to me, there is nothing better than Christmas time with the family…
we spent the morning with the family in dallas…
then we all headed down to austin to spend the rest of the weekend with my brother, his wife, and their kids.
it’s always chaos. but it’s always a good time to remember the things that are important in life.
a time for restructuring priorities… and with our family, there is never a dull moment!
july has started on a high note for me.
i went to austin for the fourth, to spend time with my brother, sister, mom, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, my niece, and all three of my nephews. it was eventful, to say the least.
the kids aren’t always angels, but then again, neither are we adults. regardless, i always leave full when i have the chance to hang with my family.
i am truly blessed.
so i made a quick film of our fourth to solidify the good memories we made…
music: july by the innocence mission
unfortunately, i wasn’t able to make it down to austin last week for sxsw. however, all was not lost. dallas reaps some of the benefits of south-by simply due to proximity. so, when andrew bird came to town sunday night, i got a little taste of what makes the annual music showcase so special.
haley bonar opened for andrew, and brought a fresh, poppy, singer-songwriter sound.
andrew bird just might be the most talented musician i have ever seen live. it seems as though he thinks in terms of rhythm and sound textures.
and his lyrics are so technical and scientific, i sometimes feel that i’m in a trippy, high school biology class. it’s great.
i tried to shoot some video, but handheld proved to be less than ideal. regardless, here are a few short clips i strung together…
here’s a quick preview of a new film i’ve been working on called the mountain. just like the other short films, it’s basically just moving versions of my landscape/ nature imagery, put to music… i’m still very new to this. i hope to grow and become more sophisticated in my attempts at filmmaking. but if you like this kind of thing, please check out the film chronos. it has provided great inspiration for me, and it is a fantastic example of how a film of this sort should look.
these particular clips were shot in telluride this past week. however, the rest of the film is shot in locations all over the world. locations include (or will include) big bend, wyoming, california, spain, lebanon, kenya, ethiopia, and hopefully many more.
i don’t plan to have the mountain finished anytime before the winter of 2010, but i’ll continue to release little previews like this one. let me know what you think…
thanks so much for watching!
music: “up on a mountain” by the welcome wagon
all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2009
andrew slaton | blog 
