Added on Feb 21, 2011

Length: 03:38 | Comments: 0

I go down to Pearl Street fairly often and just shoot whatever interests me at that moment. There are lots of interesting people and whatnot and it always seems to be good practice. I rarely do anything with it. This is a little footage from the other night when i was down there with my favorite lens on the planet, the Canon (ehem, yes, CANON) 200mm f/2. It gave me the ability to truly isolate individuals, many times without them noticing at all. I didn’t really expect to do anything with this stuff but i got a moment to step back from work today and felt like doing something fun for a little. It’s real quick edit and I’m sure there are things that could be tightened up or omitted on a second pass but oh well. The lens really blows me away, there are some interesting characters, and aside from the crap recording from the on Camera 7D mic, the sound speaks for itself. … A thought that always nudges me when i’m on Pearl hit me a bit extra while looking through the footage. That is, the subtle and not so subtle juxtapositions between each of our lives. I have dealt with this before in my work but when i got home from shooting that night, i thought the footage really told a story. This disjunct, commingled life experience stuff can be found just about anywhere, but Pearl is one of the most pertinent examples i have come across. While i was cutting this together today, i starting noticing how interesting it was to see these vastly contrasting lives taking place in the same space, and how depending on which was in the frame, the surroundings would transform for me. It would be this cute little downtown shopping area one moment and then just another cold street the next, depending on whether or not the shot was of some happy couple or somebody seemingly in limbo. This all kind of reminds me of this Louie C.K. episode where he talks about how his friends cousin came to visit them in NYC from some rural town a while back. The way the story goes, they passed a homeless man, and as Louie puts it, “she saw him. I mean we all saw him, but she saw him. She’s the only one who actually ssssaw him. Me and her cousin were like, ‘sssoo? He’s supposed to be there… so what, there’s a perfectly good reason why thats not me and that’s him. The right people always win, i’m sure of it.’ “ Then i guess she was so shocked that she actually dropped to her knees and asked if he was “okay” and “what happened?” Louie’s reaction is pretty humorous, but unfortunately dead on, he goes, ” ‘oh, no no, hunny don’t.’ We start correcting her behavior, like she’s doing something wrong. She’s like, ‘why is he okay?’, ‘no, no, he needs you desperately, that’s not the point. We just don’t do that here. Silly country girl…’ “ Now granted, this is a comedy sketch and may or may not have actually happened, but there’s a lot of truth in what he’s saying. Who can argue with the idea that we all, on some level, rationalize that those that are down and out are there to some fault of there own. For most of us it’s subconscious, but i think its there nonetheless. The whole, “i’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason why he’s there and i’m not,” bit is in the back of the majority of our minds, regardless of whether or not we have ever truly acknowledged it or thought it through. Why else would these people go through life getting as little attention as they do. The fact is not everyone on the street is a drug addict or an ex con, or whatever. The musician at the heart of this little film is a Veteran that lost his leg fighting for the land of the free. Which is, as most of us know, the case with many of our homeless. I guess it’s particularly disconcerting considering how many people are coming home right about now from the middle east. This wasn’t really meant to be an ideological post so i’ll end it here. Read more @ www.cinesthetics.com, along with past work.

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Tags: canon  7d200mm