Pacific Coast Highway California

After the California road trip last year I guess I was feeling a bit exhausted carrying my giant video camera around. As nice as it is, it's hardly travel sized. So after the thousands of miles traveled, this clip from the Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur is the only footage I shot on the entire trip - less than 2 minutes long. No worries though, I made up for all this with nearly 1500 photographs which will go towards a brand new photo book in the same style as last years. More to come on this.

Driving the Pacific Coast Highway itself is something that everyone should probably have on their bucket list. The winding roads hug the cliffs of the California coastline and take you from rocky beaches to expansive vistas from above. We were driving north from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and preferably if you were headed south you'd have a better view for more of the trip. Thankfully, there were plenty of places to stop, take pictures, and just enjoy the view.

While there won't be a huge onslaught of new road trip edits like there were last year, I am planning on doing a more elaborate edit with all of the 2009 footage very soon. Stay tuned for brief photo journals from the California road trip coming soon also! It's good to be back!

See two versions of the video below (with different song choices for each) and a video of my complete photo set from the PCH.

So, California?

As seemingly random as the question was, in July I was half joking when I proposed the idea of returning to Indio, CA again. Last year Dave and I had a whirlwind week driving down to California and back and happened to enjoy it so much that it never really seemed out of the question that we could potentially go again. Did I expect to return a year later? No. But admittedly having a friend who was just as eager to expand on last years road trip made it easy to set things in motion.

This summer has seen some dramatic changes. While I've maintained both of the jobs I had last year, my responsibilities (or the expectations at least) have changed considerably. I spent much of the last three months working full time with contract work in addition to that. I'm amazed that a single year has allowed me to significantly transform professionally, gain financial independence, and upgrade on numerous fronts (place, car, etc.). The post-university daze that I spoke of last year in regard to the Indio trip is completely irrelevant now - If 2009 was about picking myself up, in 2010 I dusted myself off.

Returning to California now, and doing it with the same enthusiasm and energy as last year only proves that I'm still capable of doing what I really want to. I don't have to feel guilty about work, I don't have to worry about the money, and I can actually let my mind rest as I'm taking this temporary detour. I was always afraid when I saw university coming to a close that it would mean the end to my actual independence. The truth is, I don't think we ever lose that, but a lot of people are just willing to surrender it too easily.

When you're looking for a series of experiences, and not just a holiday, it's like banking on the fact that the memories you create will pay dividends years and years down the road. Right now that road ahead looks pretty good . . . so, California?

Here's a summary of the footage I shot last year.

University of Regina

To have made it through university hasn't helped me escape the fact that it feels like back-to-school even if I don't have to go. I'm still tempted to buy school supplies and it still feels like another fresh start with the fall starting to show itself. And then with nostalgia kicking in, I remember that school was a lot better than I sometimes give it credit for.

My time at the University of Regina seemed endless for awhile, but now it just seems like a blip. In retrospect a semester was nothing. It was just long enough to get comfortable and then you were forced to change things up anyway. I still find it difficult to recreate that level of variety even with the project to project routine I have down working as an editor.

As you might have guessed (or already knew) I went to the University of Regina to take film and media production as part of a fine arts degree. It was the type of course that gave you the freedom to make a lot of creatively rewarding content and a lot of creatively stifling mistakes. I take credit for both though.

I suppose what I've taken from my time at school, is that the critique never stops you just don't get to see the grades anymore. Try to think of it as more a transition in experience and less of a golden ticket. Make friends, pay attention, don't stress about 5% in a grade, and make bold choices. I've only been out of school for a couple years now, but I can still see how putting myself out there opened a lot doors when it came time to find work.

No matter where you go to university or college, the lesson is so much bigger than what happens in the classroom. One day you'll find yourself staring at a shelf full of notebooks or a bin full of pens and you'll be happy to come up with a reason to actually use them. With the textbooks now acting as shelf decor, and my film school shorts becoming stronger examples of what I'd like to get away from, the fact of the matter is that everything is better with a bit of a challenge . . . and my notebook just happens to be online now.