I sold this to the local news, and it's gone viral

[StuOS]

Hello everyone,

I'm afraid I don't get back here very often because, mercifully, I have been busy. I still drop by every now and again, though, to see some of the outstanding work on here.

I thought some of you might be interested in this. I shot it between 8:00 and 8:30 or so in the evening from the NW side of Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder, Colorado. As you'll see, it's a time lapse. As I write this, it's getting about 1100 hits per hour on YouTube, but that will tail off shortly as the Boulder fire leaves the news. It has been an interesting viral ride, though, and one I doubt will ever be repeated. It's number one if you type in "boulder" on Facebook, and it was on the first page of google yesterday. Don't know if it still is.

CNN wanted to air it, but for free. I respectfully declined. I find it quite annoying that a multi-billion-dollar company wants people to shoot with tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, on their own time, then give them the product for free.

For those of you into technical details, this was shot on a Sony XDCAM PMW-EX3 with 9db of gain, pretty much wide open (approx. 1.9-2.0 fstop), at 5600k white balance, and an extended shutter of 32 frames. I went ahead and shot it straight instead of in interval/time lapse mode, then removed frames in post to get the time lapse effect. It's horrific, yes, but strangely beautiful as well, I think.

Hope you enjoy it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfXIqbfehxs[/youtube]

[Steve Grisetti]

That's amazing footage, Stu. Too good to just give away!

The time lapse makes it look almost like a volcano!

[Dave McElderry]

Awesome Stu. Are the little tiny spots of light artificial light (homes?), or are these part of the fire?

[StuOS]

The tiny spots are fires. The moving lights in the foreground, against the black, are emergency vehicles on the winding, mountain roads.

[Paul LS]

Some really incredible footage... as you say horrific in one respect but also quite beautiful.

[Chuck Engels]

Very cool Stu, amazing footage. Congrats on all the publicity

There are so many people out there now with cell phone video and small video cameras that are willing to give stuff away to the networks and tv stations. Some of the quality I've seen on tv lately is terrible, don't know why they would even broadcast that stuff.

[momoffduty]

Amazing video! Saw some of the coverage on last night's news. Very sad. We lived in Denver a few years and spent many a day in Boulder & driving up the canyons.

[Jayell]

Terrible situation .. but great footage!!

[StuOS]

There are so many people out there now with cell phone video and small video cameras that are willing to give stuff away to the networks and tv stations. Some of the quality I've seen on tv lately is terrible, don't know why they would even broadcast that stuff.

Well, I can see it if it's a news event and no other footage is available. For instance, the Rodney King beating is terrible video, but it's like the MacGruder tape -- there's only one, and it's the important one.

Maybe it's budget cutbacks. Fewer people of your own means relying on stuff others will give you for free.

[tiny]

Wow. Very nice indeed. Good job on not taking the first offer, especially since it was zero.

[ed]

I saw this video. Congrats!