Big Sky Doc Film Fest
Without a doubt, February is always an exciting month for me. Usually it signifies that we are in the thick of winter, and the snow is usually pretty good and fun by then. It’s the shortest month, so the feeling of cruising towards spring also creeps in and gives me thoughts of summer and spring days that lie ahead. February is my dad’s birthday month and the month that for 10 days, Missoula, MT turns into a documentary film lovers paradise as the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival takes over the town. I won’t even try to capture in words how much I dig the festival and all the things that stem from it.
For the past four years, I have partnered with the BSDFF to set up a portrait studio in order to photograph a group of emerging Indigenous filmmakers. Called the 4th World Media Lab Fellows, these creators get to spend a year immersed in education, mentorship, travel to several festivals and being exposed to all sorts of career-building topics. At their stop in Missoula every year, I connect with them to have a portrait session, and every year it’s pure bliss. I have yet to meet a person who wasn’t fascinating, interesting, and driven by their history to create their future. It’s all just so cool to me.
Blog V2
It all begins with an idea.
Chalk it up as being one of my weaker decisions. A moment in time when I thought I was doing the right thing, that actually proved to be the opposite.
A while back I got frustrated with my website and felt like I needed to do something drastic. Something different. Something … else. I have soooooo many photos that encompass so many experiences and assignments and projects, but none of it was reflected on my site. So I decided to dive in head first and seek help. I did this by ping-ponging around the world of consultants and editors and “capable friends.” In the end, I held my breathe and put my faith in the trust fall exercise that was working with a consultant of sorts to help me see the web forest through the web trees. Long story short, the process was very informative and valuable, but really not very necessary. And one outcome was the decision to suspend the blog I had created on my site over the years. I mean, no one ever reads these posts and they become another line item on my ever-expanding to-do list that just makes me feel overwhelmed. So … I jettisoned my blog.
And now I want it back.
I enjoy making words, and having little writing assignments that don’t have to be perfect or edited or anything more than just thoughts. So, here I go again. Kicking off ye ol blog 2.0. Maybe you’ll read this. Maybe not. Either way is fine with me.