I haven’t been able to update my blog in a while. I don’t have a lot of time to write an update so I’ll make it short. This past November, I traveled to Mexico for a job. On my last day in Playa Del Carmen, I was robbed of my passport and money while walking back to my hotel from a restaurant. I flagged down some police. They took me back to my hotel but the interaction turned bad and they ended up searching my room and detaining me with charges of bribery and trying to smuggle exotic fauna out of the country. It was all pretty ridiculous and I felt it would be resolved within a few hours but they ended up taking me to a small jail where I stayed until the next morning. I missed my flight the next day but that was the least of my worries as I realized I was mired in a fog of red tape, communication break downs, and straight-up corruption. Needless to say, it quickly became a nightmare and, as the days and weeks dragged on, the nightmare became a reality.

So now, my situation is that I have spent the past few months being bounced around Mexico, in the custody of various state and federal agencies. Only a few family members have been aware of this and they have drained their bank accounts trying to get me released.

In the past few days, I have been allowed limited access to a phone and internet. I don’t know exactly where I am but it is warm and I can hear the wind howling outside. About a week into my detention, after I realized I would not be released swiftly, I began to keep track of the days by collecting pebbles, stones, small pieces of broken concrete, whatever I could find, and putting one each day into an old sock that I still carry around. I have been completely isolated from anybody else and aside from a couple individuals, my interactions with guards and officials have been painfully hopeless. I have 132 pieces in my sock bag so I know it’s been a little over four months. I have been told that I will be allowed to send out emails this week so I am hoping to reach out to some more friends who may be able to help. It is taking me forever just to type this. I will try to check my email as frequently as possible…you can try to reach me at jim *at* boomswagger *dot* com. I have also set up a paypal if anybody can make a donation.

I have to go. I will try to update again soon. Thank you everybody.

I have been in Tulum, Mexico for the past week shooting the Victoria’s Secret angels with Ben Watts. Ben is super fun to work with and the models and crew and everybody are great. I’m looking forward to the last couple days and then back to LA where it’s been raining. Here are some photos.

Disco lights on Virgin

More soon!

I shot a 90-mile road race outside of Ely, NV not long ago. My AC and I had to hike up a mountain at 4am to get our camera in position. We were up there for about 12 hours, shooting cars racing at 180mph past us with a RED.

Whip-pans at 180mph with a fully-loaded RED and an AC pulling focus is a tricky thing. We nailed nearly every one of the 100+ cars that passed us.

We shot the movie with a Panasonic AF101 (PAL version of 100) and a couple 7Ds. We had a bunch of lenses and peripheral stuff and we divided it between the crew to get into NZ because they can be strict about productions coming into the country. They did sweat us in customs but eventually let us and all of our gear through.

A stop in Jo’burg on the way…

And another stop in Sydney…

Finally, Auckland!

In the studio…

Sir Cedric! (It’s a long story)…

Rental van off the road…

My birthday cake on our last night in NZ…

Beniamino and one of our other producers, Josef…

Cape Town is one of my favorite places in the world. There still exist a lot of social problems from past apartheid but it’s a beautiful place with a ton of energy. As one of our local musicians said, “This is where life is.”

One of our producers, Peter…

Self…

The star of the movie…

Collaborating with “The Ladies”…

Cape Town at dusk…

Peter and some kids in one of the townships…

Dungeons…

DP Beniamino attacking some lunch…

This is the project I’ve been working on most recently. I won’t say much about it for now except that it’s a feature documentary I am directing (and editing) about a musician traveling around the world, recording an album and collaborating with local artists. We went to Kingston, London, Stockholm, Cape Town, Auckland, and a few other places. I have a ton of photos, here are a few.

Flying to Jamaica…

Outside a local recording studio we stumbled across in Tivoli Gardens…

The rules of the studio…

Trench Town…

Never thought I would shoot something inside Tuff Gong, amazing…

Bob Marley’s 1977 International 3/4 Ton truck that is still parked in the Tuff Gong parking lot…

Ras Fraser Jr, incredible musician and singer…

Production lights are hard to find in Kingston, but our guide Big6 came through for us…

Behind the board at Tuff Gong…

Ras Fraser Jr and I…

London…

Stockholm…

Stockholm at 1am…

At the headquarters of a motorcycle gang called The Immortals in Ludvika, Sweden…

Flying somewhere…

Maybe I should break this post up a bit…

I mentioned a couple posts back that some friends and I directed and shot a short film in Healdsburg: It is a story about two writer friends surviving after the apocalypse. My friend Cory Loykasek and his writing partner Robb Boardman and I wrote the general story over a series of lunch meetings in 2009 and then they created the screenplay together. Robb and I directed the short together. It’s a personal project for all of us and, in-between all of our professional and other personal obligations, we hope to have it edited before the end of the year.

Cory played one of the leads (Big Spoon)… 

Donny Davanian (R) played the other lead, Short Straw, and Greg Edwards (L) played the main supporting role of Walton…

Robert Weiss played a supporting role as Cult Member. It was constantly a challenge while shooting to crop out the beautiful vineyards around us and to make the paradise-like Healdsburg look “apocalyptic”…

It’s been a while since my last update and I’ve been busy with a lot of stuff. I just got back from Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin and I have a couple down days until I leave for a shoot in Mexico, so I figured this might be a good time to throw some photos up on the ol blog.

This is a pilot I DP’d in June (?). Of course, I can’t really say anything about it but it involved helicopters and crashing cars and this gentleman…

…and lots of guns…

A Latin drum troupe is practicing down the street from me as I type this.

There is a lot to update but I don’t have time to post photos right now, so I’ll jot down the quick and dirty.

The show I was DP’ing last fall has premiered and is currently airing on VH1. It’s called Beverly Hills Fabulous and you can get more info and watch a couple episodes online at http://www.vh1.com/shows/beverly_hills_fabulous/series.jhtml.

I worked with Bryan Barber who is best known for directing the film Idlewild and a bunch of music videos, including a lot of stuff for Outkast.

The music show I DP’d last year with Cee-Lo is also airing currently on Fuse. It is called Lay It Down and you can check it out here: http://fusemusic.com/lay-it-down/

Early this year, I spent about a month traveling through the south with an interesting group of people for a new show. As expected, I can’t say much now but I will say that when we rolled into town, it really felt like the circus had arrived. Here are a couple photos, and I’ll be able to add more photos and info as the show is announced.

Most recently, I directed and shot a narrative short film in the Bay Area. I’m super excited about this project and will definitely post info and photos asap.

More soon!

My fellow filmmaker and friend Brennan Maxwell is doing a project: taking a photo-a-day for 365 consecutive days. This is the one he took of me last night. Check out his flickr feed to see the technical info, see the rest of his photos (he just started), and keep track of him.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxfilm/