Proud to grace the pages of Photo District New's 2014 Photo Annual. Image selected features Highway 1's Bixby Bridge, shot amid last summer's tour up the Pacific Coast Hwy from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Thanks PDN!
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
El Bosque | Vol. 2 | A Cinematic Narrative
El Bosque is a personal project, a story of a man exploring and contemplating life amid the woods of Central Park.
As is typical of most personal projects, El Bosque came to life taking varied turns at each stage beginning with the morning hours shooting stills and video, as described in the Vol. 1 post. After my return to Minneapolis the project continued to evolve throughout the post-production process. Edited by Nathaniel Schmidt, the wide screen / split screen format offered a unique, less conventional style for combining shots and imagery. Once visuals were in place, we asked copywriter Charles Youel for insight and support in crafting words that might ultimately be read as voiceover. Charles offered the following thoughts after one of our first visits:
When we first met to watch the film, I think I mentioned that my instinct was to use a quote. There are a number of reasons for that. One, I think that using a quote will help keep the film from feeling like an ad — it lends a certain sincerity and gravity. I also think there's a timeless quality to the scenes, in that they feel like they could be happening almost any time during the past 40-50 years.
In response Charles suggested the writings of Henry David Thoreau, which matched up well with eloquent passages from a bygone era that still have relevance in our time. The voice was destined to be one of wisdom and age looking back on a youthful, less obvious time.
We opted to try a voiceover read of Thoreau’s passages in both English and Spanish. As you’ll note we went with the latter as it seemed to fit well with the visuals and ended up as a nod to Jason Hurt (the film’s subject) and his grandparent's latino lineage.
Enjoy the cinematic narrative, losing yourself to the rhythms of Thoreau in Spanish.
