Snow, Snow, Sun

It's not snowing here anymore and it is warming up nicely. I hear that it snowed last night in North Carolina though. Apparently it was thundering and snowing at the same time. I would expect nothing less.

These pictures are from the big snow in Colorado last month. We went to the holiday lights exhibit at the Botanic Gardens that night and must admit snow covered Christmas lights are amazing. I think this is all of my pictures from last month!

Things to Do In Denver

So I may have forgotten my 35 mm camera, but I did bring a little digital point and shoot for Christmas morning. We usually try to leave Boulder's bubble at least once to go to Denver when we visit. For some reason I was dead set on going to the Natural History Museum. My husband claimed he had never seen a T-Rex skeleton and they have one there. He wasn't impressed when he saw it and I may have talked it up a bit too much. To my credit I was substantially smaller the last time I went to the museum so it seemed really big to me!

The museum is now called the natural science center or something silly like that and they had all these newfangled interactive displays and such. My favorites are all the oldies (but goodies) like that rocks and gems and the life size dioramas. I love that the rocks and gems displays apparently have not been touched since I was a kid and it was always my favorite area so visited it whenever I went. Very nostalgic for me. Plus, there are not nearly as many people in those displays so my daughter could run all around and play without being in anyone's way.

Flip'n Friday: Early Morning

Early Morning from Chelsea Wayant on Vimeo.

For Flip'n Friday this week I don't have an edited piece, but instead a single shot from early this morning. I believe there is still a subtle pay off at the end and portrays the busy sounds of morning here in Greensboro. Yesterday, I think I tweeked a muscle in my lower causing my to go to sleep early (and spend today not being able to pick up my daughter). Everything is fine now and I feel much better. That being said I couldn't get the editing done as planned. I have some great footage from a farm in Vermont with newly born piglets, but you'll just have to wait until next week to see it!

For those of you that are new to this blog every Friday I post a video for the week. Normally, I shoot the pieces with a simple Flip Camera, but every now and then I will use my Canon or edit footage from one of my films into a trailer or whatnot. It just depends on the week. You can see all the Flip'n Friday here (or just check out this and this, two of my favorites).

Wordless Wednesday (Vermont Fog)

Ocean Magic

For each visit to the beach during our weekend excursion to Wilmington we went during magic hour. This is the time of day when the sun is either just about to rise or set. Of course it is not really an hour long, more like 15-30 minutes. It's magic because nothing casts shadows and there is a beautiful soft, cool light. The sun is level with the horizon and its rays are scattering off the ozone making this extraordinary light.

Just after/prior (depending on sunrise/set) to magic hour is golden hour when the sun is just hovering above the horizon and long warm, golden rays cast long soft shadows. It's really hard to drive west during golden hour because the sun is right at eye level, but it doesn't last long. There is nothing like having the time to enjoy the light, particularly as it dances across the ocean changing its color from moment to moment.

Flowers for Wordless Wednesday

Photos from the Past: Wilmington, NC

I recently found the above photos that were taken in Wilmington, NC. I was thinking about them today because we are hoping to go visit soon. The great thing about living there was being so close to the downtown. We took beautiful walks all the time down to the river and among all the old historic houses. While I love visiting all the gardens here in Greensboro I wish I didn't have to drive to them.

It's funny that I don't have any pictures of the beach to post. When most people think of Wilmington they think of the beach (though technically there is no beach in Wilmington; the beaches are located in Carolina Beach, Kure, Wrightsville Beach, etc), whereas I think of downtown and the river. Don't worry I will be sure to get some beach pictures on my next visit.

Thoughts on Summer

This weekend we had to cut our time outside short because it was so unbearably hot. It seems as though summer started about two weeks ago instead of just yesterday. On Sunday they had a summer solstice celebration in the afternoon at the arboretum. We usually love going there and all of the above pictures were taken during walks at the arboretum, but it was way to hot to join in the celebration, for us at least. My husband remembered the event from last year and said there would be fairies running all around since I didn't believe him we did a drive by to see the fairies and check out the festivities (on the off chance it was worth leaving the air conditioning). It just looked hot to us. There was no shade and I saw no fairies. Later that night the local news confirmed the fairies, but with no good footage so I am still slightly skeptical. I think it was too hot for fairies as well.

Lately, may days are starting to follow a routine. It relies a lot on my daughter keeping her nap schedule, but for the most part I have been able to write and/or edit video in the mornings and late afternoons. She is currently napping though I am hearing some noise on the monitor so we will see how long this lasts. This week I am a little nervous because one of my students is waiting to hear back from graduate school. She and I have been working together a lot this summer to make her application really stand out. This weekend she had a phone interview and it sounded like it went really well and now we are just waiting on pins and needles. Hopefully, she will hear this week. If she doesn't get in to this school at least we have finished all her materials and she can apply to others. She is a very talented student and I believe whichever school she decides to attend will be lucky to have her. It is amazing how invested you get in your students and how proud you are of them as they venture out into the world. Ironically, I have another student who just finished her first year of graduate school and sent me her first year film project and it is strikingly similar to my first graduate film (sort of the first film, but that's a whole other post). She has never seen my film, which makes the parallel that much more striking. I know that I am not as proud of them as their parents are, but I consider myself to be next in line!

My daughter will be waking soon and wanting me to read the same book over and over again to her and I'm hoping to unload the dishwasher before she rises. So I am off. Hopefully, it will cool down enough today to take a late afternoon walk.

Wordless Wednesday (Hydrangeas)

One Long Post

Recently, I have been taking many pictures of flowers. The Greensboro Arboretum is near our house and we like to take walks there. They have an amazing variety of flowers that constantly draw me to them. Though, my husband did take the first photo with the bee. I had two frames left and he saw the bee circling the flower. I told him he could have one frame and he was able to get the shot without using my last frame!

On another note, I was very excited Sunday night when I was up late working on this blog I discovered Lost repeats are on the CW at midnight. Many would roll their eyes at me and say, "Oh, Chelsea just get the DVDs!" I would like to argue for watching television as broadcast and not DVD or DVR or Hulu. Not because I am a luddite, though I am often accused of that because I don't have a cell phone.  I don't have expanded cable so if a show is on a cable station like Party Down (which we have been watching this week) or Mad Men then I have no choice to get the DVD. I'm not going to get cable for a couple of television shows. Plus, a good friend of mine gave me a DVD collection of Law and Order (another fave), but I rarely watch it. While it was a wonderful gift I miss the thrill of discovering that Law and Order is on and trying to remember if I've see the episode or not as I watch.

Here is my argument for broadcast shows; to begin with if a show starts at 8:00 pm then I need to be there at 8:00 to watch it. If I miss it, oh well, my life is not over. Maybe, I'll catch it in repeats over the summer. Commercials give me a chance to get a drink, use the bathroom, check my email and actually having commercials makes the commercial break cliffhangers that much more exciting. This is extremely pertinent when watching Lost. Again, if I miss the first minute or so because I stepped away for too long, it's ok, it's television, I'll still understand what's going on. Or, in the case of Lost, maybe not understand what is going on, but enjoying that which I don't understand and languishing that which I believe I do understand. People argue that broadcast television rules your life because you have to be there at 8:00, while I think that DVDs, DVR, and Hulu control you in a more meaningful manner. With these outlets you have to watch the show in its entirety, if someone calls you pause it, and you have to watch every show that even remotely interests you. If at 8:00 ABC, NBC, and CBS have good shows on, I have to pick one to watch, but others will record all three shows and watch them all! That's crazy to me.

So here is the end of my late night rant. I know that television is changing, but I think it is unfortunate. It makes me think of the changes that happened in the movie theater after television established itself in the 1950s. Before television movie theaters played short films, news reels, and b-films along with the featured film. People could pay their nickel and walk into the theater as they pleased. There wasn't really a starting time. Films had to make sense even if a customer walked into it in the middle. Alfred Hitchcock worked hard to change people's mindset with Psycho in 1960. If viewers missed the beginning they would miss the star, Janet Leigh, so there was an advertising campaign telling the public that they had to, "see it from the beginning."  Theatre workers were told not to let anyone into the movie late. It was an entirely new way of thinking about going to the movies. While I think it is important to watch a film in its entirety I also think it would be nice to just sit in a theatre as long as I want watching shorts, newsreels, and all that jazz. Sort of like when you sit down to veg in front of the television in the middle of the night and realize there is a repeat on of a show you really like.

Parisian Promenade

Last weekend we attended the Parisian Promenade at the Bicentennial Gardens. It was a very sweet event. French Opera was being sung live and cute booths with food and artwork lined the sidewalks. It really transformed the gardens. I'm not sure how French it was, but the touches were cute. The best part was a balloon woman who was creating balloon objects and animals for the children. My daughter is too young, but I told my husband that next year he'll be standing in that very long balloon line. Not only was he aware of this, he was also very excited about it.

Of course, being summer in North Carolina, it was HOT. There was a misting tent and surprisingly it was not very busy. It was in a very awkward area, which could have contributed to the short line. My daughter was very curious about the mist and went through twice with her Papa and then almost once by herself. All and all it was a very fun family day.

Flip'n Friday: With the Wind

This week I was able to do a video shoot with my sister, who has  been featured in my films since she was young. Actresses can bow out, but a sister is in it for the long haul. We can work fairly fast because I can direct her in shorthand. We shot at Guilford Courthouse Battlefield Park where a key battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. When we were there it was very hot and they were laying asphalt, which was noisy and may have even made it even hotter. At one point bicyclists were very curious as to why my sister was wandering the battlefield sulking in a long white dress. I am very happy with the results and it came out as I visioned. It is very pretty and dreamlike; hopefully it will bring calmness to your day.

With the Wind from Chelsea Wayant on Vimeo.

The Bog Garden

Amazingly this garden is in the middle of the city. There is a shopping center right next it, but you would never know. This weekend family was visiting from Atlanta and we took them here for a walk. It's such a beautiful place that it is always a hit. When my father was a little boy he used to catch frogs with his buddies at this lake and he delivered newspapers to the houses near it.

While we were visiting there was a wedding going on. We never found the site of the ceremony, but saw all of the guests and even a bridesmaid walking the paths. There were also rose petals scattered all around and floating in the stream. It was a wonderful time to visit the bog garden. The next day my husband, daughter and I went to the bicentennial gardens right next to the bog garden where they were having a Parisian Promenade. I'll have pictures once I get them to the lab. I love when big cities have places like this to relax.

The Holga

I have thinking about my next film order and realized that we haven't used our Holga recently. This is partly due to the fact that I dropped it the last time I had it out and now there is a loose piece rattling around inside. Hopefully, it is an easy fix because it would be fun to have some bright summer-y Holga pics.