The Idea
The idea for this video came to me on the first day of the dig. I was standing on the sandbag line, dying of thirst, and covered in dirt when a particularly good song came on. I can’t remember for the life of me what song it was, but I do remember that it got me and Lori Anne dancing and singing along. There came a brief moment when I didn’t have a sandbag in my arms, so I took the opportunity to look up at the statue of Napoleon and the Israeli flag blowing in the wind, and in this moment I just felt so content. I was reminded of a video that my friend made the last time I was abroad in Italy. Everyday for a year she recorded brief moments of her life in an app on her phone, and at the end of the year these clips were combined in a longer video showing her what her year was like. I decided to do this for the month I was in Israel with less but longer clips. I wanted to try to capture those moments that I felt completely at ease.
The People and Places I’ve Chosen
“The older we get there’s an ocean, of people and places we’ve chosen…”
This is the line at the end of the video, from the song Hunnie Pie by Zella Day. I was listening to it while watching the lunar eclipse our last night in Akko.
I’ve always felt that the people of a place make the place more than the beauty of the place itself. And, trust me, Akko is beautiful. The friends I have made on this trip made the experience of my first field school absolutely amazing. I’m tremendously happy that they waded into my ocean of people I’ve chosen.
Reality
I tried to capture as many moments that I could, but I’m going to be honest, some of the videos are staged. The reason for this is that I was away from my phone during many of the moments that I felt completely at ease. They were instances that I wasn’t dwelling on any of my anxieties, applications, or my future, and I was simply living in the present. So some of the videos are attempted recreations of those moments. Did they capture the true emotions I felt in the moment? I’m not sure, but I’m also not sure if they should, or even that those feelings could be captured on camera. Aren’t some moments not meant to be recorded, and are simply meant to be lived?
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