It’s been 52 days of constant travelling since I last set foot in my bedroom. It’s been exhilarating, exhausting and frankly… I’ve done so much I almost feel like no time has passed at all. So what do I do the minute I set foot back home? Dive headfirst into the pile of work awaiting me.
For those of you who remember, 2 months back I put together a massive Game of Thrones fan based photo & video shoot in collaboration with Dracolite, Les Ateliers Nemesis and Duché de Bicolline that involved shooting in knee to waist deep snow, at a medieval village with 13 different zombies, 2 horses (one of which was a zombie horse), custom armour and even 2 children and a decapitated head.
Well while I was travelling, Ben McKinnon from Five Knights Productions had been hard at work getting everything ready for my return… and he doesn’t disappoint. I wish I could show you guys more but for now, enjoy this 30 second teaser with custom scoring by Kamel Bushnaq to have a tiny idea of what’s to come…
52 days…
That’s how many days it’s been since I last set foot in my bedroom and I’ve gotta say… it feels great to be back home. Though I’m only here for three days before I head off to give a conference up in Vermont, just having a nice home cooked meal by Mum was refreshing more than words can describe.
To recap, in 52 days, the itinerary looked something like this:
Montreal –> Las Vegas –> London –> Manchester –> Bethnam –> Paris –> Belgium –> Paris –> Munich –> Traunstein –> Munich –> London –> Vancouver –> Kelowna –> Revelstokes –> Kelowna –> Vancouver –> Detroit –> Montreal
Perhaps that’s why that on my last day before heading back from Detroit I had a mild meltdown in the shower where I just sat down and couldn’t quite move. It’s funny how you don’t quite realize how much stress and pressure you put on yourself until it’s gone. So there I found myself, sitting on the floor of the shower with my entire body tingling at the odd realization that I had “survived” two months of back to back projects.
Just the day before, I had managed in less than 24 hours to put together a photoshoot in collaboration with Jamie Sturgill, a stylist that sent me a random friend request earlier that day.
If I was so tired, why shoot instead of resting?
In part, because I had promised my conference attendees from Photo Studio Group, that I was going to try my best to put together a last minute shoot before leaving.
Also because I believe in making every minute count while traveling.
But most importantly… because I had people looking up to me… waiting, believing that things were going to fall into place.
Despite the fact that we had only 24 hours to pull things together, Jaime managed to whip up 3 looks within hours based off a moodboard I tossed together for her, found AND convinced model Cheyenne Scott to come over to her place at midnight to design and fit clothes until 4:30 AM and even come on time to the studio of one of my conference participants Lesa the next afternoon for the shoot.
Despite the fact that I only confirmed the time and location at a mere 8 hours before shoot time, I had 10 people show up to drive in, bring their equipment and assist… as well as and wedding videographer Matthew Donahue and drive in, bring their equipment to make this shoot possible.
Despite the fact that the original location completely fell through just hours before the shoot, we managed to find three different amazing setups.Despite all of this… everything still came together. Because a group of very dedicated people believed that it could be done.
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This trip to me has been very enriching in many ways…the need to transform my thoughts into words has allowed me to learn a lot about myself – not only from a technical perspective (as I need to deconstruct step by step what happens in my mind – how I light, how I compose, how I edit), but also from a philosophical one (my motivations, my desires, my inspiration… what makes me tick).
And throughout these workshops, these conferences about inspiration that I gave… I came to the realization that it wasn’t what I did that people got hooked on but why and how I do it. Sure, I take pretty pictures… and that’s fun, flashy and epic. But loads of people take pretty pictures out there, and many of them do it better then me yet they don’t necessarily have the following that I do. So why is it that people follow?
Curious at the answer, I figured I’d ask… and got a plethora of answers but it was this one in particular that completely floored me:
Though I have always considered myself a good person with the best of intentions, I do not think someone’s ever come up to me and told me that I changed their life for the better… that I truly made a difference. (Be sure to check out Tyler’s work over here)
How is it that I can make such a great impact by simply pursuing my passion with reckless abandon?
I don’t know what the answer is yet… but definitely something that I’ll be percolating on for the next little while. That being said, if you have not made an impact on someone yet… I wish it upon you to be able to experience it one day. There are no words to really express what it’s like to realize that you have the power to change lives… its empowering, terrifying, inspiring, nerve-wracking and encouraging… all at once.
Maybe the key is to simply believe in something. Or to be passionate. Or to have the ability to share, or perhaps the will to make a difference.
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Whatever the answer is, there’s been enough thinking for one night ^^
I hope you enjoyed the trailer… and if it tickles you like it does me, don’t forget to share it 🙂
– Von Wong, Out.
Announcements:
Full day conference coming up in Burlington, Vermont with the Darkroom Gallery with giveaways by SmugMug, Nik Software & PocketwizardI’ll be in Toronto at the end of this month! If you want to participate in one of my projects join my Toronto Facebook group!