(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

It was Laura’s idea to create this film, to show feathers of multiple colors migrating to eventually return home as part of her rainbow feather dress. We didn’t know exactly where the feathers were going to start their journey, or how they were going to get where they were going, or what it was all going to look like, but that’s really the fun of creating something like this. The possibilities are almost endless. We hiked up to The Peak, which has a spectacular view overlooking the Dundas Valley, and talked for hours about how it might be done. We didn’t really come to any conclusions though. When we got up to leave, I saw a very interesting outcropping of rock on the edge of a cliff, just to the side of The Peak. It was entirely surrounded by lush, green vegetation. “Can you get over there?” I asked Laura.

“Yes,” she said.

“We need to put the rainbow bird on the edge of that cliff.”

“YES!”

Finally, we knew where the feathers were going to go. They were going to make a journey from their artistic origins, through the city, and into the forest, finally ending up at home as part of the rainbow bird, perched on the edge of this spectacular cliff. We were pumped.

It would have been quite possible to create enough scenes to make a feature-length film about our feather friends. We had so many ideas about where they could come from and where they could go.  We only had a few days to create this film, and I knew it was going to take a lot of time to do, so our first step in organizing all of these ideas was to create some simple sketches and select only our favorites to shoot. Here are a couple of Laura’s sketches. You might recognize the genesis of the Red Feather in these outlines, as well as a list of our “characters.”

The next step was to find the actual locations for shooting. We looked near and far, and drove around the city, finding possible spots to shoot. I snapped some quick frames to get an idea for composition so that we could create a storyboard that made visual sense. Here are the snapshots we used to compose the Red Feather scene.

With some of the initial planning done, we were ready to start shooting the next day. We didn’t stop for the next four days. I was shooting constantly, and when I wasn’t shooting, I was processing the photos and assembling them into stop-motion video clips. We shot the feather scenes at Laura’s studio, Laura’s parents’ home, my own studio, and outdoors at the beautiful Tews Falls Conservation Area, whose shady forest paths lead up to The Peak. Here’s a video of me working with Lissa Hill, who did a great job assisting us in hauling camera gear and costume materials, and animating the feathers up on The Peak. She kept her cool, even though it was often frustrating to work with our lightweight actors in very windy conditions.

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

In the end, I’d shot about 1500 photos and processed them to 1080i high definition stop-motion clips of each scene. Some scenes ended up on the digital cutting-room floor. There’s this scene, for instance, that didn’t make it into the film. We shot it as an alternate beginning for the Blue Feather’s journey, just in case the weather didn’t co-operate with our plans to shoot Blue crying out of the graffiti wall.

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

After assembling all of the stop-motion clips into their proper sequence, I auditioned a number of different musical tracks. I settled on Under the Kadam Tree from Stockmusic.com. It is one of those rare stock music pieces that doesn’t sound like stock music. I thought the slightly mystical feel created by the tabla and sitar instrumentation, combined with a sort of unexpected jaunty tempo really lent itself well to the mood we were trying to create in the film.

The last step was to create the credits. This was the only segment shot at my studio using studio light. The rest had all been done using natural light, to keep the feel and color as consistent as possible. I designed the credits in PowerPoint and printed them out on cream-colored textured paper. When Laura saw that I’d created one that said “The End,” she was slightly appalled. “It’s not the end,” she said, “It’s the beginning.” Of course, she was exactly right. I quickly replaced that slide with a new one that was more appropriate, and in the end, we found our beginning.

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While we were in California, we wanted to do a photo shoot on the beach. She found a couple of sticks on the ground, and with a few scraps of fabric from a local textile store, she fashioned a brilliant flying rainbow bird costume. We scouted an amazing location: the Torrey Pines State Reserve, in La Jolla. The reserve is home to a stunning beach, backed with high cliffs. Boulders, layered with gold and purple hues had tumbled down the cliffs, and lay in ruggedly beautiful disarray on the sand. They seemed the perfect backdrop for our initial photos of the rainbow bird.

Next, I wanted to see the rainbow bird fly, so Laura headed into the surf for some leaps. A lot of leaps, actually. It took a lot of trial and error to find the right angle, pose, and to time the shots and leaps with the waves. I think Laura leaped about 120 times before we figured we had the right combination of sky, sea, sand and rainbow bird. The sky was overcast, the sun being obscured by the thick marine layer that invades the So-Cal shores at this time of year. There was still ample light, though, allowing very fast shutter speeds for freezing those leaps in mid-air. After we’d exhausted our quota of leaps, it was time to cool off by splashing into the Pacific Ocean. As a side note, jumping into the ocean in your clothes is only fun until about five minutes after you get out. Then it’s just damp and clammy. It was still worth it though!

Later on, I reviewed the images on my laptop. I couldn’t help but wonder if the photos of the colorful rainbow bird would have been better with a bright blue sky. The next day, after we’d moved up the coast to San Clemente, and checked into a motel that can only be described as “kitschy,” the sun came out. It had turned into the perfect blue-sky California day that I’d envisioned when we’d started talking about this shoot. I persuaded Laura to don the rainbow bird costume once again and we walked down to the beach.

Many more leaps ensued. Finally, a hundred and fifty more leaps into the shoot, Laura announced that it was enough.

Here’s the final image that we chose from the many that we shot over those two glorious days at the beach. I feel that it captures the mystical character of the rainbow bird with a slightly unusual perspective. I shot it from a low angle, close to Laura with my 24-70mm f2.8L lens at 24mm. I asked her to leap as close to me as she could, so the wings would brush over my head as she passed me. This is what it took to exaggerate the perspective and get that shot that stood out from the others. To obscure her footprints in the wet sand, we timed it so she would leap just as the white foam surf washed under her while she was in the air. This helped to further the illusion of flight. I’m very happy with this image. I think all the elements finally came together in the moment to create a photo better than either of us could have imagined ahead of time. That’s my favorite way to work.

This rainbow bird photo is the final photo that we shot for our book Live Your Spirit, which is now available at Blurb.

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