Enter: The Year of the Dragon – five filmmakers record the spectacular display
By Jonah Kessel 2012: The Year of the Dragon from Jonah Kessel on Vimeo. The plan was simple: to one-up ourselves. One year earlier friends and filmmakers Paul Morris, Kit Gillet and myself decided to make a short video documenting some of the fireworks in Beijing as China celebrated the Lunar New Year. In fact,...
A strap that changed my life
By Jonah Kessel I can break all reviews into two categories: those that are solicited, and those that are not. This is the latter. And I write this unsolicited review because I believe Blackrapid’s straps have changed my life in a significantly positive way. DSLR News Shooter is a great resource for finding out about...
Jonah Kessel captures unusual Chinese protests in Wukan for the NYT – with Canon 60D and 5D mkII
By Jonah Kessel Wukan Video Journal from Jonah Kessel on Vimeo. Using a fat Chinese man, a large backpack, a baseball cap and the hood from my sweatshirt, I attempted to hide myself. I was sandwiched in between the beefy man and a f-stop Satori backpack jammed with gear on the rear of his motorcycle....
Making a visually boring person interesting to watch – A 5DmkII video shot for the New York Times
By Jonah Kessel Word Crimes from Jonah Kessel on Vimeo. Murong Xuecun is one of the least boring people I have ever met. He is energetic. He is dynamic. He is impressively clever. And in the last year, he has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of censorship in China. However, he is...
Just Because: Tricycle Calligraphy
By Jonah Kessel As a video journalist I’m frequently approached by people asking me to come film — whatever it is they have that’s going on. A Chinese rock band, a new brand or some really exciting business conference are the usual suspects. These people often think their event would be so fun to film,...
Filming a Filmmaker
By Jonah Kessel On a recent assignment for the New York Times I was tasked with filming a filmmaker. It was the first time I’d done this, although I’d taken portraits of photographers before. It’s hard not to have a little bit of anxiety when you know the person you are filming not only knows...
Kessel on Kesslercrane – Jonah Kessel reviews the Kesslercrane pocketdolly v2.0
I’ve been doing more and more solo shoots. No assistants or colleagues to help setup shoots, sound, light or mitigate the weight of my kit. The problem is, creating cinematic journalism requires some kit. So for me – when it comes to solo video production, it’s all about “bang for your buck.” Or in DSLR...
The perils of subtitling and translation in Video – Jonah Kessel on his latest 5DMkII project
China based DSLR News shooter Jonah Kessel discusses the issues he faced with language and translation on his latest DSLR video shorts The Fate of Old Beijing: CH. 1 – A Disappearing World from Jonah Kessel on Vimeo. Working in foreign countries journalists encounter many problems with language barriers. However, video journalists face even more...
What’s in a name – do I call myself a photojournalist, videographer or documentary film maker?
By Jonah Kessel Jonah M. Kessel Showreel 2011: China, Tibet, Nepal, India, The Philippines from Jonah Kessel on Vimeo. Like so many DSLR shooters around the world, I’m a convert. I come from a still photography background but as my career and technology have advanced I’ve been transported (gladly) into the video journalism world. While...
Chinese New Year goes with a bang for shooters Jonah Kessel and Paul Morris with Canon DSLRs
By Jonah Kessel As 1.4 billion Chinese people celebrated the Lunar New Year yesterday, cameraman Paul Morris, journalist Kit Gillet and myself packed our bags to capture the remarkable pyro-chaos welcoming the Year of the Rabbit. According to ancient Chinese mythology, an evil spirit known as Nian (年) would terrorize villagers on the first day...
