LATEST WORK: “Preta” A day in the life of our dog w/ Nikon Coolpix P7700

I never know what to get my wife Marina for her birthday, but this year I updated her Nikon and gave her the P7700. Best gift in years and I was even able to bank some points with her : ).

That Sunday I found myself sitting in our living room capturing video footage of our dog Preta. Marina walked in and told me to hand over the camera—she wanted to shoot Preta and reminded me it was her camera, after all.

Next thing I knew we were fully consumed with shooting an impromptu short film, capturing a day in the life of Preta. We’re not crazy, but Marina and I will often project Preta’s emotions and thoughts; other dog owners do this, right? Our little game turned into a key part of our film, “Preta,” and our Sunday quickly bloomed into a full shoot day, documenting everything that Preta did. We even decided to strap the P7700 to Preta’s back by using her life vest and a GorillaPod for a POV shot. With a camera this easy to use, Marina said we had to try everything. By the way, if you sent me an e-mail and I didn’t reply two weeks ago, I apologize, I was completely consumed with shooting this video.

What started as a simple Adobe Premiere edit on my laptop turned into a legitimate post-production project. I even brought out my audio kit so that Marina and I could do voice over for Preta (and Preta’s friend, Royal). By the way, Dane, thanks for letting us rope you and Royal into our little production.

Marina and I couldn’t stop laughing at each other the whole time. At one point in the shoot Preta looked at us and we knew she must be thinking: should I start filming the two of you now? Making “Preta” was a total blast, and Marina and I realized something important. We live in a time where sophisticated compact cameras like the Nikon Coolpix P7700 provide us with easy to use features and tools to seamlessly become still photographers or filmmakers. This camera has all of the necessary technical functionality that allows the user to focus solely on creativity. For Marina, the birthday girl, it left her with a final project that has great sound and a cinematic look—a look she totally takes credit for (I’ll let her have it).

Whether it’s your dog, your cat, or your kid, get a camera and tell your story. Our world is amazing, go capture it!

P.S. Don’t forget: if you’re going to blow off work for the day to shoot, make sure you turn on your e-mail auto-responder so others will think you’re busy actually working!

Watch the full video on our Vimeo page, “Preta”