War Paint for Trees

This film is a visual eulogy to my friend and mentor, steave, who passed away earlier this year from cancer. The theme of the film is the beauty of death and transformation.

steave was an Original Person (Native American) who taught me to talk to trees, and I’ll teach you what he taught me because I’ve found it to be a source of joy, insight and comfort. He said that when addressing trees you must speak to them with a special name that means something to you, not your common everyday name. For me this wound up being an internet handle (heh). He said that when you address trees it’s as if you’re addressing all of that type of tree, Joshua Trees, for example, and that you can talk to dead trees just as much as live ones. So go ahead, have a conversation with a telephone pole. That tree probably had a whole bunch of interesting stuff happen in front of it before we repurposed it to hold our electricity. Last, and this is important, you don’t always have to be serious, because the universe is not always serious.

It’s unlikely that the tree will speak back in human words, but insights, premonitions and intuitions seem like a good bet. Or maybe the mere act of saying what you have to will lighten your load.

May your sky path extend into the weirdness of infinity, steave. You were the most interesting person I’ve ever known, and I miss you like crazy.

Additional material on this film can be seen at the following locations:
Behind the Scenes – https://vimeo.com/64641391
Introduction – https://vimeo.com/64335567

Music and sound design by Jeff Frost

Gear used:
Dynamic Perception Stage Zero
Nikon D800, D5200, D600 with 14-24mm, 105mm, 50mm f1.8
Canon 60D with 16-35mm II

Sponsored in part by Dynamic Perception and Lincoln Motors.

Special thanks to the staff at Vimeo!

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