Bus Stop Projection

Bus Stop from Ellen on Vimeo.

This is the documentation footage of my Time Studio final project. This video was made with the context of the bus stop in mind, and projected onto the surface during the evening in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. (There is no sound.) This was recorded with my lovely new Canon Rebel T1i. Enjoy!

Paper Planes

Paper Planes is a video I made for my Time Studio class. It was filmed in edited in one day. Just the way I like to get things done.  So with out much more adieu, enjoy!

(It’s supposed to be silent.)

Paper Planes from Ellen on Vimeo.

Credits

Ellen – Directing/Editing/Folder #1

Matt – Filming

Stephanie – Folder #2

Lisa – Folder #3

Amra – Folder #4

Sidewalk Chalk Flood

I missed most of the Chalk Flood because I was taking pictures on campus for a class project making a stop motion video of everything “mine” on Vimeo.

I did get to take pictures of the end result of the downtown Grand Rapids Sidewalk Chalk Flood, organized by a 20 year old community college student, Rob Bliss. I hear it was a wonderful experience. I did give my own little contribution. My very own little Twitter bird with my Twitter handle beneath it. Hehe. Not sure if anyone found it. They were literally picking up the chalk pieces around me as I was drawing it and it rained the next day. But check out all my cool photos of the event here. Yet another busy weekend of photography for me!

Poetry and the Pretty Song

In some rare occasions, a song strikes my ear in an amazing way, and makes me listen to it’s every instrument, chord, and lyric with such rapture that my imagination explodes and creates an instant animated music video in my head. Recently, one of these visions even lent itself to become a poem.

In my scramble to write down the words that came to me, I opened a web page and started writing. I got it all typed down and I copied it to my clipboard but somehow between opening a new document to save it and closing the web page, I lost it.  And to my dismay, there is no clipboard history (there really should be) so it was completely gone.

Now, thanks to modern technology I was able to buy the song from iTunes via my iPod Touch and listen to it on repeat while writing what I remembered of the poem on paper this time. I also ended up skipping my boring science class to do this. Well worth it I think. Later, I went back and did my usual editing process with about three different revisions which brought it to where it is now.

Click the link to listen to the song that inspired this all while you read the poem.

Welcome Home, Son by Radical Face

Lovers and a Pretty Song

When you hear a pretty song,
it’s like getting an unexpected hug from behind
by an unexpected lover.
You look up and smile at their face
and you see yourself, brighter than before.
They smile back and you feel warmer,
as you forget your fears from yesterday.
“Welcome home,” they whisper.
And there’s a new smile on your face
as you examine your radical feelings inside.
And the choir remains singing,
as the invisible lover leaves your back,
leaving you with their breath on your neck
and their imaginary scent,
drifting from memory.

When you hear that pretty song,
it’s like getting an unexpected hug from behind
by an invisible lover.
You look up and smile at the cloudy sky
and see your day, brighter than before.
The sun smiles back and you feel warm
as you forget the fears from yesterday.
“Welcome home,” the wind seems to whisper.
And there’s a smile on your face
as you look at the radical new colors in your world.
And the choir remains to sing
as the invisible lover leaves your back,
leaving you with the breeze on your neck
and the effervescent scent of summer,
drifting away.

Why I Hate Spring

Most people like spring. It’s the end of all the cold snow and the beginning to a new, warm summer in temperate regions. But when I tell people I hate spring, and it’s my least favorite season, they are shocked and appalled. But it’s a simple and logical explanation having to do with where I grew up.

For one, I can never answer the question, “What’s your favorite season?” because it’s a tie between summer and winter. I always recall once when I was in preschool I was babysat by my best friend’s mom. So when we weren’t in school, I was with my best friend all day long! And I remember, standing at the big bay window at the front of the house, complaining about the heat of summer jumping up and down singing, “We want winter! We want winter!” in that generic child sing-song voice. But then after winter rolled around, we would get sick of being wet and cold from playing in the snow. We would go to the same bay window, where the snow drifted up to our chest level against the window, and sing, “We want summer! We want summer!”

That has basically stayed the same, and now I love both summer and winter equally. Now, why do I hate spring? It’s because of where I live. My house, which I’ve lived in all my life, is next to a steep, slightly wooded ravine with a stream at the bottom. It’s beautiful and we have huge windows in our kitchen that look out over it where we can watch all the little critters run around and birds eat at the feeders. But the thing with all the trees dropping their leaves in a temperate area, is they soon get covered in snow for a whole winter. That means, come spring, when the snow melts, all the dead leaves get soaked and start rotting under the sunlight. Rotting equals disgusting smell, not to mention the worms. Also, living next to a ravine with a stream means that there’s stagnant water around which is prime breeding ground for mosquitos. We literally get clouds of mosqitos by my house and as a kid I was always covered in mosquito bites in spring. I’m still shocked I’ve never gotten West Nile or Malaria or something. Haha! (I’m kidding about the Malaria, only half kidding about West Nile….)

It’s these events that have made me come to the point where I hate spring. I hope this is more understandable now and you can excuse my disgust for the season. I make up for it with enthusiasm for summer and winter, and even fall in the right conditions! :)

See videos of my ravine in late winter when the snow first melts and in late spring when its more bearable.