TALLGRASS PICTURES

Last week our studio was one person short due to a case of the travel bug. Our creative marketing intern, Allison, headed off to Guatemala for spring break with a group of inspired SDSU students whose mission was to volunteer at an elementary school in a rural village.

They spent the week transforming the drab grey school into a declaration of gold and maroon, and compiling school supplies for 200 students. When they weren’t bringing color and joy to the children, Allison was exploring Guatemala, hiking ceremonial Mayan caves, zip lining through the forest and walking the cobblestoned streets of Antigua.

She came back rejuvenated from her amazing experience with the kids, sporting a tan and even more in love with guacamole!

The boys are in Las Vegas today, getting their geek on at the 2013 NAB Show! As you can see, they’re very excited to explore all the cool new tech devices out there and just discovered a box from black magic that converts 2D footage into 3D automatically! 

The rest of us here at the studio anxiously await news updates and have our fingers crossed for new state-of-the-art gear. It feels like Christmas!

The Mustache Marvels are at it AGAIN! :)

As we start the branding process of our new hot sauce, we realized that it was time for a new team photo for the label. So we’ve upgraded our new photo with our favorite element - mustaches!

Keep your eyes out for our new hot sauce labels coming soon…

Today we were feeling the love here at the studio. Our models from the beach & surf shoot last week sent us wonderful letters to say how much they enjoyed working with the team and thanked us for our “kindness and professionalism”.  :)

We always strive to create a positive environment with great energy for our shoots, & we’re glad it doesn’t go unnoticed. Thanks Alana & Joi, for filling our hearts with happiness and our bellies with cake pops!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN!!! 

Today we celebrate the birthday of our wonderful senior editor Gavin Filipiak. You’re a master at what you do and we’re all so very thankful to have you as part of the team making each cut a supreme work of art. We hope you have an incredible birthday!

Cheers!

With summer right around the corner, we figured now is a good time to freshen up our beach portfolio work. Yesterday, we headed out to a secret surf spot in La Jolla to do a lifestyle shoot based on a simple concept - having an utterly-amazing day at the beach! The kind of shoot that makes you wish that there were 8 days in a week; the last one to be saved for a day in the sun. 

It turned out to be a foggy day, but that didn’t stop us from chugging on and catching some great photos and footy. The models, whose ages ranged from 6 years old to adult, were total troopers. They splashed about in the frigid ocean and leapt into chilly tide pools with nothing but smiles and positivity. 

As we have steadily gotten more into Travel & Tourism, this shoot was a great way to add to our repertoire. It may have been a little colder than we anticipated, but with enough hot chocolate and hot coffee coursing through us, anything is possible. 

What does one do on a rainy day in typically sunny San Diego? Here at Tallgrass, we like to work on perfecting our aviation skills with our latest camera equipment - drone helicopters. 

After hearing an alluring newscast on NPR, Jeffrey eagerly purchased two of these nifty new gadgets this week. He mastered the remote control himself, and then the rest of the Tallgrass team each stepped up to play pilot. 

The bigger of the two is the Hexacopter 3DR ArduCopter. This baby can house a GoPro camera for capturing photographs at high elevations, is GPS enabled, has built-in stabilizers, is telemetric and can even fly itself! 

“Not only is the drone helicopter going to take our work to a whole new level and bring a great new perspective, but it’s just a cool f**king toy!” - JB

Last week we were back in the house with our great friends over at Brandtailers, this time for a shoot at Cerritos Ford to show off their brand new dealership. 

Our mission for this production was to shoot enough content for four spots in one day. Not only did we accomplish that, but we were also able to capture some footage for their B-roll Library.

Our favorite part of the shoot was working with the massive 24-foot long JIB we used inside and outside of the dealership… made us feel pretty macho. 

Another fun part was going out for margaritas afterwards with Brandtailers new Creative Director Dane Larsen to celebrate our success.

*Cheers to Dane and our friends at Brandtailers for another great collaboration!*