Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I hope you like this, but it's ok if you don't. This is for me.
In all the ways that matter 2020 has been the best year I've had in a half decade. I watched my children grow and seize hold of the world, defining themselves for the first time. My wife and I are closer, supporting each other while also giving each other the space that we need to exist in this pressure cooker of a year. My mental and physical health have been better and I've learned that we can survive with less.
But this year has been hard on everyone, and I'm no different. 2020 has caught up to me in the last few weeks. The days have gotten too short, the sky overcast and rainy, and that has significantly impacted my mood. A close family member is in the ICU right now and it just doesn't look good. There have been so many changes in the last 2 months. And don't even get me started on the state of the US. I happen to love this country, and especially the people in it. It grieves me to see us all at each others throats.
So tonight I sat down and pulled out the footage I haven't used, mainly because I didn't think it was good enough. I wanted to create, and this is what I had to work with. I chose the song by Bliss n Esso to start, then began fitting the elements of the video together.
I've been doing some film work for a few friends over the past few months, so I decided to add the shots I'm most proud of. Those are the ones that aren't FPV.
There is something about creating, and especially about creating with the things that you've made, that brings a peace to the soul. Despite all of the chaos, the sadness and grief, the pent up anxious energy, the forced closeness and the forced distance, I took a few small things and put them in their place.
It's a small thing, but in this world where I have very little control, it's not an insignificant thing.
I hope your year hasn't been awful, but I'm sure it has for quite a few of you. If that's the case, then I pray (yeah, I pray every once in a while, and sometimes I pray for you, which, I pray for the folks that matter to me... Even you, Seth) that it gets better. And, if it doesn't get better, then I pray that you will come out far stronger on the other side, having suffered, endured, and found yourself not easily crushed.
Not to get too religious, but there's a bit of a scripture that has been far to common a comfort in my life. And by comfort, I mean the one thing I can cling on to when I just want to lie down.
Ephesians 6:13 (b): ...so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Sometimes it's enough to stand. Sometimes you don't go out and conquer. Sometimes simply defying the world as it tries to crush you is enough, and that defiance can damn well take the form of a shaken fist and a rise from your knees.
Song: Bliss 'n Esso, Friends Like You
youtube.com/watch?v=mezCOcC1Tug
Fun Facts:
There was a gigantic hornets nest in the steeple. Big enough that it was very audible from the ground. You can see them swarming in the shot. Apparently loud, buzzy drones make them mad.
The brown line in the ocean shot as I come out of the half-power-loop is a brown tide. There were quite a few fish kills that week.
The dive on the pretty blue building was directly at dawn. I'd never seen those lights before and they looked fantastic in the final product. But that's also where the grain is from. About two minutes after that dive I put my drone in a pond at the bottom of the wall.
The rain shot was a desperate attempt to get something cinematic for a wedding I was filming. The part that kills me the most is that it _would_ have been usable... but one raindrop hit the lens before the "reveal". Smh.
I hope you like this, but it's ok if you don't. This is for me.
In all the ways that matter 2020 has been the best year I've had in a half decade. I watched my children grow and seize hold of the world, defining themselves for the first time. My wife and I are closer, supporting each other while also giving each other the space that we need to exist in this pressure cooker of a year. My mental and physical health have been better and I've learned that we can survive with less.
But this year has been hard on everyone, and I'm no different. 2020 has caught up to me in the last few weeks. The days have gotten too short, the sky overcast and rainy, and that has significantly impacted my mood. A close family member is in the ICU right now and it just doesn't look good. There have been so many changes in the last 2 months. And don't even get me started on the state of the US. I happen to love this country, and especially the people in it. It grieves me to see us all at each others throats.
So tonight I sat down and pulled out the footage I haven't used, mainly because I didn't think it was good enough. I wanted to create, and this is what I had to work with. I chose the song by Bliss n Esso to start, then began fitting the elements of the video together.
I've been doing some film work for a few friends over the past few months, so I decided to add the shots I'm most proud of. Those are the ones that aren't FPV.
There is something about creating, and especially about creating with the things that you've made, that brings a peace to the soul. Despite all of the chaos, the sadness and grief, the pent up anxious energy, the forced closeness and the forced distance, I took a few small things and put them in their place.
It's a small thing, but in this world where I have very little control, it's not an insignificant thing.
I hope your year hasn't been awful, but I'm sure it has for quite a few of you. If that's the case, then I pray (yeah, I pray every once in a while, and sometimes I pray for you, which, I pray for the folks that matter to me... Even you, Seth) that it gets better. And, if it doesn't get better, then I pray that you will come out far stronger on the other side, having suffered, endured, and found yourself not easily crushed.
Not to get too religious, but there's a bit of a scripture that has been far to common a comfort in my life. And by comfort, I mean the one thing I can cling on to when I just want to lie down.
Ephesians 6:13 (b): ...so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Sometimes it's enough to stand. Sometimes you don't go out and conquer. Sometimes simply defying the world as it tries to crush you is enough, and that defiance can damn well take the form of a shaken fist and a rise from your knees.
Song: Bliss 'n Esso, Friends Like You
youtube.com/watch?v=mezCOcC1Tug
Fun Facts:
There was a gigantic hornets nest in the steeple. Big enough that it was very audible from the ground. You can see them swarming in the shot. Apparently loud, buzzy drones make them mad.
The brown line in the ocean shot as I come out of the half-power-loop is a brown tide. There were quite a few fish kills that week.
The dive on the pretty blue building was directly at dawn. I'd never seen those lights before and they looked fantastic in the final product. But that's also where the grain is from. About two minutes after that dive I put my drone in a pond at the bottom of the wall.
The rain shot was a desperate attempt to get something cinematic for a wedding I was filming. The part that kills me the most is that it _would_ have been usable... but one raindrop hit the lens before the "reveal". Smh.
