EPISODE 1 DROPS TORMORROW OCTOBER 29, 2025
The COVID years filled me with existential angst and a yearning for something to ground me.
During the lockdown, it felt like my partner and I were constantly questioning the fundamentals of our lives:
– Wash the groceries or not?
– Do we really need a Christmas tree?
– Are birthdays really worth remembering?
– How long can we put off that medical checkup?
– And the biggie … would it be comforting to pull up stakes and move back to the city where we started our lives together?
It all felt like reaching for the gunnels of a tippy canoe.
We reminded ourselves that we were lucky to have a safe haven through it all, a multi-storey home where we could rattle around. We had a good internet connection, which provided smooth virtual visits with family, friends, and associates. For the most part, our self-directed lives continued.
Through vaccines, masking, online shopping, and careful management of in-person activities, we managed to navigate the official pandemic without contracting the virus.
But the core of life seemed hollowed out.
And as we emerged from our COVID cocoon, the deep longing persisted. Memories had dimmed; life’s guideposts were mere smudges along a blurry road. And as we muddled our way through the turmoil, we found the world had changed, a new reality had taken hold:
– Angry politics had started to tear down the institutions, processes, values and even friendships that held the world together.
– The climate crisis had begun shaping our daily lives. Extreme weather struck close to home and wildfires raged across the country.
– Encampments of unhoused people sprang up in our neighbourhood, symptoms of a global housing crisis.
– My mobile phone, a lifeline during the pandemic, became a wheedling grifter out to steal my very humanity.
However, amidst the upheaval, a faint glow appeared on the horizon, a dawning: the state of the world doesn’t define us; it’s our response to it that shapes our hearts and minds.
The longing spawned a need to reconnect with people who, in one way or another, had influenced my thoughts on life. I began compiling a list of people whose lives were closely intertwined with mine; others with whom I had only shared a pivotal moment; and still others whose fleeting interactions prompted a vital response in me.
I started recording interviews and video, envisioning a documentary project talking to people about how light, love, and joy manifested in their lives. With this fresh torrent of sights, sounds, techniques, and ideas, I hatched multiple plans, bouncing from one idea to the next. At one point, I even considered an elaborate theatrical installation with projections, music, and sound effects.
But, after the dust settled, I realized the project’s core was the heartfelt responses my subjects gave to my questions about their lives. So, I have settled on a more modest production that will roll out as a six-part online series here on my website and on YouTube.
The interviews serve as voiceovers for slow-motion video portraits of my subjects. Each blink of the eye, each smile, and each gesture extended in time, draws the viewer deeper into the subject’s words. Combined with ambient sounds and music, the portraits become a calming force – a way of righting my listing soul.
With this post I am releasing “How The Light Gets In” into the world. It’s a contemplative look at light, love and joy in our lives.
Episode 1, “Love and Money” launch October 29, 2025
Leave a comment below and let me know how you find light, love, and joy in your life.
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Visually Speaking 