Joseph Ferrari

The Panasonic GH-1 and the Canon FD 85mm 1.8 S.S.C. are a magical combination.

The lens is cropped to a 170mm field of view—which means the image is cropped—not magnified.

With a minimum focusing distance of about three feet, on a full-frame this lens would not be an ideal walk-around lens. But on the GH-1 with a 2x crop factor, the three feet minimum focus limitation plays less of a role.

I wrote the music in the late 90′s and refreshed the mix in early 2011—the track is called “West Coast Ease” and is part of a collection of music and videos called “The Sun Will Shine Again.” (TSWSA)

The purchase of the Panasonic GH1 camera sparked a keen interest in the creation of film-like productions. The astonishing detail captured by this camera has inspired me to go out capture the beauty of nature.

The project began as a test, I combined footage captured by the GH1 and the music track that I had recently refreshed, to see if the subject and the music got along. I showed the test to Sharon, my wife, and it was her reaction that told me that this combination was worthy of pursuit.

As a photographer, I am no stranger to composition and therefore it was a tiny step to take in order to look for and frame interesting subjects that complied with the “Nature In Motion” directive.

Most of the footage was captured using the Panasonic DMC-GH1 hybrid camera; the remaining footage with the Canon 5DMKII and 7D—An assortment of lenses were used to capture the clips.

Canon FD 135 f2.5 S.S.C
Canon FD 50 f1.8
Canon FD 50 f1.4 S.S.C

Canon EF 300 f4L
Canon EF 135 f2L
Canon EF-S 55-250 f5.6

Olympus OM 100 f2

Olympus ZD 50 f2 Macro

Panasonic Lumix 14-140
Panasonic Lumix 100-300

(This video is still a work-in-progress and will change on its final release.)

One of my greatest pleasures from this track was a story told to me by one of my friends—it went something like this:

While listening to West Coast Ease one evening, we decided to order a pizza and while giving my order, the woman on the other end of the phone asks: what music is playing in the background—it’s beautiful?!

This type of uninvited comment is priceless. It’s a wonderful way of getting paid.

This track was originally released in 1997 as part of the ‘Don’t Let It Go’ collection. I am now re-releasing it with some minor musical changes.

I first wrote “The Night Comes” (TNC) in 1996. This was the last track to the collection called, “Don’t Let It Go”, which was released in early 1997.

A lot has happened since that initial release—my knowledge of audio production has exponentially increased—my ears for musical production have improved, the tools have improved. And so I’ve gone back into the original version and did some revisions based on my current capabilities.

Musically, the notes haven’t changed much—save for the opening and closing movements.  A lot of time was spent modifying the weight of each note of the piano. The closing notes were also changed: the new track now ends with an ascending direction that is positive.

A significant addition to the opening and closing was the ambient track of birds and the sound of waves reaching a shoreline.

Today’s artists have opportunities that were unimaginable two decades ago—they are no longer bound by the legacy of the real world. Now the artists are free to connect with their audience—unencumbered by prohibitive costs.

The track has four movements—nocturne, dawn, a day of living, reflection.

Have a listen to this new version—enjoy!

Joseph