Yoga in the Wood (2022)
For a while now I’ve been walking through the wood. An hour or so per day with breaks in between, it’s a decent calorie burn for a 44-year-old man. It offers allowances, like when I eat after 8PM or have a beer or two. Walking is a good habit.
I have been all about efficiency lately. Since I’ve had to simplify my production, which is just another way of saying if I were using my typewriter in tight quarters where I live, everyone would go crazy. It would be way too much noise. It’s like doing construction next to a baby’s crib. It should be illegal. And until you’ve spent multiple sleepless nights in a row as a budding parent—it just won’t make sense all this stuff I’m saying. Nothing makes sense without sleep. It becomes about survival at that point.
All is to say I’m exploring ways to up my productivity. I’m working on manifesting things more than ever in my life. I have faith. Especially when it comes to art. I have to tell you, it’s kinda freaking me out. I can look at a pine tree and see faces floating between the needles. And they aren’t like horror film faces. They are cartoonish. Like Roger Rabbit or Disney expressions. If you look long enough at the images in this film, you will see them too.
I believe it’s a way for God to communicate with us beyond the fourth dimension. Beyond time and space. In order for the faces to appear you must participate in their formation. By participating you change reality. This was an accidental discovery that occurred within months of teaching myself how to illustrate. All happened this year. It’s humbling. I don’t know what to do with it other than share.
I was saying—in the endless attempt to be more productive and efficient, I purchased a transcription service. It’s very accurate, though limited to the amount of transcription time allotted. It’s counter-productive to have to keep paying extra for more time once the initial time runs out. I just want to be able to go out into the woods and riff for ninety minutes and return with ten-thousand words.
My dad had the idea that I timelapse record my walk with the camera facing behind me. I thought it was a great idea. So I did my first lap with the camera forward and from the second lap onward the camera was spun around and worn backward and that’s the way I recorded timelapse for a good number of days. Got some footage I’m really happy with, very grateful it worked so well. Grateful to my father. Grateful to God. Especially because I never recorded the slow-motion footage in this film. It’s important to note that. I don’t know if I made a mistake with iMovie, because if it were a mistake, it’s a happy accident to see my shadow walking in slow-motion toward the camera (around 20 minutes or so in if I recall). I am so grateful for this happy accident as it composes my favorite part of the film.
The film was compiled from footage that’s old and new from my adventures this year, including some film from Tahoe. I edited the film in its entirety yesterday. I’m really proud of the result. I pray you enjoy it as well.
At the end of the day—it’s a yoga class.
And the girl you see at the end for a few seconds in slow-motion animation is my daughter when she was much younger. For posterity. She knows my heart is with her. Same goes with my son. Especially feeling it around the Holidays.
With Love,
William