This idea for a new class has been on my mind… I’ve been formulating and faffing… then it all clicked into place, you know, like things do?

The Time Capsule films I create of our life are such a collaboration with my boys… and as they get older, they get more involved in the shooting and editing process, alongside starring in them.

So how about a class where the family creates films together… in your way… through play and fun… through family activities and adventures… gathering your memories and capturing your individual moments through photos & video and then collaborating by packaging them up in your unique way, into little films?

All the details are over here… Registration opens in a few days…

I can’t think of a better way to spend the summer… will you join us?

Back in October at the Shuttersisters Oasis, we had the opportunity to play with underwater photography… Wonderfully, LifeProof sponsored us by providing a few cases to play with. I jumped at the chance to experiment and had so much fun making images in the pool.

I knew the LifeProof case would come in handy while on our big hopeful adventure, as we would have plenty of water opportunities… the sea, swimming pools and river action. In the end, I kept the case on the whole time, knowing that I was ready to take underwater footage at any moment, and also, my phone was protected from sand, dirt and sunscreen throughout.

I’m in full editing mode at the moment, with quite a few Time Capsules films being created at once, as I cull through my footage. I’m playing with different ideas, and trying to create a few different Time Capsules of our adventures, so I have films that are more than just holiday videos.

In my courses, I talk about sometimes making a Time Capsule film with a theme. Your theme could be on just on one subject shot over a period of time… Having one theme means you can really hone in on that subject. Another suggestion is having a thread that follows through the story, as a great way to help with pace and keep the story flowing. A thread is something that reoccurs throughout your film… you keep repeating it at different times in different situations, during the piece and can help keep the viewer interested.

So what a long intro to my latest Time Capsule film!

I shot a lot in the water… all the boys were very up for experimenting and getting involved… we were full of ideas of what could they do in front of the camera next! So this is what we created together. With the theme of water… and there’s a small thread throughout… I didn’t notice so much at the time of shooting, but it appears Cosmo likes offer the “thumbs up” frequently!… so I sprinkled this action throughout the film.

All shot with the 8mm app on the iphone, safely inside a LifeProof case… edited in iMovie

For my class A JOURNEY I encouraged people to shoot stories with their iphone or other mobiles, as it’s often the camera we have with us most of the time. I made a tutorial with a few tips for shooting with the iphone that I’ve learnt along the way…

So I thought I’d make another one just for underwater shooting with your iphone… just in case my film has inspired you & you’d like a go.

Making this water Time Capsule film has me all excited for summer! All that sunshine, swimming and jumping in water makes me so happy…

And working with my boys to create films has got me thinking about the Summer and how perhaps there’s a class/course/community I could organise/create to “Time Capsule” your Summer break with your children involved…. What do you think?

Would you be interested in “Time Capsuling your Summer” making quick and easy films of your summer memories, with your family helping & shooting alongside…

Let me know your thoughts…

One of the many beauties of shooting stories on video/film is the added dimension of sound.

This layer can transport you back to a place even more so than an image.

If I was to just share these images, you would see the beautiful surroundings of our tree top room in Kep, Cambodia. How the light changes during sunrise and floods into our room… but you wouldn’t get the full story.

Which is the full sensory overload of the noises that morning in the jungle. The way that, as the light changed, so did the noises… as the brightness of the sun lightened the sky, the volume of the noises decreased, some disappeared and changed altogether.

Picture a tree top house in the middle of the hills in Cambodia (part of Jasmine Valley). A wooden house all open to the elements, the noise of the dawn chorus surrounding me.  Sleepy eyes from nature’s alarm clock, I sit looking out of the windows to this.

Turn up the volume, just so you too can experience this magic…

This is my one minute memory

When you turn 11 here in London, you have to have a special travel card to get around on public transport… this is very exciting to our 11 year old.

So much so, that even though we don’t travel on the bus or tube that much, as soon as the card arrived he wanted to use it. So we made a special trip into central London just so he could experience it.

And of course, I made a film. This is part of a new series of Time Capsule films that I will be creating called the One Minute Memory, which is telling a story of family life, or a memory I want to hold onto, in around a minute. I’ve made a few of these for my A JOURNEY course, giving inspiration to those taking part, by suggesting you can make a quick and simple Time Capsule film this way… I’m going to making more of these in the future along with my Random Happenings films too.

Telling a story in around a minute offers a new challenge, but also makes the process much simpler – less time shooting and less time editing… but still all the goodness of the treasures you want to remember.

Sometimes you have to celebrate the start of March with a little nonsense stop-motion… Playing just for the fun of it.

High fives!… roll on March, you’re going to be amazing! Yip YIP!!

I began this 30 day challenge back in the middle of January, for a couple of reasons…

It was a project that I was encouraging participants of my course - A JOURNEY to take on. If you practice something for 30 days in a row – like photography or video… you grow, you get better, you can see themes in your work, you have a chance to try new techiniques, you can JUST PLAY. Play and experiment, till you find out what works for you.

I also picked a theme to shoot towards… Colour… it’s cold and grey for most of Jan and Feb here in the UK, so I wanted to actively search for or intentionally make colour happen, to lift my spirits and bring a little brightness into our lives till Spring arrives.

It was magic… and this is what happened…

Back in October last year I was so grateful to travel to California to be part of Oasis with my lovely Shutter sisters. I’ve shared parts of the trip here, but in my head, I always knew I wanted to combine it all to make a Time Capsule film of my moments there.

But November and December were consumed with moving house and then there was Christmas. Most of January has been taken up with creating A JOURNEY, so it’s only been this past week I’ve dipped into my footage and started playing around.

Perhaps the snow encouraged me too, so I could re-live the warmth, the light and colours of California again. They really blow my mind! If only we had just little of it here…

So I’ve made my Time Capsule. It’s a totally indulgent film, I know that! Just little snippets of what I saw… the colours, the light, the sunshine, the beach, all the things I love… and me being silly, clearly addicted to stop-motion and I figured if you don’t have anyone else willing to be in front of the camera (like I normally do with my boys)… I put yourself in it! It’s my story anyway.

So this is my story…and how very very lucky I was…

Yesterday I launched A JOURNEY, it’s been huge time for me, I’ve spent the past few weeks pouring everything I know and love into this course. I never imagined after putting together Creating Time Capsules last year, that there would be more to share…

I’ve discovered so much this past year, about my passion, about making films, about storytelling, about the creative stumbling blocks, about teaching and what you have to do to make projects happen… and that’s what I’m sharing in this new course.

Creating all this content has taken me on quite a journey for me already… through the ups and downs of creativity and now it’s started, I can’t wait to see what the wonderful community that’s gathered is going to create.

I’m taking part just like everyone else participating, making my own films and sharing part of my process, maybe the shooting or the editing… this is a great thing, as it means I have more Time Capsules to keep.

Earlier this month I tried as different approach to the “day in a life” focusing on the little everyday things – the moments, movements & memories and celebrated them in a new Random Happenings series I will be creating.

Thanks for watching and for passing by here into my world…

I’m continually blown away by the lovely responses to my films of our family life… and I’m very thankful to my family for allowing me to capture their every movement and share it for others to see… without their permission I wouldn’t be able to create this kind of work, and then inspire others to do the same.

Putting out such personal work is huge, and I, by no means find it easy… it’s vulnerable to the core… in a couple of ways.

First, the content… this is our life, who we are, the things we do and love… no it’s not the nitty gritty of dirty laundry, grumpiness, arguments, unclean bathroom, tears… Indeed, we have plenty of that going on here on a daily basis, but I don’t feel the need to capture that, let alone share it publicly. Here lies the beauty of making these films, is that you focus on the good, the details of stuff that mean something to you… the little things that are ordinary now, but will be amazing memory triggers as time fades.

When we focus on the good, the little things to be grateful for, it can have huge power in shifting how we approach all aspects of our life. I know this to be true, having spent 365 days looking for beauty to be grateful for… a project that changed so much of my life.

There is also vulnerability sharing this work because the technical side of shooting and editing can put you up for criticism… I don’t profess to know it all about making films, I only know what works for me, through trial and error, through exploring by myself and I’m learning more everyday… This is what I share in my courses, information I have learnt about what works, that’s all I can do. I want to be better, and each project I start and finish leads me in that direction… and then I share what I know for others to use in their creative lives.

This final part of 12.12.12 was the hardest for me to put together, and I nearly didn’t do it, because technically it drove me crazy!. We had just moved into our new basement flat, and it’s dark here!… really dark, oh so DARK even in the day. SO I really dislike the colour & sharpness of the footage… I’m also limited by only editing iMovie, which doesn’t offer enough in processing, but this is something I’m going to tackle in future projects…

So instead of giving up and leaving the footage to sit on my hard drive, I battled through it, ignoring the demons in my head that it’s not good enough and settling on… THIS IS OUR STORY… hanging out of the sofa watching Masterchef, secret silly dancing to camera when no ones watching, the conversations about wishing, climbing up the walls… it’s the stuff that I want to remember… that’s whats important and that’s what a Time Capsule is for, right?

Thank you to everyone that shared their 12.12.12 with me and the group that gathered… I learnt so much from you… mostly to valve community, and how we can so inspire and support each other to make the work that moves us… and this makes me excited for my new course A JOURNEY, as we’re going to be doing plenty of that!

I’m so happy to announce Monday’s winner of a place on A JOURNEY is Nanette – Please get in touch with me and I’ll sign you up straight away…

For those who didn’t win, the wonderful Karen has a giveaway too… you can comment here till tomorrow…

A JOURNEY starts next week… all the details are here…

Thank you so much for all the sweet words for the first part of 12.12.12 – the morning routine…

It’s most amusing that so many comments were made noticing the lens cap left in my back pocket! When editing this piece, I can’t tell you how annoyed I was that I’d left it visible!

Hey, that’s the beauty of real life with no chance to re-shoot it… believe me, I woulda if I coulda!… I’m sure plenty of you pop yours in your back pocket too!

So, on to the next part of the day…

During the day… There was a school assembly with Cosmo playing an old granny… then my sister pops over to be part of the film and we manage to make a photo session out of it… then catching the last light with the boys playing to the camera…

All good.

So special to have these moments preserved just by making the effort to shoot my day and putting it all together in a film.

It’s this kind of commitment that is behind my new course A JOURNEY… making time to create and giving this gift to yourself and others…

How about a little giveaway? I’d love to offer one place on A JOURNEY, just leave a comment about why you’d like to go on this Time Capsules journey… and I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday when I show the final installment of this 12.12.12 series…