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!

Arrival of Autumn

Nearly every morning I take my daughter on a walk at the bicentennial gardens. During the month of August beautiful butterflies have been everywhere. This last week or so they are starting to be less in numbers. More than often I notice them moving slowly or sitting on a flower with their wings barely moving, even with a breeze.

Today while my daughter gathered rocks and played with her sidewalk chalk, I noticed some yellowed leaves that have fallen from the tree in the front yard. All the flowers seem slightly wilted though sometimes one perfect one tries to peak out its unblemished petals. It seems that Autumn is starting to come around. It has taken awhile it seems because the heat has been so incredibly high.

I have to admit I am looking forward to cool breezes, golden leaves, and sweater weather. I'm sure it is still far on the horizon, but luckily I can finally see it. I know relief is on its way.

Going to Vermont

This morning we are preparing to leave for Vermont. Somehow we are ahead of schedule so I thought I would try to at least post some pictures.

These are from our recent visit to Wilmington. We are at the Battleship NC looking across the Cape Fear River at downtown. The last picture of the basketball court is where they shoot scenes from One Tree Hill (in case anyone is a fan). As I was taking pictures of the river there were various girls wandering around it taking pictures so I thought I'd get one too. 

Our plane leaves in about an hour and a half. I'll be touch when possible.

A Weekend of Organization

It still feels very much like summer here even though it is August. Lot's of rain and everything is green. Yet, it is hot, Hot, HOT! And I hear the rain has probably stopped for the time being so it will somehow be getting even hotter.

We have had a busy day with an impromptu visit to Ikea. For the past month or so I have been looking for shelves to put up in our living room to organize all of our piles that have been accumulating. When we struck out at Lowe's yesterday I was pretty frustrated. So this morning over breakfast my husband and I decided to head down to Charlotte so we can be down with the shelves. We were in and out of Ikea in forty-five minutes and got everything we needed without dealing with the stress of the crowds. Now, our living room has been transformed. It's amazing what some wall shelves can do! I will take pictures once I have organized them enough to be picture worthy.

On Tuesday we are going to Vermont for the annual UFVA conference. My film, Drowning Slowly, is playing on Wednesday. I will do my best to continue to post this week, but it may be slightly sporadic.

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.

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.

The Cool Down

We have finally had some rain, which cooled down our high 90s weather. Thank goodness. Today I am hoping to make it downtown to visit one of my students art exhibits. My daughter is fast asleep so we will leave whenever she wakes up.

It gives me the time to listen to some of Tift Merritt's radio show The Spark (check out the archive, pretty impressive roster). She has a great interview with Darren Jessee, whom is a wonderful musician and person. He has great comments on the creative process. I met him once, years ago, when I was working at a coffee shop in Chapel Hill. He came in a lot and I never saw him only heard about from the other barista. It was a hot day when he came in and I had the door open and I had my back to the door. I turned around and he was just standing there, at the register, and I almost lost my balance and sputtered out, "Darren Jessee..." He smiled and I gave him his coffee. I was so embarrassed, but he was nice about it.

My film Drowning Slowly is named after a Ben Folds Five Song and it closes with a Hotel Lights song. Darren Jessee was the most famous person we approached about using a song and he was the most awesome about it and didn't try to fleece us for money (that we did not have, we made the movie for $3000). So check out the interview and his two albums: Hotel Lights and Firecracker People.

Visiting Asheville

For the Fourth of July holiday we visited my husband's family in Asheville, NC. It is a very fun, hip, city. It's funny to me that both of our sets of parents live in much hipper cities than we do (my parents are in Boulder, CO). Ironically, we live in the same city where three out of our four parents grew up, hmmmm. Most of these pictures are from downtown because on July 5th we realized that we hadn't visited that area, so we went for a walk.

When I got home I accidentally opened the camera before it was rewound. For some reason I was getting 26 pictures on a roll of 24 and I flashed the end of the roll. I really love flares and light leaks so I thought the end result as a very happy accident.

Flip'n Friday: City on Fire

City on Fire from Chelsea Wayant on Vimeo.

I have had a very busy week what with being in Asheville for the Fourth and setting up the Super 8 transfer yesterday. Somehow I was able to to also prepare a video for this week's Flip'n Friday. I am back to using the Flip Camera and was very surprised with how well it handled low light situations. This piece was a little hard to edit because I had not visualized it in my head as clearly as previous videos though I am pleased with the final version.

Super 8 on the Eighth: Test

Super8 Test from Chelsea Wayant on Vimeo.

This is the first time that I have used my Super 8 video transfer system. Knowing this first project would be more of a test I shot old barns and fields in and around Guilford County, NC. There is no story, but instead images that I felt would benefit the Super 8 format. The reel is presented as shot with no editing. I also included the projector sound and some leader and tail to give the feeling of watching footage projected on the wall.

The main issue with the transfer system is that it is overexposing the footage. As is always the case the reel looks better projected than digitized, but I'm hoping to get more detail in the bright areas in my next attempt.  Even with the less than ideal transfer I believe this test still captures some the warmth and inviting nature of Super 8 film.

Visiting Mayberry a.k.a. Mount Airy NC

Last week my husband had the day off and we went for a day trip to Mount Airy. For some reason we thought it was about 45 minutes away, but it ended up being more like an hour and 15 minutes. It was a very nice place, as we walked up to the main street we immediately started hearing this. Most of the stores and restaurants had Mayberry themes. Even though the town is saturated with the Andy Griffith Show it didn't feel commercialized; mom and pop shops playing up the most famous angle of the town.

By the time we got there we were all very hungry, but had a hard time finding food for a vegetarian like me. If I was vegan I think I would have starved. I ended up having a grilled cheese. It was so-so.  After eating we went to the Andy Griffith museum, which was a little bit of a disappointment because it was only one room. They did have one of Matlock's suits, which impressed my husband because he didn't realize Matlock wore seersucker. We had been wanting to visit Mt. Airy for a long time because we constantly meet or hear of people that are from there. Also my mom is country singer and Mt. Airy native Donna Fargo's editor and we wanted to see her museum display, unfortunately we went to the wrong place. Once we figured out where we needed to go it was too late and we were ready to go home. Even though it was a nice visit we probably won't go back. Unless, of course, they get a good vegetarian restaurant.

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.