CIRCO ZUARY!

For some reason I'm fascinated by the circus. I don't think I'm fascinated by them particularly in the way that they themselves aim to fascinate their audiences - with dazzling & spectacular stunts, humour, and art - but instead I find the lifestyle and people themselves more dazzling & spectacular.

The ZUARY CIRCUS is a small group of entertainers that we encountered in Nicaragua. It consists of about 20 people that fill the roles of animal trainers, belly dancers, motorcycle stuntman, balancing phenom, rope-swing-thingy-twirling guy.... and many other positions that I cannot describe. Many of them are related in one way or another and they spend their days hanging around their camper vans (beside the big tent) or exploring whichever town they find themselves in. Around dinner time, they get into costume and for the next 2 hours or so perform their mind bending or death defying talents for the small crowds that have decided to feed their curiosities. Unfortunately my travel schedule didn't allow me to spend as much time with them as I would have liked. But here are some pictures taken from a few hours with the MAGNIFICENT ZUARY CIRCUS! enjoy.






The blur in the cage is the motorcycle!















Sad Clown




Africa on Two Wheels

I nearly forgot to post this video I made of the Africa trip. That good looking fella' is my brother Mike who a few years back did an Around The World motorcycle trip (London - Russia - Alaska - Halifax). This was a walk in the park for him; a grueling butt test for me : )

Yo No Como Huevo De Tortuga!

Well the flowers are out, the grass is green, and I think that is supposed to mean that summer has arrived. I guess Vancouver didn't get the memo. As I'm writing this it is once again raining. In any case it's time for me to put the "Pedal to the Metal"! After graduating film school it feels like I've been floating around - first the trip to Africa and then recently backpacking through Central America.  Although the trips were amazing, it also feels good to be back and I can now focus my energies into a number of projects that have been on my agenda for some time.

In the meantime, enjoy these photos taken from my CA trip. It was an interesting time warp for me in that I didn't want to risk bringing my Canon 5D, so I brought my trusty old Canon XTi (the first digital DSLR that I owned). Although I often missed my 5D's sweet personality and sensible qualities (especially in low light), the trusty old camera had it's charms as well.












Stick Your Neck Out

It's been over two months since my last post and it feels like a lot has happened. A brief update: Hell on Wheels premiered at the Whistler Film Festival, and though it didn't win, it was an audience favourite. It has since been accepted to the Dawson City Festival (April 21-24) and I'm waiting to hear back from others. I've come to realize that if you want exposure in this industry you have to play the festival game - ie. submit, submit, wait, wait, submit, and hopefully attend.

I've also just recently returned from a motorcycle trip in South Africa. We covered a lot of ground and saw some amazing landscape. However, the pace of the trip was such that I couldn't shoot as much as I would have liked. The age old travel debate of quantity over quality (whether to move quickly over a lot of ground, or take your time and sacrifice some destinations in order to explore at a greater depth) comes to mind. I did manage of course to get some great film + photos, but was expecting to get more : (

Oh, I almost forgot, in December I finally graduated from Vancouver Film School. The year was intense but I'm pretty confident it's given me some good skills & a decent portfolio of films. From here on it'll be a long windy road to making my own projects and/or working in the camera dept. on others' projects.

As a new graduate, the first order of business was to complete my first Director Reel + Cinematographer Reel. Hopefully these portfolio pieces should be helpful in applying for future film projects.

Check them out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxM7fZu3VNo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqOp7KP67kE

Finally, here's a few photo's from my Africa trip. EnjoY!