Stinson Beach – Extravaganza
March 3, 2011
I’ve been silent over this last week and a half. Not silent in real life, just silent here. I’ve had good reason though! Not that my typical reasons for being silent aren’t good enough, like spending time with my two crazy boys or doing laundry or working on album/book projects. But, we were fortunate enough to spend the first weekend of our recent mid-winter break with some great friends at a beach house in Stinson Beach, CA. The occasion was the 40th birthday celebration of one of our closest friends who decided to span the party over the course of a long weekend instead of just one day. And what a celebration it was!
This particular group of friends have known each other for quite some time. I would say most of us have been friends for over at least one decade, and some two or more. We are an eclectic group. Artists, photographers, a lawyer, and a hair stylist at one of Marin’s finest salons. A personal trainer, a CMT and nutritionist, a captain who sails the high sees and a chef and first mate who accompanies him. There are astrologers, a few technical wizards, some who have just enough money to live on and others who don’t even have to work. And somehow, we all stumbled paths, most of the time at Burning Man, and wound up friends.
And, in the spirit of who we are, free spirits, two of the friends, our captain and first mate, shared with everyone the week before the event, that they were going to elope…at the party! The birthday jubilee turned into an elopetastic extravaganza and wow, it was amazing.
Personally, I was excited to photograph the weekend. I mean, this is an amazing cast of characters and to capture it all on film…so much fun. I’ve been playing around with the video feature of the Mark II over the last year and I wanted to push myself this weekend. I wanted to see what I could do integrating stills with video. Matt and I shot the wedding together and I have to say, again, I just love shooting together!
It took me a week to produce this movie, including many hours of editing, uploading and downloading, all in between life and work, but I’m so excited with the result. I just love how it turned out. The music is awesome. Underworld performs the first tune, “8-Ball”, and Nitin Sawhney performs the second, “Mausam”. I asked Matt for some music for the video and he didn’t even hesitate. He just knew these were the perfect songs. Oh Matti, how I love you.
I know the movie isn’t perfect, but for a first attempt, I don’t think I did half bad. So, if you have a minute, or close to 15, sit back, relax and enjoy the show!
Just in case you don’t have the time to watch just yet, here are a few of my favorite stills:
