Most, if not all of you know that the last 10 days have been pretty crazy for me and Alex. During the middle/end of the semester we stumbled upon a great film making opportunity that we just couldn't pass up. Our good friend and English Professor Ben Evans invited His Eminence: Chokling Jigmed Palden Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist Lama- to come stay at his house in little Riverton Wyoming. It was quite an experience! Every day was packed full of lectures, classroom visits, Empowerments, and other ceremonial things for him to do around different parts of Wyoming- ALL of which needed to be filmed. At this point we have around 65 hours of footage to condense into a regular length documentary. YIKES...The good news is, we got all the shots we were hoping for and more. I really feel good about what we can make out of this, and have pretty high hopes for the film!
I couldn't have asked for a better work partner then Alex. He was fun, teachable, hard working, and added some dynamics to this group that I think were very refreshing to everyone. He represented Wyoming, America in every way! He even took the President of the organization out to go shoot clay pigeons! Thanks Spoon, for jumping in and never quitting. It was awesome witnessing miracle after miracle with you.
We both have very mixed feelings as we go back to our day to day normal lives. In a way, it's nice to think about other things and work on school, but we can't help but miss the friends we made, all the broken english, the laughs we had, and the constant search for creativity. We both feel like we need to have a camera or microphone in our hands!
Thanks for all the support B, and the rest of the fam.
8 comments:
Yay I'm glad you guys had such a great experience! It's cool to finally see some pictures too. I'm really excited to see the finished product. I know it will be awesome. Man Matt, I have to say, you are blooming into a very nice writer.
Congrats on getting the filming part done! Wish I could have stayed another day or two and met His Eminence in person. Ah well. I can't wait to see the finished product either and know it will be great.
Look out Sundance!
ps: Nice view in that first picture. I've always been a big fan of Utah mountains, but that one gives them a run for their money.
Congrats to you too Spoon! I can picture you bringing an enjoyable variant to the equation. The President of what organization, may I ask?
Yes, the pictures are great. Looks like film taken with a Nikon FM2? It looks like His Emminance was reaching in the sack for a handful of granola in the middle picture. Glad to have you back, Matt & Spoon.
Yeah, we missed you guys! Glad you're back. Loved the pictures, too. That first one, with the Tetons, is awesome. Good luck with all of the catching up you have to do. Thanks for taking the time to do a post for us!
Great pix and great post Matt! I need to talk with you two soon and hear the full report! It was neat these past couple of weeks thinking about you guys having that great experience (and knowing a bit about all the chaos you were having to put up with) and I'm dying for more details. (But both of you get back to your school work first!)
Ditto to everyone's comments! I am so happy for you two and I wish you the best in the editing part. I am sure it will be wonderful. What an incredible opportunity and I am so honored to be related to such wonderful talented guys! I can't wait to say to people...I knew them when:)
Yeh, Sundance and Caines,,,here we come. You really need to have some of those photos blown-up and printed. You and the Llama guy with the XL-2 Cannon is very good.
I nexfliced "7 Years in Tibet" last week. I liked it a lot better than when I first saw it years ago. The 2nd half of the film was most interesting about the culture and the Dalli Llama and then the invasion of Tibet by the ChiComs. The title "Ripoche" was used once or twice. Watching it gave me a good feeling and a sadness for the people of Tibet and the Buddest monks. They didn't have a chance and the country is still occupied. See it!
Brad Pitt is not so bad, but it is not his best role.
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