Title: July 7th - 18:05
Medium: Super-8 film
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Resolution: 2880 x 2160
File Type: H.264 Codec / MP4.
Comments: Shane greeted us when we arrived to his home city of Houston. He showed us around the neighborhood filled with galleries and art museums. We walked a bit and talked about the state of photography and its place in art history. He is also an incredible photographer and runs a gallery called, Assembly. For some reason we did not think to goto the Houston Center for Photography, perhaps because it was closed at the time we met up. Although, it has been a dream of mine to go visit the Rothko Chapel and we were staying close by. I remember walking in and it being eerily quiet. There were a few people. Like shadows in the room sitting quietly and unmoved. Even the security guard was against the wall melting into the cathedral. I stood in front of this massive Rothko. It was black and purple. A wave of sadness and grief washed over me. You can feel the emotions engrossed in the paintings. I cried and I wept in all of its glory. A dream come true to visit a place, and the artwork transforms you. It felt like a religious experience; Something between an exorcism by the artist and a blessing by god all at once. I can still hear the silence ringing in my ears when I think back on standing in that dimly lit atrium. I've only seen his most colorful works at museums around the world. This was a special place. A destination for all art lovers to visit and immerse oneself into the prayer and awe. We left the sacred space and went on to wander the neighborhood. I saw a funny red swing and asked Shane to try it out. He started swinging and I shot a few seconds then decided to quit. This wasn't it. We continued on and he started walking on this long branch that was hanging off the tree and laying on the ground. I never seen a tree do this before. I instantly started recording Shane and I thought this was great! This is fun. This is it! Not as silly and childish as a grown man swinging on a jokingly large red wooden swing. I saw his innocence... A young man taking care of his inner child by a simple balancing act on the tree. He was creating harmony with nature and proudly showing us where he grew up. It felt like we were kids again visiting an old friend. While Shanae was climbing I was making beat boxing sounds like I used to do when I was younger. Sometimes I still do! Ethan surprised me with this song since he snuck the sound into the track. We grew up listening to Houston rap in the early 2000's and Ethan and I had a funny inside joke about Mike Jones still tippin on fo fos. So much so we blasted this music in our rental car while we were riding around Houston. We got to re-live a fun time from our past lives as kids that grew up from different parts of the country that were brought together through art, nature, and music.