
2012 marks the year in which the R&R team ventures off into production of season one of “Destination Wedding”. An episodic web tv show that features the best all-inclusive resorts in the Riviera Maya.
The opportunity of shooting from January to May in such an amazing Mexican paradise, comes with its own set of never anticipated events.
Every now and then, (especially after long hours of shooting) exhausted and happy, I find myself meditating about all the amazing things my life allows me to do… and all the challenges that come with this sort of lifestyle.
My mind devours every minute of the day. Looking at everything. Listening to everything. Feeling everything. Hoping to faithfully record what I see and hear. So much so, that what is in front of my lens, suddenly becomes the only reality I care about. This creative process is so intense, that my brain is completely drained by the end of the day.
When wrap time comes, I have no energy left. I can barely talk.
Back at home base, (aka hotel room) I take a quick look at the dailies, backup the footage, have some food and am out like a light. Eyes closed, images begin to appear. What I saw during the day. Our set ups. Landscapes. Camera moves. Close ups. Nature.
Friends.
Family.
Then I remember that out of all the gorgeous moments I experience while looking at amazing landscapes, capturing footage of incredible architecture and majestic moments in nature, there isn’t a moment more profound than the split second it takes to remember we’re far away from home. Home?
Home. Our friends. Our family.
Over the years, Rachel and I have lived in enough places for long enough periods of time, to know that a byproduct of a moveable home life is that your heart remains where you’ve been. Pieces of it get strewn and left behind with the people we meet. The friends we make. The couples whose wedding we shoot.
It seems that as time moves along making us a bit older every day, our hearts grow younger. We miss the homes we’ve had just like a couple of kids miss the friends they’ve made during summer camp.
There are times when I long to have a backyard burger with our cousins in Ontario. Or a drink with buddies at a Vancouver pub. Perhaps a show with artist colleagues in Winnipeg. Or a relaxed conversation with old friends in Nova Scotia.
It is ironic that looking though a lens in places where I am, takes me back to places where I’ve been. That is perhaps, the essence of what it is to be a traveling filmmaker. Taking on the challenge of seeing the faces of the people I love, while enjoying the privilege of looking out into the world.
Perhaps when I look out, I’m really looking in. Into my life… and the amazing people who make me who I am.
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