Team Kinetix Media

I know this blog has been very quiet lately, all of my focus has been on Team Kinetix this year.
I'm so proud of what we've achieved and how successful Team Kinetix has become.

As part of this, all my photography and videography are now part of Team Kinetix Media, our in house production department.

If you'd like to follow my own personal photography projects, you can follow me on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87682837@N07/

To follow our filmmaking, check out our YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/teamkinetixmedia

Photography by Brad Wendes

East 15 Acting School

I've been a tutor at the East 15 Acting School for 7 years now. In that time I've seen many young actors with lots of potential come and go.
It's very rewarding to work with people who genuinely want to do well in their chosen field, most of the students appreciate the challenge ahead of them in the acting world.

East 15 is owned and managed by the University of Essex, this year the University have really decided to crank up their marketing of the specialist courses that East 15 offer (Acting & Stage Combat, Physical Theatre  and World Performance to name a few).
With that in mind the marketing dept asked me to film a promo video showing off the new Southend Campus, showcasing the skills of the students and showing potential students what Southend looks like.

The video has now been signed off by the University and has been made public.
Here's a few of my students showing off their skills and showing use the stunning campus in Southend.

Click the link for the Vimeo video:
http://vimeo.com/79306104

It's a pleasure to be part of the East 15 family.


Video shot on Canon EOS 7D with 100mm f/2.8 L macro, 50mm f/1.8 & 24-70mm f/2.8 L
Edited on Mac Pro using Final Cut Pro

Learn Parkour with Brad Wendes

Here's a link to a higher resolution version of the Learn Parkour movie made with Zoe Salmon earlier this year.

The shoot was a lot of fun and I think she genuinely enjoyed herself!

Vimeo Learn Parkour Video

Brad Wendes & TV's Zoe Salmon

If you would like to Learn Parkour, contact Team Kinetix for details on classes, workshops or one-to-one coaching.
Alternatively, follow Team Kinetix on Facebook for updates, regular pictures & videos.

Team Kinetix Pro Reel 2013

Here's a look at all the shows, events and performances I've been part of with team Kinetix over the past 2 years. Quite a mixture, from TV shows to product launches to surf festivals in Southern France.
Such an incredible journey, blessed to live the life I love.

If you like the video, check out the website: http://www.teamkinetix.co.uk

Or check the team out on Facebook & Twitter:
http://www.facebook.com/teamkinetix
http://www.twitter.com/teamkinetix

Summer 2013

Wow, that's all. Just wow!

This summer has been the busiest summer of my life, it's been amazing. Sadly that's left me zero blogging time since the spring, but I'm back on it now.

So, the summer!
As well as the usual batch of summer events, fetes and festivals we'd usually perorm or coach at, we (Kinetix) agreed to run one of the sites for national kids camp company 'Megacamps' (check them out: http://www.megacamps.net) oh and we hosted free outdoor Parkour workshops & Bootcamps in the parks around the district all summer for the local city council, as well as me taking on a new personal training clients, then there was the SX Urban Games tour performing in every major town in Essex throughout July and August, oh and our regular classes carried on without interruption... (breathe) ...aaaand a very good friend decided to get married in Ireland right in the middle of August (more on that in another post).

So, it's been a busy summer, 14 hour days, 6 or 7 days per week, travelling all over the UK and Ireland, but life has slowed down to a manageable pace again now.

This summer wouldn't have been possible without my amazing staff at Team Kinetix and without Becki sorting out the timetables of 20 people for 8 weeks at a time (behind every great man and all that...)
So thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, you guys are like family to me.

Anyway, enough gushing, get to the point!

With all the events we've run this summer, I've managed to get a lot of time behind the camera to hone my photography skills, I've really learned a lot by taking pictures almost every day.
So, here's the shameless plug of my Flickr page: BradWendes on Flickr check it out, feel free to criticise!

Here's some of what I've been up to while not blogging:

One to one Parkour coaching

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when a 36yr old lady contacted me about learning Parkour.
This particular lady came to a couple of my Parkour classes earlier in the year, although she enjoyed the activity, she was conscious about training with a group that were all so much younger than her.

This week she called me up and asked about 1:1 training. I was glad that she still wanted to train and learn Parkour so we set it up.
So we agreed to meet at mi-gym to warm up, then onto some general movement and mobility work.
Once warm I took her through takeoff and landing techniques followed by some ground level jumps between lines we marked on the floor.
I was being especially careful in making sure she could jump and land correctly before we did anything outside.

After the basic technique drills I was very happy with how capable she was. We then jogged 1km to the training spot I had planned for the main portion of our session together.
Conscious that she might be nervous jumping around in public, I chose a spot that wasn't in the middle of town, but also wasn't too enclosed or secluded.

We began with quadrupedal movement forwards and backwards at a moderate height, then we repeated the precision jumps we had drilled earlier, only this time we were jumping between walls instead of between lines on the floor.
My lady student was perfectly comfortable and unfazed by the walls or the height (only around 3ft at this point) and was landing the jumps with grace and balance.
I then got her to link multiple movements together, foot placement and plyo jumps between obstacles.
Other than a little hesitation at the start, she took it all in her stride.

Finally we went for a small cat leap and some shimmy movements after landing the cat leap. The only thing that I threw at her during the outdoor training that she wasn't able to do was a climb up from cat leap position.
Even when I allowed he to use her elbows on top of the wall, she still was unable to get herself up.

The Parkour climb up and the muscle up are very similar movements. With a climb up you are able to use your legs to push your body upwards as you pull with your arms.

As it was almost the end of the session we went back to mi-gym and finished off with some of the pull up and muscle up exercises I posted about recently.
We'll be revisiting these exercises next week to help her get the strength required to complete a climb up.

All in all a great session and a great student.

Parkour 'Cat Leap'