THE PATH FORWARD
A year ago, I was enthusiastic and motivated for what the year ahead might bring. Creativity creates a vast and exciting landscape and I was seeing it everywhere. There were constant sources of inspiration. I wanted to explore and learn and share.
At the same time, I was a ball of stress. Thoughts of frustration and concern constantly crept into my head. I felt the heavy hand of self-doubt and was overwhelmed with all that was on my plate.
I head into the final weeks of this year knowing that my path forward in 2021 must be different than the one I leave behind in the rearview mirror.
I love what I do for a living. For years I have felt a strong passion for producing video content - editing, shooting, interviewing, directing, you name it. I think that desire and joy came from watching so many fantastic documentaries. Seeing well-curated archive photos and video placed effortlessly alongside strong, engaging interviews and married with emotional music - add to that a great story and I was hooked.
As I type this, I’ve got a PBS documentary on Ken Burns playing in the background. It’s no wonder I’m taking so long typing this up. His portfolio of stories have no equal in my eyes. From Baseball to Country Music, The Vietnam War to Jazz, Ken Burns takes the deep dive into whatever topic he decides to explore and goes in pursuit of that “process of discovery”. I love the level of detail he pushes to produce and does his best to honour the story to the best of his ability. He truly has the dream job.
I have been fortunate to find myself sitting in the edit chair of a few documentaries that (while not to the level of a Ken Burns film) explore topics with the importance and depth that has me yearning for more. My experiences over the years have made me want to discover and share more stories all while pushing to find those nuggets that have never been unearthed.
One of the biggest challenges I face in creating any piece of content is time. It’s so precious…I seem to never have enough of it. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Lately though, I find that I’m trying to see relevancy in my voice. Does the content I create really make a difference? I’m sure it’s important to the subject we’re showcasing or person I’m featuring…but there are times where I step back and ask myself “Who is this really impacting?”
Not too long ago I was surfing through twitter and came across the question “What is your long term goal?” and I felt strong in my response…
“Working in sports is something I’ve enjoyed for a number of years - love the “live” element, but the thought of doing the same (similar) work where the result could truly change lives…about as rewarding as one could imagine.”
As quickly as I wrote that though, I realized that reaching my goal isn’t going to happen by me sitting and waiting for it to be placed in my lap (not that I was). My inaction towards that finish line spoke loud. And so here I am. A year ago I had the idea for this website, the vision of creating content in new and exciting ways, exploring untapped skills and revealing new ones. The craziness of 2020 derailed things for a while, but make no mistake…the feet are on the path and I’m moving forward.