Due to the difficulties associated with riding the rails for the first time I figured it was a little unrealistic to hop aboard with both video camera and sound equipment and start shooting.

I was right. Joe attempted to take some footage on his iPhone and said it was near impossible due to the bumpiness. That said, Joe’s a writer and part of me wonders whether he felt filming his journey might rob the story of its soul.

A view looking over the fields of Britt, Iowa from a freight train

Twilight of the Hobo was shot with one camera – a Panasonic Lumix GH2 with two lenses, the Lumix 14-140mm and the Lumix 20mm pancake lens.

The sound was recorded using a Marantz PMD661 and Sennheiser EW 112-P G3 radio mics and a MKH416 stereo shotgun mic. As backup I also had a Lumix DMW-MS1E taking audio directly into the camera.

All the kit was stuffed into a lightweight Lowepro rucksack with tripod gulley.

Given that I bought a lightweight carbon fibre tripod especially for the film, I was gutted not to use it for one shot in Twilight if the Hobo. One of the main reasons was because I’d be able to move quicker if it turned out I was trespassing. And when it came the interviews, many of the free spirited hobos we spoke to took some getting to know, before understandably they were comfortable with being filmed. The last thing I wanted to do was worsen the situation by taking ten minutes to set up.

One of the toughest decisions was how to frame the interviews with former railroad policeman Dean O’Shea. In Iowa I could get the different interviewees to look at Joe when framing my shot. But in Seattle I was doing everything solo. In the end we had no choice but to have Dean answering questions to camera, because we were unsure whether we were trespassing or not. It was the right decision given the circumstances. Twice we narrowly avoided trouble after being stopped by the police. Had I attempted to frame him up differently we’d have missed so many great moments of reflection.

This is my biggest worry with the edit though – whether cutting between a yard bull talking to camera and all of the riders talking off camera will work?

Related posts:
About Twilight of the Hobo
Meet the Riders
Meet the Yard Bull
Catching the Westbound

The footage of hobos catching out in Twilight of the Hobo comes from a variety of sources to be credited in due course. Right now, it’s time to meet the riders.

Minnesota John
Not even a brain trauma resulting from a box car fall stops Minnesota John from hitting the tracks every chance he gets.
An articulate ex-con with a devastating past, he vows to “ride until I die.”

Wingnut
Married at the convention to a local girl and a candidate for hobo king with a keen knowledge of hobo history, Wingnut is an old soul in a youthful casket, modelling himself more closely on the train tramps of yore than the buzz riders of today.

Stevo and Firecracker Wendy
A veteran by modern standards, the laconic and sardonic Stevo is in semi retirement now, although he’s happy catching out with his punk rafter partner Firecracker Wendy, who bags her own free rides on America’s waterways.

Q-Tip
Q-Tip has something of the Easy Rider existentialist about him.
Less a drifter than someone surfing ‘the drift,’ he rides for months at a time, working when necessity calls, but incapable of bearing the confinement for long.

Lady and the Tramp
Hitchhikers who have covered some 12,000 miles in a year, self-styled Lady and the Tramp, Dave and Casey came to the convention to learn about freight hopping at their elders knees – “Partners for life” they don’t intend to take any needless risks.

Brave Dave
Brave Dave is a species apart. A pure thrill rider who chose to break up his trip to the US in the most sensational fashion. The Brit goes by the moniker “Brave,” but some might argue “Crazy” is a better fit – you decide…

Related posts:
About Twilight of the Hobo
Production notes
Meet the Yard Bull
Catching the Westbound

Hobocore describes a person who chooses to ride freight trains, squat, travel and stay politically minded, while making sure to drink every day. Is usually an ex dope-fiend and generally from the Midwest, though not usually found there. Dreadlocks, facial tattoos, haggard patch-pants and prison time are common, though not required. Hobocore kids are often self-proclaimed anarchists, though usually banned from the local anarchist hangouts. Hobocore music is “anarcho-crusty-folk-rap”

This definition from The Urban Dictionary reads more as a condensed summary of the life of Jason ‘Lil Jay’ Litzner who made the journey Westbound on October 8th 2006. He was travelling with his wife Rosie from Seattle to California.

Tina Wald sprinkles Lil Jay's ashes at the National Hobo Memorial in Britt, Iowa

The dictionary even quotes some of the lyrics to one of Jason’s songs, Desperate Refugee:
Shit, I ain’t as dumb as you think,
I can make a bomb with the shit that’s under your sink…
Desperate refugee, hop a freight with me,
Shoot a pack in the back of the alley,
I’m not bullshitting, we really live this way,
Hobocore, aka it’s Lil Jay.

Railroad Man: The Legend of Lil’ Jay
Tina Wald, Jay’s mother-in-law wrote Railroad Man: The Legend of Lil’ Jay, a book from her daughter Rosie’s point of view about the adventures the husband and wife team experience from when they first met in 2004 following Jay’s release from prison.

Tina met up with Joe and I at the only Hobo graveyard in the world. There she sprinkled the remainder of Jay’s ashes – the other half was sprinkled at the Haymarket Statue in Chicago, site of one of the events closest to Jay’s heart.

I’m often asked “what is a squatter?” I’m not sure I know the answer. For a squatter is a complex individual who has broken the mould into which society would force him. He has sprouted wings, although they’re somewhat tattered from his travels. A squatter is on a first name basis with the heat and cold, hunger and thirst, danger, exhaustion, pain and loneliness – but also love.
Jay’s quote on squatting from his journal

Related posts:
About Twilight of the Hobo
Production notes
Meet the Riders
Meet the Yard Bull

Before traveling to Iowa for the Hobo convention, I travelled to Seattle and spent some time at different locations with former railroad policeman Dean O’Shea.

As with all good journalism, research was paramount and Dean’s book The Yard Bull was an important starting point in finding out how railroad policemen operate.

In his book, Dean is very frank about the different kinds of “transient” he’s spent thirty years dealing with:
The police bulletin described what had happened once the train pulled out of the yard: the transients knifed the boy in the stomach, disemboweling him in front of his girlfriend. A few miles out of town, they threw his body off the train and turned their attention to the traumatised girl, holding her hostage for several hours while they repeatedly beat and raped her. When her captors dozed off, she risked a dangerous escape by jumping off the moving boxcar in the middle of the night. She followed the tracks until reaching a town where she made a frantic 911 call from a pay phone.

O’Shea goes on to tell us:
The young girls horrific nightmare reminded me once more of the public’s naive image of harmless hobos cooking a can of beans over an open fire. Those days were long gone, the rails now the domain of violent gangs, felons on the run, and thieves looking for easy victims. And as for hopping on a moving train, one misstep in keeping with the trains pace and you’d be pulled under and sliced by steel wheels carrying tonnes of freight. Noise from the engine would drown out your screams.

O’Shea paints a very different picture of the Hobo lifestyle. During his Twilight of the Hobo interview he talks about the changing face of the hobos he’s encountered on the rails, the dangers associated with hopping freight, and explains why so many Yard Bull’s give Hobos a hard time.

Related posts:
About Twilight of the Hobo
Production notes
Meet the Riders
Catching the Westbound

Twilight of the Hobo is a documentary short film based on an article written by Joseph Woby for The Sunday Times Magazine.

Since it’s publication in October 2011, a book has been commissioned which Joseph writes today while I work on post production for the film.

Mark Kelly filming Joseph Woby preparing a PTC for Twilight of the Hobo (Image c/o: Tina Wald)

Twilight of the Hobo aims to “track down the latest wave of a subculture that pays homage to the king of the road, the train tramp, one of the founding fathers of mythic America in it’s guise as the Land of the Free.”

We get to know the riders at the National Hobo Convention, the only event of it’s kind in the world which takes place in Britt, Iowa in sunny August. Time is also spent in Seattle where one of the largest yards in America is policed by Dean O Shea, a third generation yard bull. We also meet with thrill seekers who travel the world to experience hopping freight and get to know family who’s loved ones have made the journey Westbound.

Both Joe and I hope the film may lead to a commission for a feature length production.

Related posts:
Production notes
Meet the Riders
Meet the Yard Bull
Catching the Westbound

The Panasonic approved firmware update can be found here: GH2 Firmware update

And if you’re looking for details on what the upgrade will do to your Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 look no further than the following link for details formatted just like the official GH2 Manual: GH2 Firmware update details

For PAL users the big bonus is that you can now shoot in 25fps and at a higher bit rate – 1920×1080 at 24Mbps.

The update also gives custom menu users power zoom options (missing until now) and auto focus users now benefit from an expanded range of movement (before this update auto focus dropped out when nearing the edge of the viewfinder/screen)

How to install the GH2 firmware update?

Panasonic’s instructions can be found here: Update service for four thirds lenses but you might find my explanation easier:

Step 1. Current version 1.0 firmware

1. Check which firmware version you have installed on your GH2 – do this by switching your GH2 on (making sure you have a four thirds lens attached) and pressing the menu/set button.

Then scroll down to the setup menu > version display. Hopefully, if you’ve never performed any updates, both body and lens firmware versions will be on screen.

2. Download the firmware update for Windows or Mac from here or link at top of this page. I’m using a PC but it’s the same procedure for Mac.

3. Extract the contents of the .zip file you’ve just downloaded by double-clicking it. This will convert the .zip file to a .bin file (this is your GH2 firmware hack)

4. Format an SD card using your GH2.

5. Remove the SD card from your GH2 and insert into your computer.

Step 6. Transfering 1.1 firmware update to SD card

6. Transfer the .bin file onto the SD card making sure it goes in the root directory – that’s to say the first or top-most directory in the hierarchy. (see image)

7. Make sure you have a fully charged battery in your GH2.

8. Insert the SD card into your GH2 and switch it on.

Step 9. Versioning up

9. Press the ‘play’ button on your camera. Then following a message of ‘Please wait,’ a ‘start version up’ prompt will appear at which you need to press up to select ‘yes,’ then press menu/set.

Step 10. Updating to version 1.1

10. The firmware is now updating and will take approximately 2-3 minutes.

Following the update the camera will return to the standard screen that you get when you switch the camera on. Now you can check the firmware version has updated by following step 1. Job done! (NB Remember to format the SD card before reusing)

Unofficial GH2 firmware hacks:

Now if you’re feeling brave enough why not follow Sam Malley’s excellent instructions to install Vitaliy’s notorious patch:
An EZ Guide to Hacking the Panasonic GH2

And as for the patch itself: Vitaliy GH2 Firmware hack

And here’s where you’ll find a bunch of other hacks and patches: GH2 hack options

And a really good FAQ page: GH2 hack FAQs

In this video review I took it to the Arundel Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in West Sussex on a day out with the family to see what it is capable of.

Front view

Much like my other reviews I haven’t spent time setting up shots – essentially just whipping it out and shooting.  The footage was edited using Final Cut Pro but none has been colour graded or adjusted.  What you see is exactly as shot.

Some news organisations are seriously considering buying into products such as the OWLE Bubo so that newspaper journalists can make the transition to becoming multimedia journalists.  I for one think this is a ridiculous suggestion but do see them as a useful tool for field journalists wanting a little more from their iPhone.

The OWLE Bubo is made aluminium, making it virtually indestructible. It also comes with 37mm lens threading, as well as a 0.45x wide angle/ macro lens combination which delivers footage with better colour saturation, contrast and sharpness than is possible with the iPhone’s camera alone.

Back view

At the time of writing, the OWLE Bubo costs around £150 but for an additional £100 comes with a Rotolight for those looking to take the device to the next level. You’ll need to watch the video to find out whether I think it’s worth forking out for one of these kits.

Many argue that for all the money you could spend turning your iPhone into a reasonable video camera you’d be better off buying a DSLR.

My argument against that is simple – that you won’t find a video camera easier to operate than an iPhone.  So if it’s simplicity you’re after I’d look no further than an OWLE Bubo but only if it’s only being used for fun.

Here you can watch the weekly trailer for Rod Liddle’s Got Issues which will be updated every Friday.

Usually the feature is shot on a Thursday, then edited on a Friday so that it’s ready for publication that weekend. It means of course there isn’t much time to line up relevant interviewees – in fact on many occasions I’ll still be chasing on a Thursday morning on my way into London for the shoot itself!

Rod generally decides on the subject, although on occasion I get a say:)  My job is to track down the candidates Rod would ideally like, then produce, shoot and edit the feature.

Often the biggest wait with Rod Liddle’s Got Issues is the time taken to get something legally safe. The piece is deliberately shot hand-held to give it an on-the-road vibe but also to get us around the many issues with filming in public. Namely jobsworths with nothing better to do!

Watch the full video every Sunday at The Sunday Times or use the episode finder below: