Adventures in Iceland

A few months ago the idea of a trip to Iceland came into view. We had found some insanely cheap flights from Boston to Keflavik and immediately our minds began crunching the numbers. Flights, baggage fees, rental vehicles, food, camping gear, and last but certainly not least - money to buy a puffin and whale dinner. An adventurous road trip with four people quickly turned into a journey with eight of us. A film concept was born. The prospect of a second trip to complete all of the photography we would need came up. As I sit now in our studio back in the Adirondacks, a week after the first trip, I am still watching this story unfold.

Today I write not because the journey is over, but to tell just one of the adventures we experienced, and to look forward at more to come.

Sunday, May 15th. The weather was amazing all day, and despite the hiking trail we hoped to take being closed off, we had a great time in Skaftafell National Park. Massive glacial tongues carved out in valleys below us and the sun beating down on us from above. I did not think that sunburn would be a struggle I would face in Iceland but that day proved me wrong. After hiking and exploring a nearby glacier lagoon we made our way towards Hofn to find a place to camp for the night. Avoiding any extra fees on this trip was a priority so we found a place outside of the nearby “campgrounds” that seemed suitable enough. It was near a cliff, in a valley between two mountains, but still a decent height above the town below. When we set camp the weather was still warm and only a slight breeze went past our tents.

After shooting at a beach location nearby for sunset I made my way to bed around 11pm. Night really only lasted for about 5 hours this time of year and even then it barely got dark. So when I woke up at 230am I was not surprised at the amount of light still coming through my tent. What did surprise me was, I had been woken up by my tent collapsing on top of me, unable to bear the wind that moved in. It was not long that my friend Josh who was sleeping next to me woke up and saw me holding the tent above us. There was a brief moment of looking at each other and silence, and then in hilarious fashion, we scrambled to get everything out of the tent as quickly as we could.

There I was, this hardcore adventurer, braving the extreme elements as I transported our sleeping gear and personal items into the truck nearby, almost being blown away in the wind. Ha. What it really looked like was one man running frantically without pants from a pile of tent wrapped around another man to the car with anything he could grab and running back to get more. Screams of “don’t get out of the tent, it’ll blow away without you!” and “I’m freezing my butt off!” was our morning conversation. “Can you take the rain fly off before it breaks our tent?” a plea from the tent next to us, was replied with, “OUR TENT IS ALREADY BROKEN!”

This ridiculous event became the funniest part of our trip. Once we got everything back in the cars we decided to hit the road and get far away from that place. We had a 5 hour drive ahead of us and we started it around 3am. The sun was going to rise at 4. In the few moments of clarity during that whole ordeal I can remember the sky looking absolutely apocalyptic. There was enough light in the sky and a break in the clouds to look like it was being ripped open in front of us. That is what I thought of as we began to drive and not long after it really paid off.

Driving through those early morning hours and seeing mountain after mountain illuminate with the rising sun was one of the best parts of the trip for me. The clouds were incredible and we would stop to take photos every few minutes it seemed. Only the morning before the sky was blue and we were singing the dwarves’ song from The Hobbit before our hike. Now we truly were in another world, and as crazy as it was, the struggle was so worth it.

I can only dream of what adventures lay ahead.

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

"...trips challenge our preconceived notions and keep clichés at bay. They fuel inspiration. They are, I believe, what keeps us creating rather than copying." - Ed Catmull

[Note: This post has the terrifying possibility of screaming “Look at me! I’m traveling! You should be jealous!” And I want you to know that nothing is further from the intent of this post. When people are excited about something, they talk about it. We’re no different. Further, this post is simply an open expression of gratitude for the traveling we’ve been allowed to do.] 

The opportunity to travel is not a right but a privilege, a wondrous blessing. It is something that we at Selladore Films have been blessed with in our short existence, and I hope we never grow callous to this blessing. If we haven’t been posting regularly as of late, we can at least partially blame it on the fact that we’ve been traveling a bit. Between the three of us, this summer alone we’ll have travelled to Colorado, upstate New York, Maine, Nova Scotia, North Carolina, Turkey, and Greece. They say to travel while you’re young, and well, we’re doing our best! 

"I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list." - Susan Sontag

Travel has many wonderful byproducts too numerous to mention here. For me, the urge to get out and just move is only aggravated by the winter months that are neither welcoming, conducive to traveling, and worst of all…confines you indoors for the most of your day. (And even the days/hours you spend outdoors become the exception, not the norm.) But I’m not suggesting that I enjoy traveling because it’s movement for the sake of motion. Instead, travel offers an opportunity to see, experience, and learn new things. Like seeing a baby moose, or whales off the coast of Nova Scotia, or breathing in the thin air at more than 11,000ft in elevation. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. When we travel we learn and experience new things and this changes us. Being changed, we return, seeing everything just a little bit different because of our travels. Whether they are cultural conventions we take for granted, a new definition for what you consider “high altitude”, or simply the appreciation of a hot shower. Travel teaches us, changes us. 

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However, I think the best part of travel is that you can share the experience. Yeah, we take photos and video on our travels, but that’s only an extension of what I mean. I mean traveling with real people. There’s no substitute for travel, and there’s nothing like doing it with people you care about. A lot of travel has to be done alone, but for me, I want to share the experience with people that will remain in my life beyond just the duration of travel. You come back and later you say to those people, “Remember that one time we didn’t shower for 4 days?” or “Remember when we hiked in 3+ feet of snow on Memorial Day weekend?” Your shared experience transcends words because they knew how it felt, they were there. Every wrong-turn, every discomfort, every misery, and every nigh-calamity that occurred is now somehow humorous, if not more memorable for it. In this way, travel transforms even the “bad times” into good times. Because when you’re traveling with people you care about, how bad can things be? 

"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." - Tim Cahill

Jesse Miller

The Most Inspirational Blog Post Yet

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."  - J.R.R. Tolkien 

So while a lot of posts on here are inspirational musings, this may be the most inspirational of them all because it's about my other great passion in life outside of film: food! (If this seems unimportant to you, I have included the above quote just for you!) I grew up in a family where we made plans only after we settled where we wanted to eat, and to this day whenever I come back and visit, the first thing I get asked is "where do you want to eat?" When vacationing at a familiar spot, we usually know exactly where we want to eat and have no idea what we are going to do between meals. So the chance to make a video about the food at Mountain Lake Lodge a while back was a literal treat. 

I think the biggest thing looking back is that it's completely real. Nothing is filmed just because it looks cool and markets well; it all happens at Mountain Lake Lodge and we were just along to capture it. Every farm, farmer market, crop, preparation, and satisfied guest is completely real. Nothing was doctored with chemicals to make it shine like you normally see in food commercials, everything you see is ready to be eaten! Meeting the head chef, Ashton Carter, we quickly discovered this wasn't just a job for him, it was a way of life. He farms and raises pigs himself and we got to travel with him to the local farms and farmer's markets where he gets the freshest local ingredients, even creating his menu according to what's available. 

While this farm-to-table philosophy is organic friendly, the food at Mountain lake was good before, so the question remained if it could be as good. It wasn't. It was better. Even though I didn't know what half the things the menu said was in the meal I got, everything was exquisite. Ashton doesn't sacrifice style or substance when creating a tasty work of art. I had never had bison before, but the bison and bison burgers made my insides sing and they were definitely my favorite thing I had there. 

So let the news ring out: bison burgers are great. Let that inspire you. It definitely inspired us. 

Jesse Miller

Cultural Criticism, Pt. 2: Opposite of Criticism

Note: This is the second part on some thoughts I have on art criticism. You can read the first part here. These thoughts are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of other members of Selladore Films. 

One of knee-jerk reactions to the negatives of criticism would be to make only positive criticisms. This is not the true opposite of criticism at all, though, as responding positive to something very often is the same as responding negative to something else. In the same way choosing to love something is choosing to hate (at least in a sense or comparatively) something else. For example, since childhood I have loved chocolate. This essentially means I hate (at least in a sense or comparatively) what I perceive as it's opposite: brussels sprouts. This becomes increasingly involved when discussing art, because behind art are movements that react to each other and each other's philosophy. 

The other reaction would be to make no criticism at all, positive or negative. Besides the impossibility, impracticality, and deprivation of the helpfulness criticism, the absence of criticism is not the true opposite of criticism either. Just as the mere absence of hate does not mean love, the absence of criticism cannot be its opposite. 

Perhaps the most essential element of criticism is the breaking down of something into scrutable elements. Thus, to discover the opposite of criticism, we only need look to the opposite of deconstruction itself.

In the world in which we live, the true opposite of criticism is creation. It is action.

Criticism is purely reactionary and passive while creation and action are vitally proactive. Criticism is relatively easy, creation and action are most difficult. Criticism costs us very little, creation and action are exhaustively taxing. Criticism often discourages others, while creation and action inspire them! History remembers very little of critics. In fact, most of the time critics are remembered for being wrong in opposing some significant act of creation or action. So I personally think we would all greatly benefit if we created and acted more, and criticized less. 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt

Creativity is hard. It is a work-in-progress. It is a lot of trying and a lot of messing up. But it's also additive. That is, it is experience, and experience accumulates, it molds, it improves. This alone makes creative endeavors worth it and more valuable than any criticism of them. But it's not just what creativity does for us, it what it does for others and this is where criticism falls most short. For creativity has the ability to reach, embolden, uplift, and even inspire others. Criticism makes low even the highest of ideas, works, and people; meanwhile creativity uplifts even lowliest ideas, works, and people. 

Cultural Criticism, Pt. 1

"Haters gonna hate." 

(Note: the opinions of any blog post reflect that of the author's only and does not necessarily speak for other members of Selladore Films.)

The title of this post is curiously and intentionally ambiguous. "Cultural criticism" can carry at least two basic meanings: it can refer to either a criticism that the culture makes or a criticism of the culture itself. Both meanings apply to this post, with the second being a result of the first, (my criticism of culture being a result of the criticism that our culture hurls so liberally). This is, of course, hypocritical on some level to criticize culture for criticizing. However, it is not an end goal to this post but a means. By turning culture's weapon of criticism upon itself we see the inherit limitations and harm it does to even itself. 

"Everybody's a critic."

While the term "everyone's a critic" has been present seemingly forever, the presence of criticism on creative works seems to have grown in recent times. Critics for movies, television, music and more now litter media in numbers that vastly outnumber their predecessors 50 years ago. Every news outlet and magazine has at least one critic and now blogs have emerged to offer us their take. Through sites like Rotten Tomatoes, the Internet has opened the doors to everyone, even those not versed in any discipline or art form, to level their criticisms at vehicles of creative art. We take a creative work that one or many people have spent considerable amounts of time, money, and themselves in creating and we then risk little or nothing in an effort of summation, censure, and definition. 

I think part of the problem is not that we have an opinion, that we discern good quality from bad, or that we enjoy some things and not others. The problem is that we often view these opinions as definitive and objective, saying things like "that was crap", instead of "I did not like it". To make matters worse, we are often unqualified to make these criticisms. I say "we" because I belong to this culture and I have been a part these discussions on art where a narcissistic mindset has insisted that my opinion not only mattered, but it was definitive. Reality tells a vastly different story. My meager experience and/or education like working in startup film/video company and a degree in music composition with a minor in film are comically inadequate to attempt a criticism on a movie like multiple Academy Award winner Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" or multiple Grammy and Academy Howard Shore's Hobbit soundtrack. What have I done or learned that gives my criticism any weight? Where is my Academy Award? As comically insufficient as my qualifications are, many people making these criticisms don't even have these! 

There are other problems beyond our inadequacy to make such criticisms. For one, it either stems from or fuels our own narcissism, and in some cases, both. Being able to subject even the greatest of creations to our scrutiny inflates the ego. We leave our couches thinking we have accomplished something, or that our tastes are superior, or that we saw what was wrong with a particular film where the makers did not. At the end of our criticism, though, we are still left at our couch and our collection of Academy Awards still numbering zero. This often leads our ego and reality being separated and to grow more distant yet. 

Still yet, another problem it creates is it actually discourages creative endeavors. I feel if there is one area that my experience can verify something in this entry, it is here. When writing, brain-storming, or composing, nothing kills my desire to create more than criticism. Yes, criticism is often warranted, and helpful in some cases, but if negative criticism is all we contribute then we stifle people and the creativity that comes from them.

Where does that leave us? Should we never share our opinion? Should we not have an opinion? Should we not discern excellent from poor? Should we never call something bad? The answer to all of these is "No". I believe the answer has to do with the intangible rather than the tangible: our mindset and attitude when making these assessments. If we temper our criticism with examination of our own credibility, our conscious and subconscious goals for making such assessments, and remember that it is our subjective opinion, I believe we can transform not just our criticisms, but the spirit in which we make them.

But this is only part of the answer. We must also do the exact opposite of criticism. 

To be conitnued...
 

You Probably Don't Have Time to Read This. (pt. 2)

So it's been a while since we posted last and it appears to be an unfortunate habit we have already formed. One of the reasons is because Selladore has had a busy summer. (Some say it's been our busiest yet!) Another reason is partly because I spent the last two weeks or so fighting the idea of writing this blog post. Here's why: people were very kind with regards to my previous post about the way we use our time and the last thing I wanted to do was write a lame sequel. Life had other plans. 

Last time I wrote about the old adage "You have time for what you care about". It's undoubtedly true, but these last months or so I have been learning a follow up truth:

Time is fleeting.

This isn't exactly news, but for me it's been hitting home recently. Whether it be the family 16-year-old puppy passing away, mentors unexpectedly moving to who-knows-where, family moving farther away, or even a side project that we are doing before its too late; all of these have been underlining this simple truth that time moves and there is no going back. 

While experiencing this truth can quickly turn melancholy and induce regret it has actually made me very grateful. These events may not be completely earth-shattering, but I can say that I don't really have any regrets. And I'm super grateful for that. Before these events I wondered if I should not spend as much time visiting family and just get to work. Now, on the other side of these events, it's clear to me that I made the right choice in spending time with them because soon I won't have the chance. 

I attended college about 4 hours from home and I would frequently visit home on the weekends. One time after the Super Bowl, I started returning to school after 1:00 A.M. and had to study for an intense exam at 9:00 A.M. the next day. Being 1,400 miles away now, I don't regret that at all! I did fine on the exam, but even if I didn't, the time I had with my family was worth it. When people are facing their last moments on earth regrets are rarely, if ever, about getting better grades, making more money, getting a better job, being famous, or getting the latest iPhone or gadget. It's about people. I don't want to reach the end of life with regrets, I want to be grateful for the time I've had with the people I love. Time is fleeting. Let's live life with no regrets. Let's make time for those we care about. Maybe it's a phone call, a visit, or a Skype call. No regrets. 

Time is an investment. And I don't think you can lose when you invest in people, especially the people you care about.

Time is a cold wind blowing through the leaves 

Of a tired old tree I sit beneath 

Where I think about the world and I don’t know how 

What will happen to us now? 

And it comes and it goes

Where it’s headed, no one knows

And we come and we go

All the saints and the liars, sittin’ by the fire

What will happen to us now?  

- Noah Gundersen, "Middle of June"
 

Jesse Miller

You Probably Don't Have Time to Read This.

I love learning new things, whether that be new gear, new editing techniques, composing new music, new pieces of piano music, new art, new artists, etc. I love to perpetually learn. So most of what I blog ends up being lessons I'm learning experientially. This will prove no exception. 

 

"Ain't nobody got time fo' dat." - Sweet Brown

We all have things that we wish we could do. It may be to get into better shape, read more, call someone more often, pick up a musical instrument, and suddenly, the list begins to become frightfully long. I, for one, want every one of those and more. We look at such a list and hold it up against the necessities of reality like work and sleep and in all-too many cases determine "I don't have enough time for that." Even if we never say it with our mouths, we say it with our lives. That's where I'm at. Starting a small business keeps you busy, things are starting to pick up, and I imagine things might only get busier. I find that I'm not composing or practicing piano nearly as much as when I was in college. There's just not enough time. I was sort of complaining about this to a friend when my friend responded with a statement that I heard a hundred times before but was no less true. It went something like this:

"You make time for what you care about."

This statement normally elicits two main reactions and I had them both! The first reaction is that of injury. While some people respond with hostility and defensiveness, I knew the statement was true regardless of the utterer's motives or knowledge of the details in my life. So I felt injured and felt the appropriate guilt. Then I realized that I didn't have to be injured as there was an alternative response to this truth: inspiration. So bear with me.

How we spend our time shows what we truly care about. Some of those things are good and we should care about them more, like work and family. Being a good spouse should always take precedence over something like reading, exercising, etc. However, there are things that we have time for, like watching another movie, surfing the web, sleeping in on Saturday, utter relaxing, etc., that we care about MORE than those things we wish we could do. Our excuses ring hollow when we say we don't have time for exercise yet we binge watch entire seasons of a TV series on Netflix. It's not that we don't have time for exercise, it's that we care more about that Netflix TV series.

This doesn't have to be a downer. Instead, this should be inspiring! We have time to do the things we care about! No matter who we are, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. It's up to us how to use that time. While we don't have time for everything, we DO have time for the things we care about. We just have to determine how important and how committed to it we really are and start making time for it!

So I know I am trying to further commit myself to those things I care about, and I invite you to join me! No matter what, in the end, we will make time for what we care about. 

 

Jesse Miller 

A New Season

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens..."

- King Solomon, Ecclesiastes 3:1

      Back where I was born and raised in Florida we only had two seasons: hot and slightly less hot. A side effect of that wonderful arrangement was a very limited experience of actual seasons and especially this foreign concept of winter. In Florida, winter was simply a period of time where the grass doesn't grow quite as fast and we saw a temporary influx of snow birds. Now, after making my way 1,200 miles north, I find myself on Long Island, New York and suffice to say winter here is pretty different. It's largely a brand new experience for me. At the time of this writing I've never salted or shoveled snow off a driveway, never used a snowblower, never scraped a windshield, and there are probably a bunch of other things that I'm not even aware of. But these things that were/are foreign to me are going to be a part of my life for who knows how long.

      Not only do I find myself exposed to a new season of the year but also to a new season in life. Graduating college with a music composition degree was one of the most challenging tasks of my life and, as is often the case, it was also one of the most rewarding. But now, for the first time since I was 4 years old, I am no longer in school and there are no plans to change that. Instead, I am embarking a little venture called Selladore Films with my friends and now co-workers, Joe and Nic. So in a way, it’s a new season for all of us here at Selladore Films.  

      There are struggles in adjusting to a new season. Trust me, I almost slipped and fell like 5 times on my way to work today. What makes all the difference is the people around you who help you through the transition to a new season. I have been personally blessed by extremely kind and generous new friends here on Long Island, by loving family at home and abroad, and by some incredibly patient Yankees (Joe) with this Southerner who knows nothing of winter. 

It's those people that make it easier to accept the beautiful reality that no one season lasts forever; everything has a beginning, an end, and a purpose.

Jesse Miller

Origins.

"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas."

-Joseph Stalin

I just did the math and it's been 37 days since I moved to Riverhead. In that that time Selladore Films has gone from an idea to a licensed business. We've created a website, a Facebook page, a bank account, and I've learned more than I ever wanted to about New York state tax law. I was going to spend this post talking about the journey starting a business has been, but after thinking about it, I figured I'd better back up to "why."

Why are the three of us determined to do this and does our media saturated world really need more people producing video?

 Stories have always been important to us. Thousands of years ago they were passed on through generations by word of mouth, eventually written down, conveyed in plays, and since the 20th century, recorded visually. We love stories. But they are more than simply a diversion; they contain ideas. Ideas, when they take root, give birth to action. They can start wars or end them, determine whether a person responds with compassion or hatred, or change the values of a generation. We can’t fully comprehend the amount of ideas we are fed each day. Never before in history have ideas been more accessible. Anyone can share their thoughts, stories and ideas. Since we live in an age filled with both information and misinformation, the value of stories that impact us with truth will always go up.

 Our goal is to hone our skill as storytellers and to use it to impact people with truth. The range of stories we want to tell is wide, whether they be up-and-coming small businesses becoming a brand, bringing to light the heartbreaking stories of children living on less than we can imagine and the physical care others are providing for them, or messages of hope transforming their lives. We believe that these stories can be told in such a way that people will be motivated to take action.

 We hope to use this blog to share our journey: our experiences, our lessons learned, and the stories that impact us. Whether it’s about working on a promo film for a local business or getting ready to travel overseas, we hope to share this passion with you along the way.

• Joseph Trimble (3)
• nicolas levasseur (6)