Blogging was fun for a while, but I wasn’t convinced my writing was worth reading. My business is very visual and I think I should keep my news feed visual and short from here on out.

Thanks for reading! See you in the Twitterverse!

Colin Burwell
General Manager of Empty Cup Media.

It feels terrible saying that we won’t have something ready for Christmas. And when we receive a few calls/emails in the same week and we have to say “no, sorry”, the pressure compounds. It’s a weird feeling because Carla and I work 6 days a week all the time. So it’s not that we’re lazy people, we just have tons of stuff to do.

So to the world: we’re givin’r pretty hard! Someone with a high enough view could see how often we are at our desks. But to those who can only see us through their e-mail accounts, they might not be able to see us from that omnipotent view to witness how hard we work.

We’re working as hard as we possibly can. And we’ll have your stuff done as soon as possible. Thank you

So what the jam! I’m getting kind of paranoid about all this error stuff. I take great care of my gear, store it properly and talk nice to it every day! And still, in the blink of an eye, they left me concerned. This situtation makes me shake a little. I’m not sure how to properly prepare myself so that something serious doesn’t happen to me during a shoot, or during an edit, or while I’m just stairing at my equipment bag! I definitely keep all of my material backed up in two different spots, so that calms my nerves a bit… But I feel that’s all I can do!
So my advice to all the photo+cinema shooters out there – just brace yourself. Just in case. Don’t live on constant edge, just be aware that without you abusing your equipment, they just might go on strike without warning.
Don’t say it can never happen to you, because it just might. And when it does, give me a call and I will help you through it however I can.

We are editing the final moments of a promotional DVD for a percussion quartet: TorQ. www.torqpercussion.ca. Carla is furiously editing it right now at 2:54am while we still have some “steam” – as opposed to crashing and waking up foggy and needing to re-establish the editing groove. She assembled their promo video: http://www.emptycupmedia.ca/photography/torq-promo/ and is now editing 10 song performances all to be put on a DVD with incredible menus.

The other project is the Durham District School Board’s annual Artist in Residence report. It’s a 30 minute video highlighting the process of the AIR program to be shown to sponsors, Ministry staff, administrators and many other high profile people. I have been editing that one and have spent many consecutive hours on it so far – with about 2 more to go (I hope).

Pressure makes diamonds. It also makes garbage more compact. This isn’t the first time we have spent consecutive days editing videos. I almost expect it once a year now.
I’m excited to have these huge projects off our plates so we can move on to some smaller edits that have been sitting on the back burner for far too long.

I’ll get at those when I’m back from BC on June 30th

Well, it’s back to editing I guess. Wish me luck!

We have been very busy with a variety of projects this year. Some of them include:

-An anti-bullying PSA video for William Stevenson PS
-A French asthma-awareness video for Ophea
-The annual report video for the Durham School Board about their Artist in Residence program
-A promotional DVD of a percussion quartet “TorQ” which features a 2-minute promo and 10 songs
-3 ArtsSmarts projects in various public schools teaching core curriculum through our own art of photography
-Sinclair Secondary’s “Love” dance showcase
-Extensions Dance Company’s competitor’s recital AND photos for their website and promotional material
-About 8 wedding shoots, some of them freelance for Uproductions and Xero Digital, and some of our own bookings
-The Durham Elementary Honour Band concert performance
-The Durham Senior Honour Band concert performance
-We also get to shoot a wedding in British Columbia in June too!

One of the coolest things we get to do this year is a few projects for the Ministry of Education! Haven’t been able to say that before! We feel very proud to be working for them. We feel confident that we will be able to deliver the quality that they need, and that should turn up some more business for us!

We also bought a new work horse computer that is solving most of our timing problems (and also creating some new ones…). But with this new machine, we can now edit the HD .MOV files that we record with our SLR cameras shoot without converting them saving us all kinds of time. So we’re really enjoying that!!

Overall, the winter months were slow for us, but as the temperature increased, so did our spirits and job opportunities. This summer is looking to be very busy as usual with weddings and other projects.

Better get back to work! Thanks for reading!

You have to realize how big of a deal this is. The people we chose to shoot our wedding are the most reliable, professional, personable and creative people we have met in the six years we have been in the wedding industry. Each one of these people constantly strives to better themselves – they invest crazy money into their gear simply because they love it. And that means a lot to us.

“Who is going to shoot our wedding?” Easy. The people who we have looked up to for our entire career. These are the people who took Colin under their wing and showed him the ropes of how to shoot incredible video and photo. They showed him how to run a successful business, how to never be satisfied with his current level of skill and how to have a fun time shooting for 14 hours in a day.

In no particular order, here is the Empty Cup Media dream team.

Jamieson Dean. SLR Videography.
www.jamiesondean.com

Jay and Colin go back to 2006 where they worked and shot with Xero Digital in Markham. Jay was the one who gave Colin the epiphany with video. It ‘clicked’ one day while the two of them were shooting together. Since then, Colin and Jay’s relationship has grown and they are now great business allies and friends.
Photography is Jay’s specialty. Jay was still an easy choice for video because he knows how to manipulate the Canon 1D Mark IV and a 5D Mark II like a true professional. His knowledge of high-art photography, extensive experience with the cameras and wisdom with SLR video tools made him an easy choice. He is on the cutting edge of image quality and we have 110% trust in Jay that he will use all of his knowledge while shooting, and to laugh our asses off while we’re shooting all day. We’re happy to have you Jay!

Ugo Iannuzzi. SLR Videography.
www.uproductions.ca

Ugo found Colin through a random Craigslist ad, and they’ve been shooting together ever since. Ugo was an obvious shooter for many reasons. He shot Colin’s brother Ryan’s wedding in 2008, he has a great vision for shooting with the new SLR camera system, and he is a great friend of Colin and Carla’s.
Ugo is never satisfied. He is always looking to make things better, or easier, or cooler looking. He is a trustworthy shooter with crazy amounts of experience shooting weddings. The man has seen everything. Thanks for shooting Ugo!

Alex Ordanis. SLR Steadicam Videography.
www.xerodigital.ca

Alex is a wicked guy. Every time Colin or Carla had a chance to shoot with him they’d be pumped. Alex is a brilliant tech wizard and an ambitious shooter willing to do whatever it takes to get the shot (Colin watched him rip his pants one shoot in an ally – he got them fixed though. He’s that smooth). To complete the whole SLR package, we need a dedicated steadicam operator. Alex was the man to do it. Colin watched Alex shoot steadicam on many weddings and he was always impressed. We can’t wait to see what you can get Alex!

Matt Boyce. Photography.
www.xerodigital.ca

Matt was Colin’s first real business contact in his career. At a random dance competition, Matt asked Colin if he could shoot a wedding. And the simple answer was ‘yes’. Since then, Colin has shot more than 100 weddings for Matt, and has had an amazing time every time. Matt and the guys at Xero Digital are some fine people. They made shooting fun every time.
Matt is an inspiring photographer. With a few awards under his belt, Matt rocks the off-cam lighting like a true professional, all while having a fun time doing it. The style of photos we are looking for is just what Matt delivers, so we’re pumped to work with him! Thanks Matt!

Mike Chajecki. Photography.
www.stillmoments.ca

Colin and Carla became friends with Mike in under five seconds. They all met at a wedding show a few years ago and have been in each others lives ever since. Mike’s photos spoke loudly to Colin and Carla with his gigantic canvas wraps. His personality is quick and funny, and he has a great ability to bring out the ‘natural’ in the world. Mike uses a photo system that is almost parallel with Matt’s, so together our photo team will be extra strong. Looking forward to working with you Mike!

1.) Bathroom breaks.
ENTREPRENEUR: I rarely go to the bathroom. I see how long I can procrastinate getting out of my chair to see if I can combo the trip with something else. They are blips in my day that I’d rather not have to think about. Every minute I am not at my desk editing is a minute away from finishing a project.
9-5′er: Go as often as you can. It could be like be like a mini break. Especially if it’s a long walk to the bathroom.

2.) Sleeping in.
ENTREPRENEUR: We’ve got it made on this one. With no one waiting for me (majority of the time), I can sleep in as often as I like. The balance to it is, the later I get in the office, the later I have to stay. I’m fairly flaky like that though, I’ll work past 10:00pm 2-3 times a night just because I know I can. (And should).
9-5′er: You rarely get to sleep in. Twice a week at the most. But your routine is solid, you can easily plan around it. And when you leave the office (hopefully) your job stays at your desk.

3.) Ownership
ENTREPRENEUR: Anytime anything goes really well, I get a pat on the back. At the same time, any time anything bad happens (even if I am not personally at fault), I take the shame. That’s a lot to have on my shoulders. I feel some people might not be able to handle to hardships of something going wrong and having their name smeared all over it. The majority of the time it’s sunshine and rainbows though. When I burn the midnight oil, I get recognized for it.
9-5′er: I hope for all of our sake that 9-5′ers get to smile when their work gets shown or used; that the big business doesn’t swallow up the work and claim the work of an individual as its own. I would think handing over my best work to someone else who is going to put their name on it very difficult. With a small company a 9-5′er might get some direct props. With a large one, I doubt it. But if something ever goes wrong (at whoever’s fault), so what! It’s the company that has to show for it.

5:00pm
ENTREPRENEUR: At this time I’m usually wondering what I have in the fridge at work to eat since my stomach is growling. Quite often, 5:00 means “in an hour I’ll start packing up” (which means I’ll be out of the office at 7:00). Things get busy for us around that time since the 9-5′ers are out of work early. My 5:00 is your 1:00.
9-5′er: Outta here! Time to swim up the 401 like a salmon against a fast-moving steam.

Payday:
ENTREPRENEUR: Whenever I get more work, I can pay rent again. If I sit still, I risk not having rent 6 months from now. When the times are tough, I still have the same bills to pay. But when the times are good, I feel like a champion. It’s a rollercoaster every single month.
9-5′er: Fighting for the raise that you know that you deserve must be a pain. The consistency in pay cheque must be nice. It would be fairly straight forward to set a budget up for yourself with reliability like that. (Sticking to it is another matter).

There are lots of other more subtle differences between the two types of workers that I won’t go into. Both worker types have their strengths and weaknesses. I really like my work type. I can be flaky, sleep in, have big ups and downs with my income, take all the credit and all the shame, work with my fiance, bring my dog to work, and answer to no one!
It’s not too shabby.

On November 6, 2010, Colin, Carla, Brad, Cassie, Pat, Jesse, Brandon, Cassidy, Karen, Scott and Gryffin all came out to help participate in the music video shoot. We shot the video over 7 hours in chilly, yet sunny, weather.
The whole thing was choreographed and everyone was “in on it” – we were going to shoot the smaller pieces of the music video first and save Jesse’s performance of the song until the end of the day. The last location, the Whitby Public Library, Jesse performed the song twice, and on the second time around, Colin grabbed Carla in the middle of the frame and popped the question! Everything went exactly according to plan (except the “script” Colin had “written” for the proposal which went out the window the second Carla put her hands on her face). But she said yes! So the whole plan was a complete success!

Colin and Carla want to thank (again) everyone who helped with ideas, helped navigate the shoot, carry things, listen to Colin’s directing during the shoot, and for their love.

Here is the music video we shot with the proposal at the end. Enjoy!

As I am writing this, I’m finding it very hard to reflect back on 1825 days of work. But one thing does stand out above the rest. When I met Carla and she joined the Cup, that was the single best decision I have made to date. I couldn’t have amounted to half of what I have achieved if it weren’t for her hard work and dedication to the company. So thank you Carla for being excatly what I needed

I told myself years ago that the five year mark would be the time to “re-evaluate” the business. So my evaluation of Empty Cup Media is that we are right on track. The Cup’s potential has expanded into many different areas which will help us keep the business floating for the next five years. Weddings are still our bread and butter, but we have the ability to market ourselves to many other projects. If the business could go anywhere else, I would think it would go back to a home office (when I buy a home that is). But we will have to see how that dream unfolds in the next year. The Wedding Centre (our current location) is doing very well and if the ball continues to pick up speed, perhaps we will stay here.

Regardless, I still love my career, I love that I am still self employed, I love that I have grown to have three employees, I love that I get to work with Carla every day, and I love that I get to continue doing it all!

But I think I’d like to freelance a bit more again. This is true for several reasons.
1. Shooting with a group of people is fun. Teams of 3-4 are nice. Working in teams is a great way to alleviate some of the stress that can come from the hectic schedule during a wedding day. Shout outs to the Xero team.
2. Sometimes I hook up with new shooters and make a new contact. I shoot with my eyes open and I observe other photographers shooting styles. When I see cool and new techniques, I learn a bit and perhaps have a chance to stretch the Empty Cup web over the wedding industry just a little further.
3. No homework. I lay down the magic for 12 hours during a shoot and then hand the shots all over to my employer. Done.
4. I get to see new venues and pockets of the GTA that I might not have come across otherwise. I’d like to say I have a good education of the GTA geography and it’s surrounding areas, but I’m still findin new venues and small nooks of our cities that are awesome to shoot in.

Booking freelance gigs are tricky and require some strategy. Take a gig for another company 10 months in advance, and then a week later a client looks to book with us – but we cannot take the gig since we are already shooting on their wedding date.
“Feel it out” is my approach to booking the right gigs. We’ll see how that goes this time around.

So if you’re in need for a shooter for a gig – give me a call!