13

This past May I was asked by my friends at Nikon Asia to create a collection of images using the new Nikon 1 V1 mirrorless camera, F-mount adaptor and five different AF-S Nikkor lenses of my choosing.  They also requested that I make a short film about my personal experience working with the camera and lenses.

Although I didn't know exactly what I wanted to shoot for Nikon, I did know precisely whom to call for some creative assistance: my close friends and frequent collaborators, documentary filmmaking team Mike Rogers and Meghan Shea.

Coincidentally, Mike and Meghan were just about to depart Singapore for the United States to film a television pilot with folk and roots musician Ben Taylor at his home on Martha's Vineyard.  They suggested that I join them and use the Nikon 1 to document behind-the-scenes and the making-of the TV pilot.

I loved the idea, Nikon supported our proposal and -- most importantly -- Ben graciously agreed to star in our photographs and short film.  The next thing I knew, I was traveling around the world from Singapore to Massachusetts to join Mike and Meghan and the rest of the team working on the production.

Together we spent three remarkable days with Ben on Martha's Vineyard.  We visited his home-recording studio where he shared with us the sources of his creative inspiration and his songwriting process.

We enjoyed downtime with Ben, paddle boarding on Menemsha Pond at Chilmark and sitting on his balcony at Tisbury as he serenaded us with his acoustic guitar.

And the climax of the entire experience was a small, private concert Ben hosted at his home on our last evening.  He invited about 30 of his friends from the Vineyard to join him around the campfire while he and his bandmate, David Saw -- along with a handful of his musician friends -- sang late into the night.

Mike filmed me as I went about documenting each of the moments we experienced using the Nikon 1.  In this short film by Mike, go behind-the-scenes of our shoot and visit here to see a collection of the photography I captured during our three fantastic days on Martha's Vineyard with Ben Taylor.

One of Ben's songs, "Worlds Are Made of Paper" -- from his brand new album Listening -- is featured in our film. Download Listening from iTunes starting from August 14.