Swig Productions

Up Close

Mat — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:07:39 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

For the past four years I have been working on a series of close up celebrity portraits. Last year was a big year for the project, I had a solo show sponsored by Kodak at the Luxe Laboratory hosted by Robert Verdi and had write ups on PhotoShelter and FeatureShoot photo blogs. This year has started off with many advances in my professional life as well. I joined Aurora Select and yesterday I signed with the James Fitzgerald Agency in hopes of selling the project as a book. Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully next year I will be sending out an invite to a book launch party! In the mean time enjoy the video piece from last year.

The Thai House

Mat — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:55:37 +0000

Here is our first edit of the interview we did with Pip the chef and owner of the Thai House. We spent 2 days learning how to make the most amazing Thai food in her kitchen and had the pleasure of staying a night in her amazing house.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Moseying down the Mekong

Mat — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:20:22 +0000

From Siem Reap to Phnom Penh we floated down the Tonlé Sap Lake and river and met the Mekong and drifted into Vietnam. The Mekong Delta greeted us with lush greens, friendly smiles, sour fish soups and floating markets. Every turn led to more mangroves, banana, mango, papaya or palm groves. The maze of canals connecting plantations to villages, villages to towns, towns to cities seemed endless. We spent spent only 5 days wandering on small boats through the delta but could have spent months. I look forward to returning and getting lost again, in the fertile fingers of the Mekong.

This video is the first of many to come. It is the first full HD video that I shot with the Canon 5D mk2 and edited in Final Cut Pro. Many thanks to Philip Bloom for all of the tutorials and Magic Bullet Looks for the grading tools. I hope you enjoy the little taste of the Mekong that this video offers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Quiet Possibly A Perfect Meal

Mat — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:15:30 +0000

We took the slow boat from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Chau Doc, Vietnam. We arrived to find a sleepy fishing town with friendly people. The first thing did was hire a guide, Mr.Long, that had been recommended for an extended five hour tour the next day.

We set out early the next morning at 7 am to the floating market and village on the Mekong Delta. Mr. Long took us on his normal two and a half hour tour of fish farms and floating markets, but we explained that we were not interested in seeing the tourists sights and instead wanted to meet local people. Shortly after watching fisherman cast their nets, our boat pulled up along side a one-room houseboat where a family of five was eating a simple lunch. It was clear that they did not have much, but they greeted us with warm smiles and asked us to join them in for a meal. An overwhelming sense of acceptance filled our conversation and bowls of rice appeared in our hands before we could even protest. We continued to talk as Mr. Long translated our words, all of us eager to learn about the other. Through Mr. Long we learned that the father, Kiet, support his three daughters and wife by fishing in the nearby waters. On a good day he will catch 3kg of fish that he can sell at market for about 30,000-50,000 Vietnamese dong. This works out to between $2-3 per day to support five people. Our time was coming to a close and we asked if we could return the next day for a full meal. We would bring the fish and Mrs. Nguyen would cook canh chua, a sour fish soup that’s a specialty of the Mekong Delta.

The next day we spent 4 hours with the Nguyens. You can imagine how amazing the food was. Fresh fish cooked 4 ways with BBQ freshwater shrimp as large as lobsters, rice and waffles. The canh chua was absolutely delicious brimming with Mekong fish, taro stem and pineapple and tingly and tart on the tongue. When we set out to find the “perfect meal” we knew that good company would play a large part, and the time spent with this family in their home puts them on the top of our list on our trip so far.

Below is a short video captured with a small Flip Video, which explains the chunky quality. The full story was captured with a Canon 5D mk2 in HD and will be edited shortly after we return in 2010.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Angkor Wat

Mat — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:35:41 +0000

We arrived to find the temples in all of their splendor. They are as beautiful as the post cards and pictures you see. We spent the entire day at the Angkor complex and saw Angkor Wat, Ta Phrom, Bayon and then, trying to avoid the tourist traps we ventured to a temple called Ta Nei. It was off the beaten path and our driver had a little bit of a hard time finding it, but it was worth every wrong turn and windy dirt road. We found ourselves there with only two other people. We were able to walk and climb through the temple in ways that you can not at the crowded tour sites.

When we finally were “templed out” we had out driver take us to one final temple to watch the sun set. We arrived at 3:30 to hike up the trail to the temple and then climbed the steep stairs to the top. We claimed a prime spot to set up a tripod and watch the sun set over the Angkor valley. By the time is was over there were about 400 people at the top of the temple all crowded around trying to get a photo of a hazy sunset far off the in the distance.

The temples of Angkor are beautiful to say the least. Built over a thousand years ago the people who built them were a very advanced civilization. It makes you wonder what would be left of our cities if we just disappeared. Would our culture be lost or would our sky scrapers remain?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Siem Reap “street food”

ewigger — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:40:39 +0000

Big bummer. Ok, so we didn’t really have too much time in Siem Reap. It’s a dusty, little town that seems to thrive solely on tourists. Not exactly our bag, we were there to see the Angkor temples and move on to more exciting things. But why not take the opportunity to stick our toes in the pool and try the local street dishes. After the budget-busting $20 dinner at The Khmer Kitchen the night before, we headed for a row of identical restaurants in an area known as “The Alley.” Seriously, there is a long row of counters behind which, hard-working Cambodian ladies stir fry it up for foreigners. Oops, we had accidentally strayed into one of those places that purport to give you real street food, but actually just dumb down the local cuisine and up the prices and think you won’t notice.

Look at all of those vegetables crammed into that case? Don’t they look fresh and lovely? Isn’t this just what street food is supposed to be? That was the extent of advertising for each place. They were essentially interchangeable. But notice the ramen noodles up in the corner. That is your first clue ladies and gentlemen that you are about to eat some truly crappy stir fry. But hey it was cheap and they served Beer Lao. First up, Lok Lak. It was actually better than the Khmer Kitchen version and minus the creepy egg. Ultra peppery and actually delicious. It was downhill from there.

This is the ubiquitous fried veg. Do not attempt. It’s mostly cabbage with a few green bits and a lovely tomato or two. Mat swears he liked it. Don’t believe him.

This is the face of disappointment and dismay on my dear husband’s face as we poked through our ramen noodles with beef. Shall we go in for a close-up?

Move along, nothing to be done. Move it around the plate and order another beer instead. I should mention that the best thing about the food we’ve been eating is that it’s extremely customizable. On every table are at least four different types of condiments to flavor your meal to your liking- raw chili, garlic and chili, chili paste, fish sauce (!), and maybe chili sauce. Luckily we were able to avail ourselves to help us get through this meal.

That garlic had been making love to that chili since the Bush administration. It was pungent and vehemently bold and we slopped it over everything. Washed it down, of course…

Technical Difficulties

ewigger — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:11:07 +0000

I know everyone has been eagerly awaiting new pix and video from us, and I apologize for the delay. We’ve been on the move a lot and unable to really gather our thoughts to form sentences. We’ve also both been hit with a nasty bug that has knocked us out with a sinus and stomach punch. We arrived in Saigon last night in the middle of chaos as Vietnam had just won the Asian Cup in both men’s and women’s soccer. We’re finally installed in a lovely hotel with hard-wire DSL access and will be catching up on all the previous day’s excitements. Comments are now working on the posts too!

Phnom Penh Central Market

ewigger — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:38:43 +0000

We’ve decided that Cambodia is our favorite place by far, and the best place within is Phnom Penh. It’s a sleepy town by the Tonle Sap river, but it’s not quiet by any means. People are just generally friendly and helpful. We spent a few days shooting stills and video in the central market, here’s some of what we saw. Imagine it like a big supermarket/mall, with a food court! Mat’s time lapse video gives you a good idea of what the chaos was like.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sometimes working can be a lot of fun

Mat — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:32:42 +0000

Yaaarrrrrr!!!!! There she blows mateys.

Well maybe not. But getting to travel through Cambodia by boat is pretty damn cool. We hoped aboard a “speed boat” from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and rode almost the whole way on the roof! It is sure a good day at the office with a cold beer and a camera.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Khmer Kitchen

ewigger — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:56:08 +0000

Upon arrival in Siem Reap we didn’t have very good luck with our food choices. Our first stop at an outdoor market yielded several bowls of greasy, green water with some mushy greens and small nuggets of pork fat floating in them. We needed a home run on Khmer cuisine. I’d read that Cambodian food is a hard nut to crack. Whereas Thai or Vietnamese food contain several flavors within one dish, Khmer food contains different flavors in each dish and you eat them accordingly for a complete taste. If you order wrong, you miss the point entirely. We had no idea what we were doing. In the spirit of eternal optimism, we opted for a more traditional restaurant experience at The Khmer Kitchen. It’s faithfully authentic food, but with chairs and menus. Just what we needed after a 12 hour bus ride from Thailand.

First up were some cold drinks, always a necessity. Mine was a totally forgettable pineapple shake, but Mat chanced upon our new favorite beverage– lemongrass tea with lime.

Next up was some Lok Lak, grilled beef with a pepper lime sauce. I’d read some where that the fried egg was ridiculous, so we didn’t go near that weirdness. It was merely ok, good and salty, but the sauce needed a lot more lime.

Mat ordered some Larb, which is a spicy pork salad, and an amazing Khmer fish curry with yams.

This meal more than made up for our earlier market mishaps. Even if it wasn 100% authentic, it was plenty tasty.