pearl meeting her mom and dad for the first time in Zhengzhou, China.
My oldest looking out over Chicago... he dreams big!
Epic engagement session at Big Bend National Park.
Senior session with Tiana in Nashville.
Favorite family session in Houston!
The Great Wall of China. May 2017.
Somewhere near Gulu, Uganda. 
Near Paraa Safari Lodge in Uganda. 
One of my favorite people and favorite photos. (I also shot his wedding in 2017!) Brandon Williams Music
Cody, Bree, Landry, and Lucy meeting Vincent Chen Ke for the first time.
Zion National Park, April 2017.
Marfa, TX (Coolest little town you'll ever visit!)
Lucy meeting her mama. Zhengzhou, China.
My friend, business partner, inspiration. Shot in Gulf Shores, AL.
Golden Gate Bridge, February 2017.
The Painted Ladies (Full House house... the kid in me loved this!)
Overlooking San Fran. 
My musician friend, Nadia... shot in Houston. You can listen to her music here.
Lifehouse Films owners (and friends!) in Mobile, AL. 
Mobile, AL Sunset
Meeting their son, Jamison, for the first time. Adoption stories give me life! (Houston, TX)
Jamison, day 2.
Two of mine.
Albion Basin, Utah. We accidentally ran into snow!
Styled shoot at Zion National Park. Coordinated by Katie Bushnell of Havenwood Design.
Zhengzhou, China
My best childhood friend with his wife in Galveston, TX.
Model Lauren shot in Houston.
My BFFs in Edinburgh, Scotland. 
This lady was cooking in her hut outside of Gulu, Uagnda. 
Random stroll in Glen Etive, Scotland. :)
Ended my Scotland video shoot of TQ with a few portraits at Crichton Castle.
My whole crew at Willis Tower in Chicago. 
I always have one unhappy kid. [Shrug]
The Flatirons, Boulder, CO.
One of the families I took photos of for Show Hope. (Dream gig!)
In the middle of shooting "The Kingdom" with TQ. (Photo by April Loyle) 
Louisville, KY with my girl! 
NYC engagement shoot. They are so cute. 
TQ in NYC to shoot "Little Ghetto Boy."
Wedding in Gulu, Uganda. You can see the whole thing by clicking here.
Favorite wedding EVER.
Shooting through a prism. Planning to get even more creative in 2018!
African Safari at Paraa Safari Lodge.
Standing on the Nile River with my friend, Cheree. (Lifehouse Films)
Somewhere over the Grand Canyon. 
Yvonne (Spoiled Latina) shot in Houston for Ciroc French Vanilla. 
I'm learning that I LOVE portraits... Houston, TX.
TQ in DC while shooting his music video for "Freedom."
One of my favorites.
Big Bend National Park... using my iPhone as a reflector to get this look.
Taking photos for The Green Bone was so much fun. Shot this for their website I designed. 
Yes. Those are real lions. And yes, I was very close. 
Gulu, Uganda. I felt so safe walking the streets there!
Zion National Park. 
Nadia. Always nailing the posing.
Alcatraz. One of the most interesting tours I've ever done!
Sunrise in Uganda. This will hang in my house as a reminder for 2018. He's always got my back. He's got yours, too, ya know.
How I Shot and Edited a Music Video with my iPhone X
The Challenge
When I got my iPhone X at the beginning of the month, I was blown away by the camera capabilities. The video quality is better than my Canon 5D Mark 3. The iPhone can shoot 4K video at 24, 30, and 60 frames per second while my 5D is restricted to 1080.
Once I saw the quality for myself, I challenged myself to shoot, color grade, and edit an entire music video on nothing but my iPhone X. I sent my friend, TQ, a text and asked if he had a song we could shoot a video for ASAP. My idea seemed simple enough but I honestly didn't know what I was getting myself into...
The Filming
While filming, I used the Zhiyun Smooth Q 3-axis gimbal. For the price, you really can't beat it. It's simple to balance and very easy to use.
All of the performance footage was filmed in 4K at 24 frames per second. The B-Roll was filmed in 4K at 60 frames per second. I was proud of myself for remembering to switch it every time! I usually forget at least once during a video shoot and kick myself later for accidentally filming performance footage at 60 frames per second. (Insert eye roll here.)
Although the camera on the iPhone X is crazy good, I wanted to have a little more control over the settings, so I used an app called ProCam. It enabled me to change the ISO and shutter speed to my preferences. I made sure I changed the camera settings in both the app and the iPhone each time I switched from 24 to 60 fps.
The Editing
First of all, I knew I needed an app that was a little more robust than iMovie or Adobe Clip, the app version of Premiere. I researched and discovered Luma Fusion -- a pretty sweet little app that costs $20. It allows for 3 audio and 3 video tracks which was key for this project. I needed to be able to have multiple tracks to make this work. The app has options for adding transitions and titles, color grading, applying and importing presets and LUTs, inserting or overwriting, importing fonts, and MUCH more. I originally bought an app called VideoGrade for color grading, but once I figured out how to use Luma Fusion's color tools I used it exclusively.
As much as I love the Luma Fusion app, it does have some glitches. After saving the video I had spent hours editing, I noticed the audio syncing was off. So even if it looked right in the app, once I exported the video my clips weren't synced properly with the audio. After almost 2 full days of editing on this small iPhone screen, the lagging glitch almost made me give up. My eyes hurt, my head hurt, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get it synced properly.
I will say that when I emailed the Luma Fusion support team, someone got back with me almost immediately and gave me a tip that was supposed to help with the issue. Sometimes it helped and sometimes it didn't. When I told them it didn't work, they offered to look at my project themselves and find the problem but I was already finished at that point. (Props to them for great customer service!) In the end, I exported this video more than a dozen times trying to get it perfectly synced. I would watch the newly exported version on my laptop, see where it was off, and then move the video clip one or two frames in the direction it needed to go in the app. It looked completely off when I tried to watch the video from beginning to end in the app so I had to do this trial and error process over and over. Yeah... that part was ridiculously time consuming, tedious, and really nuts. I hope Luma Fusion plans to work out the kinks because this app could truly be a game changer...
Conclusion...
I'm proud of this project even though it almost made me crazy. It's insane that we can use a device we all carry in our back pockets to make a full music video. If you plan to try this, I'd say make sure you have plenty of time to give your eyes a break in between editing. The preview screen in the app only takes up a quarter of the iPhone. Talk about eye strain...
I had a headache for 3 days straight while I worked on this. We filmed, edited, and released the video all within 5 days!
I've gotta give a shout out to my friend, Danielle, who came up with the concept for this video and also donated money for us to help the homeless in Houston. She's the real deal and one of my favorite people on the planet.
To those of you who are fans of TQ, you already know this, but what you see in this video is a true testament to his character. I've never met someone more genuine than this guy. I'm proud to call you my friend, T!
If you try this, I'd love to see your project! Shoot me a link at hello@trisha.thedreamvillage.co. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm done staring at screens for a while... LOL. Peace out.
Be sure to watch the video above!
Nadia
I've been shooting with Nadia for about a year now, and every time we shoot, we get better! Every time we try something new, we surprise ourselves. I'm convinced that working with the same people over and over gives my clients an advantage. As a photographer, I learn what they like or don't like. Sometimes, they don't like the way they unknowingly raise one eyebrow. Sometimes, it's a certain way their mouth turns when they smile. I learn which side is their "best" side and which angle is the most flattering. Not only that, but we truly start to work as a team... shooting ideas back and forth, planning for future shoots, and even planning trips together.
Here are a few of my favorites of Nadia. Be sure to check out her music, too! She's super talented!
Taylor's Journey
The summer of 2016 was a life-changing one for me. In June, I hopped on a plane to the U.K. to document R&B singer, TQ’s time there. I stayed in Nottingham and through a friend of TQ's we met Taylor Marshall. I had heard Taylor's story but had a hard time wrapping my head around it. When you have kids of your own it's tough to imagine any kid going through what he's had to endure. I thought it would be cool to take pictures of him and share his story, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into...
So to backtrack just a bit, on April 20, 2015, Taylor got sick. He was admitted to the hospital in Nottingham, UK and placed in a medically induced coma fighting for his life. At first, no one knew what was wrong, but soon his family learned that he had contracted Meningococcal Septicaemia (Type W Meningitis). Doctors gave him just hours to live and told his mom to say her goodbyes...
But his little body kept fighting. His kidneys failed and he was on dialysis for 6 weeks. If he survived he'd be on antibiotics for the rest of his life. Then in June of 2015, surgeons were forced to amputate Taylor's left leg, right foot, and all his fingers and thumbs. He spent a total of 7 months in the hospital and has had 46 surgeries.
So in June of 2016, I walked into Taylor's house to meet him. The first thing I noticed was his blue eyes. It felt like they were piercing my heart the way the light hit them. Then he smiled and I swear the whole room lit up. Those elements combined with his British accent, and it felt like I was in a movie. I couldn't take my eyes off of the places where his hands used to be. I watched him pick up a cup and drink. He crawled across the room with ease. He threw a ball for his dog. He even climbed up on the couch with a little help and was able to get down on his own.
I was snapping constantly, eager to capture the soul behind his eyes... trying desperately to create an image that somehow showed this boy's spirit. I decided to film a little bit because I just had to document that boy in action. I wanted to remember the way he interacted with TQ because it was mesmerizing. Anyone who knows T knows that kids and dogs love him. Well, Taylor was no exception. Almost immediately, he was giving high fives and playing cars and blocks with this man he'd never met before. We spent about an hour with Taylor and I honestly hated leaving. Something about Taylor just made me want to be near him. He was inspiring and tenacious and I wanted to soak up just a little more of his spirit.
After meeting him, TQ was so inspired he wrote a song for Taylor. Back in the states, I immediately wished I had captured more video footage. But I knew I couldn't let this opportunity pass. I booked a flight back to the U.K. and we set up another meeting with Taylor and his family. This time, we met at a park and it was the perfect way to document the bond between these two.
For me, Taylor's Song has given a new meaning to gratefulness. I think it's perfect that the video was released on Thanksgiving. It made me realize that the things I worry about are so minor. When I would typically feel down about something silly, I remember Taylor. I remember his determination as he sped through the grass swinging his legs from back to front with all of his weight on his forearms. I remember his laughter as he came down the slide like Superman. I picture those blue eyes... the way they stared back at me just before a grin broke through. This boy, who just turned two, inspired more more than anyone else ever has. And I'm so proud of my friend, T, for following his heart on this one.
Taylor Marshall is a special kid. He has a calling on his life to do great things and I can't wait to watch.
Meet Taylor, friends. I hope his story inspires you as much as it inspires me.
(If you'd like to donate to Taylor's Journey, visit www.TaylorsSong.com. You can purchase the song by clicking here. Taylor's family owns half of the publishing so every purchase of the song helps with his medical expenses!)
