chess pettengill

insight to a life

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Here is a photo of my friend Tamara. Taken in the hills above Santa Rosa before photographing the super moon. 

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Here's another video for you all. The difference this time is that I actually worked on this film. I was graced with the opportunity to make this short documentary with two of my good friends, Spencer Wardwell and Stephen Siegel. I am quite proud of the final product and I hope you enjoy it too. 

It is a short film about my high school humanities teacher who has a passion for surfboard shaping. He is an extremely talented and well known shaper in Northern California. This film was created to document the process of making a board and give a little insight into Nor Cal surfing. 

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The simplicity of this track is beautiful. I love that music doesn't have to be extremely convoluted to be interesting or appealing. I think that is why minimalism is so attractive so me; it thrives on a lack of complexity. http://goo.gl/qY0M1

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Here is the latest cinematography edit by my friend Stephen Siegel. A lot of fantastic shots of actions sports, interviews, and time-lapses.

There is even some footage from a surf film that we worked on together this past winter. Hopefully that video will be posted soon. 

Enjoy!

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Things to come

These past few weeks have already been extremely jam packed; with friends coming home, work, and new plans being made for this summer. It is starting to overwhelm me, yet I am still excited. 

In case you're curious about what lies ahead for me in the next couple months, I shall fill you in. 

Firstly, my impending trip to Costa Rica is just around the corner. In two weeks I will be out of the country to enjoy some sunshine and tropics. It is amazing to know that this trip is finally coming to fruition after already being postponed earlier this year due to a broken jaw. Fortunately, I have healed quickly from that injury and won't have to deal with the repercussions of it during my stay abroad. It will be great to take a breath of fresh air in a new landscape. 

The day after I arrive home I begin work on a film project, currently titled, Project: User. The film is was written and is being directed by Miles Levin, a student of Sonoma Academy, the high school I graduated from. It is a feature film about  a teenage hacker. Miles has me doing most of the DP work, which will be a first for me and hopefully a great opportunity to learn more about this art that I love so much. I am a little anxious about taking on all the responsibility though, due to the lack of other technological help. Hopefully, it will all work out in the end. That film will take up about a month of my summer, which is good and bad; I will gain a lot of film making experience, but will lose a lot of time at my real job. 

Aside from that major film project, I am planning on doing a lot of other smaller shoots which I can use to create a cinematography reel. I already have ideas for new time-lapses and climbing adventures. 

As soon as summer wraps up I will be returning to school to pursue my Associates Degree in Digital Filmmaking. Something that I have been eager to do since deciding to take time off from school to work for my dad. It will be nice to be back in the classroom. I am not sure how ready for the real world I really am. 

I'll keep the digital world informed as my life unfolds. 

Cheers!

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Seems like this blog is turning into just a series of my favorite videos. Anyways, this 4-second clip was actually shot by me. It is a little time lapse of the super moon that took place a couple weeks ago. I shot it at a place called Skyfarm which is in the hills above Santa Rosa, CA. Enjoy. 

Shot with a Canon T2i and a 70-200mm F/4 Lens.

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Here is a Petzl's latest video documenting RocTrip 2011. A gathering of some of the worlds strongest climbers, to set routes on the Great Arch. It is truly a magnificent place and the video itself was beautifully made; music and cinamatography. Enjoy. 

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First discovered this U.K. Oxford group by listening to one of my old favorite math rock bands, This Town Needs Guns, on Spotify, only to discovered that they had collaborated with the lead guitarists to create some crazy dance music. Here is a sample. There mashups are definitely interesting and I love the masks. 

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This is the type of thing that inspires me. I can't wait until I can get out and live my life like this. Patagonia sounds like home. I wish I was home. 

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Tom Ford - An inspiration

Tom Ford – fashion powerhouse, film mogul and old school romantic – is the cover star of the spring/summer 2011 issue of Another Man. Alongside web exclusive images from Jeff Burton's shoot, AnOther presents Tom Ford's five easy lessons in how to be a modern gentleman, taken from Jefferson Hack's intimate conversation which appears in full in the issue. 1. You should put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you. 2. A gentleman today has to work. People who do not work are so boring and are usually bored. You have to be passionate, you have to be engaged and you have to be contributing to the world. 3. Manners are very important and actually knowing when things are appropriate. I always open doors for women, I carry their coat, I make sure that they're walking on the inside of the street. Stand up when people arrive at and leave the dinner table. 4. Don't be pretentious or racist or sexist or judge people by their background.  5. A man should never wear shorts in the city. Flip-flops and shorts in the city are never appropriate. Shorts should only be worn on the tennis court or on the beach.

Taken from AnOtherMag.com