Be Quiet; Springtime is Sleeping

 

A photo of my house, taken by my dad in 2000. This has always been one of my favorite winter photos; it looks so peaceful and always makes me nostalgic for my early childhood. This hushed, tranquil mood is part of what I hope to convey in my winter short.

My word list and (extremely messy) freewrite. The winter always makes me yearn for the spring, so my writing took the form of a reminder to myself to be patient and let the Earth rest for awhile. Spring will be here when it's ready.

On Trees

I’m a big fan of documentaries, so I thoroughly enjoyed Treeline. The quote, “trees are familiar but alien” stuck out to me as a very accurate description; trees are everywhere around us, towering above us and mingling with our more urban environments, but they’re also ancient and mysterious. Much of the documentary's imagery plays into this idea, showing people interacting intimately with abundant forests but often dwarfed by the monumental scale of the trees within them. Hermann Hesse compares trees to preachers and sanctuaries, which I think plays into this dichotomy: familiar and ever-present but, at the same time, full of unknowable wisdom and power.