Sunday April 18, 2010

Hans Zimmer’s Studio

Update! I got to spend a whole afternoon with Hans!

To get that full story, see “Hans Zimmer in His Studio.”

First Round – Hi Res Versions Now Avail

When I first got to Hans Zimmer’s Lair, I posted a few photos, but only one had the hi-res link. I know sometimes people like to click through to see the huge size and check out all the details.

Now, you can click through all of them here below. To see the full size, click on the photo, and then click on the “O” for “Original size” at the top of the SmugMug page. It’s a little hard to see there – it’s right beside the “X Large” text at the top.

I Approach my Quarry!Six days ago I was up at 3 AM, listening to Hans Zimmer while editing photos, and then I had an idea for a project with him, so I made a blog post.  Now, less than a week later, I was in his studio in California!For those of you that don't know who Hans Zimmer is, he's, like, the Liger of composers.  He did the soundtrack for The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, Gladiator, Sherlock Holmes, and many more!  In fact, back when I was in college and had a double major in Computer Science and Geophysics (I dropped the Geophysics bit after a fight with the professor), I commandeered the SGI machine in the Geology department to make a computer animation, and I set the whole thing to one of Zimmer's songs from Backdraft called "Burn it All".  So, in short, I've had Hans Zimmer's music in my head for about 20 years. The Story of How I Got Into Hans Zimmer's StudioIt's because of you!  We have millions of visits here on the blog every month, and you all know how thankful I am for your repeat patronage.  It's tough to get a pretty photo up every day, and I thank you for all your feedback!  So, when I put out the call in my newsletter, I got a ton of responses.  My math-guess was that I was one or two degrees away from Hans, especially since there are many creative-types that are regular visitors.Also, many of you hyper-active types (like me!) talk to me, ask questions, and follow me on Twitter -- thank you for being responsive to real-time requests and news.About an hour after I sent out the newsletter at midnight, I got a response from a German gentleman (name private) who is friends with Hans!  In fact, he told me he was going to see Hans the next day at his studio near Hollywood!  He did a few things to help out, and, although I could not meet Hans today, I did get an amazing opportunity to take photos of his studio.  I knew I could make his studio look the way it feels -- I had a sublime confidence I could make it happen.  Anyway, I was like a kid in a candy store.  I got a ton of shots... I only had time to process four of them.Hans Zimmer's StudioI don't know if words do it justice, but I hope these photos do.The studio is even bigger than I thought, and I was reminded of the Crimson Lounge in Chicago.  In fact, I pulled up the image on my laptop there on the table to compare textures and light.  I thought everything worked well together -- the decadence and richness of the decorations integrated with the technology.   I don't know if there is a word for such a look... It's something out of a Phillip Pullman novel, somewhere between Steampunk and Techno-boudoir.  Again, words fail.The first two photos I have placed on Flickr.  You can click on them to go to Flickr and then zoom into the full-res size.  Amazing details -- especially in the chair photo. I'll post more in coming weeks, months, and years, as usual.  So, stay tuned... my ongoing quest continues!from Trey Ratcliff at www.stuckincustoms.com

Daily Photo – Hans Zimmer’s Studio

It takes me a long time to process these photos, as you guys know by now. This is good and bad… One side-benefit of the “good” is that it allows me to leave many open threads and story-lines that are continued for months and years on end (much like Lost, where certain bits get lost forever). For example, I know everyone is waiting to hear about the dead body I saw in Indonesia… people love dead body stories. But you have to wait for the next Indonesia street shot for that! Hehe…

Today, I have three more photos from the studio.

The first is his massive bank of monitors that almost circumnavigate his keyboard. His team blanked out all the monitors so I could not capture his next secret project (which is not nearly as cool as his secret project with me, which is, indeed, so secret that Hans does not even know about it yet).

The second photo is of his grand piano where I assume his plans many of his compositions. He had a very cute photo there of his son, like any good dad. I normally don’t re-arrange scenes, but I did move that photo to protect the privacy of the family.

The third photo is the serpentine wiring system that keeps all the electrons flowing in the right directions. Seeing this, I’ll no longer fret the next time I need to go re-wire my home stereo.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

See more photos from California, LA, Nikon D3X, Travel