New Mexico – Pam Taylor Multimedia

Star York

“Quiet Your Mind, Open Your Heart” is a multimedia video about internationally renowned sculptress Star York.

Star York trains horses and practices Tai Qi to nurture her creativity.

Internationally renowned sculptress Star York describes her creative process to create award-winning sculptures of wildlife, Native Americans, Cowboys.

She quiets her mind and opens her heart by training her horses, doing Tai Qi meditative movements, and working in her Abiquiu, New Mexico studio.

The goal of the multimedia video “Quiet Your Mind, Open Your Heart,” was to present Star’s creative process, which was to be used as a promotional piece. The main challenge was technical. I was cutting my teeth on audio and it was the first time I was the videographer. The only solution was to go in there, make mistakes and keep learning. Fortunately Star was patient.

Another challenge was the sheer body of Star’s work. What was the best way to represent this highly prolific, creative person who has been sculpting for more than 30 years, has been highly awarded, and publicized.

The solution here was to focus not on her work—that had been done, but how she nurtures her creativity. To cover her work we scanned photos and tear sheets of her earlier work. And, I had the permission of Wendy McEahern to use her beautiful studio photographs of Star’s sculpture. It’s always a challenge to find music that can legally be used. Star suggested I contact the composer, performer Phillip John “Aarnaquq” Charette, about using one of her favorite musical pieces, “Eagle Song.” He readily gave permission.

The final challenge, which came up during editing, was whether it is possible to use the highly personal nature of a digital story for promotional purposes. During the interviews, there was an emotional transformative moment when Star revealed the personal meaning of one of her cowboy sculptures.

The rough cut of the multimedia piece was a digital story of revelation and transformation. However, this seemed much too personal for a promotional piece. The solution here was to work collaboratively to give Star what she needed to promote her artwork.

Credits

“Quiet the Mind, Open Your Heart” written, produced, filmed, and edited by Pam Taylor.

Photography © Pam Taylor Photography

Studio photography © Wendy McEahern. “Grama’s Gifts,” “Over the Top,” “Purrfect Lazy Day,” “Regal Repose,” “Rocksie,” “Roll,” “Scratch,”“Starwildlife,” “Range Duty,” “Greatest Gift,”

Additional images by Rachel Brock, Jeff Shulman, Dell Weston, and Star York.

Music: “Eagle Song” by Phillip John “Aarnaquq” Charette

David Michael Kennedy on Portraiture

Portrail of David Michael Kennedy — David Michael Kennedy

This is a spin off of a Video Boot Camp at The Santa Fe Workshops, taught by Richard Newman. At the workshop 5 participants created a group video about famous photographer David Michael Kennedy. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from David Michael Kennedy, the learning environment created by Newman, as well the creativity and enthusiasm of the team.

When I got home I really wanted to practice the techniques we had learned using the assets but with my own creative vision. I focused on the question I had asked, “How do you Connect with People?,” used the footage for that interview (shot by Christine Garceau and John Dickson), added some images of Kennedy’s work, and some B roll I shot.

Newman was very encouraging in my little endeavor and he facilitated permission from the Santa Fe Workshops, which they graciously gave. David Michael Kennedy has been very supportive. I made some some minor changes he suggested. To my delight and surprise he sent me several more images to cover “jump cuts.” In the end, David Michael Kennedy not only approved the video for my portfolio, but liked it so much he wants to put the video on his website.

The Peace Maker

A Palestinian Peace Maker in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Palestinian Sami Jabber and his family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where they opened a café called Alfanoose, The Magic Lantern. It has become a popular gathering place for great Middle Eastern food, music, and international camaraderie.

The Peacemaker: From Palestine to Santa Fe, New Mexico from pamela y. taylor on Vimeo.

I created this story for a Santa Fe Workshops class on audio storytelling, given by Bob Sacha. It was my first foray into recording interviews for a visual story. We used soundslides a program to make slideshows on steroids.

The challenge was taking pictures and doing interviews in a limited amount of time. I prefer to devote a great deal of time so people can feel comfortable and there is emotional depth to a story. Jabber himself turned out to be the solution. He gave me free access to photograph and gave several short interviews. He and his wife are genuinely warm and personable.

In the end, I was a bit disappointed with the resulting story. However, Jabber was delighted with the DVD I presented to him.

I found that the real story, one I didn’t have time to do, was about an organization they support each year called Creativity for Peace. Based in New Mexico, it promotes understanding and leadership among Palestinian and Israeli young women.